MOSCOW, July 23 - RAPSI. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York upheld the motion to dismiss the bulk of claims of fraud filed by Arthur Properties against ABA Gallery, which specializes in Russian art, according to the court records made available to the Russian Legal Information Agency.

The plaintiff failed to prove that the gallery's owner Anatol Bekkerman intentionally or recklessly mislead Arthur Properties over the authenticity of the pictures sold, say the records. The plaintiff's allegations that the price for the purchased works was inordinately high were also turned down by the court.

The Luxembourg-based Arthur Properties claimed that it was defrauded by the gallery while buying 18 pieces of 19th and 20th century art. The art was largely overpriced and some of the paintings were forged, the company said. Initially, it set the damages at $8.9 million, claiming to have paid $6.5 million in excess of the art's market value and $2.4 million for forged paintings.

The plaintiff insisted on the deal's termination and sought damages.

In particular, Arthur Properties believed that it overpaid by over 80 percent for art by Ivan Aivazovsky estimated by the gallery at $4 million, and also purchased a forged painting of Ivan Shishkin's "In the Woods" for $1 million.

The paintings in dispute were purchased by Ukrainian citizen Aleksandr Savchuk for his personal collection. Part of the payments were made via Luxemburg companies Kahdena Ventures Corp. and Brooke Ventures Ltd., controlled by Savchuk.

The forgery of four artworks was exposed by forensic analysis conducted by Swiss Kunstberatung Zurich AG in November-December 2008 upon Savchuk's request.
Bekkerman rejects the complaints against him.

The Bekkermans are well-known in the world of art. Anatol's daughter is Senior Vice President, Head of Russian Paintings, at Sotheby's in New York.