ANN FREEDMAN SETTLES EIGHTH LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST KNOEDLER GALLERY OVER FORGERIES

According to Laura Gilbert of the Art Newspaper, Ann Freedman, former director of Knoedler Gallery, has reached a settlement with Frank Fertitta, entrepreneur and owner of Las Vegas casinos. This is the eighth lawsuit that was filed against the gallery after it sold nearly $70 million in counterfeit artworks in one of the biggest art-forgery scandals. The settlement amount was not disclosed.

Fertitta filed the complaint in 2014, claiming that Freedman and Knoedler were aware that they sold him a fake Mark Rothko painting in 2008 for $7.2 million. In 2011, the collector sold the painting, but upon discovering that it was counterfeit he offered to buy it back.

Freedman and the gallery face two more pending lawsuits filed by the Martin Hilti Family Trust over a $5.5 million purchase of a forged Rothko and by California-based collector Frances White over a $3.1 million sale of a fake Jackson Pollock canvas. Freedman’s lawyer, Luke Nikas, said he “feels very good about the . . . remaining cases.”