Achenbach penalized for Aldi heir rip-off
January 20, 2015
The regional court in the western city of Dusseldorf on Tuesday handed down a fine of 19.4 million euros ($22.5 million) to art dealer Helge Achenbach (pictured), after ruling that he took unauthorized mark-ups when selling works of art and classic cars to Berthold Albrecht.
Altogether Albrecht had paid Achenbach (pictured) a total of about 97 million euros for 21 works of art -including some by Gerhard Richter, Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein - and 11 vintage cars, including Ferraris. This was some 19.4 million too much, the court found in a civil claim.
Achenbach had contended that he had a verbal agreement with Albrecht to take a "margin of discretion" as a surcharge for the objects, but this did not convince the judge.
"There is no doubt that this verbal agreement did not take place," said Judge Joachim Matz. "No economically savvy person, and especially not a business personality like Berthold Albrecht, would have engaged in such completely opaque pricing," Matz added, also mentioning that Albrecht's family was likely to sue to the art dealer for an additional 5 million euros in relation to other commissions.
The verdict can be appealed to a higher court, according to a court spokesperson. Achenbach is also facing criminal proceedings in an Essen court relating to fraud. He has denied those charges.
Berthold Albrecht, one of Germany's wealthiest men and a member of the Aldi dynasty, died in 2012 at the age of 58.
However, the Albrecht family may not actually see much of the money they were awarded. Achenbach has been in jail for the past seven months and his companies are insolvent. His art collection consisting of some 2000 pieces due soon to be auctioned off, but liquidators have said the proceeds are expected to total only about 6 million euros.
se/ (dpa, epd, AFP)