Artwork on eBay said to be by Traficant

High bids on two paintings were more than $200.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Artwork purportedly done in federal prison by James A. Traficant Jr. is featured on eBay and on a Web site that uses the expelled congressman's favorite phrase: "Beam me up!"
Traficant, convicted of racketeering crimes in 2002, is at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minn. The 63-year-old former 17th District U.S. representative is projected to be released Aug. 10, 2009.
Michael Truman, Bureau of Prisons spokesman in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday that inmates are permitted to engage in hobbies, such as painting, but are not allowed to operate a business.
Truman said Traficant would not be permitted to sell his paintings but could ship them to a family member who, in turn, could sell them and return the money to Traficant's prison commissary account.
Truman said he was unable to confirm whether the paintings on the Web site beammeupart.com and eBay are, in fact, Traficant's.
Horses and barns
The paintings depicted on the Web site and on eBay feature mostly horses and barns. Traficant once raised saddlebred horses on his farm in Greenford and exhibited them at horse shows.
In an effort to prove authenticity, the Web site includes a note, purportedly written by Traficant, to a woman in New York in February 2005. An envelope with the prison's return address and marked "artwork do not bend" are included on the Web site.
The artist's background, as portrayed on the Web site, says Traficant was railroaded into federal prison on trumped-up charges after nine terms in Congress.
Acrylic paintings on the Web site range in price from $110 to $180. He paints mostly from memory, on canvas, paper, prison cardboard and Formica, according to the Web site.
"Most of the proceeds from the sales will be donated to Mr. Traficant so that he can be provided proper and sufficient materials to continue with his art and painting while he is still imprisoned," the Web site reads.
Two paintings are also offered on eBay, with the seller identified as Jayne Moore. The high bids on "brown horse" and "yellow barn house" paintings, located in Plattsburg, N.Y., were each more than $200 on Tuesday.
William J. Edwards, first assistant U.S. attorney in Cleveland, said his office will check into whether seizing money generated by the artwork is possible and, if so, if seizing it is cost beneficial. He said Traficant has paid $37,145 so far toward his $150,000 court fine.