A British billionaire paid $43 million for a Monet masterpiece that investigators say turned out to be stolen by a former Imelda Marcos aide, and now the big-bucks buyer has shelled another $10 million to keep himself — and the painting — from being dragged into court.
UK hedge fund manager Alan Howard thought the sale was legit when he bought the piece — “Japanese Footbridge Over the Water-Lily Pond” — from a London gallery in 2010. But it soon wound up at the center of the ongoing Manhattan Supreme Court conspiracy and tax fraud trial of ex-Marcos personal secretary, Vilma Bautista.
The publicity-shy Howard, who is worth an estimated $1.6 billion, wrote the additional $10 million check to a class action group “in exchange for a legal release on any claims regarding the painting,” according to the Smoking Gun, which first reported the Howard connection.
Howard, the Swiss-based founder of respected Brevan Howard Asset Management, is now considering legal action against the gallery, the site reported.
The class action case is separate from the New York criminal case, in which Bautista, 75, has been accused by Manhattan prosecutors of stealing the 1899 painting from former Philippines first lady Marcos and illegally selling it.
Prosecutors said the painting, along with several others, vanished shortly after the 1986 overthrow and ouster of the free-spending Marcos and husband Ferdinand, who relocated to Manhattan.
The Monet is believed to have been the most valuable in the Marcos collection, but it did not show up on a list of missing property that is suspected of being paid for with Philippine government funds, the Smoking Gun reported.
New York prosecutors charge Bautista kept the Monet hidden away for more than two decades before allegedly deciding to fence it in 2009, with the help of two nephews who later fled the US.
Howard is not slated to be called in Bautista’s ongoing Manhattan trial and is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Court documents show that the moneyman wound up unwittingly ensnared in the scandal after he bought the Monet from London art dealer Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox.
Howard’s spokesman, Anthony Payne, said the deal was done in “good faith.”
“Mr. Howard bought the painting in good faith from a reputable gallery and sought expert legal advice on the purchase,” Payne told the Post. “In light of these proceedings, Mr. Howard is examining available legal redress.”
Prosecutors said that after Bautista got $32 million from Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, she gave $5.1 million to her nephews and another $4.5 million to other associates. She used $2.2 million to buy a New York condo, spent $1.3 million on insurance and annuity products, paid off a $637,000 mortgage and shelled out $800,000 for miscellaneous personal expenses.
Howard knew when he bought the Monet that it had once belonged to Marcos.
What he didn’t know was that Bautista had previously tried to offload the artwork in a $35 million deal that fell apart after the buyer questioned whether she had the right to sell it.
Bautista faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.