A billionaire scion of the French art dealing family, 70-year-old Guy Wildenstein began his trial in France on Monday over charges of tax fraud.and money laundering. French authorities seek a staggering 553 million euros ($602 million) in back taxes from "hidden" estates.

Franco-American Guy Wildenstein is accused of hiding inheritance from his father's estimated $10-billion estate in offshore tax havens. His late stepmother, Silvia, and sister-in-law, Louiba, notified French authorities about the possible tax evasion. Guy's father, the Impressionist art specialist Daniel Wildenstein, died in 2001, and his brother, Alec, succumbed to prostate cancer in 2008.

Louiba, Alec Jr., and three tax lawyers are also defendants. Guy Wildenstein faces 10 years in prison if convicted.

Besides small parts of the estate in France and London, "the whole patrimony of Daniel Wildenstein was held in trusts" located in tax havens like the Bahamas, Guernsey, Nassau or the Cayman Islands, according to court documents.

The art gallery Wildenstein & Co., property in New York, a 66,000-acre ranch in Kenya, a private jet, racehorses and thoroughbreds, and more assets were allegedly part of the "hidden" estate. Wildenstein also owns one of the world's most distinguished private art collections, including works by the likes of Monet, Renoir, Caravaggio, Picasso, Bonnard, Velazquez, Fragonard and Rembrandt.

The New York Times reports that French court documents say the I.R.S. will pursue taxes on $250 million in artwork that the Wildenstein brothers quietly transported from New York when their father lay on his deathbed.