Top 10 – Art Scandals

Dec 24, 2016
by News Desk

3. Wildenstein: Tales From The Vault

 

Wildenstein who is president of one of the oldest and most prestigious art galleries in the world stands accused of not paying death duties on the estate of his father in France. Instead, the estate was hidden in off-shore accounts in Guernsey and the Cayman Islands.  Wildenstein was ordered to pay €20m  (far less than the original €75 million) by Judge Guillaume Daïeff which would guarantee payment past taxes and penalties in case of a conviction. Guy Wildenstein, the billionaire art dealer has also been formally accused of “receiving fraudulently obtained goods”  after 30  paintings and sculptures, worth several hundred million dollars, were discovered in his Paris Institute in a locked storage room. Some had been missing for decades. Many are believed to have been looted by the Nazis and are listed on the Art Loss Register.