As Monaco Football Club SA President Dmitry Rybolovlev appeared in court in New York, USA, on Tuesday, January 9, 2024. Auction house Sotheby’s abused its privilege, power and reputation to help scam Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev out of millions of dollars. He spent millions of dollars building a world-class art collection, the wealthy businessman’s lawyer argued on the first day of his high-profile trial.
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Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev suffered a loss on Tuesday. new york A lawsuit in federal court in which he filed charges sotheby’s An auction house that helped art buyers defraud oligarchs by forcing them to pay exorbitantly high prices for various works of art.
After several hours of deliberations, the jury found Sotheby’s on every point Rybolovlev had argued in a civil lawsuit related to more than $100 million in purchases made by the 57-year-old fertilizer tycoon through art buyer Yves Bouvier. admitted the claim.
Mr. Bouvier has represented billionaires for more than a decade, helping them purchase 38 masterpieces for more than $2 billion.
Mr. Rybolovlev’s lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan alleges that Mr. Bouvier engaged in “heavy negotiations with sellers” on his behalf, when in fact he had increased the actual selling price by nearly 100 percent. He said he believed it.
According to the complaint, Sotheby’s acted as a transaction intermediary to “justify the fraudulent prices Bouvier charged” to Mr. Rybolovlev’s companies, Accent Delight International Ltd. and Xytrans Finance Ltd. He is said to have cooperated with the
“Mr. Bouvier knew the actual prices paid to sellers and the prices that Mr. Bouvier fraudulently inflated to make Plaintiffs pay,” the lawsuit said.
Among the four works of art at trial was Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “Salvator Mundi,” which Bouvier bought from Sotheby’s for $83 million and sold the following day. Sold to Rybolovlev for $127.5 million. Rybolovlev subsequently sold the work at auction through Christie’s in 2017 for $450.3 million, a record price for a painting.
At trial, Sotheby’s attorney Sarah Shudovsky told jurors that Rybolovlev was “trying to make innocent parties pay for what others did to him.”
“Sotheby’s knew nothing about those lies,” Shudofsky said. “Sotheby’s had no knowledge of or involvement in any wrongdoing.”
Following Tuesday’s favorable verdict, the auction house said in a statement that the decision “reaffirms Sotheby’s long-standing commitment to upholding the highest standards of integrity, ethics and professionalism in all aspects of the art market. ”.
Sotheby’s said in a statement: “We are grateful for the jury’s verdict, which thoroughly eviscerates all allegations of wrongdoing by Sotheby’s.”
“Throughout the trial, there was a glaring lack of evidence presented by the plaintiffs, and it was clear from the outset that Sotheby’s complied with all legal requirements, financial obligations and industry best practices in these art transactions. Practices were strictly followed.”
“This case achieves our goal of shining a light on the lack of transparency plaguing the art market,” said Rybolovlev’s attorney, Daniel Cornstein, in a statement. It has become difficult to prove that.”
“This decision only highlights the need for reform, and that must happen outside the courtroom,” Cornstein added.
Rybolovlev, who bought the Palm Beach, Fla., mansion from former President Donald Trump in 2008 for $95 million, has settled his claims against Bouvier on undisclosed terms, the art buyer’s lawyers announced last month.
Bouvier’s lawyer said in a statement to The Associated Press earlier this month that the legal claims against Rybolovlev in nine lawsuits filed in Singapore, Hong Kong, New York, Monaco and Geneva “are being pursued by authorities around the world. ” was rejected.