Legal Cases

A man has been jailed for life over of the fatal stabbing of print dealer Justin Skrebowski.

The prosecution in the trial of the Cols Rouges – the erstwhile portering staff at Hôtel Drouot, the communal saleroom facility used by most Paris auctioneers – have called for prison sentences of up to five years and fines of €250,000 for those found guilty of theft and criminal conspiracy.

A jury in New York lost their chance to rule on the first of several lawsuits against the Knoedler Gallery and its former director Ann Freedman when the suits were settled out of court.

Expert witnesses were called to give evidence during legal proceedings between Domenico De Sole, chairman of Sotheby’s, and Ann Freedman, the former president of Knoedler gallery, over the sale of a fake Rothko painting.

An increasingly bitter spat between two UK art recovery agencies – the Art Loss Register and the Art Recovery Group – has reached the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.

The art and antiques trade is mourning the loss of prints dealer Justin Skrebowski, who was murdered in what appears to have been a random knife attack in Abingdon.

An antiques shop owner in Kent has removed a blackamoor sign from outside her shop after social media users claimed it was offensive.

The German Cultural Property and Heritage Protection Law (Kulturschutzgesetz) is due to be debated in the German Bundestag next spring after a “defused” draft of the law received cabinet approval on November 4.

Staff at The Swan at Tetsworth say it is ‘business as usual’ despite the dramatic ram-raid at the Oxfordshire antiques centre last weekend.

A bizarre story of an artist who claimed her old studio sold pieces of paint spattered carpet as her original work has appeared in the press recently, drawing attention to the thorny issue of copyright and false attribution.

Dealers, collectors and auctioneers of antique firearms are being invited to a meeting in London to discuss proposed changes to the law governing the sale and ownership of such weapons.

In Germany, software billionaire Hasso Plattner has become the latest collector to demonstrate opposition to the proposed cultural property law changes.

The antiques industry is being called on to take part in a consultation to reform the law governing the sale and ownership of antique firearms.

Opposition to controversial new laws governing cultural heritage in Germany is gathering pace. Auctioneers, dealers and collectors are backing a petition ‘preserving the right to privately collect’ and calling for German the government to rethink its proposals.

The Hôtel Drouot, the communal saleroom facility used by most Paris auctioneers, has welcomed the news that swathes of former staff members are to face charges relating to stolen property.

Mayfair art agent Timothy Sammons is facing a string of legal claims over soured multi-million-pound deals in the United Kingdom and the United States involving paintings by Van Gogh, Canaletto, Picasso, Chagall, Modigliani and Magritte.

Art dealer David Carter has admitted intentionally selling fake paintings purporting to be by well-known Cornish artists. He has pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud at Truro crown court and may face jail.

The US Court of Appeals has ruled that the California Resale Royalty Act (CRRA) can stand but apply only to sales made within the state and not to those made out-of-state by California residents.

The third annual ‘Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Symposium’ will be held in New York on June 4-6.

Eight men have been charged in connection with the Hatton Garden heist following 12 coordinated raids across London and Kent by officers from Scotland Yard’s Flying Squad.