Dmitriy Rybolovlev, once a fertilizer tycoon and now owner of the AS Monaco football club and many, many others, calls his case the “biggest art fraud in history.” But the legal war he fought over this is certainly one of the longest ever waged in the art world. For nine years, Rybolovlev sat in courtrooms in Switzerland, Monaco, Hong Kong and Singapore, often, observers say, with tears in his eyes. But now it’s probably time for him to give up. His most recent trial, this time against Sotheby’s, ended on Tuesday in New York with another defeat: “Not guilty,” the jury decided. This also dashed the hopes of many that the procedure could help force the art market, which almost invites cheating, fraud and money laundering, to become more transparent.
In the dispute over alleged art fraud, Dmitrij Rybolovlev loses again in court – Culture
