German socialite admits stealing more than £1.1million from a Hong Kong art firm over the sale of a Yayoi Kusama pumpkin sculpture
A German socialite admitted to stealing more than £1.1million from a Hong Kong art firm over the sale of a pumpkin sculpture.
Angela Gulbenkian, 39, pocketed the payment for a polka-dotted piece called the ‘Kusama pumpkin’ by Yayoi Kusama but never handed over the item.
Gulbenkian grew up in Munich and married the great-grand-nephew of oil tycoon Calouste Gulbenkian, whose fortune funded a multi-billion pound foundation and Lisbon museum.
Gulbenkian, pictured, became heavily involved in the continental art world, marketing herself as a high-end broker
The Gulbenkians are considered one of Europe’s wealthiest, most renowned art collecting families and she became heavily involved in the continental art world, marketing herself as a high-end broker.
The Gulbenkians are considered one of Europe’s wealthiest, most renowned art collecting families.
Gulbenkian herself became heavily involved in the continental art world, marketing herself as a high-end broker.
But in 2017 a Hong-King art firm, Art Incorporated Ltd claimed it paid £1.1million Gulbenkian for the ‘Kusama pumpkin’ but never received the piece.
The firm filed a civil suit which saw a world-wide freeze on Gulbenkian’s assets.
Gulbenkian, who admitted two charges of theft at Southwark Crown Court, has been in custody since she was arrested in Portugal in June last year.
She had been on bail but a warrant was issued in February 2020 when she failed to attend court.
Hong-King art firm, Art Incorporated Ltd claimed it paid £1.1million Gulbenkian for the ‘Kusama pumpkin’ but never received the piece
Despite contesting her extradition to the UK in the Supreme Court of Justice in Portugal she was flown back to the UK last June.
Gulbenkian admitted theft following the sale of the Kusama pumpkin and a second theft of £50,000 given to her for art investment by a client named Jacqui Ball.
She remains in custody ahead of sentencing before Judge Martin Beddoe on July 28.
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