| Auction
House Sotheby Beat
Russian Oligarch In
Art Fraud Trial Now
Notice of $109545
Costs
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 2 – Sotheby's
defrauded two British Virgin
Islands companies controlled
by Russian oligarch Dmitry
Rybolovlev, the companies
alleged in a lawsuit in the
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
that Inner City Press first
reported on in 2020. It
involved inflated art prices.
On July 15, 2020
SDNY Judge Jesse M. Furman
held a proceeding. Inner City
Press covered it.
Judge Furman
ordered that defendants "shall
submit a copy of the
settlement agreement by email
to the Court for in camera
review."
Jump cut to
January 4, 2024, the Thursday
before a Monday trial to last
the rest of the month.
Plaintiff's counsel argued to
have the BVI company, Accent
Delight International, listed
in the Sotheby's opening
demonstratives, and that no
reference be made to
Rybolovlev's "lieutenant,"
saying that term connotes
organized crime.
Judge Furman
denied the motion, saying it
mostly connotes the military.
On January 8,
Inner City Press live tweeted
the opening statements, here
On Saturday
January 13 Rybolovlev's
lawyers filed that "the Court should
preclude hearsay testimony
from Samuel Valette and Alex
Bell about what the sellers of
the Modigliani Tête and Da
Vinci Salvator Mundi allegedly
said to them about their
motivations for selling the
works or accepting the prices
Bouvier offered." Letter on
Patreon here
On January 30,
the jury came back with a
verdict for Sotheby's (not
liable for aiding and
abetting) on all four counts.
On May 2, 2024,
this: "TAXATION OF COSTS as to
[713] Bill of Costs Notice of
Taxation. Costs are taxed on
5/2/2024 in favor of Sotheby's
and Sotheby's Inc. against
Accent Delight International
Ltd. in the amount of
$109,544.69. Done on
submission. Objection filed."
More on Substack here
***
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