Monaco FC owner Rybolovlev among alleged victims of huge art scam

Dmitry Rybolovlev reportedly lost tens of millions in an art scam allegedly carried out by a Swiss businessman

The billionaire Russian owner of Monaco football club is believed to be one of several “high net-worth individuals” who are victims of alleged fraud by a Swiss businessman arrested in Monaco on suspicion of manipulating prices in the sale of art works.
Yves Bouvier was detained in the Mediterranean principality on Wednesday along with two other Swiss nationals on suspicion of fraud, the Monaco attorney general, Jean-Pierre Dreno, told the Telegraph.

He is suspected of having sold dozens of works by Picasso, Modigliani, Gauguin, Degas and Leonardo da Vinci to the Rybolovlev family at inflated prices or with false documents, Mr Dreno said.

Mr Bouvier runs the Luxembourg Freeport, a vast repository for billions of pounds’ worth of fine art and other treasures.
Mr Dreno would provide no details of the investigation, but a source with knowledge of the affair said that it was a long-running probe and that a number of “high net-worth individuals” in Britain, the United States and Asia may have been victims of the alleged fraud.

The source said that the Rybolovlev family may have been defrauded of tens of millions of euros in the alleged scheme.
Tetiana Bersheda, a lawyer for the family, issued a statement saying that an “investigation has been launched by the judicial authorities of Monaco against Mr Yves Bouvier, one of the most famous people in the world of art who is the owner of the free ports of Singapore, Geneva and Luxembourg among others.”

“After having worked for more than ten years with Mr Bouvier, the Rybolovlev family received some information about possible fraud and manipulation of prices on the art market by Mr Bouvier and his accomplices. The scope and all the victims of the fraudulent scheme created by Mr Bouvier have not yet been identified at this juncture,” the statement said.

Dimitry Rybolovlev bought a controlling stake in Monaco football club in 2011 at a time when the seven-times champions of France were slumming it near the bottom of the country’s second tier.

The 48-year-old, one of Russia’s richest men, has assets that include an art collection stuffed with paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh, Gauguin and Monet.

Mr Bouvier, who runs a Geneva-based art-shipping firm called Natural Le Coultre, last September opened the Luxembourg Freeport, a €60 million (£44 million) bombproof warehouse beside the Grand Duchy’s airport that now houses art works, fine wine, diamonds and precious metals.

Super-rich foreigners are increasingly choosing to stash their artworks and treasures in giant high-security warehouses known as freeports, to avoid paying taxes on them.

The warehouses are generally located near airports and docks in financial hubs that are home to very wealthy expats – such as Geneva, Zurich, Monaco and Singapore.

The businessman also runs a similar operation in Singapore.
Mr Bouvier’s arrest was part of an “international investigation, over several jurisidctions and on several continents,” according to a source with knowedge of the affair quoted by the Swiss newspaper Le Temps.

“Yves Bouvier would say to his clients: I see everything that transits through the freeports, I have access to the best deals on the art market,” another source told the paper. “The problem was that he was lying to them about the price of the art works.”
There was no immediate comment from Mr Bouvier’s staff. A representative of Natural Le Coultre declined to respond to the allegations.

Wealthy individuals are increasingly storing their assets in freeports, such as the one in Luxembourg, which critics say are a new form of tax haven. Their clients also include investment funds, museums and galleries.
The growth of freeports comes as countries such as Luxembourg and Switzerland have clamped down on banking secrecy in a bid to shake off their reputations as tax havens.

Freeports were formerly known as bonded areas were initially used to store commodities and manufactured goods. But more recently they have been accused of being used for smuggling and other illicit activities.