Machold in trouble!
http://www.thestrad.com/Article.asp?ArticleID=1838
Petit scandale?
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IFred
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Re: Petit scandale?
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At his height, he was one of the world’s most prolific dealers of rare stringed instruments, amassing a fortune as he bought and sold the iconic works of Antonio Stradivari, Guiseppe Guarneri del Gesù and other masters of the 17th and 18th centuries.Dietmar Machold, who played a central role in the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s ill-fated purchase of "Golden Age" instruments eight years ago, counted among his clients famous musicians, wealthy collectors, cultural institutions and the governments of Austria, Russia and North Korea.But for all his heady success, Machold could never quite shake an air of skullduggery.The FBI twice investigated him amid claims he grossly exaggerated the value of violins, including those in the NJSO deal, to abet tax fraud by his most important client, former New Jersey philanthropist Herbert Axelrod. Others questioned the authenticity of instruments he sold.Machold repeatedly dismissed the allegations as the ravings of jealous competitors.Today, he has a lot more explaining to do.In what amounts to a seismic event in the genteel world of fine violins — and a recurring bad dream for the NJSO — the 61-year-old dealer has been jailed in Switzerland pending extradition to Austria, where he faces a litany of criminal charges alleging fraud and theft.The Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office contends Machold fleeced clients by pocketing cash for instruments he sold on consignment and by refusing to return other instruments worth millions of dollars. And in an echo of his dealings in New Jersey, he allegedly inflated the appraised value of violins he used as collateral for huge bank loans. At a minimum, the prosecutor’s office said, losses to banks and individuals amount to 25 million euros, or just over $35 million.
That figure could grow significantly as more people come forward. "The file is getting bigger and bigger every day," said Lukas Kollman, a Vienna lawyer who represents Kyra Sator, one of Machold’s alleged victims in Austria. "I spoke to the prosecutor just last week, and there are more and more people telling the same story of what happened with him. We are just in the beginning." Machold, who holds dual citizenship in Austria and his native Germany, was arrested March 16 in Zermatt, Switzerland, a resort village at the base of the Matterhorn, said Folco Galli, a spokesman for the Swiss federal police. If Machold does not fight extradition, he is likely to make his first court appearance in Vienna within weeks.
TRAIL OF TROUBLE
"It’s a very sad story for the whole business," said Peter Biddulph, an acquaintance of Machold and a London-based dealer of Strads and other high-end instruments. "I’m just hoping that Dietmar will comply with the authorities and tell them the trail of what happened so all these people who have been hurt will at least stop hoping they’ll get paid."Messages left with Machold’s son, Lüder Machold, and his lawyer in Austria were not returned.
The arrest caps the slow-motion collapse of an empire that once spanned the globe. The fair-haired son of a violin-maker in Bremen, Germany, Machold set out on an ambitious course of expansion in the mid-1990s. By 2005, he had opened shops in Zurich, Vienna, New York and Chicago. He had additional sales representatives in Tokyo, Seoul and Seattle.No other violin dealer could claim such an expansive territory, and few could match his volume. Machold swiftly became one of the world’s top three dealers, drawing on good looks and a sophisticated charm to woo musicians, millionaires and the curators of government-owned collections."He seemed to come out of nowhere," said Philip Kass, a violin expert and appraiser in Philadelphia. "He was doing a tremendous amount of the trade in big-name instruments."Machold specialized in the most expensive instruments, the coveted Italian violins, violas and cellos of Stradivari and his contemporaries. Anything less was "Mickey Mouse," he declared in one of a series of interviews with The Star-Ledger in 2004.
Earning commissions as high as 30 percent on multimillion-dollar deals, Machold wore his wealth well. On the outskirts of Vienna, he bought a 14th-century castle, its parlors and terraces once host to lavish parties thrown by the youngest sister of Napolean Bonaparte
The courtyard held a collection of classic cars. In a finished attic space, he displayed millions of dollars worth of antique cameras.
Machold’s critics have long contended he built that fortune through deceit and fraud.
Roger Hargrave, a top violin-maker and scholar of stringed instruments, once worked for Machold in Bremen. He quit in the late 1980s, he said, unwilling to be a party to lies about the value and authenticity of instruments Machold sold. "There’s just a trail of bodies, basically," said Hargrave, 63, a Briton now living in Schwanewede, Germany, a village near Bremen. "He’s been cheating people for years and years and years."
MUSICIANS DEVASTATED
While not unsympathetic to the banks involved, Hargrave said the greater harm is to the musicians who invest their life savings in instruments, only to find later that what they bought was either "highly inflated or not right." "It’s devastating to them," he said. "They’re lost." As authorities tally the damage, one question that remains unanswered is where all the money went. Machold declared bankruptcy in October, claiming debts that reportedly top $40 million. His shops have been closed, his castle seized by creditors. The Vienna prosecutor is now investigating whether Machold has stashed some of his cash in secret accounts, either in Switzerland or overseas.In light of the repeated allegations of fraud, even Machold’s old friend Axelrod has turned against him.A former Deal resident now living in Zurich, Axelrod said he didn’t know about the arrest when contacted by The Star-Ledger, but he said it neither surprised nor troubled him, contending Machold tried to cheat him in a violin deal."Good to hear it," said Axelrod, 84. "He deserves it. It’s a long time coming."
THE NJSO DEAL
It was through Machold that Axelrod amassed a vast collection of Golden Age instruments in the 1990s. And it was with the dealer’s help that Axelrod sold 30 of the instruments to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for $16 million, purportedly $34 million less than what Machold said they were worth. The 2003 deal was the most audacious ever undertaken by an orchestra, and it nearly bankrupted the NJSO. It also drew the scrutiny of the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service, which were looking into a pattern of massive tax write-offs by Axelrod.He later served 16 months in federal prison on an unrelated tax fraud charge.The instruments came under scrutiny, too. In 2004, a Star-Ledger investigation involving the world’s leading violin experts found that at least five pieces in the collection were of questionable authenticity and that the collection’s overall value was vastly overblown.A special investigative panel assembled by the NJSO confirmed the newspaper’s findings.The orchestra sold the instruments in 2007 for $20 million, just about breaking even when interest payments were taken into account. The new owners, twin investment bankers Seth and Brook Taube, have allowed the orchestra to continue playing them through 2012.
At his height, he was one of the world’s most prolific dealers of rare stringed instruments, amassing a fortune as he bought and sold the iconic works of Antonio Stradivari, Guiseppe Guarneri del Gesù and other masters of the 17th and 18th centuries.Dietmar Machold, who played a central role in the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s ill-fated purchase of "Golden Age" instruments eight years ago, counted among his clients famous musicians, wealthy collectors, cultural institutions and the governments of Austria, Russia and North Korea.But for all his heady success, Machold could never quite shake an air of skullduggery.The FBI twice investigated him amid claims he grossly exaggerated the value of violins, including those in the NJSO deal, to abet tax fraud by his most important client, former New Jersey philanthropist Herbert Axelrod. Others questioned the authenticity of instruments he sold.Machold repeatedly dismissed the allegations as the ravings of jealous competitors.Today, he has a lot more explaining to do.In what amounts to a seismic event in the genteel world of fine violins — and a recurring bad dream for the NJSO — the 61-year-old dealer has been jailed in Switzerland pending extradition to Austria, where he faces a litany of criminal charges alleging fraud and theft.The Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office contends Machold fleeced clients by pocketing cash for instruments he sold on consignment and by refusing to return other instruments worth millions of dollars. And in an echo of his dealings in New Jersey, he allegedly inflated the appraised value of violins he used as collateral for huge bank loans. At a minimum, the prosecutor’s office said, losses to banks and individuals amount to 25 million euros, or just over $35 million.
That figure could grow significantly as more people come forward. "The file is getting bigger and bigger every day," said Lukas Kollman, a Vienna lawyer who represents Kyra Sator, one of Machold’s alleged victims in Austria. "I spoke to the prosecutor just last week, and there are more and more people telling the same story of what happened with him. We are just in the beginning." Machold, who holds dual citizenship in Austria and his native Germany, was arrested March 16 in Zermatt, Switzerland, a resort village at the base of the Matterhorn, said Folco Galli, a spokesman for the Swiss federal police. If Machold does not fight extradition, he is likely to make his first court appearance in Vienna within weeks.
TRAIL OF TROUBLE
"It’s a very sad story for the whole business," said Peter Biddulph, an acquaintance of Machold and a London-based dealer of Strads and other high-end instruments. "I’m just hoping that Dietmar will comply with the authorities and tell them the trail of what happened so all these people who have been hurt will at least stop hoping they’ll get paid."Messages left with Machold’s son, Lüder Machold, and his lawyer in Austria were not returned.
The arrest caps the slow-motion collapse of an empire that once spanned the globe. The fair-haired son of a violin-maker in Bremen, Germany, Machold set out on an ambitious course of expansion in the mid-1990s. By 2005, he had opened shops in Zurich, Vienna, New York and Chicago. He had additional sales representatives in Tokyo, Seoul and Seattle.No other violin dealer could claim such an expansive territory, and few could match his volume. Machold swiftly became one of the world’s top three dealers, drawing on good looks and a sophisticated charm to woo musicians, millionaires and the curators of government-owned collections."He seemed to come out of nowhere," said Philip Kass, a violin expert and appraiser in Philadelphia. "He was doing a tremendous amount of the trade in big-name instruments."Machold specialized in the most expensive instruments, the coveted Italian violins, violas and cellos of Stradivari and his contemporaries. Anything less was "Mickey Mouse," he declared in one of a series of interviews with The Star-Ledger in 2004.
Earning commissions as high as 30 percent on multimillion-dollar deals, Machold wore his wealth well. On the outskirts of Vienna, he bought a 14th-century castle, its parlors and terraces once host to lavish parties thrown by the youngest sister of Napolean Bonaparte
The courtyard held a collection of classic cars. In a finished attic space, he displayed millions of dollars worth of antique cameras.
Machold’s critics have long contended he built that fortune through deceit and fraud.
Roger Hargrave, a top violin-maker and scholar of stringed instruments, once worked for Machold in Bremen. He quit in the late 1980s, he said, unwilling to be a party to lies about the value and authenticity of instruments Machold sold. "There’s just a trail of bodies, basically," said Hargrave, 63, a Briton now living in Schwanewede, Germany, a village near Bremen. "He’s been cheating people for years and years and years."
MUSICIANS DEVASTATED
While not unsympathetic to the banks involved, Hargrave said the greater harm is to the musicians who invest their life savings in instruments, only to find later that what they bought was either "highly inflated or not right." "It’s devastating to them," he said. "They’re lost." As authorities tally the damage, one question that remains unanswered is where all the money went. Machold declared bankruptcy in October, claiming debts that reportedly top $40 million. His shops have been closed, his castle seized by creditors. The Vienna prosecutor is now investigating whether Machold has stashed some of his cash in secret accounts, either in Switzerland or overseas.In light of the repeated allegations of fraud, even Machold’s old friend Axelrod has turned against him.A former Deal resident now living in Zurich, Axelrod said he didn’t know about the arrest when contacted by The Star-Ledger, but he said it neither surprised nor troubled him, contending Machold tried to cheat him in a violin deal."Good to hear it," said Axelrod, 84. "He deserves it. It’s a long time coming."
THE NJSO DEAL
It was through Machold that Axelrod amassed a vast collection of Golden Age instruments in the 1990s. And it was with the dealer’s help that Axelrod sold 30 of the instruments to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for $16 million, purportedly $34 million less than what Machold said they were worth. The 2003 deal was the most audacious ever undertaken by an orchestra, and it nearly bankrupted the NJSO. It also drew the scrutiny of the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service, which were looking into a pattern of massive tax write-offs by Axelrod.He later served 16 months in federal prison on an unrelated tax fraud charge.The instruments came under scrutiny, too. In 2004, a Star-Ledger investigation involving the world’s leading violin experts found that at least five pieces in the collection were of questionable authenticity and that the collection’s overall value was vastly overblown.A special investigative panel assembled by the NJSO confirmed the newspaper’s findings.The orchestra sold the instruments in 2007 for $20 million, just about breaking even when interest payments were taken into account. The new owners, twin investment bankers Seth and Brook Taube, have allowed the orchestra to continue playing them through 2012.
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samuel
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Re: Petit scandale?
La question est de savoir comment il se fait que ce gars ne se soit pas fait chopper plus tot??!!
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jépadçon
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Claire91
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Re: Petit scandale?
L'un de vous aurait-il l'amabilité de faire une court résumé de l'affaire en français ?
Merci d'avance.
Merci d'avance.
Mon blog musical : Des fourmis dans les doigts
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Don Quijote
Re: Petit scandale?
Merci Claire, je n'osais pas...Claire91 a écrit :L'un de vous aurait-il l'amabilité de faire une court résumé de l'affaire en français ?
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jépadçon
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Re: Petit scandale?
Pour faire court, Machold, un des 3 top-dealer de violons est en prison pour escroquerie, arrête en Suisse il devrait être extradé vers l´Autriche ou l´Allemagne. Déjà mêlé il y a 7 ans au scandale Axelrod, cette fois il semble qu´il vendait des violons sans payer les propriétaires. Plus des évaluations disons, "erronées"
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Don Quijote
Re: Petit scandale?
Merci jépadçonjépadçon a écrit :Pour faire court, Machold, un des 3 top-dealer de violons est en prison pour escroquerie, arrête en Suisse il devrait être extradé vers l´Autriche ou l´Allemagne. Déjà mêlé il y a 7 ans au scandale Axelrod, cette fois il semble qu´il vendait des violons sans payer les propriétaires. Plus des évaluations disons, "erronées"
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IFred
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Re: Petit scandale?
Hargrave ne manque jammais une occasion pour se faire mousser .
Tu penses à qui ?Je pense qu´un autre (escroc) de moindre envergure va bientôt "tomber" aussi! (être arrêter)
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jépadçon
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Re: Petit scandale?
Un peu de patience, ce n´est pas encore officiel et j´attend une confirmation, je ne voudrai pas diffamer. 
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jépadçon
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