Prosecutor in Geneva Drops Criminal Inquiry in $2 Billion Art Dispute

In the Geneva case, where he also faced charges including fraud and money laundering, the prosecutor cited the Monaco finding, saying it meant he would be denied the right to a fair trial in Geneva, too. The ruling said that the courts in Monaco had found that “the complainants had interfered constantly and inadmissibly in the course of the investigation, thus depriving Yves Bouvier” of the right to a fair trial. Much of the evidence to be used in Geneva was produced by the same investigation.

The decision was signed by Yves Bertossa of the Geneva prosecutor’s office, on Wednesday, and received by Mr. Bouvier’s representatives on Thursday. His representatives released the ruling publicly Friday, and it was confirmed by a representative for Mr. Rybolovlev.

The decision also discussed the core issue of whether Mr. Bouvier had been acting as an agent or a dealer in his own right, finding that the accusations of fraud were “contradicted by many elements.”

Some of the early acquisitions involved sales contracts, suggesting Mr. Bouvier was acting as the owner of the art and not just an agent, and there was nothing that indicated the two men had changed the formal nature of their legal relationship after these first sales, the prosecutor’s office said in the ruling.

In addition, the 2 percent commission Mr. Rybolovlev paid is significantly lower than the commission typically charged by other intermediaries such as auction houses, the prosecutor’s office said — while Mr. Bouvier also performed services beyond those of a typical agent, such as guaranteeing the authenticity of the work, it said in the ruling.

On the other hand, emails between Mr. Bouvier and Mr. Rybolovlev suggested he was presenting himself as an agent, it said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/arts/design/yves-bouvier-dmitry-rybolovlev-geneva.html