Russian billionaire loses art fraud suit against Sotheby's over $160 million
A Russian billionaire art collector lost a legal fight with Sotheby’s on Tuesday, when a U.S. jury sided with the auction house in a lawsuit over claims that the businessman was ripped off while assembling a trove of works that included a famous painting known as “the lost Leonardo.”
A federal jury deliberated for a few hours before reaching a decision in Dmitry Rybolovlev's, The New York Times reported. The fertilizer titan alleged that the auction house helped a art dealer cheat him out of over $160 million by quietly imposing huge markups on works that he acquired. Tearing up when he testified earlier this month, he said he'd not only lost money but trust.
