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A Russian billionaire blames Sotheby’s for losing millions on art by Picasso and da Vinci
Sotheby’s defended itself at a trial Monday against accusations that it helped defraud a Russian oligarch out of tens of millions of dollars, saying it knew nothing of wrongdoing by an art buyer who advised the billionaire on buying works by famed artists like Amedeo Modigliani and Leonardo da Vinci. Sotheby’s attorney Sara Shudofsky told a jury in an opening statement in Manhattan federal court that billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev was “trying to make an innocent party pay for what somebody else did to him.” Shudofsky said the fertilizer magnate, a savvy businessman who has run highly successful businesses, had ... (full story)