Russian Billionaire Rybolovlev Hits Sotheby's With $380 Million Lawsuit
- October 03, 2018 11:37
Bloomberg's Katya Kazakina reports:
The epic international legal drama that has pitted a Russian billionaire against a Swiss art entrepreneur [Yves Bouvier] took a new turn on Tuesday with Dmitry Rybolovlev slapping Sotheby’s auction house with a $380 million lawsuit in New York.
Rybolovlev accused Yves Bouvier of overcharging him on 38 artworks that he purchased for $2 billion over more than a decade.
Rybolovlev’s companies sued Sotheby’s Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, alleging that the auction house "materially assisted the largest art fraud in history."
The complaint claims: “By brokering sales to Bouvier at certain prices, sending Bouvier emails designed to encourage plaintiffs to pay inflated prices, and misleadingly appraising works at inflated prices, Sotheby’s participated in Bouvier’s breach of his fiduciary duties to plaintiffs."
![A 19th century Seven Piece "Chrysanthemum" Pattern Sterling Silver Coffee & Tea Service, which was exhibited in the Tiffany & Co. booth at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago](/images/c/78/96/Tiffany___Co__Makers_Seven_Piece_"Chrysanthem100x100_c.jpg "A 19th century Seven Piece \"Chrysanthemum\" Pattern Sterling Silver Coffee & Tea Service, which was exhibited in the Tiffany & Co. booth at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago")
_-Closing-the-Distance_100x100_c.jpg "Lot 204: Bob Kuhn (1920–2007),Closing the Distance, 1977, acrylic on masonite, 24 x 48 in, Sold: $409,500")
