Russian billionaire loses Sotheby’s fraud case over artworks including Salvator Mundi

Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev has lost a case against Sotheby’s in which he had accused the British auction house of defrauding him of tens of millions of dollars over four artworks, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi. Photograph: agefotostock/Alamy

A US federal jury has ruled in favour of Sotheby’s at a trial in which the Russian billionaire oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev accused the auction house of defrauding him out of tens of millions of dollars in art sales.

Rybolovlev had accused Sotheby’s of conspiring with Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier to trick him into paying inflated prices for four works including Salvator Mundi, a depiction of Christ attributed to Leonardo da Vinci that would become the most expensive artwork sold at auction.