Media Executive’s Father Ordered to Pay $250,000 in Suit Over Fake Picasso
LOS ANGELES — Jack and Leslie Kavanaugh, the parents of the Relativity Media chief executive, Ryan Kavanaugh, got a double shot of bad news, as the elder Mr. Kavanaugh was ordered in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday to pay $250,000 in punitive damages for his role in the sale of a fraudulent Picasso drawing.
The ruling comes a day after a jury awarded about $3.2 million in compensatory damages to Victor Sands, a former friend who had sued the couple over the art sale and other matters.
Eric George, a lawyer for the Kavanaughs, told the City News Service here that he believed the compensatory damages should be reduced by $2.2 million to reflect what he was paid by a dealer who sold him the art. But Matthew Taylor, a lawyer for Mr. Sands, told the news service that he believed his client was entitled to the full amount. There are still matters to be resolved in the complex case, some parts of which will continue despite the jury award.
In court on Friday, Mr. George acknowledged that the message from the jurors was “loud and clear” after the assigning the large award. The jury believed Mr. Kavanaugh acted fraudulently when he advised Mr. Sands to buy the fake Picasso, later receiving an $800,000 kickback from the gallery owner, Tatiana Khan, which Mr. Kavanaugh said was a loan.
During Friday’s proceedings, the Kavanaughs testified about the dismal state of their finances. The couple’s Brentwood home, they said, was valued around $3.6 million, but is mortgaged to the hilt, with little or no equity. Amounts in cash and brokerage accounts, by their description, fall far below the amount needed to pay damages. Asked how much the case had cost him in legal fees, Mr. Kavanaugh pegged the amount at $700,000 to $800,000.
Cash support from their son, the couple said, dried up last summer. “Last year has been tough, especially since last August,” Mr. Kavanaugh said, when asked how he gets by. “I’m trying to sell anything I can.”
Ms. Khan was sentenced earlier to probation for five years and community service after acknowledging that she had asked an art restorer to create a version of Picasso’s pastel “La Femme au Chapeau Bleu” from 1902 and had sold it to Mr. Sands for $2 million.
Article taken from https://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/media-executives-father-ordered-to-pay-250000-in-suit-over-fake-picasso/?_r=0
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