Overview
- HMRC has charged Hauser & Wirth’s UK gallery under sanctions restricting the supply of luxury goods introduced in April 2022.
- The allegation concerns making George Condo’s 2021 work Escape from Humanity available to Moscow-based collector Alexander Popov between 14 April and 31 December 2022.
- Popov is not on the UK sanctions list and has not been accused of wrongdoing.
- Hauser & Wirth says it strongly contests the allegation and intends to plead not guilty.
- Artay Rauchwerger Solomons, formerly Art Logistics, is also charged over activity between August and December 2022, in what is believed to be the first case under the ban, which carries up to six months’ imprisonment and unlimited fines.