The Geneva public prosecutor’s office has dropped its criminal investigation of Yves Bouvier, a Swiss businessman who has been embroiled in a long-running battle with a Russian billionaire and art collector over the acquisition of $2 billion of artworks. The prosecutor ruled that there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the charges, ending all current criminal proceedings against Mr. Bouvier that resulted from the dispute with Mr. Rybolovlev. Calling it “a complete victory,” Mr. Bouvier said in a statement that the decision “marks the end of a six-year nightmare. In a statement, his lawyers suggested that the case against Mr. Bouvier had not yet been properly judged on its merits — whether Mr. Bouvier was acting as an agent for Mr. Rybolovlev or as an independent art dealer in his own right. “It is essential that this case, the most serious the art world has ever known, be duly considered and finally judged on its merits,” they said.

Source: New York Times September 17, 2021 20:03 UTC