Thesaurus Fine Arts, a Pioneer Square gallery, that dealt in fake Chinese antiquities will have to reimburse $100,000 to $200,000 to consumers who bought ceramic or pottery items from its store or online and pay about $350,000 in fines and attorney's fees under a settlement announced October 28 by Attorney General Rob McKenna. Thesaurus does not admit wrongdoing in the settlement.
As part of the settlement, Steven Ng Sheong Cheung, a former University of Washington professor and economist, was dismissed from the case. Cheung has denied ownership of Thesaurus. Thesaurus is a subsidiary of Steven N. S. Cheung Inc., but Cheung is not an officer, director or shareholder of Thesaurus.
Thesaurus was accused customer fraud by the Attorney General's Office's Consumer Protection Division in February 2004. In January 2003, the Thesaurus closed its door the same day The Seattle Times began publishing a series of stories that exposed two Hong Kong testing laboratories for certifying the fakes and showed that the store was selling modern ceramics as ancient and rare Chinese art.
In the investigation, a reporter paid $315 for a pottery tile the store manager said was from the Ming Dynasty, which lasted from 1368 to 1644. But when The Times had the tile scientifically tested and checked by local art experts, it found that the tile was less than 100 years old.
Cheung and his wife were indicted in 2003 for federal tax evasion and are believed to be living in Shanghai, China. (Source: Emily Heffter, Seattle News, October 29, 2005).