23/08/2001

The legal team representing Alfred A. Taubman, Sotheby's chief shareholder and former chairman, yesterday outlined central elements of the defense he is expected to make against charges that he colluded with a counterpart at Christie's to fix commission rates governing tens of thousands of transactions. During pre-trial motions in Federal District Court in Manhattan, the lawyers contended there was strong evidence that an earlier round of price-fixing discussions had been engineered by subordinates at the two auction houses without his involvement. They maintain that the scheme for which Mr. Taubman is being prosecuted was similar and that he was not, as the government charges, one of its instigators. The lawyers also attacked the underpinnings of a cooperation agreement between federal prosecutors and Christie's and an arrangement by Christie's to pay $ 7,000,000 (€ 7,636,160) to its former chief executive, a crucial prosecution witness. (James Goulder)