Magistrate recommends limited Sotheby’s, Christie’s subpoenas in Yves Bouvier art dispute
A judge recommended allowing limited auction-house discovery while giving intervenors a chance to challenge Bouvier’s broader request.
A federal magistrate judge has recommended letting Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier seek some records from Sotheby’s and Christie’s but not the full range of records he requested in his fight over 91 artworks he says are worth about $100 million.
Bouvier had asked the Manhattan federal court to authorize subpoenas to more than a dozen financial institutions, as well as Sotheby’s and Christie’s, seeking records he said could help trace the location of the artworks or any proceeds from their sale.
Magistrate Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky said in court documents earlier this month that subpoenas should be issued to Sotheby’s and Christie’s for records from February 1, 2015, through October 3, 2025, related to any sales of the disputed artworks by the discovery targets named in Bouvier’s application.
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Tarnofsky also recommended allowing Pascal de Sarthe, De Sarthe Contemporary Limited, Milocci Limited and Jean-Marc Peretti to formally join the New York proceeding so they can oppose Bouvier’s request. Objections to the report and recommendation are due Wednesday.
Bouvier had filed the New York application under a federal statute that allows parties to seek discovery in the United States for use in foreign proceedings.
The dealer is pursuing a lawsuit in Hong Kong against de Sarthe over artworks he says disappeared after he transferred them between 2015 and 2017 under an informal arrangement meant to preserve and grow the collection’s value during his long-running legal fight with Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev.
De Sarthe’s lawyers have opposed Bouvier’s request, arguing that the application was premature because the Hong Kong court had not yet determined ownership of the works. They have argued that the artworks were not Bouvier’s property but were consigned by Peretti.
Bouvier has disputed that account. In a prior filing, he pointed to 2022 testimony Peretti gave to Swiss prosecutors, arguing that Peretti described himself as a business introducer and intermediary, not as the owner of the works.
The recommendation moves Bouvier closer to obtaining auction house records. The parties have until May 20 to object, and U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick would decide whether to adopt the recommendation.
The New York discovery fight is separate from a criminal case involving Bouvier in France where an investigating judge ordered him to stand trial over the alleged disappearance of dozens of Pablo Picasso works belonging to Catherine Hutin, Picasso’s stepdaughter. Bouvier has denied wrongdoing in that case.
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