[NEWS] Art Dealer Gulbenkian Has Been Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Fraudulently Selling a

August 02, 2021


Yayoi Kusama Pumpkin sculptures. Photographer: Adam Berry/Getty Images 


A German art collector was sentenced to three and a half years in prison less time she’d already served after admitting to an art fraud involving the fake sale of a $1.3 million yellow pumpkin sculpture by Yayoi Kusama.

Angela Gulbenkian pleaded guilty in London to allegations that she took the money from a Hong Kong-based art dealer but never delivered the famous polka-dotted artwork.
Courtroom evidence showed that Gulbenkian, who married into one of Europe’s wealthiest art-collecting families, put much of that money toward extravagant purchases, including a £25,000 Rolex watch, two art pieces worth a combined £56,000, and a private charter jet.

The court heard Gulbenkian was introduced to Hong Kong-based arts company Art Incorporated Limited (AIL) in 2016 and claimed she was able to procure them the Kusama sculpture, entitled Yellow Pumpkin, whose owner is still unknown.

In May 2017, after the sale had been agreed, AIL transferred $1.275m (£982,000) to Gulbenkian's personal bank account but the artwork was never delivered.
“Both counts on the indictment involve, in comparative terms, thefts of very large sums of money,” Judge David Tomlinson told the court upon issuing the ruling, according to the BBC. 
“Running through all of this criminality was a sustained obfuscation on your part,” he added, addressing Gulbenkian. “When AIL and Ms. Ball separately tried to get you to deliver on your promise, your treatment of them prolonged the distress.” 

Andy Warhol's "Queen Elizabeht II," which a London-based art dealer has acused Angela Gulbenkian of seeling to him without its owner's permission
Courtesy : CJOHN STILL



Gulbenkian’s three-year, six-month sentence comes on top of the two years she is already credited with serving after being arrested in Lisbon in June of last year under a European arrest warrant. Meanwhile, a third lawsuit, in which Gulbenkian is accused of selling a £115,000 ($151,000) Andy Warhol print on behalf of a London-based dealer and pocketing the money, is still pending.

“Angela Gulbenkian has been taken off the market as a serial art-world fraudster,” Marinello said after the sentencing. “I only wish that law enforcement and the justice system in the U.K. would move quicker to enable victims to recoup their funds in the early stages of these criminal cases. By the time we followed procedure, the stolen funds were long gone.” 
“This needs to be addressed if London hopes to remain an art-world leader,” he concluded.




 


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