Swiss Art Dealer Yves Bouvier Launches Legal Bid to Reclaim $100 Million in Artworks

Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier has filed a sweeping motion in federal court in Manhattan, as part of an effort to recover 91 artworks worth an estimated $100 million that he says he rightfully owns.

Bouvier is asking for judicial authorities to compel at least 15 banks and financial companies, along with two major auction houses, to provide information about the whereabouts of the artworks, which he claims were entrusted to French dealer Pascal de Sarthe. The action was initiated in Hong Kong in October and targets de Sarthe, who disputes Bouvier’s ownership of the works.

Bouvier claims he needs the information from the New York institutions, which is formally known as a 1782 filing and is intended to “conduct discovery for use in foreign proceedings,” according to court filing descriptions. “The evidence will help the foreign courts to determine the liability of the foreign defendants and the location of the artworks/reinvested artwork,” according to one legal memo.

Bouvier, who made his fortune in part from operating free ports—where art and other valuables are stored in strategically located, high-security locations around the world that can bestow tax breaks and benefits—is no stranger to litigation. He was doggedly pursued for many years, starting in 2015, by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who alleged that Bouvier overcharged him as much as $1 billion on sales of 38 blue-chip art artworks by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Amedeo Modigliani, and Pablo Picasso, worth over $2 million. The allegations have been rejected by all courts.

Even after the two men settled their years-long legal fight, almost two years ago, Rybolovlev continued to wage a legal fight against Sotheby’s auction house, which he unsuccessfully alleged “aided and abetted” the fraud. In January 2024, following a nearly month-long trial, also in Southern District of New York, a jury cleared Sotheby’s of all the charges.

Now, Bouvier himself is embracing sophisticated international legal maneuvers to obtain otherwise privileged and detailed financial information from New York institutions (see below) with a legal filing that includes “sample subpoenas” to be served on auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s as well as the list of banks.

A representative for Bouvier said the dealer did not wish to comment beyond the filings. Christie’s declined to comment. A representative for Sotheby’s declined to comment. Peretti could not be reached for comment.

In one of the filings, Bouvier claims the past legal wrangling with Rybolovlev partly created the current situation. The document detailed that Bouvier was “blacklisted by auction houses” following the 2015 litigation. “To preserve his artworks, [Bouvier] entered into an oral agreement with Pascal de Sarthe and Jean Marc Peretti regarding the custody and maintenance of his artworks.”

Peretti is a dealer who has worked closely with Bouvier in the past. Bouvier said he is seeking to obtain evidence about the artworks he had entrusted to de Sarthe to advance the Hong Kong proceeding. According to the court papers, Bouvier has been “especially active” in the Asian region since 2008 as part of his role as a private dealer and investor in art galleries.

Following the Rybolovlev settlement, Bouvier said he reached out to Peretti, but was ignored. De Sarthe also allegedly failed to respond when Bouvier’s attorney in Hong Kong wrote to the dealer in August asking about the location of the artworks. The attorney then filed a notice alleging breach of contract and conversion. A hearing was held before a Hong Kong judge in early October for orders including injunction, preservation, and disclosure.

In a letter to the court filed on December 8, de Sarthe’s attorney, Amelia Brankov, asked the court to refrain from acting on Bouvier’s application, noting that her client was notified of the application by a third party. Calling the discovery request “sweeping and invasive,” she further noted: “The discovery sought here can only be useful in the Hong Kong proceedings if Mr. Bouvier is, in fact, the owner of the artworks at issue, a contested question that the Hong Kong court presently is addressing. Mr. de Sarthe maintains that the artworks were consigned and owned by a third party, Mr. Jean Marc Peretti, not Mr. Bouvier.”

“Until ownership is resolved… authorizing sweeping U.S. discovery would be premature,” Brankov said, noting that Bouvier had not met the “for use” requirement in the 1782 filing to compel the information.

The sample subpoenas that were filed to potentially target the auction houses list all 91 artworks. They include work by Francis Bacon, Fernando Botero, Victor Brauner, Marc Chagall, Chu Teh-Chun, Jean Dubuffet, Max Ernst, Lionel Feininger, Yves Klein, Brice Marden, Giorgio Morandi, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Alfred Sisley. There are numerous works by certain artists but the most by a single artist are identified as being by Chu.

In addition to the auction houses, Bouvier is asking for information from institutions including Citibank, N.A.; The Bank of New York Mellon; Société Générale, New York Branch; HSBC Bank USA, N.A.; BNP Paribas USA; JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.; Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.; Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas; UBS AG; Bank of America, N.A.; Bank of China, New York Branch; Standard Chartered Bank U.S.; Commerzbank AG, New York Branch; Barclays Bank, PLC; and The Clearing House Payment Company L.L.C.

The sample bank subpoenas seek information from roughly two dozen entities allegedly related to de Sarthe and his companies as well as relatives of Jean-Marc Peretti.