DISMISSAL OVERTURNED

Art Dealer Faces Fraud Probe in Bitter Battle With Russian Oligarch

Dmitry Rybolovev says Yves Bouvier swindled him out of $1.1 billion.

In a reversal of a previous dismissal of the case, Yves Bouvier, a Swiss art dealer and shipper, now faces a fraud investigation in Geneva after being accused by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev of swindling the latter out of $1.1 billion in sales related to 38 works of art between 2003 and 2014, The Art Newspaper reports. The legal battle between the two heavy hitters has been raging on for years: In 2017 and 2019, Rybolovlev filed complaints against Bouvier and his associates, accusing them of money laundering and gang fraud. A prosecutor dismissed the complaints, but the appeals court in Geneva recently overturned that decision, finding that “the possible existence of a deception cannot be denied.” Bouvier has asserted his innocence, claiming that Rybolovlev’s complaints are due to a contentious divorce. He’s also promised to write a tell-all book with his side of the story. Bouvier “will now have to face the consequences of his acts,” Sandrine Giroud, one of Rybolovlev’s attorneys, told The Art Newspaper. “It is important for the sake of the art market that such an iconic case be cleared up.”