Repatriated Artworks Up for Sale at Auction Now

Four artworks by Pablo Picasso, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Diane Arbus surrendered to the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal are now being auctioned online by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Gaston and Sheehan, an auction house in Pflugerville, Texas, has been contracted by the U.S. government to sell Jean Michel Basquiat’s Self Portrait (1982) and collage Red Man One (1982), Pablo Picasso’s Tête de taureau et broc (1939), and Diane Arbus’s Child with a Toy Hand Grenade. The online-only auction began on July 16 and closes on September 4. Notably, there is no buyer’s premium on any of the artworks.

Art advisors and experts told ARTnews the works are high caliber and have “crazy” starting bids relative to their actual value based on previous auction records and sales information. However, the simple auction website and association with an international fugitive may deter potential bidders in an already sluggish art market.

“It’s not the sexiest place to buy, but it could present the right opportunity for a savvy buyer,” Art advisor Dane Jensen told ARTnews, noting the lack of condition report and information about where the works have been stored, likely requiring an in-person inspection by any serious potential bidders.

“Most of my clients would not be interested in sitting on this website and bidding on it just because the website is so terrible,” art advisor Arushi Kapoor said. “If someone sent me this website, I would probably be like, ‘Someone’s trying to scam me’.”

Documents filed by the Justice Department in July 2020 state Basquiat’s Self Portrait was surrendered to the U.S. government by Christopher Joey McFarland, who co-founded Red Granite Pictures with Riza Shahriz Bin Abdul Aziz, the stepson of the former Malaysian prime minister. McFarland and Aziz also produced the 2013 movie The Wolf of Wall Street.

The other three artworks were purchased by Malaysian businessman and fugitive Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, between 2012 and 2014 and gifted to actor and art collector Leonardo DiCaprio, who also starred and produced The Wolf of Wall Street. Documents filed by the Justice Department state DiCaprio surrendered all three artworks to the U.S. government after the Picasso and Basquiat were located in Switzerland in 2017.

Low is currently wanted in several countries, including by Interpol, for his key role in the 1MDB scandal. The US Justice Department believes more than $4.5 billion was stolen from Malaysia’s sovereign investment development fund between 2009 and 2015 “by high-level officials of 1MDB and their associates, and Low Taek Jho (aka Jho Low), through a criminal scheme involving international money laundering and embezzlement.” 

Basquiat’s Red Man One (1982) sold for $3.5 million with fees at Sotheby’s Contemporary evening sale in New York in May 2009. Documents filed by the Justice Department state the Basquiat collage was purchased for $9.4 million from the Helly Nahmad Gallery in New York “in or around November 2012”, using diverted proceeds for a bond sale for 1MDB. The starting bid for Red Man One on the U.S. Marshalls Art Auction website was $2.975 million.

Documents filed by the Justice Department in June 2016 state the Picasso painting Tête de taureau et broc (1939), also known as Nature morte au crâne, was acquired on January 2, 2014, using $3.28 million in funds from a diverted bond sale in 2013. The painting was gifted to DiCaprio the same month with a handwritten note that said “Happy belated Birthday! This gift is for you,” and signed, “TKL”, Low’s initials.

The starting bid for both Basquiat’s Self Portrait and Picasso’s Tête de taureau et broc on the U.S. Marshalls Art Auction was $850,000.

Documents filed by the US Justice Department also stated the gelatin silver print Child with a Toy Hand Grenade (1962) by Arbus was purchased from the art and movie memorabilia company Cinema Archives for $750,000. The starting bid for Child with a Toy Hand Grenade on the U.S. Marshalls Art Auction was $4,400.

While proceeds from federal seizures typically go to the Treasury Department, funds from the sale of assets connected to the 1MDB case will benefit people who were harmed by the corruption in Malaysia, a Justice Department spokesperson told NPR in 2019. A press release from the Justice Department published last June stated it had repatriated approximately $1.4 billion.