High-Flying Art Heiress Angela Gulbenkian Has Been Slapped With a New Lawsuit Claiming She Cheated a Collector Out of an Andy Warhol

Fresh allegations of fraudulent art dealing by Angela
Gulbenkian, a German woman who married into one of Europe’s
wealthiest and most renowned art-collecting families, have cropped
up in Germany.

In a complaint filed in Munich this month on behalf of an
anonymous London art dealer, lawyer Hannes Hartung
says Gulbenkian sold his client an Andy Warhol
Queen Elizabeth II print for £115,000 ($151,000). But she
failed to give that money to the seller, according to the
suit—which Hartung’s client only realized when the
owner showed up demanding payment.

The story was first reported by the Art
Newspaper.

These are not the first such accusations levied
against Gulbenkian. In March 2018, Hong Kong-based art
advisor Mathieu Ticolat claimed to have paid $1.4 million for a
Yayoi Kusama pumpkin sculpture that was never delivered.

Ticolat enlisted Christopher Marinello of Art Recovery International to get his
money back in late 2017. The case has yet to be resolved, but
criminal and civil charges are pending against
Gulbenkian in both Germany and the UK, with trials scheduled
for March and May.

“I assure you that if these cases took place in the United
States, she’d be sitting in jail next to Anna Delvey,” Marinello
told Artnet News. “There are other victims. I get calls from people
all the time who were swindled by her, or who were about to be, but
backed out after they read about my client’s case.”

“It’s exactly the same scam,” Hartung told Artnet News.
“Gulbenkian again fails to complete an art transaction and again
retains a large sum of money which she is clearly not entitled to.”
He says “an international arrest warrant [should] be issued” due to
“the seriousness of the offenses.”

Marinello says Gulbenkian banked on the Gulbenkian
family name, which is synonymous with arts philanthropy, to trick
unsuspecting collectors.

“She’s still using the Gulbenkian art collection to lure in
victims,” he said. “She’s trying to put deals together at this very
moment. This woman is going down swinging, but anybody in their
right mind would not do business with her.”

“We’re going after the money wherever we can find it, whether
it’s her family or friends—whoever has touched these funds, we’re
going to go after them,” he added.

Artnet News’s attempts to reach Gulbenkian were
unsuccessful.

The post High-Flying Art Heiress Angela Gulbenkian Has Been
Slapped With a New Lawsuit Claiming She Cheated a Collector Out of
an Andy Warhol appeared first on artnet News.