Three houses sell $31m; Angela Gulbenkian draws criminal charges; Christie's Amsterdam has strong $8.7m PWC sale

This commentary by Marion Maneker is available to AMMpro subscribers. (The first month of AMMpro is free and subscribers are welcome to sign up for the first month and cancel before they are billed.)

Gulbenkian Dodges Judgment, Faces Criminal Charge

Last June, Josh Baer’s BaerFaxt newsletter alerted readers to concerns about doing business with Angela Gulbenkian. Not long after it came out that the art advisor who is married to Calouste Gulbenkian’s great-grand-nephew was involved in a business deal where she took payment for a Yayoi Kusama sculpture but failed to deliver it. Today, Katya Kazakina revealed that criminal charges have now been filed after Gulbenkian failed to provide a defense for civil claims or deliver the sculpture long after the issue became public:

• “Gulbenkian was charged with two counts of theft, one relating to the sale of a sculpture between April 2017 and December 2018, London police said in a statement. The thefts total 1.1 million pounds ($1.4 million), according to an official at Westminster Magistrates Court where she has a summons to appear May 28 after being charged through the mail.”

In Baer’s original report, he cites three attempts on Gulbenkian’s part to engage in deals that the counter-parties found suspicious. A later comment ups the number to six based upon additional reader comment.