Swiss art dealer and Russian oligarch settle feud over collection

Bouvier – pictured above in 2015 – claims that Rybolovlev’s accusations have destroyed his international art business. Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

The case involving Yves Bouvier and Dmitry Rybolovlev has shone a spotlight on the controversial role of freeports in Europe.

Billionaire art dealer Yves Bouvier has settled a criminal dispute in Switzerland with the Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev, resolving one of the biggest and most acrimonious disputes in art market history.

Rybolovlev, one of Bouvier’s former clients, accused the Swiss businessman in 2015 of systematically overinflating the value of €2 billion (CHF1.9 billion) of art he had sold him – a 38-painting collection of masterpieces that included Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Salvator Mundi’.

The oligarch subsequently launched a barrage of lawsuits around the globe, including criminal cases against Bouvier in Monaco, France and Switzerland.

The cases have gradually been dropped or settled.

In Monaco, charges of fraud and money laundering against Bouvier unravelled in 2019 after leaked offshore databases revealed Rybolovlev had been allegedly bribing Monegasque government officials, including the justice minister. Monaco prosecutors have indicted the oligarch with influence peddling and corruption. Rybolovlev’s French lawyer disputed the allegations and stressed that his client was innocent until proven guilty.*

The Swiss case was the last criminal case outstanding against Bouvier.

“On 20 November the parties informed the Public Prosecutor’s Office that they had reached an agreement,” the prosecutor of Geneva said on Thursday. “The parties requested that no further action be taken in the criminal proceedings and indicated that they would not be opposed to the case being closed.”

As part of the settlement, a civil case against Bouvier in Singapore will also be terminated.

No other details of the settlement were made public.

“Today marks the end of a nine-year nightmare,” Bouvier said. “Courts all around the world have now unanimously concluded that I was innocent.”

Rybolovlev’s Swiss lawyer, Sandrine Giroud said: “The parties have reached a confidential settlement concerning all their disputes that involved proceedings in various jurisdictions. They have no claims against each other and will refrain from commenting on their past disputes.”

Bouvier, who made his fortune by turning freeports – long-established in Switzerland – into a vehicle for participants in the international art market to aggressively limit their tax bills, previously said he was seeking damages of up to €2bn from Rybolovlev.

The accusations have destroyed his international art business, Bouvier has claimed.

A lawsuit launched by Rybolovlev against Sotheby’s, the auction house, is not part of the settlement.

The Russian is seeking damages of $380 million (CHF332 million) from Sotheby’s, which he accused of facilitating valuations by Bouvier. The trial is set to begin in New York in January.

The long-running dispute between the two billionaires has shone a rare spotlight on the secretive international art market, exposing the vast sums that change hands, for the shakiest of valuations, often in an opaque manner, with middle men frequently able to pocket tens of millions on each transaction.

The use of freeports to store valuable art – which shield it from taxation – has also come under particular scrutiny.

EU parliamentarians called for freeports to be urgently phased out in law in 2020, after a damning report, informed in part by details of the Rybolovlev-Bouvier dispute, said the facilities were being used as huge conduits for international money laundering.

* This article has been amended to include a denial by Rybolovlev’s lawyer relating to the investigation in Monaco against him. Rybolovlev is a suspect who has not yet been formally indicted by a court in that investigation.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023