Auction House Conflict of Interest
 

Posted By: <b>PAS</b><p>brief excerpt from Wikipedia:<br /><br />In 2000, allegations surfaced of a price-fixing arrangement between Christie's and Sotheby's, another major auction house. Executives from Christie's subsequently alerted the Department of Justice of their suspicions of commission-fixing collusion. Christie's gained immunity from prosecution in the United States after a longtime employee of Christie's confessed and cooperated with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Numerous members of Sotheby's senior management were fired soon thereafter, and A. Alfred Taubman, the largest shareholder of Sotheby's at the time, took most of the blame and he and Dede Brooks (the COO) were given jail sentences.[1][2]

Auction House Conflict of Interest
 

Posted By: <b>Max Weder</b><p>Peter C<br /><br />Sotheby's and Christies have had numerous legal problems in relation to price fixing. Here is but one of many links <a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/press_releases/2000/6639.htm" target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/press_releases/2000/6639.htm</a> in which Sotheby's agreed to pay a $45 million criminal fine in a prosecution by the federal Department of Justice<br /><br />Max

Auction House Conflict of Interest
 

Posted By: <b>Jeff Lichtman</b><p>Peter C, it is exhausting keeping up with the mountain of misinformation which flows from your keyboard.

Auction House Conflict of Interest
 

Posted By: <b>PAS</b><p>Maybe as part of the plea bargain Congess amended the Sherman Act to carve out an exemption for auction houses. Then again....

Auction House Conflict of Interest
 

Posted By: <b>Jeff Lichtman</b><p>Yeah, I'm afraid Alfred Taubman and the 10 months he spent in jail might disagree with Peter's legal conclusion.

Auction House Conflict of Interest
 

Posted By: <b>Peck</b><p>Barry is 100% right. A group formed to go after one or more lots in an auction with the intent to resell to members of the "pool" is against Federal Law and the punishment is prison time. The Federal Government busted Antique Dealers in Pennsylvania for pooling a few years back and it was well reported in the Maine Antiques Digest and other antiques trade papers. I remember some of the first threads I read here as a lurker were people looking for others to join them in spliting up auction lots. I thought these guys are crazy. That's a Federal offense that could draw prison time and they are right out in the open with it.

Auction House Conflict of Interest
 

Posted By: <b>PAS</b><p>Perhaps Mr. Taubman's legal counsel was not sophisticated enough to realize no federal laws applied to the alleged price-fixing activities. <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14>