Displaying items by tag: Lawsuit

A widely watched lawsuit between a billionaire and top art tycoon has expanded to include one of the most private and powerful families in the art world.

Last week, a judge granted a motion by billionaire financier Ronald O. Perelman to depose members of the Mugrabi family as part of a lawsuit between Perelman and art megadealer Larry Gagosian. According to people familiar with the case, the depositions are scheduled for September and could delve into the financial relationships and dealings between the Mugrabis and Gagosian.

Photographer David LaChapelle claims in court that his fired manager owes him more than $2.8 million from sales of his work. LaChapelle and David LaChapelle Studios sued Fred Torres, Fred Torres Collaborations (FTC) and Fine Art Accounts, on Aug. 8 in New York State Supreme Court.

LaChapelle described himself in the complaint as "a world renowned photographer and director whose career spans three decades," whose work has appeared in Vanity Fair, French Vogue, Italian Vogue, GQ and Rolling Stone."

He has done portraits of Elizabeth Taylor, Muhammad Ali, Madonna, Hillary Clinton, Eminem and Leonardo DiCaprio, and directed music videos for Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Elton John, according to the lawsuit.

Back in February 2011 ArtLyst reported that the disgraced international art dealer Helly Nahmad was in possession of a $20m painting by Amedeo Modigliani, "Seated Man with a Cane" (1918) that had allegedly been stolen by the Nazis from Oscar Stettiner, a prominent Paris gallerist. In 1939. Stettiner escaped Paris leaving the painting behind. The work was confiscated by Marcel Philippon, who was appointed by the Nazis to sell the Stettiner property.

The Nahmad family is now being sued by relatives of the descendants of Oscar Stettiner the original owner of the masterpiece. Helly Nahmad who is currently serving a prison sentence of 366 days as punishment for his involvement in a Russian mob linked, high-stakes gambling ring was, needless to say, unavailable for comment. He was arrested in 2013 as part of an inquiry into illegal gaming promoted as private parties for high net worth individuals including film stars, professional athletes and bank bosses.

Eva Beuys, the widow of Joseph Beuys has changed her tune about the trio of artists who used the remnants of her late husband’s Fettecke (1982) to make schnapps.

Despite telling Bild on Wednesday that she had no interest in pursuing legal action against the artists—Markus Löffler, Andree Korpys, and Dieter Schmal—she has now retained the services of German art lawyer extraordinaire, Peter Raue.

Further details have emerged in the case against Helge Achenbach, the leading German art advisor who was arrested on 10 June on suspicion of fraud. According to the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, which cites the 24-page criminal complaint, Achenbach is accused of allegedly defrauding the late Aldi-supermarket heir and art collector Berthold Albrecht of €18m. There is also “early suspicion” that Achenbach allegedly defrauded another client, says Anette Milk, the senior public prosecutor in Essen.

A valuation of the Albrecht’s estate following his death two years ago raised concerns, and the collector’s heirs filed a complaint with the state prosecutor’s office in Essen, in April.

When the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington — one of the nation’s oldest privately supported museums — announced in May that its artwork, landmark building and venerable school would be taken over by the National Gallery of Art and George Washington University, the arrangement was presented as a done deal.

But on Wednesday, a group of museum donors, current and former students, and former faculty and staff members went to court to try to block the dismantling of the Corcoran, saying it would violate the 1869 deed and the charter of the museum’s founder, William W. Corcoran, a banker who gave his art for the “perpetual establishment and maintenance of a public gallery and museum” to promote painting, sculpture and other fine arts. The opponents, members of a group called Save the Corcoran, contend in court papers that museum trustees want to “commit the gravest form of fiduciary breach: to destroy the very institution they are charged with protecting.”

The trial continued Thursday in a lawsuit brought by three trustees of the Robert Rauschenberg Revocable Trust, who are suing the artist's foundation for $60 million in fees for services rendered.

The worth of Rauschenberg's work was again the focus.

The trustees are Bennet Grutman, who was also Rauschenberg's accountant; Darryl Pottorf, close friend and companion and executor of the artist's will; and Bill Goldston, who partnered with the artist for a fine art print publishing company.

Twelve old master paintings worth an estimated €4 million ($5.5 million) have been returned to the Museo Nazionale San Matteo di Pisa (National Museum of San Matteo, Pisa), according to the AGI. The works were missing from the museum for over ten years. Yet, for most of the time, no one even knew to look for them.

Dario Matteoni, the museum’s new director, spearheaded an investigation into the museum’s inventory last year. The museum then discovered that 12 paintings, which had been sent to a restorer in the city of Lucca in 2002 never returned. That restorer is reported to have been paid approximately €31,000 for his work on a total of 17 canvases for the museum.

The long-running legal dispute over the Norton Simon Museum's 16th century "Adam" and "Eve" paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder took a turn on Friday when a federal appeals court reversed a 2012 decision from a lower court that had dismissed plaintiff Marei Von Saher's claims on the valuable works of art.

The 9th Circuit Court ruled 2-to-1 to reverse U.S. District Judge John Walter's dismissal of Von Saher's suit. Von Saher, who currently resides in New York, will now be able to resume her claim on the paintings in district court.