Sotheby's Wins Lawsuit Against Russian Billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev

The case highlighted the lack of transparency in the art market, according to Rybolovlev's lawyers.

Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev lost a lawsuit against Sotheby's, in which he accused the auction house of defrauding him out of tens of millions of dollars in art sales.
Rybolovlev alleged that Sotheby's conspired with Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier to trick him into paying inflated prices for four works, including 'Salvator Mundi', a depiction of Christ attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
Sotheby's maintained that it had no knowledge of Bouvier's alleged misconduct and was not liable for his dealings with Rybolovlev.
The case has been one of the highest-profile art fraud disputes in recent years, offering a view into an often secretive industry where wealthy buyers sometimes don't know who they are buying from.
Despite losing the case, Rybolovlev's lawyers said that the case shone a 'light on the lack of transparency that plagues the art market', but 'secrecy made it difficult' to win.