Cy Twombly Foundation Settlement

About six months ago I posted on the the fallout between directors and lawsuits of the Ty Twombly Foundation.  This included noted art law attorney and author Ralph Lerner (click HERE for previous post and background) who was one of four directors.  The recent announcement as reported by the NY Times notes a confidential settlement, with Mr. Lerner resigning his board position as well as his dropping of a lawsuit.

The NY Times reports on the settlement

The foundation of the artist Cy Twombly, who died in 2011, has reached a settlement in a bitter legal battle against two of its directors, who were accused in civil court of taking unauthorized fees and of engineering inflated appraisals for artwork to pad their commissions.

The settlement – involving Ralph E. Lerner, a prominent art-world lawyer and one of the foundation’s four directors; and another director, Thomas H. Saliba, a financial adviser – was approved on Thursday night in chancery court in Delaware. The full terms of the settlement are confidential, but they involve Mr. Lerner and Mr. Saliba resigning their positions, and Mr. Lerner dropping a lawsuit he had filed in the same Delaware court asking a judge to intervene in the foundation’s dispute, saying that it had become deadlocked.

In March 2013, the foundation’s president, Nicola Del Roscio, who was Twombly’s companion; and its vice president, Julie Sylvester, a curator and Twombly expert, filed suit accusing Mr. Saliba of taking unauthorized fees for investment services, and of working with Mr. Lerner to have Twombly’s artwork in a separate trust appraised at a sharply inflated value of more than $1 billion.

The two men continue to administer that trust, which is registered in New York, and a higher valuation would mean higher commissions for them. Mr. Lerner was later added as a defendant in the suit, accused of fraudulently taking at least $750,000 in fees from the foundation, which was incorporated in Delaware. Because the settlement terms were not disclosed, it is unclear whether artwork appraisals will be adjusted or any money will be returned to the foundation.

Mr. Lerner’s law office, in a statement at the time he was added as a defendant, said that all fees for his legal services had been “made in accordance with the practices and procedures established by Mr. Twombly when he was alive.”

Under the settlement, Mr. Del Roscio and Ms. Sylvester will remain as controlling directors. David R. Baum, a lawyer for the two, praised the settlement, saying that it was “ important to protect the integrity of the foundation and the great legacy of Cy Twombly.”

Source: The NY Times