Barbara Guggenheim Associates, Inc., a prestigious art advisory firm based in New York, is in turmoil after its namesake founder and her associate, the adviser Abigail Asher, filed lawsuits accusing each other of financial mismanagement and questionable business practices.
Barbara Guggenheim’s lawsuit against Asher, filed on behalf of her advisory firm, was submitted to the Supreme Court of the State of New York in August, but it was not known publicly until yesterday, when Katya Kazakina reported news of it in Artnet News. Asher’s lawsuit against Guggenheim and her firm was filed yesterday in the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
The two advisers worked closely together for more than three decades, though a recent Cultured article noted that Asher had “recently” gone solo. That profile said that Asher’s clients at Barbara Guggenheim Associates, Inc., included Tom Cruise and corporations such as Sony. Cruise was also listed as a client of Guggenheim alongside Steven Spielberg and Coca-Cola.
Asher began working for Guggenheim’s firm in 1987, six years after its founding. She began in an entry-level position and rose in stature to a point where she was nearly named co-owner of the business. Both lawsuits say that Asher declined that offer, though the lawsuits differ on why: Guggenheim’s lawsuit claims that Asher said no because she was not a US citizen, while Asher’s suit says she rejected the role because of “Guggenheim’s history.”
“Guggenheim’s lawsuit is a transparent act of retaliation by a disgruntled former partner,” Luke Nikas, a lawyer for Asher, said in a statement. “Her accusations are not only false—they are a calculated attempt to distract from Guggenheim’s erratic, unlawful, and unethical conduct, which drove the business to fracture. Asher acted with integrity at every step, and the clients in question voluntarily chose to follow Asher to her new business. We’re confident the truth will come out in court, where we have also filed our own lawsuit against Guggenheim to hold her accountable.”
ARTnews has reached out to Guggenheim’s legal representative for comment.
Guggenheim’s lawsuit centers around Asher’s alleged efforts use revenue from the firm for her personal enrichment. It claims she diverted some $20.5 million toward expenses ranging from her rent to dinner bills to the upkeep of the roof of her home.
The suit purports to detail Asher’s efforts via several transactions that are heavily redacted in the version of the document now publicly available. (Guggenheim’s suit was initially sealed, then reposted with names of clients and artworks blacked out.) One such transaction allegedly centered around a Jean-Michel Basquiat piece that Guggenheim’s firm claims generated $500,000 in revenue. “Asher has wrongfully taken all such commissions for herself,” the suit claims.
Guggenheim’s suit was also filed against her firm’s CPA, Robert Mandeltort, and Asher’s assistant, Jessica Lewis, whom the firm accused of being “liable for conspiring with and aiding and abetting Asher.” Lewis denied the allegations in a subsequent filing. ARTnews could not immediately reach a lawyer for Mandeltort.
Asher’s suit against Guggenheim takes a more personal tack, accusing the adviser of “bullying,
threatening, and gaslighting for the better part of three decades.”
It explicitly rebuts the firm’s lawsuit, saying that Guggenheim “expensed materially more than Asher,” allegedly using the firm’s funds to bankroll “her late husband’s funeral costs, luxury vehicles, and
family vacations, in violation of IRS rules,” and accuses Guggenheim of “unethical, erratic, and unprofessional conduct.”
Such conduct, the lawsuit claims, impacted Guggenheim’s relationships with her clients: the suit alleges that Guggenheim frequently sent “incomprehensible” emails to collectors and their representatives, including ones to Asher that contained many typos and unintelligible words. “Sorry. my computer keys are stuck,” Guggenheim allegedly wrote to a collector’s assistant, attempting to explain these mistakes. “The collectors did not pursue working with GAA,” the suit claims.
But Asher’s suit also features allegations that Guggenheim’s practices personally impacted her work. One section centers around Guggenheim’s alleged push for Asher to work with Jeffrey Epstein, who was later charged with procuring a child for prostitution and sex trafficking.
“Guggenheim also encouraged Asher to build a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, with whom Guggenheim and her sister were close,” Asher’s lawsuit claims. “Guggenheim told Asher that Epstein and his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell were getting involved with the New York Academy of Art, where Guggenheim’s sister was on the Board. Guggenheim told Asher that Epstein and Maxwell were going to be a good source of ‘rich contacts’ and that Eileen Guggenheim was spending a lot of time with Epstein and would ensure that Guggenheim’s business benefitted from that relationship.”
The lawsuit goes on to claim that Guggenheim led relationships that were more than personal with dealers and “art experts,” whom she “manipulated with sex and financial kickbacks.”
Per Asher’s lawsuit, their business relationship broken down in 2022, the year that Guggenheim’s “bizarre behavior reached new heights,” and officially ended in 2023.
