Former curator of Wisconsin museum sentenced to 15 years in prison for theft
By SARAH WYATT The Associated Press 11/19/01 11:12 PM
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A former curator at the Wisconsin Historical Society museum was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison for stealing American Indian artifacts. David Wooley, 53, took items valued at more than $100,000, including a rare war club, beaded buckskin bag, cradle board cover, quiver and silver earrings. Judge Moria Kruger, who also ordered Wooley to spend 30 years on probation, said Wooley showed a "disdain for the process of trying to preserve history." Wooley pleaded guilty in June to 14 counts of felony theft and three counts of failing to file a state tax return.
He had faced up to 100 years in prison.
The artifacts weren't discovered to be missing until after Wooley left the museum in 1999; police were contacted in October 2000. Most of the items were 150 to 200 years old, and had been donated to or purchased by the historical society as much as a century ago. Some of the artifacts were sold and others were found at Wooley's home, according to court testimony. Defense lawyer Chris Van Wagner said that at the time of the thefts, his client suffered from depression and heart problems. Van Wagner said Wooley's teen-age daughter was seriously ill and he used the money to pay medical bills and expenses. http://www.nj.com
JURY RETURNING TO AUCTION-ADVENTURE
By DEVLIN BARRETT
A Manhattan jury taken behind the velvet curtain of the haughty art-auction industry will be back in court today after spending last week hearing testimony of boardroom back-stabbing that now has Sotheby's mogul Alfred Taubman on trial for price-fixing. Christopher Davidge, a disgraced British executive, introduced the panel to a world of million-dollar paintings, priceless baubles, and the secretive wealthy families that buy and sell them. Davidge, the former chief executive officer of Sotheby's arch-rival Christie's, made a deal with prosecutors to come to America to testify against Taubman. In three days on the stand, the man once dubbed the "Golden Hamster" by unhappy employees described a long-running scheme between the two companies to fix commission prices at high-profile auctions during the mid-'90s. Squaring off against Taubman lawyer Scott Muller, the silver-haired, soft-spoken Davidge gingerly deflected accusations Christie's paid him up to $8 million to testify against the boss of their long-time rival.
The unctuous but unflappable Davidge denied his testimony was bought through his multi-million- dollar severance package. Davidge said just before he resigned, he told Christie's owners he had broken American law by arranging a price-fixing scheme, then being probed by antitrust investigators. The company authorized the massive buyout for Davidge because of his more than 30 years of faithful service to the London-based company, the former CEO testified. It was only later that his former employers convinced him to testify against Taubman after Christie's had received immunity from prosecution from the U.S. Department of Justice, Davidge told the court last week. Muller marveled how the company could give Davidge so much money knowing he had broken the law as their CEO and exposed them to massive lawsuits and public scandal. "They are honorable people," answered Davidge, without a trace of the dry wit he flashed at other times of his testimony last week.
The government's evidence so far paints an ugly portrait of the four executives at the center of the case - Davidge, Christie's chairman Anthony Tennant, Taubman, and his protégé Diana "DeDe" Brooks. The court was told that Christie's executives, who could not face criminal prosecution because they are based in London, rushed to give evidence against the American company once the U.S. investigation began. That snared Brooks, who pleaded guilty and will testify against her ex-boss Taubman this week in hopes of avoiding a prison sentence. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/
Ex-Sotheby's CEO Brooks testifies on price fixing
By Mary Kelleher
NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Former Sotheby's chief executive Diana Brooks on Monday testified against her ex-boss, A. Alfred Taubman, saying he told her to work with rival Christie's to fix prices at the world's two largest auction houses. During the six-year period of the alleged scheme, the two houses charged sellers in the United States at least $400 million in commissions that they declared nonnegotiable. Brooks, who stepped down as president and CEO of Sotheby's in February last year, told a Manhattan federal court she set the nonnegotiable fees with then-Christie's CEO Christopher Davidge in a series of meetings starting in 1993. She claimed she met him in a London hotel dining room, in a parking lot at New York's John F. Kennedy airport and at her apartments in London and New York. Brooks alleged the clandestine talks with Davidge followed a private April 1993 meeting at Sotheby's London office where Taubman, one of the most powerful figures in the art world, told Brooks he had talked to Christie's then-chairman Sir Anthony Tennant about joint steps to shore up profits in a suffering market.
Taubman, 76, a Detroit real estate magnate who is Sotheby's Holdings Inc.'s (NYSE:BID - news) controlling shareholder, was indicted in May with Tennant for allegedly masterminding price- fixing between 1993 and 1999. He has said he is innocent. Brooks alleged Taubman in April 1993 showed her a small piece of paper where he wrote topics he discussed with Tennant including pricing, guarantees the firms offered sellers and interest-free loans. Taubman then told Brooks to contact Davidge to work out the details, she said.
'GOT ALONG VERY WELL'
``He said he and Tennant had gotten along very well and he could see them working well together,'' Brooks said. The men allegedly joined forces to combat a weak market where auction houses cut fees charged to sellers in desperate bids for business, she told the court. ``It was a time of a lot of giveaways to get business,'' Brooks said. Brooks and Davidge also agreed in a string of private meetings the houses would stop bad-mouthing each other, stop trumpeting their market share gains, end interest-free loans and stop poaching each others' employees, Brooks said. At one point, Taubman asked her why she didn't work with Davidge on estimating the value of pieces, to stop the houses from raising estimates to win business, but she said no. Brooks learned of the government probe into price-fixing allegations in April 1997 but said at a meeting with in-house lawyers she failed to reveal her covert meetings with Davidge.
Brooks said she got her own lawyer in January 2000 and decided to tell everything she knew when she learned Christie's had ended a joint defense agreement with Sotheby's. Around this time, Brooks said, Taubman pulled out a copy of the Financial Times newspaper with Brooks' photo splashed across the front page and said: ``You'll look good in stripes.'' Taubman's lawyers say if there was any collusion, it was done by others. They blame Brooks, who pleaded guilty to her role in the alleged scheme, for engineering it as a way to boost her own compensation. Taubman's lawyers allege Brooks agreed to testify to avoid a three-year prison term. She made a plea bargain with prosecutors at her trial, and has not been sentenced yet.
Brooks told the jury on Monday there is no guarantee in her plea bargain pact that she will not go to prison. Davidge testified against Taubman last week, admitting that he lied to Christie's board of directors and lawyers to hide the price-fixin ? Du Du? top auction houses. If Taubman is convicted, he could face a maximum of three years in prison. The one antitrus???arge against him also carries a possible $350,000 fine that can be increased based on the loss suffere Ja???in Britain and will not face trial in Fo???eed to pay a $45 million fine. While Christie's has not been charged c??? class action case by paying a total of $512 million. http://biz.yahoo.com/
From: newsletter@theartnewspaper.com Subject:
NEW YORK. Michael Rubens Bloomberg, 59, takes over as mayor of New York City in January. It will be the first political office that Mr Bloomberg has ever held. The billionaire financial information entrepreneur, who was the surprise winner of the mayoral election in New York on 7 November, has agreed to take just one dollar in compensation for each year of his labours. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=8071
TAUBMAN TRIAL STARTS
NEW YORK. The art market trial of the century has got under way here with the appearance before a Manhattan court of A. Alfred Taubman, owner and former chairman of Sotheby’s. The shopping mall mogul faces a possible three-year prison sentence and a fine running into millions of dollars if he is found guilty of colluding with Sotheby’s arch-rival, Christie’s. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=8051
THE ART MARKET BREATHES AGAIN
NEW YORK. Ever since the 11 September bombings the art market has been holding its breath, awaiting the first major test of the season, the all-important Impressionist and Modern art auctions. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=8050
REVEALED: US AND UK MUSEUM DIRECTORS’ SALARIES
NEW YORK. In 1997, the Association of Art Museum Directors surveyed the salaries of US and Canadian museum directors and found the highest to be $320,500 and the mean $118,564. Four years later, the top was $496,080 with a mean of $160,130, roughly a 50% increase. In Britain, salaries for museum directors have only recently broken through the £100,000 barrier. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=8035
A BUNKER FULL OF ART IN CUBA
LONDON. A military bunker outside Havana is home to one of the finest collections of Dutch art outside Europe and North America. Cuba’s Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes only has space to display a small part of its collection, so the majority of its 175 Dutch and Flemish paintings are stored in an underground bunker. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=8034
PALAZZO CHIGI REVISITED
ROME. Palazzo Chigi, the Italian prime minister's official residence in Rome, has recently had a million pound restoration of its facade, the results being described by Vittorio Sgarbi, Italy’s Under Secretary of State, as a waste of money and as resembling a “meringue”. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=8033
OLD MASTER SALES RESULTS
LONDON. Considering the quality of works offered and the current economic situation the results of Sotheby’s and Christie’s mid-season sales could have been a lot worse. Bidding was very selective with only a just over 50% take up in both sales but Christie’s in particular, which had the stronger sale saw some good prices for the better and more commercial pieces. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=8032
CONTEMPORARY ART INVADES THE HERMITAGE
ST PETERSBURG. The State Hermitage Museum is holding Russia’s first exhibition of works by Louise Bourgeois, the pioneer French-American sculptor who turns 90 in December. The 25 works and over 200 drawings are a milestone in Russia’s efforts to be part of the contemporary art scene after the collapse of Soviet totalitarianism in 1991. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=8031
BEST EVER SCOTTISH SALE
EDINBURGH. Christie’s sale of Scottish Pictures on 1 November showed that if the rooms can produce top quality works the demand is there. This sale was a triumphant 86% sold by lot, 92% by value and totalled £3.08 million, the highest ever total for a Scottish sale. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=8030