A high-powered artwork advisor who labored with Tom Cruise and Sylvester Stallone is an unethical, abusive liar who slept with shoppers and sellers, obtained kickbacks and urged her former companion to whore herself out to shut offers, in accordance with a bombshell lawsuit.
Barbara Guggenheim, 78, who shouldn’t be believed to be associated to the famed museum household, as soon as urged her younger worker Abigail Asher — who later turned her companion — to “wear leather and be provocative” and “that she should never go to a client’s home unless she was prepared to sleep with him,” Asher alleged.
Asher, 61, was “exploited, controlled and threatened by” Guggenheim for practically 40 years earlier than the 2 agreed to separate in 2023 — solely to have Guggenheim spy on her and falsely accuse her of stealing greater than $20 million from their firm, Asher alleged in courtroom papers first reported by ArtNews.
“It should go without saying that art advisors with fiduciary duties to their clients should not become sexually involved with other art dealers or experts who are on the opposite side of deals they are
orchestrating for clients,” Asher stated within the lawsuit.
“But Guggenheim violated this rule — a lot.”
Each time Asher, who started working for Guggenheim in 1987, spoke up about Guggenheim’s habits the older lady allegedly “threatened to destroy Asher with her ‘secret weapon’” — her then-husband, powerhouse Hollywood legal professional Bert Fields, who repped Cruise, Michael Jackson, George Lucas and the Beatles.
In 1995 the 2 agreed to evenly share the corporate’s income and bills however Asher stated she was producing way over Guggenheim, together with practically $20 million in offers throughout their final decade collectively.
She additionally claimed Guggenheim charged their firm, West Village-based Guggenheim Asher Associates, for outrageous bills, similar to $3,000 in dance lesssons; an $8,000 spa journey in California; a $12,500 African safari; $36,000 for Fields’ 2022 funeral; $48,000 for a celebration on the Wolfgang Puck-owned Spago in Beverly Hills; and greater than $400,000 for automobile companies.
Guggenheim was additionally identified to ship erratic and “incomprehensible” emails, an instance of “a serious mental decline, which further damaged relationships,” Asher claimed.
In 2023, the 2 restructured their firm, and as a substitute of equally splitting income and prices, every labored for their very own earnings — a change that despatched Guggenheim’s funds “into freefall,” Asher claimed in her lawsuit.
It’s not the primary time somebody accused Guggenheim of wrongdoing. In 1989, Stallone sued her in Los Angeles for fraud, claiming he shelled out $1.7 million for the portray, “Pieta,” by Adolphe William Bouguereau, and owned by Guggenheim’s pal, Stuart Pivar, who’d been unable to promote it.
Guggenheim was sleeping with Pivar on the time, Asher alleged.
The piece had quite a few “slashes” in it and wasn’t price what he paid, Stallone claimed. The case was later settled.
Guggenheim filed her personal lawsuit in opposition to Asher in August 2024, accusing her of misappropriating greater than $20 million from their enterprise and secretly beginning her personal competing firm.
Guggenheim’s August 2024 lawsuit in opposition to Asher “is a transparent act of retaliation by a disgruntled former partner,” stated Luke Nikas, an legal professional representing Asher who stated Guggenheim refused to “retract her false accusations [or] acknowledge her wrongdoing.”
Guggenheim’s legal professional, William Charron, ripped Asher’s allegations as “libelous nonsense.”
“Ms. Asher rolls out a litany of supposedly horrible acts by Ms. Guggenheim. So why did Ms. Asher keep working with her for nearly 40 years?” the lawyer stated.
“Asher was stunned to see the extent of Guggenheim’s misconduct,” Nikas instructed The Submit, noting she was unaware of most of it till she ready her lawsuit.
Asher is searching for unspecified damages, whereas Guggenheim is searching for greater than $20 million in damages.
