Salvator Mundi
In June 2019, Sotheby's request to have the case against it thrown out was denied by a US federal court in Manhattan. The court argued that Sotheby's had failed to establish “exceptional circumstances” to justify such a move. The auction house also had to allow public access to previously sealed or redacted documents detailing correspondence between Yves Bouvier, Sotheby's staff as well as Sotheby's senior director and vice-chairman for private sales Samuel Valette. According to the "Art Newspaper", the correspondence reveals "that Bouvier paid Sotheby’s $83 million for Salvator Mundi, suggesting a 53.62% markup on the painting, as Rybolovlev had alleged." Next to Salvator Mundi, the documents pertain to pricing negotiations between Bouvier and Sotheby's for Gustav Klimt's "Wasserschlangen II" in 2012, Picasso's "L’Homme Assis Au Verre" and Modigliani's "Nu Couché au Coussin Bleu".