Tuesday, April 12th, 2016...9:21 pm
Freeports and secret accounts in the art world
Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi painted for Louis XII of France between 1506-13, terribly restored and sold to Dmitry Rybolovlev by Yves Bouvier.
A Nazi-looted Modigliani was seized from the Geneva Freeport in the collection of Edmond Safra’s cousin David Nahmad. That heaven of anonymity was also the site of the “Bouvier affair,” an art world scandal involving an art handler turned dealer, a Russian oligarch, secret bank accounts, and even a Leonardo.
Yves Bouvier, “the king of the freeports,” was arrested in Monaco in 2015 charged with fraud and money laundering. According to The Wall Street Journal, HSBC is being investigated for issuing false documentation to help the case against Bouvier. Allegations of stolen Picassos from the painter’s daughter have been questioned when payment for the pieces appeared in Lichtenstein trust. U.S. prosecutors have opened an investigation.
Bouvier’s Pôle R4, Île Seguin (Seguin Island) is scheduled to open next year.
The New Yorker: “The Bouvier Affair” (article from February) click
Full disclosure? Department of Justice inquiry – No regulation on the art market – Bloomberg (click)
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