US Judge Rejects Sotheby's Bid To Dismiss Russian Billionaire's Lawsuit Over Art Fraud

NEW YORK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th June, 2019) Sotheby's failed to establish a case to dismiss a $380-million lawsuit undertaken by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev who sued the auction house for helping his art dealer's overcharge him when purchasing works of art, a recently unsealed court document revealed.

"For the reasons stated below, Sotheby's motion to dismiss is largely denied," the court document stated on Tuesday.

Sotheby's argued the lawsuit should be dismissed in New York court because Rybolovlev is already litigating in Switzerland, but US District Judge Jesse Furman said there is no showing that New York is "genuinely inconvenient" or that Switzerland is "significantly preferable" for litigation, according to the court document.

The case is part of multi-year litigation by Rybolovlev against his art dealer Yves Bouvier, who allegedly overcharged him more than $1 billion on 38 masterworks between 2003 and 2015.

Rybolovlev alleged that Sotheby's took part in 14 of those transactions and had been "the willing auction house that knowingly and intentionally made the fraud possible" since it was aware of how much Bouvier was paying the sellers.

The artworks in question include paintings by Gustav Klimt, Amedeo Modigliani and Leonardo da Vinci, for which the plaintiff paid over $400 million between 2011 and 2013.