Dmitriy Rybolovlev, the Russian billionaire and majority owner of the French football club AS Monaco, has been cleared of all criminal proceedings in Monaco, following a ruling by the principality’s Court of Appeal on February 27. The decision also exonerates his lawyer, Tetiana Bersheda, bringing an end to a seven-year legal saga tied to allegations of influence-peddling in the high-stakes art market.
The case hinged on messages taken from Bersheda’s phone—evidence that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in 2024 had been obtained unlawfully. Citing that ruling, the Monaco court determined that the proceedings were “irreparably flawed” and ordered their annulment. The judgment aligns with a similar decision by Swiss prosecutors, who dismissed related charges in late 2024.
The ECHR found that Monaco’s investigative authorities had overstepped legal boundaries, authorizing a sweeping data extraction from Bersheda’s phone without clear limitations. This resulted in the indiscriminate collection of messages, including previously deleted ones, violating both privacy rights and attorney-client privilege.
Rybolovlev and Bersheda have for years maintained their innocence. In a press release, their attorneys described the charges as “baseless.” In separate proceedings, Rybolovlev was cleared in November 2023, while Bersheda was acquitted in March 2024 over allegations of privacy violations. In a press release their lawyers welcomed the ruling as a long-overdue vindication.
“The only conceivable decision was to annul all of the irreparably flawed proceedings (based on the unlawful extraction and use of the lawyer’s phone), in which Dmitriy Rybolovlev was unjustly indicted in 2018” Martin Reynard, Rybolovlev’s current lawyer, told ARTnews in an email.
The case had its roots in a high-profile feud between Rybolovlev and Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier, whom the billionaire accused of overcharging him by nearly $1 billion on a string of blue-chip art purchases, including works by, Modigliani, Picasso, Klimt, and most famously, Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi. Rybolovlev’s legal battles—and his alleged efforts to leverage Monaco’s judicial and political elite—turned the dispute into a wider scandal, often referred to as “MonacoGate.”
While the Monaco proceedings have now been annulled, Rybolovlev has faced legal setbacks elsewhere. Swiss prosecutors recently dismissed charges that he illegally influenced Bouvier’s 2015 arrest in Monaco, concluding that there was no evidence to justify an indictment. Rybolovlev has also pursued legal action in multiple jurisdictions, but courts in Switzerland, Singapore, and New York have ruled against him, including a failed attempt to hold Sotheby’s liable for Bouvier’s alleged fraud.
With this ruling, Rybolovlev’s legal troubles appear to be over. Whether the decision closes the book on his long-running dispute with Bouvier, however, remains to be seen.
