Suit Proceeds Against Christie’s Auction House Over Fake Basquiat
A buyer who purchased a counterfeit Jean-Michel Basquiat painting from an art gallery that had acquired it a year earlier from Christie's can sue the auction house for fraud and may be entitled to punitive damages, a New York court has ruled. Guido Orsi, who paid the Tony Shafrazi Gallery $185,000 for the work 17 years ago, alleges that Christie's passed off the painting as genuine at a 1990 auction, even though Basquiat's estate had expressed doubts to the auction house about its authenticity.
