In 2022 a charming, 34 year old, art dealer named Inigo Philbrick was jailed for what would become known as one of the largest art frauds in history.
Philbrick was sentenced to seven years in a US prison, with two years of supervised release and an order “to pay forfeiture of over 86 million dollars. Proving that like many of the rarest fine art pieces - you really can’t put a price on freedom.
But how do you value anything that doesn’t have a price? And why does the intangible nature of art attract some of the dodgiest dealers?
Today on Collared, we’re hearing from Tomasso Di Ruzza about the delicate balancing act required to regulate the art world.
But first…
When you hear the word Hollywood to you, you’re probably thinking of, we red carpets, box office records, glamorous stars and creative powerhouses.
But what if we told you that behind the scenes, there can be a completely different kind of creativity at play. It’s estimated that the global film industry generates over 100 billion dollars every year through box office sales, streaming, licensing and home entertainment.
So from Hollywood, to Bollywood, Nollywood and everywhere in between - massive sums of money are passing across borders through web-like corporate networks. While this complexity drives blockbuster entertainment, it also creates the perfect smoke screen for high-stakes financial crime.
From indie passion projects to Oscar-winning epics, cinema has inadvertently become a premier destination for washing dirty cash.
To help us untangle this web of scripts, screens, and dark money, we are joined AML Intelligence’s Managing Director James Treacy.