A Portuguese Ex-Banker Convicted Of Fraud In A $20 Million Art Deal Has Evaded Jail Time


(MENAFN- USA Art News) Call it a criminal's dream scenario.

A high-profile former bank director in Portugal who was convicted of fraud in connection with a $20 million art deal that happened more than 20 years ago has gotten off scot-free.

The reason? Amid legal wrangling and red tape about which court had authority to prosecute him, the time limit to send him to jail simply ran out.

The banker in question is José Viamonte de Sousa, former director general of the private banking department at Banco Português de Negócios (BPN, or the Portuguese Bank of Business). Around 2001, according to reports, the bank acquired 41 paintings by Joan Miró for €17 million (now $19 million). However, the sellers of the painting only received €5.1 million ($5.6 million) of that amount. The remaining €12 million ($13.2 million) was reportedly distributed as“commissions” and shared by several people.

According to one report, Viamonte de Sousa relied on various companies and several Spanish intermediaries, one of whom was an art dealer, to funnel the money. The funds first went through a company called Negotrade, which came to mediate the negotiations between the owners of the collection and BPN. To make the payment, an offshore company was used, Zevin-Holdings, owned by Marazion Holdings, which was in turn owned by BPN.

Another report stated that more than €2 million ($2.2 million) was transferred to an account at Millennium BCP Bank and Trust, based in the Cayman Islands and owned by Index Sl,“whose final beneficiaries it was not possible to determine.” Ultimately, Viamonte de Sousa was said to have kept a total of €1.25 million ($1.3 million) for himself.

None of the individuals mentioned in the news reports could be reached for comment. Emails sent to Portugal's justice ministry did not elicit a response.

In 2021, Viamonte de Sousa was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in jail by Judge Pedro Brito, in the São João de Novo court of Porto, for fraud and money laundering.

The banker remained free while appealing the decision. At the end of that year, the vice-president of the Porto Appeals Court, Maria Dolores de Sousa, reduced his jail term to six-and-a-half years.

However, she“ignored the indication of the dates of prescription contained in the process-suspended until 3 June 2022-and admitted an appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice,” according to one report.

Several months later, due to red tape, the case reportedly bounced back and forth between the appeals court and the original court that issued the guilty verdict. Ultimately, the“totality of the case only arrived at the court of first instance on March 16” this year-“at which point it was declared 'extinct', and the case was archived,” according to Portuguese newspaper .

At that time, Judge Brito ruled that the maximum limit for prosecuting a crime of qualified fraud had already been reached.

The Portuguese outlet added:“José Viamonte de Sousa hasn't had to return a 'cêntimo' of the money he diverted (his way) almost 20 years ago, and he most certainly won't be going to jail.”

BPN was nationalized in 2008 after a criminal investigation into fraud and money laundering.

More Trending Stories:

a philadelphia man paid $6,000 for cracked church windows he saw on facebook. turns out they're tiffany-and worth a half-million

mona lisa's other secret-where the portrait was painted-may have been solved by an art historian using drone imagery

a dutch museum has organized a rare family reunion for the brueghel art dynasty-and the female brueghels are invited to the party

the smithsonian national museum of african art's director has resigned after less than two years, citing 'resistance and backlash'

'we're not all ikea-loving minimalists': historian and author michael diaz-griffith on the resurgence of young antique collectors

the first auction of late billionaire heidi horten's controversial jewelry proves wildly successful, raking in $156 million

an airbnb host got more than they bargained for with a guest's offbeat art swap-and the mystery has gone viral on tiktok

not patriarchal art history, but art 'herstory': judy chicago on why she devoted her new show to 80 women artists who inspired her

an artist asked chatgpt how to make a popular memecoin. the result is 'turbotoad,' and people are betting millions of dollars on it

an elderly man spray-painted a miriam cahn painting at a paris museum after right-wing attempts to censor it failed

the netflix series 'transatlantic' dramatizes the effort to evacuate artists from france during world war ii. here's what actually happened in real life

MENAFN16052023005694012507ID1106258837


USA Art News

Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.