Former Sotheby's head found guilty

New York - The former Sotheby's auction house chairman, A Alfred Taubman, was found guilty in US District Court yesterday of …

New York - The former Sotheby's auction house chairman, A Alfred Taubman, was found guilty in US District Court yesterday of conspiring to fix prices with rival Christie's in a multi-million dollar scandal that shook the art world.

The jury of eight men and four women deliberated for less than two days on a complicated case to decide if Taubman (76) masterminded a deal with his Christie's counterpart, Mr Anthony Tennant, in the 1990s to fix commissions that allegedly defrauded art sellers out of millions of dollars.

Taubman, who is still the largest shareholder in Sotheby's, faces up to three years in prison. The former Christie's chairman, Mr Tennant, could not be extradited from Britain for the trial.