Tearful Russian billionaire who spent $2 billion on art tells jurors Sotheby's cheated him - eviltoast
A Russian billionaire who accused Sotheby's of teaming up with a Swiss art dealer to cheat him of tens of millions of dollars became tearful while testifying in court and calling for more transparency in the art market
  • mateomaui@reddthat.comEnglish
    761·
    10 months ago

    Only four are at issue in the trial, including Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi, ” Latin for “Savior of the World,” which Rybolovlev’s lawyers say Bouvier bought from Sotheby’s for $83 million, only to resell to Rybolovlev a day later for over $127 million. In 2017, Rybolovlev sold it through Christie’s for a historic $450 million as it became the most expensive painting ever sold at auction.

    By my rough calculations, for this piece:

    $450M - $127M = $323M profit for plaintiff = shut the fuck up

  • BilboBargains@lemmy.worldEnglish
    38·
    10 months ago

    He bought goods for a value that was greater than the value he imagined they would be worth. Isn’t that precisely how one would accumulate billions in the first place, except in reverse?

    • chillhelm@lemmy.worldEnglish
      44·
      10 months ago

      It gets better. He resold one of the paintings in question for a profit of 320 million$. He is suing because his speculative profit wasn’t big enough.

  • rivermonster@lemmy.worldEnglish
    171·
    10 months ago

    It’s frustrating for the super-rich when an extremely popular method of laundering money proves to be filled with shady characters. LMFAO.

      • hamFoilHat@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        Does the second half actually explain how it works? Because the first half, which was all I could read, doesn’t really explain how they get the clean money back.

        • DessertStorms@kbin.social
          31·
          10 months ago

          From another article I found:

          Art money laundering is a process where illegally obtained funds are disguised as legitimate income through purchasing and selling artworks. It works by exploiting the unique features of the art world, such as its lack of regulation, the opacity of transactions, and the high value of art pieces.

          • Purchasing artworks: The first step in art money laundering is to purchase an artwork using illegally obtained funds. This can be done through a shell company or anonymous trust to hide the true owner of the artwork. A work of art purchased from a museum is transported to any freeport or a high-security warehouse near airports. Artwork can be kept here for years without damage. As a result, the work to you disappears out of sight. At this point, free ports make the act of disappearance much easier. In addition, as long as they are kept in the warehouses in these ports, the works of art are considered in transit, and therefore tax is avoided. Artifacts here can be sold privately and anonymously, even without leaving the port.
          • Inflating prices: The launderer may then inflate the price of the artwork through a series of artificial transactions to make it appear as though the artwork has increased in value. At this point, if the buyer is willing to pay high prices, the value of the work can be sold at a much higher price.
          • Hiding ownership: The launderer may also hide the true owner of the artwork by transferring it to another shell company or anonymous trust. This makes it difficult for authorities to trace the ownership of the artwork and the source of its funds.
          • Selling the artwork: The final step in art money laundering is to sell the artwork for its inflated price, effectively disguising the illegal funds as legitimate income.

          Due to the special nature of the works and the transactions taking place, it becomes difficult for governments to monitor and control the sales. The transactions made can be sent to the destination country via many countries by invoicing low values. Transactions across multiple countries make the job even more complex.