Oh, the tangled web of art and cryptocurrency! Tron founder Justin Sun has taken a leaf out of Oscar Wilde’s playbook and filed a lawsuit against American film producer and record executive David Geffen. The bone of contention? A $78 million Alberto Giacometti sculpture, which Sun claims was stolen and sold to the entertainment mogul without his consent.
In a bid to reclaim the bronze Le Nez sculpture or get up to $80 million in damages, Sun lodged the complaint in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday. The crypto entrepreneur alleges that his former employee, Xiong Zihan Sydney, masterminded the theft and subsequent sale of the artwork to Geffen.
Sun’s Sculpture Saga: A Tale of Deceit
Le Nez, which has been authenticated by the Giacometti Committee, was conceived by the artist between 1947 and 1949 and cast in 1965. Sun bought the sculpture for $78.4 million at a November 2021 auction of real estate developer Harry Macklowe’s art collection.
The 34-year-old intended to donate the sculpture to the Singapore-based ApeNFT Foundation, which focuses on blockchain-based fractional-ownership art investments. However, he never completed the transfer; instead, he allowed the sculpture to be exhibited virtually by the organization.
According to the lawsuit, soon after the artwork returned from France to Sun’s storage facility in Singapore, Xiong hatched a plot to steal it and sell it to Geffen, using her position to misrepresent the ownership of the piece and forge his signature on sale documents.
She allegedly introduced a fake Chinese lawyer named “Laura Chang” to validate the transaction, which involved swapping Le Nez for two pieces of art from the music magnate’s collection with a combined value of $55 million. The deal also included an extra $10.5 million in cash, bringing the total to $65.5 million.
Sun admits that he had considered selling the suspended bronze figure, but he wanted to recoup the $78.4 million he paid for it. The Liberland Prime Minister says he asked Xiong to keep an eye out for anyone that would pay at least $80 million for the piece, but he never authorized her to execute a sale on his behalf.
A Masterclass in Sarcasm
However, Geffen’s lawyer, Tibor Nagy, has dismissed the allegations against his client as nothing more than “seller’s remorse,” calling the lawsuit “bizarre and baseless.” He stressed that the movie producer had no direct contact with Sun’s art advisor and that the transaction was conducted through intermediaries.
This is not the first time that Sun, who is the biggest investor in the President Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial, is in the news over art-related matters. In November last year, he made waves after spending $6.2 million on Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, a banana duct-taped to the wall, and eating it soon after.
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2025-02-07 23:26