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Omaha Steve

(99,081 posts)
Tue Feb 4, 2020, 10:28 AM Feb 2020

Court raises sentence for banker who smuggled a Picasso

Source: AP

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish court has raised the sentence against a former bank president found guilty of trying to smuggle a painting by Pablo Picasso out of the country.

The Madrid court announced the decision Tuesday to raise the sentence against fined ex-Bankinter head Jaime Botín to three years instead of 18 months. The move came after the prosecution detected an error in the original sentence handed down last month.

The court also raised the amount Botín was fined from 52.4 million euros ($57. 9 million) to 91.7 million euros.

The trial last year heard how a team of Spanish police experts flew to the French island of Corsica in 2015 to retrieve the painting, Picasso’s masterpiece “Head of a Young Woman.” The Spanish government had ruled in 2012 that the painting, which is valued at some 24 million euros ($26.5 million), could not be taken out of the country.

Read more: https://apnews.com/e5fd75321f6b4bf5d75d481c08487379

7 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Court raises sentence for banker who smuggled a Picasso (Original Post) Omaha Steve Feb 2020 OP
One of the Richest Families In Spain itcfish Feb 2020 #1
He is Well Named! McKim Feb 2020 #2
Yeah, Not Stolen Though. jayfish Feb 2020 #3
Perhaps he was not itcfish Feb 2020 #4
Yeah, No. jayfish Feb 2020 #5
I support the concept of protecting a nation's cultural treasures from sale abroad. Nitram Feb 2020 #6
good, but meh on picsso. pansypoo53219 Feb 2020 #7

jayfish

(10,035 posts)
3. Yeah, Not Stolen Though.
Tue Feb 4, 2020, 01:08 PM
Feb 2020

Unless you mean by the Spanish government.


The work was owned by Botín, an uncle of Ana Botín, president of the powerful Santander banking group.


In the original sentence, the court awarded the painting to the Spanish state.



Jaime Botin Is Sentenced to Prison in Picasso Smuggling Fiasco

Spain has some of the strictest heritage laws in Europe. Any work of art more than 100 years old that is considered culturally important can be deemed a national treasure, forcing owners to obtain a permit before taking it out of the country. Botin was denied such a permit for the Picasso.




itcfish

(1,828 posts)
4. Perhaps he was not
Tue Feb 4, 2020, 01:33 PM
Feb 2020

Allowed to sell the painting outside of Spain becuase he owes Hacienda (Spanish IRS) 200 million Euros in back taxes. Just a thought

jayfish

(10,035 posts)
5. Yeah, No.
Tue Feb 4, 2020, 01:42 PM
Feb 2020
Spanish Businessman Accused of Smuggling Picasso Painting Could Face $111 M. Fine

The painting, Head of a Young Woman (1906), was seized in 2015 from Botin’s yacht while it was docked in Corsica while en route to Switzerland. According to El País, Botín’s defense acknowledged his attempt to export the painting, but said that his intentions were misunderstood. According to the banker, Head of a Young Woman was “in transit” to Geneva for safekeeping at the Freeport warehouse complex. His lawyers also said that the artwork could not truly be claimed by the state because it has only spent six months physically within national borders since its initial purchase—Botín bought the Picasso in 1977 in London.

Prosecutors working for the Spanish state allege that Botín, whose family appears on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list, first attempted to authorize an auction of the artwork at a branch of Christie’s in 2012. (A representative for Christie’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) Negotiations between Botín and Christie’s fell through after Spain’s Board of Qualification, Valuation and Export of Spanish Historical Heritage Assets declared the piece was one of the few surviving pieces made by Picasso after his Rose Period. It was subsequently classified as non-exportable.

Nitram

(22,671 posts)
6. I support the concept of protecting a nation's cultural treasures from sale abroad.
Tue Feb 4, 2020, 04:32 PM
Feb 2020

As well as the return of treasures plundered by other countries. If a country cannot afford to protect a treasure under conditions that will prevent its deterioration or theft, the international community should help finance the proper condition fo preserving the work and making it available for view by the public.

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