A Jackson Pollock painting sold for £143 million at Christie's in New York last night. The buyer: a British collector whose name remains sealed behind corporate shell companies. Sources say the sale set a new record for a 20th-century American work.
But the price raises questions. Who is the real buyer? And why is the art market still a playground for the ultra-rich to park untraceable wealth?
The canvas, a 1952 drip painting, was traded in a room where no one asked questions. No one ever does. The auction house claims the sale was legitimate.
But I've seen this before. Art is the new gold. Gold you can hang on a wall.
Gold that comes with no tax liability if you know the right people. The British collector's identity is hidden behind a chain of shell companies registered in the Cayman Islands and Delaware. Sources confirm the same structures used in money laundering for Russian oligarchs.
The painting itself? It's beautiful. But so is a numbered bank account.
The art world pats itself on the back for breaking records. Meanwhile, the real record is the number of anonymous buyers parking billions in assets beyond the reach of tax authorities. I've seen the documents.
This sale is just the surface. The deep sea is full of sharks.
