Sotheby's chief convicted of price-fixing

The former chairman of Sotheby’s was convicted today of conspiring with rival auction house Christie’s to fix the commissions paid by sellers of fine art.

Alfred Taubman, 76, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, faces up to three years in prison for conspiring to fix prices.

The jury deliberated over two days before reaching the verdict at a US District Court in New York.

Taubman had denied charges that he and former Christie’s chairman Sir Anthony Tennant, 71, of Andover, Hampshire, stole as much as 400 million dollars in commissions from 1993 to 1999.

Between them, the businesses control more than 90% of the world’s art auctions.