Three and a half years imprisonment for Angela Gulbenkian, who traded in masterpieces to which she had no access. But that could not be all.
The Munich art dealer Angela Gulbenkian was sentenced on Wednesday by a London court to three and a half years imprisonment for theft. She brought customers more than 1.3 million euros by making them pay for works of art to which they had no access. The most spectacular object with which she acted fraudulently in this way was a huge, 81 kilogram heavy, black-spotted pumpkin by the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (The Gropius Bau in Berlin is currently honoring them with a comprehensive retrospective). The Bogenhauserin had also claimed without any basis that the former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn would have wanted to sell it.
Angela Gulbenkian née Ischwang apparently used the money to finance a luxurious lifestyle that she and her husband enjoyed – including renting a private jet. This was also discussed in court. Her husband is closely related to the legendary, deceased art collector, billionaire and founder of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation of the same name. Accordingly, the name has an excellent sound in collectors’ circles.
Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin can currently be seen in Berlin’s Martin Gropius Bau. Angela Gulbenkian tried to deal with a similar object.
(Photo: Adam Berry / Getty Images)
It was to be expected that Gulbenkian’s conviction would come this week. At the beginning of the month, the 40-year-old had already admitted her guilt and thus the theft of 1,111,484 pounds in two cases. In the summer of 2020, the long-term arrest warrant was arrested when she entered Portugal from Germany. She was extradited to London in December.
The lawyer Hannes Hartung, who represents other Gulbenkian victims of fraud in Germany, believes that this will not be Gulbenkian’s last conviction. “We represent a German victim who accuses Gulbenkian of having swindled 75,000 euros as a loan, which she never intended to repay.” In London, Gulbenkian has already been convicted of a similar fraud. The victim was a young trainer who Gulbenkian had met in a gym. The Munich resident had promised to invest her money securely and profitably in art. Until a new conviction, however, the presumption of innocence also applies in the new German case.