June 9 auction house Christie's held bidding works of art from the gallery Salander-O'Reilly , former owner is Lawrence Selender in March pleaded guilty to fraud in the amount of $ 120 million . The auction brought 2.1 million dollars, it reached the bottom estimeyta (2,3 million). Unsold lots were more than a third. Art dealers and consultants say that the fault is not only the turbulent economic situation in Europe, but also well-known habit of Selendera buy "wholesale", often not paying attention to their market value.

Top lot was the painting "The Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, atributiruemoe workshop of El Greco. She bought for 386.5 thousand (estimate 200-300 thousand). Selenderu went to work for 262.4 thousand (Christie's, 2005). Among other lots were paintings attributed to Rubens ("Allegory of force", 182.5 thousand) and his workshop ("Ceres and Two Nymphs, 146,5 thousand).

In March Lawyer Selendera Michael Obus (Michael Obus) said that his client faces a prison term of 18 years. Now the dealer is at liberty, he was released on bail of $ 1 million. The next time he appears in court June 23. At the auction Selender not come.

Funds from the sale of works would get creditors to Salander-O'Reilly, has declared itself bankrupt in November 2007. On the money earned by dishonest means (Selender involving an investor in a fraudulent scheme, as well as selling products that really was not their own), the dealer kept a chic way of life: he bought the house, luxurious carpets, books, and, of course, pictures. He preferred the artists of the Renaissance, which he considered undervalued compared to our contemporaries. His accusers claim that Selender bought this work in order to monopolize the market.

material prepared Yulia Maksimova, AI

Sources: bloomberg.com , artinvestment.ru