Financier Linked to Madoff Must Part With Art Trove
The art collection is valued at $310 million
Tuesday, Jun 30, 2009 | Updated 6:25 PM EST
AP Photo/Eliana Aponte
J. Ezra Merkin, managing partner of Gabriel Capital Group, is seen during a ceremony in Jerusalem, Israel in 2006.
A hedge fund manager being sued over his role the Bernard Madoff scandal will have to sell one of the country's top modern art collections to pay off his alleged victims.
Financier J. Ezra Merkin ran a fund that invested heavily with Madoff, and lost everything when the fraud fell apart. His clients claim he misled them about what he did with their money.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is forcing Merkin to sell his Rothko canvases and Giacometti sculptures, with proceeds going to investors he steered into the massive ponzi scheme.
The art collection is valued at $310 million.
Merkin has denied any wrongdoing, but has agreed to sell his collection of paintings by the abstract expressionist work.
Cuomo, who is also suing Merkin, said an anonymous buyer is acquiring the art trove.
The money will be held in an escrow account until various legal battles involving Merkin are resolved.
