From Wolf of Wall Street to U.S. Marshals: Basquiat, Picasso, and Arbus Hit the Auction Block
Basquiats, a Picasso, and a Diane Arbus seized in the 1MDB scandal are being sold online by the U.S. government, with bids starting far below market value.
Four blue-chip artworks once tangled in one of the world’s largest corruption scandals are now being sold off by the U.S. government—on a clunky website better known for repo cars than million-dollar paintings.
The pieces—two Jean-Michel Basquiats, a Pablo Picasso still life, and Diane Arbus’s haunting Child with a Toy Hand Grenade—were seized as part of the 1MDB scandal, a multi-billion-dollar theft of Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund masterminded by fugitive financier Jho Low. At one point, these works passed through the hands of Hollywood producer Joey McFarland and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who later surrendered them to federal authorities.
Opening bids are eyebrow-raisingly low: Basquiat’s Red Man One, bought for $9.4 million in 2012, starts at $2.975 million. Picasso’s Tête de taureau et broc, gifted to DiCaprio for his birthday, is listed at $850,000. Arbus’s photograph—acquired for $750,000—begins at just $4,400.
Advisors call it a paradox: prestige art sold on a bare-bones auction site that looks “sketchy” to high-end buyers. Some see the stigma and clumsy digital storefront as value-killers; others smell opportunity. “It’s not the sexiest place to buy,” said one, “but it could be the right moment for a savvy collector.”
The sale runs until September 4, with no buyer’s premium—a rare break in the art market. Every dollar raised will go toward restitution for victims of Malaysia’s missing billions. In this case, art history is colliding with criminal history—and the gavel could write the final chapter.
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