French-US art dealer Wildenstein cleared of tax fraud in Paris

The Franco-American patriarch of the Wildenstein art-dealing dynasty was on Thursday cleared by a Paris court of massive tax fraud.

The court said there was a “clear attempt” by Guy Wildenstein and seven co-defendants to conceal art treasures and properties worth hundreds of millions of euros from tax authorities. But shortcomings in the investigation and in French legislation on tax fraud made it impossible to return a guilty verdict, presiding judge Olivier Geron said. The “powerful and the poor” had equal right to justice, he said.

Wildenstein, 71, and other members of one of the biggest art-dealing families of the 20th century were accused of using a web of opaque trusts and tax havens to avoid paying tax on the bulk of a multi-billion-euro estate.

The allegations first surfaced over a decade ago when various Wildenstein widows and ex-wives, feeling short-changed by the clan, began lifting the lid on their business dealings.

French tax authorities believe the Wildensteins owe them some €550 million (US$580 million).

After a month-long trial last year, prosecutors called for a two-year prison term for Guy Wildenstein and a fine of €250 million for what they called “the longest and most sophisticated” tax fraud scheme in modern-day France.