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Are_we_sure ago

I guess all this wonderful art has to do with money laundering.

There's never been a scintilla of proof of the money-laundering schemes alleged on VOAT--that high prices for modern art are a way of hiding money laundering.

In fact the case I have seen for art involved in money-laudering involve UNDERPRICING THE ART to avoid import taxes or to be able to move large sums across border in physical way----take a $5 million painting to customs and declare it at $200,000, then resell it at its actual value and pocket the cash.

These second type of scheme and indeed the entire art market involves the art actually fetching high prices outside of any criminal scheme.

AngB23 ago

Hhmmmmm.....I thought this was pretty much common knowledge. What better way to launder money than through art where only the elite are invited to private auction houses

“According to the air bill slapped on the crate that arrived at Kennedy International Airport from London, an unnamed painting worth $100 was inside. Only later did federal investigators discover that it was by the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and worth $8 million.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/arts/design/art-proves-attractive-refuge-for-money-launderers.html

“Although art collectors will pay hefty sums for aesthetic reasons, high art prices and secretive auction sales have also become a prime money laundering vehicle.

Money laundering in the high-end art world happens in two primary ways:”

http://jansentax.com/art-money-laundering/

“Laundering Drug Money With Art”

https://www.forbes.com/2003/04/08/cx_0408hot.html#31bec91866fc

Are_we_sure ago

“According to the air bill slapped on the crate that arrived at Kennedy International Airport from London, an unnamed painting worth $100 was inside. Only later did federal investigators discover that it was by the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and worth $8 million.”

That confirms the type of money laundering I was talking about, Laundering based on the ACTUAL Value of art and the actual art market.

A. Taking dirty drug money and making it clean B. Undervaluing painting to move large sums across borders.

Note that the Basquiat painting is actually worth $8 million dollars.

What folks on here have talking about is a completely different form of money laundering, IMAGINARY VALUE of art. They are saying there's no way a Basquiat painting could be worth $8 million and the only reason that much money is changing hands is for bribes. They are talking about paying someone $8 million dollars for a painting that is NOT WORTH that amount. It's the opposite of real world art crimes. It's a fantasy.