The trouble for Shepard Fairey stemming from his iconic, pre-election 'Hope' poster of President Obama continues this week: Lawyers in a civil case against him filed by the Associated Press have indicated that the Los Angeles artist is under criminal investigation in connection with the piece.

Associated Press stated it had received a grand jury's subpoena in the case. It's not clear if the probe is targeting Fairey's original use of an Associated Press photograph for the piece or his denial of such and his subsequent admittance that he lied about having used the AP photo.

Meir Feder, a lawyer for Fairey, asked a New York civil court on Wednesday for a six month delay in that case while the criminal probe continued. (The motion was denied).

In his defense, Fairey has cited “fair use” doctrine. He also argues that the AP has taken photographic images of copyrighted works of art many times (he cites “a dozen examples”).

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.