Russian oligarch sues Sotheby’s, saying he was tricked into overpaying millions for art

A Russian billionaire is suing Sotheby’s, claiming the auction house helped an art dealer trick him into paying tens of millions of euros more for art than it was worth.

Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev – who, according to Forbes, has a net worth of $6.4 billion (€5.8 billion) – filed a lawsuit with a New York court against the 280-year-old British auction house, the latest in a long-running legal battle that’s shaken up the art market.

According to court documents, Rybolovlev spent approximately $2 billion (€1.8 billion) over 12 years to acquire a world-class art collection, which included masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci, Gustave Klimt, Auguste Rodin and Amedeo Modigliani.

The lawsuit states that Rybolovlev’s team later discovered the Swiss art dealer who advised him in purchasing the works, Yves Bouvier, had “cheated them by buying the works himself for one price and charging them another price – millions or tens of millions of dollars higher.”

Rybolovlev has already sued Bouvier himself over the matter in Hong Kong, New York, Singapore and Switzerland, claiming he overpaid upwards of $1 billion (€913,000) on 38 pieces because of the scheme. The art dealer denied the accusations, and the pair quietly settled their dispute out of court late last year.

But this new lawsuit alleges that Sotheby’s aided and abetted Bouvier, by inflating the valuations for 16 of the works purchased by Rybolovlev, including Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi,” which went on to become the most expensive artwork ever sold.

One of the artworks Rybolovlev says he overpaid for is Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi,” which later went on to become the most expensive painting ever sold. Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Photo

Sotheby’s denies their involvement in any misconduct, saying the company abided by industry best practices and legal obligations during all the transactions with Rybolovlev.

“Any suggestion that Sotheby’s was aware of the buyer’s alleged misconduct or intention to defraud Mr. Rybolovlev is false,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.

A US district court judge ruled last year that the auction house must face fraud-related claims on four of the works it helped sell to Rybolovlev – “Salvator Mundi”, Modigliani’s sculpture “Tête,” Klimt’s masterpiece “Wasserschlangen II” and René Magritte’s 1962 “Le Domaine d’Arnheim”.

Rybolovlev, who made his fortune in potash fertilizer after the fall of the Soviet Union, bought Da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” in 2013 for $127.5 million, a price that Bouvier told him was agreed after tough negotiations with an unnamed seller, according to court documents.

However, the lawsuit claims “these negotiations never happened,” and that the painting was actually worth around $90 million when Rybolovlev bought it. The lawsuit also claims that Sotheby’s inflated the valuation of the painting in official communications to justify Bouvier’s hefty markup.

Four years later, Rybolovlev sold “Salvator Mundi” for $450 million to Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, at a Christie’s auction in New York. The painting’s whereabouts are now a mystery, and its authenticity has been questioned by many art experts in recent years.

57-year-old Rybolovlev, who owns football club AS Monaco and the Greek island of Skorpios, is not expected to appear in court during the proceedings, which begin in Manhattan on Monday (8 January).