Displaying items by tag: art advisor

The UK is fighting to keep a Paul Cézanne landscape painting in the country following its sale for £13.5 million ($20.5 million) at Christie's London during its $222.8 million Impressionist and modern art sale in February.

At the auction, "Vue sur L'Estaque et Le Château d'If" (1883–85) barely topped its pre-sale estimate of £8–12 million ($13–19 million), and was sold to Nancy Whyte, an American art advisor.

Following a trial that was prominently covered in the German press due to its illustrious protagonists, particularly the heirs of billionaire Berthold Albrecht, one of the founders of the German discount supermarket chain Aldi, German art consultant Helge Achenbach was found guilty of fraud by the District Court in Essen and sentenced to six years in prison on Monday.

The 62- year old used to be one of Germany’s most influential art consultants, entertaining long-term business relationships with some of the country’s wealthiest collectors. Berthold Albrecht, who passed in 2012, was one of his most important clients. Achenbach had repeatedly inflated the net purchase prices for art works and vintage cars he procured for Albrecht and other clients.

Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev had decided to send off a tough 2014 in New York City. The Monaco-based billionaire had been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons after a Swiss judge awarded his ex-wife Elena $4.5 billion in their seven-year divorce battle. An avid art collector, Rybolovlev decided to spend New Year’s Eve with Sandy Heller, Steve Cohen’s well-known art advisor. As they exchanged war stories, one particular tale made his jaw drop: it was about a beautiful "Nude" by Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani that Cohen sold for a juicy $93.5 million to a mystery buyer. What Heller didn’t know was that behind the veil of anonymity stood Rybolovlev, fuming internally on that December 31. Rybolovlev had paid his trusted friend and art broker Yves Bouvier $118 million for the piece, more than $22 million above what he just found out the market value should’ve been, including the fee.

A district court in Düsseldorf ruled on Tuesday that German art adviser Helge Achenbach must pay €19.4 million in damages to the heirs of Aldi Supermarket heir Berthold Albrecht, the DPA reports. The ruling culminates a civil court case brought against Achenbach following allegations that he defrauded Albrecht of up to €23 million (see Fraud Claim Against Art Adviser). The art adviser is also part of a criminal trial, taking place in Essen. He has confessed to portions of the allegations (see Achenbach Gives Surprise Partial-Confession in Fraud Case and Achenbach Confesses to Yet More Fraud).

Meanwhile, German auction house Van Ham has won the rights to sell artworks still owned by the adviser's bankrupt company, Achenbach Art Consulting.

The Malaysian curator and art advisor Adeline Ooi has been appointed Art Basel's director Asia. Ooi, who has been Art Basel's VIP relations manager for Southeast Asia for the past two years, takes up the post next month, and will help deliver the third edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong next spring (15-17 March).

Ooi co-founded the Kuala Lumpur-based consultancy RogueArt in 2009, which focuses on cultural projects, exhibitions and publications, and advises corporate collections about sourcing works.

It will be a busy day for the first hearing of a lawsuit that has rocked the German art world. On 11 November, the Düsseldorf district court is due to hear the €19m fraud case of the Albrecht family against the art adviser Helge Achenbach, and only 30 minutes later, the case of Achenbach’s wife, who is counter-suing the Albrecht family.

Museums that were loaned works by the bankrupt art advisory firm belonging to imprisoned art advisor Helge Achenbach may keep the works in their collections as long as existent contracts are honored, Monopol reports.

The announcement was made by the preliminary administrator Marc D’Avoine on Monday. He declined to divulge the number of works currently on loan to or which specific works were involved.

A second plaintiff has come forward with a fraud claim against Germany’s most prominent art advisor, Helge Achenbach, according to the Handelsblatt. The state prosecutor, Anette Milk would only confirm on Thursday that a second claimant had been registered but would not disclose his or her name. The paper reports, however, that the claimant is Bernd Viehof, the billionaire son of Allkauf founder Eugen Viehof.

According to the report, Viehof was allegedly defrauded of between €1.5–2.5 million ($2–3.3 million) during the purchase of one or more artworks by George Baselitz.

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.