Yves Bouvier claims his $100 million collection vanished

Swiss private art dealer Yves Bouvier told a New York federal court that 91 artworks worth roughly $100 million have gone missing after he allegedly handed them to a Hong Kong dealer he believed he could trust during his years-long feud with Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev.

Bouvier said in a recent court filing that Hong Kong gallerist Pascal de Sarthe and a cluster of companies under his control were supposed to safeguard, sell and reinvest the trove while Bouvier spent eight years fighting off legal attacks. Instead, he claims, the multimillion-dollar stash has simply vanished into the fog of the international art market.

“In 2015, Yves Bouvier faced criminal complaints and civil lawsuits, which posed a serious threat to his business reputation and resulted in him being blacklisted by auction houses,” the court documents state. “Yves Bouvier was arrested in Monaco based on a complaint by a former client of his, Dmitriy Rybolovlev.”

Unable to sell works publicly and desperate to preserve his collection’s value, Bouvier allegedly turned to de Sarthe, who had already expressed interest in showcasing pieces to Asian collectors. Between 2015 and 2017, the 91 artworks were delivered to de Sarthe or his companies in Hong Kong, according to the filings.

“The agreement was not documented or formalized in writing. This practice is common in the art industry,” the documents note.

Under the alleged oral arrangement, de Sarthe was to market the artworks, sell them and reinvest the proceeds into new works, with art-world middleman Jean-Marc Peretti helping identify acquisitions.

De Sarthe and Peretti were empowered to act at their discretion, the filings say, splitting 50 percent of net profits, while Bouvier would keep the other half. All original and reinvested artworks were to be returned upon termination.

When Bouvier’s battles with Rybolovlev finally wrapped in 2023, he attempted to reclaim his holdings — only to find silence. Peretti, who was supposed to supervise the arrangement, allegedly became “evasive,” ignoring his calls.

Then in May 2025, Peretti was convicted in France of money laundering, extortion and racketeering and sentenced to five years in prison. With Peretti unreachable, Bouvier turned to de Sarthe and was met with alleged stonewalling.

Bouvier eventually filed suit in Hong Kong. A judge ordered de Sarthe to preserve whatever artworks he still held, except for two pieces he now claims are his personal property, and to produce an accounting. But Bouvier says he still has no idea whether the 91 works were kept intact, sold off, or cycled through the secondary market.

Now he’s come to the United States for help, seeking judicial assistance under a statute that allows foreign litigants to obtain evidence from U.S.-based companies for use abroad.

Bouvier has asked the court to compel more than a dozen major banks — including JPMorgan, Citibank, HSBC, UBS and Bank of America — along with Sotheby’s and Christie’s, to turn over records he says could reveal where the artworks went and whether any proceeds moved through New York’s financial system.

His lawyers also asked the court to waive notice to de Sarthe, Peretti and the subpoena targets, warning that advance warning could allow assets or records to be moved or concealed.

The Hong Kong court is expected to weigh in on the ownership of the artworks still in de Sarthe’s possession at a hearing scheduled for December 12.