Celebrity photographer on brink of losing life’s work

CELEBRITY artist Annie Leibovitz risks losing the copyright to her famous images – and her entire life’s work, if she does not pay back a multimillion-dollar loan by today.

Art Capital Group (ACG), a New York company that issues short-term loans against fine and decorative arts and real estate, sued her in July for breach of contract.

“We have clear contractual rights and will protect them in any scenario,” said ACG spokesman Montieth Illingworth. “Our preference is for this to be resolved.”

Some experts say filing for bankruptcy reorganisation could be the best option for Leibovitz, 59, who has put up as collateral her three historic Greenwich Village townhouses, an upstate property, and her work.

“Based on the magnitude of her obligations and the facts as they are publicly known, that would be the best option,” said art lawyer Peter Stern.

Leibovitz’s images of musicians, presidents and Hollywood glitterati are cultural touchstones. One of her earliest photos is of John Lennon curled up naked in a foetal position with Yoko Ono, taken hours before he was assassinated in 1980.

Her spokesman Matthew Hiltzik accused ACG of harassment. “There has been tension and dispute since the beginning... For now, her attention remains on her photography and on continuing to organise her finances.”

A reorganisation filing would have suspended all litigation against Leibovitz and placed her finances under the protection of a federal judge, said bankruptcy lawyer Paul Silverman, who works with Stern. Neither lawyer is involved in the case.

Last year, Leibovitz put up her homes and the copyright to every picture she has ever taken, or will take, as collateral to secure the $24m (€16.7) loan to pay off her mounting debt: unpaid bills, mortgage payments and tax debts.

While no one has suggested publicly how Leibovitz got into such desperate financial straits, the mortgage debt on all her properties – including the townhouses in Greenwich Village and a sprawling estate in Rhinebeck, New York, totalled about $15m.

This includes the $1.2m loan she took out on two of the townhouses, and another $2.2m three years later, according to New York magazine.

Court records show she piled up years of federal, state and city tax debts and judgments from vendors for unpaid bills – all presumably now satisfied with the $24m she borrowed. Federal records show Leibovitz owed $2.1m in unpaid taxes for tax years 2004, 2006 and 2007. She also had New York state tax debts of $247,980 for six years.