Art Basel Miami and the FBI

Edward Helmore of the London based online daily magazine, First Post is reporting the FBI is very interested in the main sponsor of Art Basel Miami, the financial troubled Swiss bank USB. It appears many wealthy individuals and collectors visit Art Basel Miami, and USB finds the location fertile grounds for obtaining clients. According to the First Post article, it appears to be fertile ground for an FBI investigation as well.

Helmore reports According to recent reports, the law enforcement agency is taking a close look at as many as 60 bankers - and hundreds of their clients - employed by the fair's main sponsor, the Swiss banking giant UBS. Many of them - bankers and clients - will be attending the investment bank's Friday night dinner, traditionally the most lavish and coveted invitation of the week. Unless, of course, they are put off by the rumours now rife of an FBI sting.

The famous agency, and its friend the IRS - the American tax authority - appear to be alert to the fact that art is not only an excellent way to move capital between tax jurisdictions unseen but that the intersection of banking and art collecting is a productive place to pursue their line of work.

It's shaping up to be an improbable week in Miami. As the respected art critic Dave Hickey recently warned, if the big collectors - the whales who have been keeping the art market going for the past year or so - now decide to dump at cut-rate prices, "the art world will undergo its first catastrophic value re-adjustment in 40 years. It won't be pretty, but it will be exciting to watch".

Meanwhile many in the art world fear the FBI will be keeping a close eye on the UBS Friday dinner, imagining scenes worthy of Miami Vice. Will agents be hiding bugs with the mountains of stone crabs, lobster and shrimp, seared tuna, beef tenderloin and giant strawberries? If they can't talk money, what will guests talk about? Art?

To read the full article, click HERE.