Singapore court has ordered Dimitri Rybolovlev to give $20m guarantee within week in case of damages from his action against Yves Bouvier

— Georgina Adam (@georginaadam) March 27, 2015

The embarrassing spat between eager buyer Dimitri Rybolovlev and sharp operator Yves Bouvier seems to be turning toward Bouvier. After the public spectacle of Bouvier’s arrest in Monaco and the freezing of some of his assets in Singapore, closer examination seems to reveal that Rybolovlev is simply not a sophisticated art buyer. Bouvier was very visible at TEFAF and happy to explain his role as a principal in the transactions. That means Bouvier bought works from willing sellers and then sold them to Rybolovlev at whatever price the Russian was willing to pay.

The additional 2% invoices that Rybolovlev produced, Bouvier told anyone who was curious, were out of pocket expenses related to buying the works including shipping, storage and insurance.