Mega-gallery Hauser & Wirth has been charged by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK’s tax authority, for breaching criminal sanctions banning the export of luxury goods to Russia. The case reportedly relates to a work-on-paper by George Condo that the gallery sold three years ago.
According to proceedings at Westminster Magistrates Court, the gallery, together with Marylebone-based art shipping company Artay Rauchwerger Solomons, are accused of making the 2021 work titled Escape from Humanity available to Alexander Popov.
Popov and his wife founded the Popov Art Foundation. In 2020, the couple told Art Focus Now that it aims to bring East and West together by displaying Russian and Western art to explore a common language.
Court documents allege that Hauser & Wirth made the artwork available to Popov between April 2022 and December 2022. The UK government made it illegal to provide luxury goods, including jewelry, art, cars, and antiques valued over £250 ($330), to individuals connected to Russia in March 2022, when it announced a ban on exports of high-end goods. The European Union also implemented a ban on luxury goods exports as part of its sanctions against Russia in the same month. These moves were the result of Russia invading Ukraine.
The charge against Hauser & Wirth, which is headquartered in Switzerland and has 17 locations worldwide, including two London spaces, came after an investigation by HMRC. It is thought to be the first under the law preventing sellers from making luxury goods available to persons connected to Russia.
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“Our UK gallery has been charged with one instance of making an item of artwork available to a non-sanctioned person connected with Russia,” the gallery said in a statement email to ARTnews. “We are fully committed to complying with all our legal obligations including sanctions. As the case is ongoing, we are unable to comment further other than to say we strongly contest this charge and intend to plead not guilty.”
In 2021, Artay Rauchwerger Solomons was called Art Logistics Limited. It went into voluntary liquidation in April 2024, according to Companies House, the UK government’s register of companies.
Popov and his wife are not sanctioned and there is no reason to suggest either has committed any criminal offense. A plea and trial preparation hearing scheduled for December 16.
Earlier this week, galleries Sprüth Magers and Skarstedt announced that they will be taking on joint representation of Condo. The deal means that Condo will no longer be represented by Hauser & Wirth, which first started working with him in late 2019.
The HMRC charge against the gallery is another blow after Hauser & Wirth’s UK subsidiary reported an 87 percent decline in pretax profit last year, according to a report by the Financial Times.