The founding father of the now-bankrupt Galerie Thomas in Munich is being investigated alongside his daughter on suspicion of fraud, breach of belief, and delaying insolvency proceedings, German officers introduced.
Raidmund Thomas based the gallery in 1964 and gained a fame for promoting high-value German expressionism, modernism, post-war, and up to date artwork. It was among the many best-known secondary market dealerships in Germany. His daughter, Silke Thomas, managed the gallery together with her father from 1996. She was arrested and brought into custody in December of 2024 earlier than being launched on January 24.
In line with The Artwork Newspaper (TAN), her lawyer has declined to remark “out of respect for the pending felony investigation.”
The whereabouts of Silke Thomas’ 87-year-old father, although, stays a thriller, in response to the Munich prosecutor’s workplace, which stated in an announcement that damages from the pair’s alleged fraud might surpass 10 million euros.
The gallery declared insolvency final July.
Hubert Ampferl, the insolvency administrator, wrote in an e-mail to TAN that, “The workplaces and gallery house in Türkenstrasse 6, Munich, have been cleared out on the finish of January 2025 and handed over to the owner.” He stated that any property owned by folks of entities aside from Galerie Thomas has been returned to them.
Ampferl wrote that over the previous few months, his crew has appeared into claims from over 200 collectors.
Inside Galerie Thomas’ spring 2024 catalog have been works by Wassily Kandinksy, Gustav Klimt, and Marc Chagall.
Raidmund Thomas’ homes in Grünwald and Peissenberg, areas south of Munich—and his residence within the metropolis—have been search by investigators in mid-December. His daughter’s house and the premises of Galerie Thomas have been additionally raided by police.
The Munich prosecutor’s workplace stated the investigation is “an intensive process which is predicted to take a while.”
Galerie Thomas has attended artwork festivals together with Artwork Basel in Basel, Hong Kong, and Miami Seaside, TEFAF in Maastricht, and New York’s The Armory Present. In 2016, Raidmund Thomas was awarded the annual Artwork Cologne prize for “distinctive efficiency within the communication of artwork.”
