Asher Edelman was ordered to pay Emigrant to resolve their dispute over a $3.1m art loan, $2m of which was used to buy Giacometti’s Torse de Femme, according to Reuters:
Justice James Yates of the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan ordered on July 13 that the $559,323 payment be made. The order was made public on Thursday.
“We could have avoided the judgment, but instead invited it,” Edelman said in an interview. “I elected to have the court decide the disputed amount, so I could pay that amount, and return to the more important process of exposing and redressing, in the courts, Emigrant management’s misconduct.”
Citing a senior Emigrant banker, Edelman contended in court papers that Emigrant had “encouraged” him and other borrowers to shorten their loans’ maturity dates, to “assist Emigrant with federal bank regulators” by allowing it to post lower loan reserves.
