Bouvier Affair

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Yves Bouvier Yves Bouvier (cropped).jpg
Yves Bouvier

The Bouvier Affair was a number of international lawsuits that started in 2015, and subsequent events. The lawsuits, initiated by Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev, [1] allege that Swiss art shipper and dealer Yves Bouvier defrauded him by misrepresenting the original cost of art works and subsequently overcharging them. [2] The affair has played out in courts in Monaco, Switzerland, France, the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Contents

Since beginning legal proceedings against Bouvier in 2015, authorities have dismissed lawsuits filed by Rybolovlev in Singapore, Hong Kong, New York, Monaco, and Geneva. [3] The US has also dropped its investigations into Bouvier. [4]

In December 2023, the Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office closed the criminal investigation against Bouvier, citing that it did not find "any evidence allowing sufficient suspicion to be raised against the defendants (Bouvier)." [5]

In the same month, both parties reached an agreement and set aside all their remaining legal disputes in all jurisdictions. The settlement was described by Bouvier's lawyers as a "complete victory." [6]

Rybolovlev, who initiated the lawsuits against Bouvier, has since been under criminal investigations in Monaco, Switzerland, and France in relation to the case. In Monaco, he was arrested and investigated for allegedly instrumentalizing and corrupting public officials to influence the case against Bouvier. [7]

Background

Prior fraud allegations

Before 2015, Bouvier was primarily known in the market as a leading art dealer [8] and curator through his company, Natural Le Coultre, and as a major shareholder and promoter of the freeport concept.

Lorette Shefner

In 2008, Bouvier became embroiled in a legal case involving Lorette Shefner, a Canadian collector. Shefner's family claims that she was the victim of a complex fraud, whereby she was persuaded to sell a Soutine painting called Le Bœuf écorché at a price far below market value, only to see the work later sold to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. for a much higher price. [9] [10] Although Bouvier is not the primary defendant, court documents from 2013 accuse him of having acted "in concert" with several experts "to disguise the true ownership" of pieces of art in order to defraud the Shefner estate. [11]

Wolfgang Beltracchi forgery scandal

In 2013, it was revealed that Bouvier was a victim in the notorious case of Wolfgang Beltracchi. [12] Beltracchi is a German forger who was convicted in 2011 of having defrauded a number of collectors, including Daniel Filipacchi, of millions of dollars. [13] Diva Fine Arts, a company owned by Bouvier, owned and brokered several paintings that were later identified as forgeries. According to German newspaper Die Zeit , Bouvier founded Galerie Jacques de la Béraudière in 2008 together with art dealer Jacques de la Béraudière, who played a key role in the Beltracchi scandal. [14] He denied any connection to Beltracchi and dismissed media coverage as uninformed speculation. [15]

Dmitry Rybolovlev DmitryRybolovlev1.JPG
Dmitry Rybolovlev

Bouvier has stated that he was "one of the losers" in Beltracchi's schemes and that he had "bought works with their certificates from established dealers." One of the paintings had even duped Max Ernst's widow, who, upon seeing it, called it the "most beautiful picture that Max Ernst had ever painted." [16]

Catherine Hutin-Blay

Bouvier was falsely accused by Catherine Hutin-Blay in a scheme orchestrated by Rybolovlev. In March 2015, Catherine Hutin-Blay, the step daughter of Pablo Picasso from his second wife Jacqueline, filed a complaint in Paris alleging that 58 separate works had been stolen from her. Hutin-Blay alleged that the works were stolen from a store in a suburb of Paris that is run by Art Transit, a Bouvier family company. [17] [18] It later emerged that Bouvier had sold two of the allegedly stolen Picasso paintings to Rybolovlev in 2013. [19] Bouvier maintained that he had legally paid $8 million for the artworks through the Nobilo Trust, an offshore entity based in Liechtenstein. [20] Rybolovlev handed over the paintings to French authorities in 2015. [21]

Bouvier denied any involvement in the thefts, but in September 2015 he was indicted by French authorities on charges of theft in relation to the discovery of two of the works by Picasso that Hutin-Blay alleged were stolen from her. [22] Hutin-Blay claimed that the artworks in question originally came from Picasso's last studio in Mougins. After inheriting the property, she had the contents catalogued and stored by an art broker, Olivier Thomas. Hutin-Blay asserted that she was unaware of the thefts until years later, when she visited the storage facility and found pieces missing. [23] In court, Bouvier produced a document showing that he paid $8 million to a fund in Liechtenstein, of which Hutin-Blay was the beneficiary, and asserted that this was for the two paintings. [24] Hutin-Blay disputed this, arguing that the payment concerned a matter unrelated to the thefts. [24]

In a statement to Artnet, Ron Soffer, Bouvier's Paris-based lawyer, said that one of Bouvier's entities "purchased the works in question for a substantial amount of money" and that he "conducted the necessary verification, including getting art loss registry certificates." [25]

In February 2016 French newspaper Le Point revealed that Hutin-Blay had stored 79 Picasso works including numerous portraits of her mother, at the Geneva freeports. These works, valued at €35 million, were transported by Fine Arts Transport, a company owned by Bouvier. This revelation undermined Hutin-Blay's claim that she was unfamiliar with Bouvier. [26] Investigations subsequently revealed that Hutin-Blay had sold the artworks in question, with a significant portion of the sale being routed through the Nobilo Trust. Hutin-Blay admitted in a February 2017 court hearing that she had been the beneficiary of the funds from the trust, although she maintained that she was not the account holder.

Text messages revealed during the investigation into Dmitry Rybolovlev as part of Monacogate show that Rybolovlev and his lawyers sought to influence Hutin-Blay's case against Bouvier in Paris. In one message, a Monaco police officer assured Rybolovlev's lawyer, Tetiana Bersheda, that French authorities were already "sensitized" to the accusations, suggesting that groundwork had been laid to involve French law enforcement. The officer provided Bersheda with the name and contact information of another officer who specialized in art crimes and Bersheda indicated that she spoke with said contact. These messages suggested that Rybolovlev's legal team was working in concert with officers in Monaco and France to pressure Bouvier, using Hutin-Blay's allegations of art theft. The discovery of these communications suggested that there was a coordinated attempt to manipulate legal processes in multiple jurisdictions, further deepening the scandal surrounding the entire affair. [27]

In 2017, the Paris court closed the theft case against Bouvier. [28]

In November 2024, a French court ruled that Bouvier must stand trial over allegations concerning stolen Picasso artworks. [29] This decision followed the emergence of new evidence, including digital records and email exchanges that implicated Bouvier in the unauthorized sale of over 60 Picasso pieces from the collection of Catherine Hutin-Blay. [29] The evidence showed irregularities in the ownership documentation and suggested that Bouvier had orchestrated the secret sale of these artworks. Investigators pointed to discrepancies in valuations and hidden details about the provenance, implying that Bouvier may have deliberately inflated prices while concealing the artworks' origins. [29]

Allegations of money laundering

In late 2015, it emerged that Bouvier has been investigated by the authorities in Liechtenstein on suspicion of money laundering, in one instance related to a forged Max Ernst work that is alleged to have been created by Wolfgang Beltracchi. However, Liechtenstein suspended its investigation in December 2015. [30]

In September 2017, Bouvier was under criminal investigation by Swiss authorities amid allegations that he may have evaded more than 100 million Euros in taxes related to his cross-border art dealings. [31]

Case

The Hutin-Blay case coincided with a separate case involving allegations made by Rybolovlev that forms the main part of the Yves Bouvier Affair. Beginning in 2003, with the help of Yves Bouvier, Dmitry Rybolovlev accumulated one of the most spectacular art collections of modern times. [32] Rybolovlev's art collection includes paintings by Paul Gauguin, Auguste Rodin, Amedeo Modigliani (Nude on a Blue Cushion), Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Mark Rothko (No. 6). [33] [34] In addition to these seminal works, Rybolovlev also purchased the painting Wasserschlangen II (or Water Serpents), by Gustav Klimt, though it was subsequently sold. [35]

Monaco

Arrest

On 25 February 2015, Bouvier was indicted in Monaco on charges of fraud and complicity in money laundering. [36] The charges followed a criminal complaint made by Rybolovlev's family trust alleging that Bouvier had systematically overcharged it over a period of 10 years to acquire paintings. [37] [38] [39] Specifically, the Russian billionaire's lawyers accused Bouvier of having misrepresented his role in obtaining 38 artworks for $2 billion and having thus defrauded Rybolovlev to the tune of a little more than $1 billion, [19] using offshore companies to disguise his gains. [40] [41]

Bouvier has denied the claims stating that he presented himself as the seller of the artwork, rather than an adviser, and that Rybolovlev was aware of the extra markup he earned on top of the fees. [42] In 2017, he filed a counter-complaint against Rybolovlev in Switzerland, accusing the latter of allegedly luring him to Monaco to be detained by the Principality's police. In October 2024, the Swiss Federal Office of the Attorney General (OAG) declared Rybolovlev not guilty and closed the criminal proceedings against him as “no suspicion justifying an indictment has been established.” [43] [44]

In 2019, the criminal charges of fraud and money laundering against Bouvier were dismissed after the court found that all investigations against him were "conducted in a biased and unfair way." [45]

Subsequent developments

After HSBC Monaco provided a letter during the police investigation that erroneously stated that Bouvier and a co-defendant, Tania Rappo (with whom he was accused of conspiring to launder money from his art deal proceeds) held joint accounts at the bank, Bouvier called for an investigation into that matter. [46] HSBC stated the error was "unintentional and clerical." [46]

In 2017 French [47] and Monegasque press reported that Rybolovlev arranged substantial inducements to various other members of the Monegasque establishment, including the judiciary, law enforcement and members of government, to have Bouvier arrested an investigated as part of his dispute with the art dealer. [48] The controversy led to the resignation and subsequent arrest of Monaco's Justice Minister, Philippe Narmino, and the arrest of Rybolovlev.

Dubbed "Monacogate" by the press, [49] the scandal unfolded with the disclosure of text messages from Rybolovlev's lawyer Tania Bersheda, which showed efforts to sway the legal proceedings and orchestrate the arrest of Bouvier in 2015. [50] The text messages revealed that days before the arrest of Bouvier, Rybolovlev had hosted Narmino and his family and HSBC Monaco managing director Gérard Cohen at his residence in Gstaad, Switzerland. The messages also revealed that Rybolovlev had offered lavish gifts and dinners to members of Monaco's police force and that Bersheda had been in close contact with the officers in charge of the investigation into Bouvier, Director of the Judicial Police Christophe Haget and deputy Frédéric Fusari before and during his arrest in Monaco.

On that basis, Bouvier and Rappo attempted to have the charges against them thrown out in November 2015, arguing that there were a number of irregularities in the legal procedure against them and that Rybolovlev may have exercised undue influence. [51] In 2016, a Monegasque judge rejected their argument. [52] However, in 2019, the Monaco Court of Appeals dismissed the charges against Bouvier. [53]

On 1 October 2015, Monaco's new principal prosecutor Jacques Dorémieux replaced Jean-Pierre Dreno. Dreno gained judicial responsibilities in Aix-en-Provence and had been implicated in a suspicious purchase, through the intermediary Erminio Giraudi, of an apartment at Ospedaletti on the Italian Riviera from Silvio Berlusconi's 85-year-old brother. [54] [55] [56] With the release of the Panama Papers on 3 April 2016, the minister of justice Phillippe Narmino's son Antoine Narmino through the son's consultancy firm Narmino & Dotta was shown to have established 29 overseas companies registered in Panama with support from Mossack Fonseca. [57] [58] In August and September 2017, Mediapart published articles which showed a close relationship between Dmitry Rybololev and Phillippe Narmino. [59] [60] On 8 November 2018, Dmitri Rybolovlev and Philippe Narmino were charged in Monaco court with passive and active influence peddling and for passive corruption. [61] Since then several other Monegasque officials have been charged with influence peddling, corruption, and violation of privacy, including Minister of the Interior Paul Masseron, Attorney General Jean Pierre Dreno, Director of Public Security Régis Asso, and Fusari

On 12 December, 2019, Monaco’s Court of Appeal dismissed the charges of fraud and money laundering against Bouvier. [62] Legal proceedings continue in other jurisdictions, including Switzerland. [63] The Geneva public prosecutor's office is also in possession of emails exchanged between Bouvier and Sotheby's, while the former was making private purchases for Dmitry Rybolovlev. [41]

A criminal investigation into Bouvier in Switzerland was closed in December 2023, with the Geneva Prosecutor's Office stating that it could not find any evidence to raise suspicion against him. [64]

In November 2023, it was reported that Monaco investigating judges dismissed the case against Rybolovlev concerning his alleged complicity for invasion of privacy. A complaint against Rybolovlev as well as his lawyer Tetiana Bersheda and then-Monaco public prosecutor Jean-Pierre Dreno was filed back in 2015 by Tatia Rappo, a friend of both Rybolovlev and Bouvier. The case against Dreno was also dismissed in November 2023, Bersheda was cleared of any wrongdoing related to the privacy charges by Monaco court in March 2024. [65]

In June 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the conduct of the criminal investigation against Bersheda "violated rights protected by the European Convention of Human Rights." [66]

Singapore

On 12 March 2015, Rybolovlev sued Bouvier in Singapore, asking for a global freeze on Bouvier's and Rappo's assets. [19] On 13 March, Senior Judge Lai Siu Chiu of the High Court of Singapore ordered the global freezing of Bouvier's assets. [67] The Singapore Court of Appeal repealed the decision and ordered that Bouvier's assets be unfrozen, citing a low risk that Bouvier would dissipate his assets and that Rybolovlev failed to follow procedure in the injunction by not giving Bouvier notice of the proceedings. [68]

In March 2016, the High Court of Singapore dismissed Bouvier's attempt to suspend the civil suit filed in the territory against him by two companies linked to the Rybolovlev family trust. Bouvier had argued the dispute should be fought in the Swiss courts. [69] In a judgment published on 22 March 2016, Senior Judge Lai Siu Chiu ruled that the Singapore suit, which was filed in the High Court in 2015, should proceed. She said the case should be transferred to the Singapore International Commercial Court, which deals specifically with cross-border commercial disputes. [69]

On 18 April 2017, the Court of Appeal of Singapore again contradicted the High Court, ruling that Switzerland was a more appropriate forum for the civil lawsuit. [70] [71]

Hong Kong

In addition to Singapore, Bouvier also had the assets of his Hong Kong-based company Mei Invest Limited frozen through an injunction in July 2015. [72] In September that year, it was announced that a consent summons had been agreed upon between Bouvier and Accent Delight International Limited as well as Xitrans Finance Limited, two of Rybolovlev's companies. Subsequently, Bouvier's assets were unfrozen. [73]

United States

Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi, c.1500, oil on walnut, 45.4 x 65.6 cm.jpg
Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi

In New York, auction house Sotheby's became embroiled in the legal dispute in 2016 when the art dealers that had originally sold Da Vinci's Salvator Mundi painting to Bouvier learned that he had sold it to Rybolovlev at a much higher price. According to court papers, Sotheby's was asked to clarify whether it had been aware that the painting was worth more than what the art dealers had sold it to Bouvier for, and whether the auction house had misled the dealers in favor of the Swiss trader. [74] Email exchanges unearthed by Rybolovlev’s lawyers indicate that the practice of over-invoicing was systematic, with the intermediary regularly pushing his client to buy paintings without giving them the necessary reflection time for such investments. [75]

In November that year, Sotheby's issued a pre-emptive suit in relation to Salvator Mundi, denying that it had ever been part of a scheme allegedly perpetrated by Bouvier to defraud both the sellers of the painting, and Rybolovlev. [76]

On 11 June 2018, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted Rybolovlev permission to access Sotheby's paperwork regarding its interactions with Bouvier for his ongoing lawsuits against the Swiss in Monaco and Switzerland. [77]

Another ongoing US investigation into Bouvier and his alleged involvement in fraudulent activities was dropped in May 2018. [78]

On 2 October 2018, Rybolovlev sued Sotheby's for $380 million, alleging the auction house had "materially assisted the largest art fraud in history" and that Sotheby's "knowingly and intentionally made the fraud possible" because it was aware of how much Bouvier had paid the original sellers of the paintings later purchased by Rybolovlev. [79] Sotheby's called these allegations "baseless" and told Reuters it would seek to have the lawsuit dismissed in a New York court. [80]

In what Sotheby’s called a “disappointing” decision, a US federal court in Manhattan rejected Sotheby’s request to have the case dismissed. [81] On 25 June 2019, the court argued that the auction house did not present evidence that would justify the “exceptional circumstances” required to have the case thrown out. [81] [82] Instead, Sotheby’s was ordered to submit previously confidential details relevant to the case for consideration and was banned from redacting information from court documents. [83]

A November 2019 ruling of a New York court compelled Sotheby’s to produce documents used in foreign criminal proceedings in the Affair in the jurisdictions of Switzerland and Monaco. [84] Sotheby’s had fought against this decision, arguing that confidentiality and the fact that it was named in the Swiss proceedings should shield it from having to submit the documents, which the court rejected. [85]

In December 2023, it was reported that Rybolovlev and Bouvier had reached an undisclosed settlement agreement.

In January 2024, the jury at a New York Federal Court found for Sotheby's on all counts that Rybolovlev had alleged. [86] A lawyer representing Sotheby's stated that the verdict "reaffirmed what we knew since the beginning, which was that Sotheby's played no role in any fraud or attempted fraud against Rybolovlev or anyone else." [87]

Impact

Bouvier has stated that, as a result of the actions taken against him, he has "lost everything." [88] In an interview featured in the documentary The Lost Leonardo, [89] he claimed that "Rybolovlev contacted all the banks, all the auction houses. So I'm blacklisted by the auction houses. I was on the front page of every newspaper. I was discredited. My credit lines were canceled by the banks. All my insurance was canceled."

In December 2023, Bouvier stated that his "name is now cleared", adding that the Geneva Prosecutor's decision to dismiss the case marked the "end of a nine-year nightmare. Courts all around the world have now unanimously concluded that I was innocent." [90]

The Bouvier Affair has been widely reported and followed across the art world and beyond as it laid bare "the exploitation of art for financial gain" [91] and put a spotlight on the business behaviors of middlemen in the art market. [92] [93] Furthermore, Bouvier’s alleged wrongdoings have led to policymakers’ greater scrutiny of his freeports, where high-dollar art is often stored. [75] [94]

The scandal has also cast a negative light on Monaco. According to The New York Post, commentators on the case said that it ended up "almost bringing down half the principality" as "it brought back all those charges of Monaco being corrupt and dirty." [95] According to Gérard Vespierre, editor of the geopolitics journal Le Monde Décrypté, "'Monacogate'" exemplifies how jurisdictions that lack transparency and accountability risk being subverted and ultimately can allow for the rule of law to be undermined by wealthy and influential individuals to further their own agendas." [96]

Commentators have opined that the unfolding events could be the catalyst for a renewed push to reform the art sector. [97] Following a January 2024 verdict in New York where Rybolovlev lost against Sotheby's for its dealings with Bouvier, Daniel Kornstein, a lawyer for Rybolovlev, said the case "achieved our goal of shining a light on the lack of transparency that plagues the art market." [98]

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References

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  4. ↑ "Dmitry Rybolovlev and Yves Bouvier settle nine-year legal feud". The Art Newspaper. 8 December 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  5. ↑ "Classement de la procédure dirigée contre Yves BOUVIER". Canton of Geneva judiciary. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
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  9. ↑ "Bouvier Shenanigans, Chapter Two: Steve Cohen". Real Clear Arts. Retrieved 8 January 2016. A suit filed by the Shefner family in New York in 2013 named Bouvier as a co-defendant alongside Paris-based Galerie Jacques de la Béraudière. Bouvier strenuously denies the claims against him, arguing that it is purely circumstantial and not based on any solid evidence. His lawyers have argued that there is no case to answer. The case remains pending.
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  22. ↑ Samuel, Henry (14 September 2015). "Yves Bouvier charged over 'concealed theft' of Picasso paintings". The Telegraph . Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  23. ↑ "Un deuxième front judiciaire mouille une héritière Picasso". Liberation. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  24. 1 2 Raya, Aurélie. "Affaire Rybolovlev : une héritière de Picasso liée au scandale. Révélations exclusives" [The Rybolovlev Affair: an heir of Picasso linked to the scandal. Exclusive Revelations] (in French). Paris Match . Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  25. ↑ "Art Dealer Under Investigation Again as New Evidence Emerges in Case of Stolen Picassos Linked to Yves Bouvier". Artnet. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  26. ↑ "Vol de tableaux : la belle-fille de Picasso a la mémoire qui flanche" [Painting theft: Picasso's daughter-in-law has failing memory]. Le Point (in French). 18 March 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2024. Art Dealer Under Investigation Again as New Evidence Emerges in Case of Stolen Picassos Linked to Yves Bouvier
  27. ↑ "Quand la belle-fille de Picasso invente un vol de tableaux". Le Point. 4 October 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  28. ↑ "Un deuxième front judiciaire mouille une héritière Picasso". Liberation. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  29. 1 2 3 "Yves Bouvier should stand trial over stolen Picassos, court says". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 13 November 2024. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  30. ↑ Sallier, Pierre-Alexandre (18 December 2015). "Vaduz classe une plainte pour blanchiment visant Yves Bouvier" [Vaduz files money laundering complaint against Yves Bouvier]. Tribune de Genève . Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  31. ↑ "Swiss Authorities Investigate 'Freeport King' Yves Bouvier for More Than $100 Million in Back Taxes". artnet News. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  32. ↑ Miller, Hugo (31 May 2016). "Art's $1 Billion Question: Was Russian a Victim or Savant?". Bloomberg.
  33. ↑ Gattegno, Hervé. "Oligarque contre marchand d'art : révélations sur l'affaire qui faut trembler Monaco et la Suisse". Vanity Fair (in French). Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  34. ↑ "How Long Will the Rich Continue to Evade Justice?". International Policy Digest. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  35. ↑ Bregman, Alexandra (6 April 2019). The Bouvier Affair: A True Story.
  36. ↑ Ui-Hoon, Cheah. "Freeport king fails in appeal against Monaco criminal charges". The Business Times. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  37. ↑ Knight, Sam (31 January 2016). "A Reporter At Lage: The Bouvier Affair". The New Yorker . Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  38. ↑ hugodmiller, Stephanie Baker StephaniBaker Hugo Miller (27 April 2015). "The Billionaire, the Dealer, and the $186 Million Rothko". Bloomberg Businessweek . Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  39. ↑ "Steve Cohen's Modigliani In The Middle Of An Art Market War: Billionaire Rybolovlev vs Yves Bouvier". Forbes . Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  40. ↑ Fontevecchia, Agustino. "Steve Cohen's Modigliani In The Middle Of An Art Market War: Billionaire Rybolovlev vs Yves Bouvier". Forbes. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  41. 1 2 Lebeaupin, Jean Marc (28 January 2020). "Passe d'armes judiciaire entre Rybolovlev et Bouvier". artsixMic (in French). Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  42. ↑ Tremayne-Pengelly, Alexandra (August 2022). "The Never-Ending Art Fraud Battle Between Billionaires Yves Bouvier and Dmitry Rybolovlev Will, of Course, Continue". The Observer. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  43. ↑ "Conflit dans le marché de l'art: Le MPC classe sa procédure pénale contre Rybolovlev". 24 heures (in French). 22 October 2024. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  44. ↑ "Russian Billionaire Rybolovlev Cleared in Swiss Probe Over Monaco Arrest". Bloomberg.com. 22 October 2024. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  45. ↑ Bowley, Graham (8 July 2020). "Court Ruling in Monaco Ends One Piece of a $2 Billion Art Dispute". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  46. 1 2 Letzing, John; Colchester, Max (20 November 2015). "Russian Billionaire's Battle With Art Dealer Draws In HSBC". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  47. ↑ "Le milliardaire russe Dmitri Rybolovlev au centre d'un « Monacogate »". Le Monde. 14 September 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  48. ↑ "How Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev spun his web over Monaco". Mediapart. 17 November 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  49. ↑ Kinsella, Eileen (15 September 2017). "Monaco's Justice Minister Resigns After Texts Reveal 'Vast Influence Peddling' in Billion-Dollar Art Fraud Case". Artnet. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  50. ↑ "Russian Billionaire Charged in Privacy-Invasion Claim". Bloomberg. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  51. ↑ "Freeport king fails in appeal against Monaco criminal charges". The Business Times . 13 November 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  52. ↑ "Freeport king fails in appeal against Monaco criminal charges". The Business Times. 13 November 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  53. ↑ "'A victory of justice over big money': criminal case against art dealer Yves Bouvier dismissed by Monaco court". The Art Newspaper. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  54. ↑ Stephane (16 October 2015). "Rentrée judiciaire : le nouveau procureur intronisé: eudi 1er octobre, la prise de fonction du nouveau procureur général de Monaco, Jacques Dorémieux, a précédé la traditionnelle rentrée des cours et tribunaux. Au côté de Brigitte Grinda-Gambarini, premier président de la Cour d'appel, le procureur a ouvert l'année judicaire 2015-2016" [Back to court: the new prosecutor inducted: On Thursday the 1st of October, the new Prosecutor General of Monaco, Jacques Dorémieux, took office before the traditional return to court. Alongside Brigitte Grinda-Gambarini, first president of the Court of Appeal, the prosecutor opened the 2015-2016 judicial year.]. Monaco Hebdo (monocohebdo.mc) (in French). Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  55. ↑ Gaetner, Gilles (19 January 2015). "Justice à Monaco : bruits et chuchotements sur le procureur général… qui pourrait être contraint de quitter son poste: Depuis quelques mois, trouble et interrogations envahissent le Palais de justice de la Principauté. En cause : le procureur général, Jean-Pierre Dreno pointé du doigt pour des poursuites jugées partiales et un appartement acheté à un proche de Berlusconi. Le haut magistrat dément toute faute et toute imprudence. (page 1)" [Justice in Monaco: noises and whispers about the Attorney General… who could be forced to leave his post: For the past few months, trouble and questions have been invading the Principality's courthouse. At issue: the Attorney General, Jean-Pierre Dreno pointed the finger for prosecutions deemed biased and an apartment bought from a close friend of Berlusconi. The high magistrate denies any fault and any imprudence. (page 1)]. Atlantico (atlantico.fr) (in French). Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  56. ↑ Gaetner, Gilles (19 January 2015). "Justice à Monaco : bruits et chuchotements sur le procureur général… qui pourrait être contraint de quitter son poste: Depuis quelques mois, trouble et interrogations envahissent le Palais de justice de la Principauté. En cause : le procureur général, Jean-Pierre Dreno pointé du doigt pour des poursuites jugées partiales et un appartement acheté à un proche de Berlusconi. Le haut magistrat dément toute faute et toute imprudence. (page 2)" [Justice in Monaco: noises and whispers about the Attorney General… who could be forced to leave his post: For the past few months, trouble and questions have been invading the Principality's courthouse. At issue: the Attorney General, Jean-Pierre Dreno pointed the finger for prosecutions deemed biased and an apartment bought from a close friend of Berlusconi. The high magistrate denies any fault and any imprudence. (page 2)]. Atlantico (atlantico.fr) (in French). Archived from the original on 5 August 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  57. ↑ "NARMINO & DOTTA - CABINET DE COUNSEIL JURIDIQUE". ICIJ . Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  58. ↑ Hamel, Ian (26 July 2016). "Monaco, la transparence et les sociétés panaméennes: Alors que la Principauté veut bannir son image de paradis fiscal, le nom du fils du ministre de la Justice, un conseiller juridique, apparaît dans les «Panama Papers»" [Monaco, Transparency and Panamanian Companies: While the Principality wants to banish its image as a tax haven, the name of the son of the Minister of Justice, a legal adviser, appears in the "Panama Papers".]. La Méduse (lameduse.ch) (in French). Archived from the original on 27 July 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  59. ↑ Duparc, Agathe (21 August 2017). "Quand la police monégasque se met au service du président de l'AS Monaco: Dmitri Rybolovlev a de puissants relais sur le Rocher. Des textos exhumés du téléphone de son avocate montrent qu'en 2015, il a supervisé en coulisses l'enquête ouverte à Monaco contre son ancien marchand d'art Yves Bouvier. Le milliardaire russe transmettait ses desiderata au patron de la police judiciaire" [When the Monegasque police put themselves at the service of the president of AS Monaco: Dmitri Rybolovlev has powerful relays on the Rock. Text messages exhumed from his lawyer's phone show that in 2015, he supervised behind the scenes the investigation opened in Monaco against his former art dealer Yves Bouvier. The Russian billionaire transmitted his wishes to the boss of the judicial police.]. Mediapart (mediapart.fr) (in French). Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  60. ↑ Duparc, Agathe (14 September 2017). "Scandale russe à Monaco: le ministre de la justice forcé à la démission: Le milliardaire russe Dmitri Rybolovlev, patron de l'AS Monaco, a manipulé la justice et la police monégasques pour leur faire servir ses intérêts. Cette affaire, révélée par plusieurs articles de Mediapart, a fait une première victime : Philippe Narmino, le ministre de la justice, a dû annoncer qu'il prenait une « retraite anticipée »" [Russian scandal in Monaco: the Minister of Justice forced to resign: The Russian billionaire Dmitri Rybolovlev, boss of AS Monaco, manipulated the justice system and the Monegasque police to make them serve his interests. This case, revealed by several articles from Mediapart, claimed a first victim: Philippe Narmino, the Minister of Justice, had to announce that he was taking “early retirement”.]. Mediapart (mediapart.fr) (in French). Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
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