A London art gallery where Princess Eugenie serves as a director has been cleared of allegations it breached Russian sanctions after criminal charges were thrown out by a judge.
Hauser & Wirth, which has locations in Mayfair, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and Paris, faced charges alongside shipping firm Artay Rauchwerger Solomons. Prosecutors had alleged the gallery provided a George Condo artwork, Escape from Humanity, to a man named Alexander Popov between April and December 2022. They claimed Mr Popov was a resident of Russia and that the art deal had breached sanctions imposed by the UK government over the transfer of luxury goods.
Judge Quashes Charges Over Insufficient Evidence
At Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Tony Baumgardner, the Recorder of Westminster, quashed the two criminal charges, ruling that prosecutors had not produced sufficient evidence that Mr Popov was a Russian resident at the time of the art deal. The judge’s ruling brings to an end a prosecution, which stemmed from an HM Revenue and Customs investigation, believed to be the first of its kind involving allegations of luxury goods being made available to Russians.
Princess Eugenie, a director of Hauser & Wirth since 2015, was not accused of any wrongdoing in the criminal case.
Defence Argues DHL Error Led to Charges
In its application to dismiss the charges, heard in early May, Hauser & Wirth’s barrister Hugo Keith KC suggested the case may never have been brought at all if delivery company DHL had not wrongly put down a Moscow address instead of Armenia. He pointed out that Mr Popov, who has never been individually sanctioned, had rented out his Moscow flat, distanced himself from Russia and President Vladimir Putin’s regime, and was moving his “life’s work” from the country.
Prosecutor Kevin Dent KC argued that in early 2022 Mr Popov and his wife were described as “young and dynamic collectors based in Russia” who had a foundation at the heart of Moscow. “He’s a Russian citizen, owned Russian property, had businesses in Russia, had a foundation in Russia,” he suggested.
Judge Accepts Popov Distanced Himself from Russia
But Mr Keith put forward evidence that Mr Popov had renounced his Russian citizenship and obtained properties in Bosnia and Armenia. Delivering his ruling, Judge Baumgardner accepted that Mr Popov had been distancing himself from Russia, and concluded: “Although the artwork was made available to Mr Popov, I have found the prosecution couldn’t prove he was a person connected with Russia. That failure is fatal to all counts.” The judge quashed a charge against each defendant of making available a luxury good to a person connected with Russia.
A Hauser & Wirth spokesperson said: “We are delighted that the court has dismissed the case against our UK gallery in its entirety. From the outset, we strongly contested these proceedings and denied any wrongdoing. We continue to be fully committed to complying with all our legal obligations including with respect to sanctions. We are pleased that this matter is now closed.”
Details of the Art Sale and Interception
In his ruling, the judge set out that the sale of the painting, made from acrylic, gesso, ink and wax crayon on paper, was agreed in July 2021, “well before” the Russian invasion of Ukraine the following February. The invoice was made out to an address in Moscow, and the artwork was collected from Hauser and Wirth in August 2022 on Mr Popov’s instructions. He had asked for it to be taken to Heathrow and shipped to Armenia, but it was intercepted by UK Border Force on September 8, 2022.
Mr Popov paid the final instalment on the painting in July 2022, and the judge acknowledged that by August 2022 he was seeking citizenship in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The judge concluded that there was enough evidence for the jury to conclude that the art had been “made available” to Mr Popov when the sale was concluded, and the shipping company had played its part in the deal. But he was not convinced that Mr Popov was still “ordinarily resident” in Russia.
Prosecutors put forward evidence that his Russian passport was still valid, his request to renounce his Russian citizenship was denied in April 2023, and he continued to have business interests in Moscow. But the judge pointed out that Mr Popov had started to move 23 pieces of art from his collection from Russia to Kyrgyzstan in April 2022, and then onwards to Armenia.
Popov's Anti-Putin Message
In a message to a Hauser and Wirth employee in June 2022, he wrote of Vladimir Putin: “I hate the man…who put us in this position. Believe it or not, they even block shares on the stock exchange under the pretext that they care about the citizens of the country because of the sanctions. But what is the care when a citizen of this country cannot sell his shares on the stock exchange, withdraw the currency abroad where he needs and use it at his own discretion. They forgot to explain this. I hope that soon we can get out of all this and start a new life.”
