The art dealer is suspected of tax evasion in the amount of $ 360 million.
A month after the Supreme Court of Monaco closed Rybolovlev’s case against Bouvier, it became known that the art dealer would have to face trial again. Now – at home, in Switzerland. And again in connection with the Rybolovlev case.
As you know, the essence of the claims of the Russian collector against the Swiss art dealer is that Bouvier received from him about $ 2 billion for works of art bought by the dealer from previous owners for $ 1 billion. At the same time, Rybolovlev believed that Bouvier was making transactions as his agent and on his behalf. And, therefore, he paid the dealer a salary. And Bouvier believed that he was reselling works of art to Rybolovlev with the maximum benefit for himself. And, as far as is known, he has never denied the fact of receiving $ 2 billion.
Now the Swiss criminal court is interested in receiving this amount by Bouvier. According to calculations by the Swiss Federal Tax Service, published on August 3, 2020, Bouvier owed the state as much as $ 360 million in unpaid taxes on his income from transactions with Rybolovlev. This is not Bouvier’s first charge of tax evasion. In 2017, the Swiss authorities opened a case against him due to the fact that the dealer did not fill out income tax returns from 2007 to 2015. Then the amount of his debt to the state was $ 180 million.
Bouvier’s lawyers have already announced that they will appeal the very fact of opening this case. Since, according to the art dealer, who has been living in Singapore most of the time since the late 2000s, he owes nothing to Switzerland.
However, according to information from representatives of the authorities, Bouvier did not change the status of a resident of the country, and the transactions themselves were carried out in Switzerland. So he will most likely have to pay taxes.
