A gallery owner and art dealer was found guilty of serious fraud in connection with a metal sculpture by Franz West by the Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Matters on Tuesday. A jury panel sentenced the previously impeccable man to 14 months in prison and to pay 220,000 euros within 14 days to the Palais Kinsky, whose assets had been damaged. The art dealer accepted the verdict, as did the public prosecutor. The decision is therefore final.
According to the court findings, the man had lured the work of art “Lemure” out of the auction house in the summer of 2020 with the intention of deception and damage and presented a false transfer confirmation insofar as the allegedly transferred 30,000 euros “have not arrived to this day”, as the presiding judge in the reasoning for the judgement. “Your account was not covered,” he told the art dealer. Irrespective of this, the latter repeatedly pushed for the release of the “Lemure” by e-mail and stated that a further 340,000 euros would be transferred as soon as the sculpture was in Switzerland.
At the beginning of the hearing, defense attorney Markus Machan spoke of a “genuine transfer confirmation” which “unfortunately might not be carried out”. His client and the auction house had a long-term business relationship, he repeatedly brought works of art – including the “Lemure” – up for auction and was even granted 1.1 million euros in advance payments for auctions and reference projects.
However, the auctions then generated much lower proceeds than desired or assumed for the art dealer, Machan explained: “That was completely incomprehensible to him.” The defendant was therefore convinced that he might obtain a better price for the “Lemure” in Switzerland on his own. A long-standing customer of the art dealer should definitely have had it.
Fake bank transfer receipt
However, the renowned Viennese auction house insisted that the sculpture would be sold to the man or woman themselves, as agreed. According to the indictment, the art dealer then accused Palais Kinsky of having already transferred 30,000 euros for the delivery of the “Lemure”. The other 340,000 euros are already in his account.
In fact, on September 10, 2020, a forwarding agency delivered the “Lemure” to Switzerland – according to the prosecutor, however, the transfer receipt for the 30,000 euros sent by the defendant turned out to be fake. And one waited in vain for the promised 340,000 in the Palais Kinsky. The auction house therefore finally filed a civil lawsuit with the Vienna Commercial Court for damages. The art dealer promised an out-of-court solution, for which a work by Sigmar Polke (“Untitled”) was sold for 122,180 euros, well below the estimated value of 150,000 euros and the 475,000 euros expected by the accused.
insolvency
The man finally agreed to an out-of-court settlement with the Palais Kinsky, in which he undertook to pay 247,000 euros and assume the costs. However, he was no longer able to meet this payment obligation because – according to his account – as a result of the corona pandemic and canceled events – his business slipped into insolvency, so that he ended up before the criminal court. The Palais Kinsky joined the criminal proceedings as a private party – and was awarded 220,000 euros. From the damage caused of 370,000 euros – the value of the West sculpture – the estimated value of the Polke work was deducted by the court, the proceeds of which went to the auction house. (apa)