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Antiquorum files charges against ex-CEO

April 11, 2008

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Geneva—In a criminal suit filed in Geneva, Antiquorum Auctioneers is accusing its former chief executive Osvaldo Patrizzi of fraudulent activities during his tenure, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The auction house's board alleges that Patrizzi was involved in theft of valuable watches and that he was responsible for misappropriating company funds and false accounting, according to the statement, which was filed in October and obtained by the paper on Tuesday.

Mark Schumacher, a business associate of Patrizzi's, confirmed to the newspaper that the complaint had been filed and said that Patrizzi denied any wrongdoing.

He called the announcement of Antiquorum's legal action as an attempt to smear Patrizzi just as he launched a new auction house, Patrizzi and Co.

Patrizzi had filed a countermotion against Antiquorum's October complaint.

Antiquorum and Patrizzi, the co-founder of the auction house, have been dueling since he was fired last summer.

In November, Antiquorum filed a civil suit in Swiss courts against the auction house's former management to secure the rights of the company. The company said the suit followed an independent audit of the auction house by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"The audit shows that Antiquorum is healthy and largely profitable, despite any potential impact caused by former management misconduct," Antiquorum's Chief Financial Officer David Smith told National Jeweler after the filing the civil suit last year. "Trading results for 2007 approximate those in 2006."

At that time, Antiquorum's lawyer Christophe de Kalbermatten confirmed that Antiquorum has filed a lawsuit against former management "based on the severe irregularities revealed by the audit," but he said confidentiality barred him from discussing the suit further.

Patrizzi did not return calls for comment on that suit.

In January 2007, Patrizzi had sold 50 percent of the company to ArtistHouse Holdings, a Japanese publishing and Internet operation. ArtistHouse management claims Patrizzi intended to ultimately sell the entire company to ArtistHouse. But that August, Antiquorum's board of directors ousted Patrizzi, who spent 30 years at the helm of the world's largest watch auction house.

Patrizzi filed suit against the company, claiming that his ouster was illegal. Patrizzi claims that the board called an emergency shareholder gathering in August during his vacation, at which time they voted Patrizzi out of his position. Patrizzi claims that the meeting was illegal because Swiss regulations require more notice for shareholders and that a majority of voting members be Swiss residents.

Antiquorum's new president John Tsukahara has said ArtistHouse hopes to take Antiquorum public in the next few years.

Editor's note: Beth Braverman contributed to this story.
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