{"id":50447,"date":"2024-02-05T21:00:32","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T02:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/?p=50447"},"modified":"2024-02-05T21:00:32","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T02:00:32","slug":"the-bouvier-affair-sothebys-cleared-in-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2024\/02\/the-bouvier-affair-sothebys-cleared-in-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bouvier Affair: Sotheby’s Cleared In Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The final act of the decade-long Bouvier Affair has come to an end. The series of legal actions by Russian billionaire Dmitri Rybolovlev against the Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier ended in December 2023. However, there was still the matter of Rybolovlev\u2019s lawsuit against Sotheby\u2019s for allegedly aiding and abetting Bouvier in his supposed fraud. After a 21-day trial, a federal jury in New York took five hours to find Sotheby\u2019s not liable for Rybolovlev\u2019s damages.<\/span><\/p>\n

The original feud between Rybolovlev and Bouvier started in 2017 when the Russian oligarch alleged that Bouvier had worked as his agent in amassing an impressive art collection. The Swiss dealer acquired thirty-eight artworks for around $2 billion on Rybolovlev\u2019s behalf between 2002 and 2014. The most well-known piece was\u00a0<\/span>Salvator Mundi<\/span><\/em>\u00a0by Leonardo da Vinci, which later sold at Christie\u2019s for $400 million (or $450.3 million w\/p), becoming the most valuable painting in the world. Rybolovlev accused Bouvier of defrauding him of over $1 billion, and, in some cases, Sotheby\u2019s helped him do it. Sotheby\u2019s, of course, has denied this, asserting that it obeyed \u201call legal requirements, financial obligations, and industry best practices during the transactions of these artworks\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Salvator Mundi<\/span><\/em>\u00a0took a central role during the trial, as it is the most well-known of the four paintings Bouvier bought at Sotheby\u2019s, which he later sold to Rybolovlev. Bouvier purchased the work in 2013 for $83 million, turning around and selling it to the Russian billionaire for $127.5 million. Rybolovlev claims that Bouvier legally could not charge such large markups since he acted as his agent. However, Bouvier asserted that he acted as a dealer independent of Rybolovlev and could sell paintings for whatever price he wished. Sotheby\u2019s stated that Bouvier was the only buyer to their knowledge and that whatever he did with the paintings afterward was none of their business. Sotheby\u2019s lawyers even argued that Rybolovlev was at fault here\u00a0<\/span>for failing to do his due diligence<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and protect himself against predatory practices. In his lawsuit, however, Rybolovlev alleges that Sotheby\u2019s was aware of Bouvier\u2019s scheme and did nothing to prevent it. Rybolovlev\u2019s legal team presented some evidence that Sotheby\u2019s may have known him to be the final buyer since Sotheby\u2019s specialist Samuel Valette viewed Salvator Mundi with both Bouvier and Rybolovlev before the purchase at the Russian oligarch\u2019s Manhattan apartment. When called to testify, Valette stated that he did not connect Rybolovlev\u2019s presence there to Bouvier buying the painting on his behalf. Rybolovlev further argued that Sotheby\u2019s purposefully inflated their estimate ranges and insurance valuations to hide Bouvier\u2019s markups.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sotheby\u2019s did acknowledge that Rybolovlev seems to have been taken advantage of but that it was not the auction house\u2019s burden. Furthermore, Rybolovlev and his legal team have found a silver lining to this outcome despite the loss. They say that whether they won or not, the trial allowed the public a short glimpse into the inner workings of the art world, which are often intentionally wrapped up in secrecy. Rybolovlev\u2019s lawyer, Daniel Kornstein, stated that the art market\u2019s \u201clack of transparency\u201d made their case so difficult to make in the first place.<\/span><\/p>\n

For previous updates on the Bouvier Affair:<\/p>\n