To hear Damien Hirst’s critics tell it, his works may be among the easiest to duplicate in the art world.

They can seem startlingly simple in concept — colored spots on a canvas; a shark carcass in formaldehyde; a diamond-covered platinum human skull. And they are often produced in large quantities, with subtle variations, by his staff, making Mr. Hirst, a British artist, hundreds of millions of dollars.

But whether they are just simple or simply genius, it would seem that Mr. Hirst’s work cannot be simply reproduced and passed off to, say, Sotheby’s, the famed auction house.

According to prosecutors, Kevin Sutherland, a Florida pastor, tried to do just that in December. Mr. Sutherland contacted Sotheby’s and offered to sell one of Mr. Hirst’s “spin” paintings, which he bought from an unidentified person according to court documents, at an upcoming auction.