Sotheby's Alf heads for slammer

The future of the most famous name in the auction world now rests in the hands of a convicted felon who could spend the next three years behind bars. Former Sotheby's chairman Alfred Taubman still retains a controlling interest in the firm, despite being found guilty yesterday of conspiring to fix commission fees with London-based rivals Christie's. Rumours have been sweeping the art world for months about the future of the 257-year-old firm, which has lost much of its lustre and a good deal of its profitability following the scandal over price-fixing.

Although 76-year-old Taubman owns less than a quarter of Sotheby's shares, their enhanced voting rights give him a controlling interest in the company. The property mogul faces a prison sentence of up to three years and a fine of £200,000 when he is sentenced on 2 April.

His involvement in the conspiracy has already hit his estimated £500 million fortune hard. Taubman agreed to pay about £120 million in compensation to Sotheby's and Christie's clients from his own pocket in a £350million deal agreed this year with the US government.

Ironically, his conviction has left him considerably richer. Shares in Sotheby's rocketed to $15.67 after news of the verdict reached Wall Street yesterday.

They had closed at $13.40 last Friday, making Taubman's stake of 13.2million shares worth more than £20 million more after he was found guilty.

Friends of the Detroit-born property developer say he has been left bitterly disillusioned by the trial.

Taubman listened in obvious disbelief while supported on either side by two of his eight lawyers as the jury at the Manhattan District Federal Court announced the guilty verdict after a day and a half of deliberations. Afterwards, his close friend, Christopher Tennyson, said that prison would be "unthinkable for this gentleman".

His lead lawyer, Robert Fiske, said he was "disappointed with the verdict," adding: "We'll review our options and decide what to do next."

Taubman's lawyers are expected to wait to see if a judge decides to impose a prison sentence next year before deciding whether to lodge an appeal.

By then, the art world is also likely to know the future of Diana "DeDe" Brooks, the former chief executive of Sotheby's who turned against her boss as the chief prosecution witness in the hope of avoiding prison for her part in the conspiracy.

The three-week trial became a test of the integrity of the two most powerful figures inside Sotheby's in the last decade. Brooks, 51, claimed she had set up meetings with senior figures at Christie's, including the former chairman, Sir Anthony Tennant, on the orders of Taubman.

Both Taubman and Tennant were said to have been concerned that a recession in the art market was destroying their profitability, and agreed to fix commission rates together, a conspiracy the US prosecutors say cost customers around £250million between 1993 and 1999. The plot was said to have been hatched in a secret meeting between Taubman and Tennant in London in 1993 when both men agreed they were "killing each other on the bottom line and that it was time to do something about it".

Taubman's defence claimed that the conspiracy was really the sole work of Brooks, who knew that her share options in Sotheby's would be worthless unless she improved profit.

His lawyers portrayed Taubman as an elderly man who frequently dozed through important meetings.

In contrast, Brooks was said to be ruthless and impatient with the man who was nominally her boss, allegedly complaining at one point about "old men" and going behind the back of the board of directors on key decisions.

Speaking outside the court, members of the jury made it clear they felt Taubman knew what was going on. "I don't care if you fall asleep or not. You're there and you know what's going on," said Mike D'Angelo, a postman and the jury foreman.

Another member of the jury, Dorothy Fronk, a school secretary, called Brooks "a convincing witness".

Like the trial, the verdict attracted a full house of New York socialites, leading figures from the arts' world and even celebrities, such as actress Sigourney Weaver, who will play Brooks in a new TV film about the affair.

It also effectively concludes one of the arts world's worst scandals. US prosecutors would like to charge Sir Anthony Tennant, but privately admit this will never happen. Sir Anthony insists that he is innocent and the charges are not covered by extradition treaties between Britain and America.

If Taubman decides to sell his stake in Sotheby's, it will mark the end of a 20-year association that transformed the once-stuffy and exclusive auction house.

Taubman took over the company in 1983 and turned art sales into glamorous social events, while building a magnificent glass and steel cathedral to house Sotheby's New York headquarters.

For Taubman, control of Sotheby's was as much about social prestige for himself and his much younger wife, a former Miss Israel, as it was about making money.

For Brooks, his former right-hand woman, who also enjoyed having the art world at her feet, that dream has now gone under the hammer, wielded not by an auctioneer but a US judge.

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