The Bouvier Affair
Sam Knight on the shipper turned art dealer Yves Bouvier, the Geneva Freeport, Natural Le Coultre, and a lawsuit with Dmitry Rybolovlev.
The Geneva Freeport became legendary—"treasures came and they did not leave"—a tax-free limbo where art could remain forever. Yves Bouvier was among the first to see its potential, building an empire in this gray zone where billion-dollar masterpieces await invisible owners.