A Los Angeles-area woman who sold $20 million US in phoney art through manipulated TV auctions and duped more than 10,000 art collectors has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Kristine Eubanks, 52, received the federal penitentiary sentence after having pleaded guilty in 2007 to a host of charges, including conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion.

Eubanks and her husband, Gerald Sullivan, conducted art auctions that were televised on DirecTV and The Dish Network on Friday and Saturday nights from 2002 to 2006. The couple claimed to sell art from "estate liquidations all over the world."

Their company, Fine Art Treasures Gallery, sold counterfeit pieces, including what they claimed were works by Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Marc Chagall, and forged signatures on some pieces.

According to U.S. attorneys, when the couple did have legitimate artwork, they would rig those auctions by having "phones ringing in the background to drive up the price" and show fake bids on-screen.

The couple also falsified authentication or appraisals of artworks and jewelry.

Authorities arrested the couple in 2006, seizing more than $3 million US and close to 1,000 artworks. The government is still notifying thousands of people who may have bought forgeries from the couple.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Gary Feess called the scheme "audacious in its scope" and blatantly illegal.

Sullivan, who also served as the company's accountant, will be sentenced in May and faces up to six years in prison after having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property.

With files from The Associated Press