The Daily Mail has unearthed more details on the situation with Timothy Sammons who has been the subject of complaints that he sold work for clients without paying them the funds. Sammons is accused of robbing Peter to pay Paul and taking out loans on art in his possession. But the dealer says his failure to pay is simply because his clients don’t understand how slow the art market is.
The Mail went through the papers from a criminal extradition case to the US where charges have been filed:
The criminal indictment follows years of extensive civil proceedings in the High Court and US courts as his clients attempted to recover their money.
In separate legal documents filed in New York, he is accused him of running a ‘Ponzi scheme’, where he convinced art owners he would sell or hold the pieces on their behalf.
The papers allege: ‘Sammons would then sell or borrow against the artworks and use the money for himself and his family including, [at least once], to pay for a jet to travel to a beachfront home in South Africa.’
But Sammons claimed his business made money in ‘three-year cycles’ and suggested his customers simply needed to wait longer to be paid.
‘It wasn’t deliberate, it was just the timing of the business. It didn’t make it possible to do that,’ he added.
Mayfair art dealer could face 25 years behind bars in US (Daily Mail Online)
