Helly Nahmad Gallery Raided by FBI in Russian Mob Probe
- April 16, 2013 10:22
Billionaire art dealer Helly Nahmad's gallery was raided by the FBI on Tuesday morning. A longtime tenant at the Carlyle Hotel on Madison Ave., the gallery was searched by the feds as part of a sweep of illegal gambling rings operated by Russian organized crime, Forbes reports.
Heir to an art dealing fortune, with family patriarch, David, listed by Forbes to be worth $1.75 billion as of last month (down from $3 billion in 2011), Helly Nahmad has not been named as one of the dozens who were arrested around New York and elsewhere in the U.S. during the massive sweep.
Feds are investigating an extensive network of sports-betting and high-stakes poker dens frequented by the rich and powerful.
Forbes updated the story with an announcement from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York alleging that one of the enterprises in the scheme laundered tens of millions of dollars through Cyprus shell companies and bank accounts.
Helly Nahmad's connection to the probe has not yet been made public.
100x100_c.jpg "The crowd-pleasing “Exclamation Point” by Richard Artschwager, in the booth of Sprüth Magers. Asking price was said to be $550,000 for the piece which reportedly sold.")
100x100_c.jpg "Rendering of Safe Passage at Mia, 2020. Image courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio.")
100x100_c.jpg "Beauford Delaney (Knoxville 1901-1979 Paris), Dark Rapture (James Baldwin), 1941. Oil on Masonite, 34 x 28 inches, Collection of halley k harrisburg and Michael Rosenfeld, New York. Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York. n© Estate of Beauford Delaney by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire, Court Appointed Administrator")
100x100_c.jpg "Omaha Beach D-Day American Flag flown on the mast of LCI (Landing Craft Infantry) (L)-413, which brought ashore the valiant 115th Infantry Regiment on June 6, 1944. Extensive provenance. Estimate $50,000-$60,000")
