A Manhattan art dealer has filed a $5 million suit against collectors who, she says, sold her a bogus Picasso.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Chantal Park says Pablo Picasso’s daughter examined the drawing, “Personage Endormi et Femme Accroupie” (Sleeping Person and Kneeling Woman) and determined it was a phony.
The suit says Park struck a deal to buy the drawing from an art dealer named Charles Locke, who was selling it for three Massachusetts men, Luigi, Biagio and Gino Cugino.
Park shelled out the $145,000 with the understanding “the money was to be held” by Locke “until the drawing was approved by [Park’s] client,” who is not identified.
Locke, however, paid some of the money to the Cuginis, and now all of them are refusing to return the cash, according to the lawsuit.
Park is seeking the $145,000 she paid for the drawing plus $5 million in punitive damages.