"Since Lhéritier was charged with fraud by French authorities in 2015, his collection of 135,000 items has been auctioned off for €108m (including fees and expenses), according to the auctioneer Claude Aguttes, who has coordinated 56 sales of his stock. This figure represents less than 12% of the total value invested by the clients, which amounts to €850m. Lhéritier's company, Aristophil, has also been liquidated."
"Lhéritier's trial is due to begin today in Paris and is expected to last for 15 sessions until 3 October. According to prosecution documents, the dealer is accused of inflating the value of his assets and using funds from new investors to pay promised returns to earlier investors. With the alleged financial prejudice estimated at €1.2bn, including all costs and interests,a conviction would make this case one of the biggest Ponzi schemes ever uncovered in France."
Gérard Lhéritier built Aristophil into a major collector and seller of manuscripts and offered shared ownership of documents to investors. Since 2015 he has been charged with fraud, and his 135,000-item collection was auctioned for €108m after the company's liquidation. Investors reportedly put in about €850m, and prosecutors estimate total prejudice at about €1.2bn including costs and interest. Authorities allege asset-value inflation and use of new investor funds to pay earlier investors. Lhéritier is due to stand trial in Paris over allegations of commercial deception and gang fraud and denies wrongdoing.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]