Sotheby's boss jailed for price-fixing

THE former chairman of Sotheby's has been jailed for a year and fined £5m in the US for price-fixing. Alfred Taubman's trial last year had heard that Sotheby's and Christie's conspired to defraud customers of millions.

Lawyers for billionaire Taubman, 78, had produced letters pleading for leniency from more than 100 of America's most famous names. They included former US President Gerald Ford, Queen Noor of Jordan, Henry Kissinger and cosmetics baron Leonard Lauder. They also claimed a jail term would be a death sentence for Taubman, who suffers from heart problems and diabetes and is said to have been given only three years to live.

But US District Court Judge George Daniels, who could have given Taubman a three-year term, told him bluntly: 'No one is above the law.'

The prosecution had alleged that the conspiracy was hatched in a series of secret meetings in New York and London between Taubman and Sir Anthony Tennant, who was Christie's chairman from 1993 to 1996. They were followed by high-level talks between Diana Brooks, Sotheby's chief executive, and Christopher Davidge, her opposite number at Christie's. Brooks, who was nicknamed 'the Terminator' for her tough management style, is due to be sentenced next week.

The scandal has severely damaged Sotheby's business around the world. During the last two years the 200-year-old auction house has lost more than £100m and paid more than £100m in compensation to clients. Last week it was told that the European Commission is planning to charge it and Christie's with illegal price fixing in the UK and Europe.

Experts say Taubman's conviction is likely to increase the EU's appetite for prosecuting the two auction houses. They could face massive fines equal to 10% of their turnover, around £30m. Even more seriously, a fine by Brussels would pave the way for a series of crippling lawsuits from European customers.

The US sentence may hasten the sale of Sotheby's to an international buyer who would be better equipped to clean up its sullied image. It also means that Tennant will never be able to visit the US again without running the risk of prison. Authorities here want to put him on trial but he cannot be extradited because a legal technicality means anti-monopoly charges are not in the US criminal code.

Friends of Taubman said he is depressed and angry that he is taking punishment when Tennant seems set to get off scot-free. His lawyers said last night: 'Mr Taubman's once-stellar reputation, which took him decades of incredibly hard work and humanity to build, has been shattered, literally overnight.'