On 15 January 2021, the Supreme Court handed down judgment in the Covid-19 Business Interruption Insurance (“BII”) test case of The Financial Conduct Authority v… Read More »Boost for galleries in relation to COVID-related insurance pay-outs
On 22 September 2020, Erdal Dere and Faisal Khan of Fortuna Fine Arts Ltd (‘Fortuna’) in New York were arrested. They are alleged to have… Read More »New York art dealers charged with fabricating provenance information and impersonating deceased collectors
In a recent decision (Hickox v Dickinson[1]), the London High Court called into question the sanctity of the art market’s long-standing tradition of confidentiality. The… Read More »Equity v Market Custom: High Court Orders Disclosure about Signac Painting
On 15 September 2020, the High Court handed down judgment in the COVID-19 Business Interruption Insurance test case brought by the FCA. Policies under review… Read More »Galleries to qualify for COVID pay-out from insurers
The Court of Appeal recently handed down judgment in the case of Prince Eze v Conway,[1] another case on agents and secret commissions. The case… Read More »Double Agents
On 27 February 2017, a New York State Court[1] held that Lisa Jacobs, a fine art dealer and private curator, breached the fiduciary duties she… Read More »Faithless Servants and the Law: Fine Art Dealers Beware
Last month, collectors Domenico and Eleanore De Sole settled their claims against the now defunct Knoedler Gallery and its former president and director, Ann Freedman.… Read More »De Sole v. Knoedler Gallery – A Field of Red Flags
Earlier this year, we wrote about the claim brought by Dallas art collector, Marguerite Hoffman, against three defendants, L&M Arts, Studio Capital and David Martinez.… Read More »Rothko Revisited
When, in 2007, Marguerite Hoffman, a prominent Dallas art collector, decided to sell a major painting by Mark Rothko (Untitled, 1961), she insisted on confidentiality. … Read More »The Price of Confidentiality
An increasing number of dealers in art and antiques are making sales online. Whilst legal principles relevant to the sale of goods in person apply… Read More »Online Trading – Art Dealers Beware
The payment of bribes to foreign customs officials to facilitate the importation of goods in a foreign country has recently been in the spotlight after the Ralph Lauren Corporation made facilitation payments to Argentinian customs officials in connection with the importation of goods into the country.
On 22 April 2013, it was reported that the Ralph Lauren Corporation (a US company) would pay over USD 1.6 million to US authorities as part of a settlement for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. This followed the discovery that the Argentinian subsidiary of the corporation paid bribes and made gifts to Argentinian customs officials between 2005 and 2009, to ensure that goods were imported into the country without inspection and without necessary paperwork. The corporation discovered the misconduct during an internal review and promptly reported it to the regulators. As a result of its co-operation with the authorities, the Ralph Lauren Corporation has not been charged with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Read More »Crack down on Bribery: a warning to galleries and dealers
You may regard yourself as an art collector. Occasionally you may sell an artwork or two. You expect to be taxed on those sales as… Read More »The Fine Line between Collecting and Dealing
New legislation is introduced in New York requiring galleries to hold sale proceeds owed to artists on a separate account. Galleries do not always segregate… Read More »Segregating sale proceeds owed to artists
