Jailbird art dealer Hillel Nahmad makes a return to polite society after being granted permission to travel to Art Basel
Having served just five months of his one year and one day sentence for his role in a £63 million ($100 million, €87.7 million) illegal gambling ring, Hillel “Helly” Nahmad, has returned to public prominence by travelling from New York to Basel to hawk artworks including a Monet, a Picasso and a Rothko.
Allowed to travel only after Judge Jesse Furman granted him permission “that extends only to the requested travel to Switzerland for business purposes”, Nahmad, the 38-year old son of the prominent dealer David Nahmad, has a booth at Art Basel this week with his firm, the Helly Nahmad Gallery.
Nahmad is marketing rhe most expensive artwork on offer in the show – a £31.5 million ($50 million, €43.9 million) 1955 Mark Rothko, Untitled – and may well have also have run into one of those drawn into his illegal betting ring, Leonardo DiCaprio. The actor is said to be at the fair but the two, sadly for readers, have thus far failed to engage in appearing in a selfie together.
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