Collector Sasan Ghandehari recently filed a lawsuit against Christie, claiming that the auction house did not inform him that Pablo Picasso’s paintings were owned by someone convicted of being convicted before he bought the job.
according to Financial Timesfirst reported the lawsuit, Brewers Management Company (BMC) guaranteed it would buy Picasso’s Female Dance Joint Swing Chair (1956) If the artwork fails to be sold during the evening sale in Christie, London in February 2023, it will be sold for £14.5 million.
According to Ghandehari, London, the authorized representative of the BMC is the British Virgin Islands. Financial Times. Ghandehari is a venture capitalist who appears in Artnews His wife Yassmin and his wife Yassmin are in the top 200.
The lawsuit was filed on 21 July in the High Courts of England and Wales. Female Dance Joint Swing Chair Owned by José Mestre Sr., also known as José Mestre Fernández, was investigated by the police and sentenced to nine years in prison and found 202 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a 2010 cargo ship and fined 14 million euros.
According to the lawsuit, Christie told Ghandehari that Mestre’s son José Mestre Jr was the owner of the painting at the time of sale, but the BMC said that if the auction house disclosed the drug beliefs of José Mestre Sr. to Ghandehari to Ghandehari, it would never have entered into a third-party guaranteed contract.
The lawsuit calls on Christie to cancel the third-party guarantee contract and refund part of the payment of £4.8 million.
A third-party guarantee allows the guarantor to gain some upside space when the work is sold; if there are no other buyers, the guarantor also agrees to purchase the work. These types of guarantees shift the risk of failure in the sale from the home to the outside parties, which has become increasingly common during the high-profile auction process.
this Financial Times It is noted that Ghandehari previously guaranteed Picassos for sale by Christie’s.
The lawsuit claims Christie’s ownership and source is “positive misleading” Female Dance Joint Swing Chair And it was not disclosed that “it could represent the potential of the proceeds of crime.” The lawsuit also claims that a senior director of the auction house told Ghandehari that Mestre Sr. had passed away and that “everything is on the board” is related to the history of ownership of the painting.
A spokesman for Christie told Artnews“This is a straightforward debt claim, and Christie will firmly defend this claim and continue to pursue the money owed to this requirement. Christie owes its clients, bidders and buyers the confidentiality responsibility, but is confident that it complies with all legal and regulatory obligations to comply with all work and the due diligence of our committee.”
Artnews Contact has been made with the legal team representing BMC and Ghandehari.
