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☆ Russian billionaire loses Sotheby’s art fraud lawsuit involving ‘Salvator Mundi’
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Oscar Holland | Reuters | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Among them was the “Salvator Mundi,” which Bouvier bought for $80 million before quickly selling it on to his then-client for $127.5 million. Speaking to CNN in 2021, Bouvier maintained that he had acted as a dealer, not an art adviser, and was thus entitled to mark up prices. The Russian billionaire lost his lawsuit against auction house Sotheby's yesterday. Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesThe case has been among the highest-profile art fraud disputes in recent years, offering a view into an often-secretive industry where wealthy buyers sometimes don’t know who they are buying from. Rybolovlev was allowed to sue over “Salvator Mundi” even though his ownership had proven unusually profitable.

Persons: oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev, Rybolovlev, Sotheby’s, Yves Bouvier, “ Salvator Mundi, Leonardo da Vinci, Bouvier, Salvator Mundi, Dmitry Rybolovlev, Daniel Kornstein, Sotheby’s “, ” Sotheby’s, Jesse Furman, Leonardo, Gustav Klimt, Rene Magritte, Amedeo Modigliani, Furman, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, Henri de Toulouse, Lautrec, ” Organizations: CNN, Forbes, AS Monaco soccer, Bloomberg, Getty Locations: Swiss, New York, Russian, Switzerland, Singapore, Monaco, Hong Kong, Manhattan

☆ 5 Takeaways From the Sotheby’s Art Fraud Trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Graham Bowley | Colin Moynihan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Over the course of three weeks, the art world watched as a Russian oligarch pursued a lawsuit in an American court in which he accused Sotheby’s of abetting a fraud. Sotheby’s, he said, was in on it. But after only a few hours of deliberation on Tuesday, the jury found differently, voting unanimously that Sotheby’s had not played a role in any fraud. The dealer, Yves Bouvier, who was not a defendant in the case, said he felt vindicated too. Bouvier has long insisted that he did nothing wrong and that he was always clearly acting as a dealer, free to charge Rybolovlev whatever price the Russian would pay.

Persons: Russian oligarch, Dmitry Rybolovlev, Sotheby’s, Yves Bouvier, Bouvier Locations: Russian, New York, Swiss

☆ Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev loses suit accusing Sotheby's of art fraud
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Dmitry Rybolovlev, president of As Monaco Football Club SA, arrives at court in New York on Jan. 9, 2024. Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev on Tuesday lost a New York federal court lawsuit in which he had accused the Sotheby's auction house of helping an art buyer defraud the oligarch by having him grossly overpay for various pieces of art. "It knew the actual prices Bouvier paid to the sellers and the fraudulently inflated prices Bouvier induced Plaintiffs to pay to him," the suit said. At trial, Sotheby's lawyer Sara Shudofsky told jurors that Rybolovlev was "trying to make an innocent party pay for what somebody else did to him." "We are grateful to the jury for its verdict, which totally vindicates Sotheby's of any alleged misconduct," Sotheby's said.

Persons: Dmitry Rybolovlev, Rybolovlev, Yves Bouvier, Bouvier, Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi, Sara Shudofsky, Shudofsky, Sotheby's, Daniel Kornstein, Kornstein, Donald Trump Organizations: Monaco Football Club SA, New, Xitrans Finance, Associated Press, Geneva, CNBC PRO Locations: New York, U.S, Manhattan, Sotheby's, Christie's, Beach , Florida, Singapore , Hong Kong , New York, Monaco

The fertilizer titan alleged that the auction house helped a Swiss art dealer cheat him out of over $160 million by quietly imposing huge markups on works that he acquired. In private transactions, Sotheby’s sold Bouvier some works that he then resold to Rybolovlev. Well, not only of money," Rybolovlev said, through a court interpreter on the witness stand. Rybolovlev’s lawyers said Bouvier bought it from Sotheby’s for $83 million, then sold it on to the billionaire a day later for over $127 million. In 2017, Rybolovlev sold it through Christie’s for a historic $450 million and it became the most expensive painting ever sold at auction.

Persons: Sotheby’s, Leonardo, ”, Dmitry Rybolovlev's, he'd, Sotheby's, “ Today’s, Daniel Kornstein, ” Rybolovlev, Picasso, Rodin, Modigliani, Klimt, Magritte, Leonardo da Vinci, Yves Bouvier, Bouvier “, Bouvier, Rybolovlev, it’s, ” Sotheby’s, Sara Shudofsky, Vinci’s, Salvator Mundi, Jesus Christ Organizations: The New York Times Locations: U.S, York, The, Swiss, Sotheby’s

☆ Sotheby's Defeats Russian Oligarch in Art Fraud Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Jan. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

Daniel Kornstein, a lawyer for Rybolovlev, said the case "achieved our goal of shining a light on the lack of transparency that plagues the art market. Furman dismissed fraud-based claims over the other 11 works, including art from Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Rybolovlev was allowed to sue over "Salvator Mundi" even though his ownership had proven unusually profitable. Rybolovlev went on to sell "Salvator Mundi" at Christie's in 2017 for $450.3 million, a record price for an artwork at auction. The case is Accent Delight International Ltd et al v Sotheby's et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

Persons: oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev, Rybolovlev, Sotheby's, Yves Bouvier, Salvator Mundi, Leonardo da Vinci, Bouvier, Daniel Kornstein, Jesse Furman, Gustav Klimt, Rene Magritte, Amedeo Modigliani, Furman, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, Henri de Toulouse, Lautrec, Jonathan Stempel, Bill Berkrot Organizations: YORK, Forbes, AS Monaco soccer, Court, Southern District of Locations: Swiss, Manhattan, U.S, Christie's, Southern District, Southern District of New York, New York

☆ Jury Finds Sotheby’s Did Not Help in Any Fraud of Russian Oligarch
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Graham Bowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A jury in a civil trial in New York decided in favor of Sotheby’s on Tuesday, rejecting a Russian oligarch’s claim that the auction house had helped a Swiss dealer who he said defrauded him out of tens of millions of dollars in high-end art sales. The oligarch, Dmitry Rybolovlev, had accused Sotheby’s of being in on a plot in which, he said, the dealer Yves Bouvier posed as an art adviser negotiating sales on Rybolovlev’s behalf when, in reality, he was secretly acting as an art dealer, buying works at Sotheby’s before flipping them to his client. In the resales, Bouvier at times increased the prices by tens of millions of dollars. Whatever the dealer did with the art after he bought it was none of the auction house’s business, the Sotheby’s lawyers had argued. If anyone were to blame for buying overpriced art, it was Rybolovlev himself, according to Sotheby’s lawyers, who said the Russian businessman was at fault for not protecting himself against the dealer’s actions.

Persons: Dmitry Rybolovlev, Yves Bouvier, Bouvier, Rybolovlev Locations: New York, Sotheby’s, Swiss, Russian

His legal team said Bouvier pocketed the sum by buying famous artworks from Sotheby's before selling them to Rybolovlev at marked up prices. In all, Rybolovlev spent about $2 billion on art from 2002 to 2014 as he built a world-class art collection. In his testimony, Rybolovlev blamed murky practices in the blue-chip art world for leaving him damaged financially. When asked by his lawyer why he sued Sotheby's, Rybolovlev said: “So it's not an issue of money. Rybolovlev claims he was purposefully deceived by Bouvier and a London-based executive at Sotheby's as he bought 38 art pieces.

Persons: he'd, Dmitry Rybolovlev, Rybolovlev, Yves Bouvier, “, I'm, ” Rybolovlev, Bouvier, didn't, ”, Sotheby's, it's, Sara Shudofsky, Daniel Kornstein, “ Sotheby’s, Leonardo da Vinci’s, Salvator Mundi, Bouvier's, David Bitton, Yves Klein, Bouvier “, Trump, Vladimir Putin, Kornstein, hasn’t Organizations: Sotheby’s, Sotheby's, Russia Locations: Swiss, Manhattan, London, New York, Singapore , Hong Kong , New York, Monaco, Geneva, Switzerland, Ukraine, Russia

☆ Klimt’s ‘last masterpiece’ poised to fetch $80 million at Sotheby’s auction
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Oscar Holland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Depicting an unidentified female subject, “Dame mit Fächer” (Lady with a Fan) was one of two paintings found at the Austrian artist’s studio upon his death in 1918, according to Sotheby’s auction house. Started in 1917, “Dame mit Fächer” is rendered in Klimt’s characteristically rich, expressive style. Sotheby's said it expects the painting the fetch "in the region of" $80 million when it goes under the hammer this month. Klimt’s “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” was meanwhile bought by US businessman Ronald Lauder for a reported $135 million in 2006. “Dame mit Fächer” is the star lot in Sotheby’s modern and contemporary art summer auction, which takes place on June 27.

Persons: Gustav Klimt, Fächer ”, Sotheby’s, Thomas Boyd Bowman, ”, “, —, De Agostini, Klimt, Helena Newman, Newman, Erwin Böhle, Rudolf Leopold, Sotheby's, Paul G, Allen, Dmitry Rybolovlev, Yves Bouvier, Adele Bloch, Bauer, Ronald Lauder, Oprah Winfrey, Alberto Giacometti, Edvard Munch Organizations: CNN, Austrian, De Agostini Editorial, “, Microsoft, Financial Times, Bloomberg, UBS, Art Locations: London, Klimt's Vienna, Viennese, Sotheby’s, Austrian, “ Birch, Covid

☆ Klimt’s ‘last masterpiece’ sells for record-breaking $108.4 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Oscar Holland | Jacquelyn Palumbo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“Dame mit Fächer” was one of two paintings found at the Austrian artist’s studio upon his death in 1918, according to Sotheby’s. A work the artist had started a year prior, in 1917, “Dame mit Fächer” is rendered in Klimt’s characteristically rich, expressive style. "Dame mit Fächer" (right) pictured in Klimt's Vienna studio in 1918. "Dame mit Fächer" became Klimt's highest-selling artwork at auction. Klimt’s “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” was meanwhile bought by US businessman Ronald Lauder for a reported $135 million in 2006.

Persons: Gustav Klimt, Fächer ”, Klimt, Paul G, Allen, “, —, Sotheby’s, Thomas Boyd Bowman, ”, De Agostini, Helena Newman, Newman, Erwin Böhle, Rudolf Leopold, Dmitry Rybolovlev, Yves Bouvier, Adele Bloch, Bauer, Ronald Lauder, Oprah Winfrey, Alberto Giacometti, Edvard Munch Organizations: CNN, Microsoft, Austrian, De Agostini Editorial, Financial Times, Bloomberg, UBS, Art Locations: London, Birch, Hong Kong, Klimt's Vienna, Viennese, Sotheby’s, Austrian, Covid

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