An epic legal battle, which played out in courts around the world and mesmerised the art world for almost a decade, is finally over.
The Russian collector Dmitry Rybolovlev and the Swiss businessman Yves Bouvier have settled out of court, in an agreement covering all of their legal disputes in all jurisdictions. On Thursday 7 December, the Geneva public prosecutor Yves Bertossa announced the closure of the case.
According to a legal source familiar with the matter, the prosecutor, believing there were no grounds for a criminal case, had previously informed both parties that he was putting an end to the proceedings and urged them to find a settlement.
On 20 November, both parties agreed with the decision and all complaints were withdrawn.
Rybolovlev, who is the owner of the Monaco football club, had accused Bouvier of swindling him out of €1.1bn from the €2bn sale of 38 works of art between 2003 and 2014. Bouvier has always denied any wrongdoing, claiming he acted as a dealer, free to set his own profit margins, and not as an agent.
Citing a non-disclosure agreement, both parties declined to give any further details on their agreement. But Bouvier’s lawyer in Geneva, David Bitton, described the settlement as “a complete victory“ for his client, stating that "all the allegations against him were set aside by prosecutors around the world, and not a single court agreed to open a proper trial to review the accusations“.
In a statement, Bouvier said his “name is now cleared“, adding: "Today marks the end of a nine-year nightmare. Courts all around the world have now unanimously concluded that I was innocent.“ He also thanked "the judicial and law enforcement authorities in all countries who have allowed true justice to run its course.”
The Salvator Mundi, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, is one of four works sold privately by Sotheby's that are subject to a fraud-related claim still pending in New York
After launching legal claims in Monaco, Singapore, New York and Hong Kong, in 2017 and 2019, Rybolovlev filed two complaints against Bouvier in Geneva for gang fraud and money laundering.
In 2021, the public prosecutor dismissed the complaints on the grounds that a previous criminal procedure in Monaco had been annulled for being “partial and disloyal“ to the defendant. In 2022, the court of appeal overturned this decision, ordering the prosecutor to resume his investigation. But the magistrate now says “the hearings did not provide any evidence to raise sufficient suspicion" against Bouvier and his alleged accomplices.
A case between Rybolovlev and Sotheby’s is still pending in New York; it is scheduled to go to trial this January. The Russian oligarch is accusing the auction house of having helped Bouvier to defraud him. He claims that Sotheby’s provided “substantial assistance” to help Bouvier overcharge him on 15 works of art worth around $1bn. A judge ruled in March that Sotheby’s must face fraud-related claims on private sales made on four works, including the infamous Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci, which later sold at Christie’s for $450.3m. Sotheby's has denied having “any knowledge of the fraud” and said it “did nothing to facilitate Bouvier’s business”. Bouvier is not a party to the litigation.