New York. An Indonesian wine collector who is facing up to 100 years in jail for allegedly selling fake wine has also been charged with fraudulently obtaining a $3m loan from New York’s Emigrant Savings Bank, for which he pledged 25 works of art as collateral, according to court papers. Rudy Kurniawan, who was indicted in New York in May, then pledged 18 of the 25 works, which include pieces by Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst, to a New York auction house as security for millions of dollars of loans, despite an agreement with Emigrant that he would not “sell, assign, exchange or otherwise dispose of” any of the collateral, the legal documents say. After Kurniawan defaulted on the $3m loan, Emigrant sold several of the works to pay off the debt, but the auction house was deprived of at least $3m in collateral, according to the court papers. Kurniawan’s lawyer declined to comment.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Collector charged over pledged art for loan'