The Art Newspaper ferreted around in the courthouse to get these early maneuverings in the restitution case surrounding Modigliani’s Seated Man with a Cane:

In court papers, the Nahmads’ legal team says instead that an organisation called the International Art Center (IAC) possesses the piece and that “Helly Nahmad Gallery never owned the painting [which] is not in New York State… the plaintiff has sued the wrong defendant.”

But lawyers for Philippe Maestracci, who is claiming Modigliani’s Seated Man with a Cane, contend that the “International Art Center is an offshore entity used by the Nahmad defendants as an instrumentality to hold their interests in works, around 90% of which are held in an art storage facility at the free port of Geneva.”

We Don’t Own That Modigliani (The Art Newspaper)