Daniel Wildenstein's widow said his sons hid the art fortune in trusts, and France prosecuted the heir for tax fraud

Daniel Wildenstein ran the family art dealership until his death in 2001. His widow, Sylvia Roth, was told by his sons Guy and Alec that inheritance taxes would bankrupt her unless she signed away her rights. She later sued them, alleging that trusts had been used to hide the estate's art and assets from her. She died in 2010, but the French state used the evidence she and her lawyer gathered. Prosecutors charged Guy Wildenstein with hiding art and assets in trusts and moving works to Swiss tax havens after his father's death. In January 2017 a Paris court acquitted him; the lead judge found a "clear intention" to conceal wealth but said no law at the time required foreign trusts to be declared. He was acquitted again on appeal in 2018. France's highest court cancelled that acquittal and ordered a retrial before the Paris Court of Appeal, where the state sought nearly $1 billion in back taxes and fines. The retrial outcome is not confirmed here^†.