Artist Shepard Fairey's  court troubles with the Associated Press over copyright infringment about the photograph used in the Obama "Hope" poster took on a new aspect when Fairey "went to extreme lengths to obtain an unfair and illegal advantage in his civil litigation," according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Fairey went so far as "creating fake documents and destroying others in an effort to subvert the civil discovery process."

The initial copyright infringement case had previously been settled, but now Fairey was facing charges of perjury. Pleading guilty to the charges, Fairey was expecting to face jail time but due to a reduced sentence he's instead been charged with a $25,000 fine and 2 years probation. After the sentencing, Fairey issued the following statement:

"My wrong-headed actions, born out of a moment of fear and embarrassment, have not only been financially and psychologically costly to myself and my family, but also helped to obscure what I was fighting for in the first place - the ability of artists everywhere to be inspired and freely create art without reprisal."

Information courtesy of the NYTimes, photo courtesy willypradera.com.