Reuters reports that the battle between the French government and the Wildenstein family is not over. There are numerous contributing factors here. One is the French governments broader crackdown on tax evasion. The other seems to be a deep-seated need to make an example of the Wildenstein family:

The French financial prosecutor’s office said on Friday that it had launched an appeal against an earlier ruling this week to acquit wealthy art dealer Guy Wildenstein and seven others of tax fraud charges.

In a statement, the financial prosecutor’s office said there were valid grounds for an appeal given that “the case had shown a clear intention to evade paying tax”, even if the final ruling had been to acquit the defendants.

French prosecutor appeals against tax fraud acquittal of Wildenstein art-dealer family  (Reuters)