One of France’s biggest tax fraud trials began on Monday as members of the Wildenstein art-dealer dynasty faced charges of concealing fortunes from authorities for years, reports the Financial Times.
Investigating judges claim Guy Wildenstein, the Franco-American heir to his family’s estate, along with his deceased brother Alec, hid the bulk of the inherited fortune in funds stretching across multiple tax havens, including the Bahamas and Cayman Islands.
Guy Wildenstein, 70, faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty, as well as fines in back taxes of more than €550m.
The case is the latest twist to hit a family long-identified with New York’s fine art world, and one that was until recently more associated with respected academic texts on impressionist artists than with public rows over divorces and inheritance.
The two brothers came into the inheritance following the death in 2001 of their father, the art dealer and collector Daniel Wildenstein, who was a French citizen.
Guy Wildenstein took over running the family’s art business, which includes the Wildenstein & Company gallery in Manhattan, while Alec, who died in 2008, ran the dynasty’s horse-racing and breeding business.
The family fortune includes works by artists such as Jean-Honoré Fragonard, as well as a stable of thoroughbred racehorses and a real estate portfolio. The Wildenstein luxury ranch in Kenya also provided the backdrop for parts of the Academy award-winning film Out of Africa.
French prosecutors began an investigation six years ago after Guy and Alec’s stepmother lodged a complaint over their handling of the inheritance.