The Russian billionaire who accused Sotheby’s of collaborating with a Swiss art dealer to defraud him of tens of millions of dollars said Friday that he was participating in a game of fraud that is all too common in an art market in need. “It turned out to be true,” she said, crying as she testified. Please be more transparent. ”
The emotional moment came as fertilizer magnate Dmitry Rybolovlev concluded two days of testimony, mediated by an interpreter, in federal court in Manhattan in support of his lawsuit against Sotheby’s.
Once worth at least $7 billion, Rybolovlev said he trusted his dealer, Yves Bouvier.
“So when you trust someone, and I’m not one to trust easily, but when that person is like a member of your family,” Rybolovlev said, bowing slightly before wiping tears from his eyes. He continued: At some point, one begins to trust others completely and completely. ”
Rybolovlev is trying to hold Sotheby’s accountable for what his lawyers say was a loss of more than $160 million. His lawyers said Bouvier obtained the money by buying famous art from Sotheby’s and selling it to Rybolovlev at an inflated price. Mr. Rybolovlev spent a total of approximately $2 billion on art from 2002 to his 2014 to build his collection of world-class art.
Sotheby’s lawyers said in cross-examination that Mr. Rybolovlev trusted his advisers and was able to show exactly where his money went, even when he bought art, sometimes worth tens of millions of dollars. He was made to admit that he did not request to see sexually explicit documents.
In his testimony, Rybolovlev blamed opaque practices in the elite art world for hurting him financially.
“Because when the biggest company in the industry with such a great reputation does something like this, it makes it very difficult for clients like me, who have business experience, to know what’s going on. “Sotheby’s is one way or the other,” he said, supporting his lawyers’ argument that Sotheby’s was one or the other. He knew, or should have known, that Rybolovlev was being deceived and informed him.
When asked by his lawyer why he was suing Sotheby’s, Rybolovlev said: Well, it’s not just about money. It is important to increase transparency in the art market. Because…when the biggest companies in the industry engage in this kind of behavior, our clients don’t stand a chance. ”
In opening statements earlier this week, Sotheby’s attorney Sarah Shudovsky said Rybolovlev was “trying to make innocent parties pay for what others did to him.”
Rybolovlev’s lawyer, Daniel Cornstein, said in an opening statement that Sotheby’s had engaged in an elaborate fraud.
“Sotheby’s had a choice, but they chose greed,” he said.
Rybolovlev claims he was deliberately deceived by Bouvier and London-based Sotheby’s executives when he purchased 38 works of art.
Only four items are at issue in the trial, including Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” (meaning “Savior of the World” in Latin), and Rybolovlev’s lawyers said Bouvier He bought it from Sotheby’s for $83 million and resold it to Rybolovlev a day later for a higher price. In 2017, Rybolovlev sold the painting through Christie’s for a historic $450 million, making it the most expensive painting ever sold at auction.
In December, Bouvier’s lawyers announced that he had settled with Rybolovlev on nondisclosure terms that ensured that neither would comment on past disputes.
Bouvier’s Swiss lawyers David Bitton and Yves Klein said earlier this week that Bouvier “strongly opposes any charges of fraud.”
They said the charges against Bouvier in New York had been dismissed “by authorities around the world,” and all nine cases filed against him in Singapore, Hong Kong, New York, Monaco and Geneva, Switzerland, had been discontinued. .
In 2018, Rybolovlev was included in a list released by the Trump administration of 114 Russian politicians and oligarchs with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But he is not on the list of Russian oligarchs sanctioned after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, and Mr. Cornstein told jurors that his client studied medicine and became a cardiologist. However, he said he has not lived in Russia for the past 30 years.
