1. Yves Bouvier was born on 8 September 1963 and is a Swiss businessman and art dealer best known for his role in the Bouvier Affair that resulted in criminal charges being brought and dismissed against him in France and Monaco by Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev.
Yves Bouvier was the president of Natural Le Coultre, an international company specialising in the transportation, storage, scientific analysis, and conservation of works of art, luxurious goods and other collectables.
In September 2017, it emerged that Yves Bouvier was under criminal investigation by Swiss authorities amid allegations that he may have evaded more than 100 million euros in taxes related to his cross-border art dealings.
Yves Bouvier was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the son of Jean-Jacques Bouvier, owner of Natural Le Coultre, a 150-year-old company specialized in moving and storing goods.
Yves Bouvier developed an early interest in art and dropped out of college to join his father's company in the eighties.
In 1989, Jean-Jacques and Yves Bouvier formed Fine Art Transports Natural Le Coultre SA in Geneva, which provided moving and furniture storage services to the local companies.
Yves Bouvier moved to Singapore in 2009 where he currently resides.
Yves Bouvier exported the freeport concept, and in 2005, expanded his business model abroad by creating "artistic hubs" grouped into freeport facilities that offer services and rental facilities to art collectors, museums and companies, expanding into Singapore in 2010 and Luxembourg in 2014.
The oldest freeport facility, the Swiss government holds the majority stake of 85 per cent with Yves Bouvier holding a 5 per cent stake.
Yves Bouvier sold his majority participation in 2017 after the Swiss government passed stricter oversight rules over customs warehouses.
Yves Bouvier built a subsidiary to the Geneva freeport in Singapore in 2010, after the idea was floated with the Singaporean government as early as 2005.
In 2004 Yves Bouvier founded the company Art Culture Studio which organizes cultural events, restores furniture, and provides support to the Renaissance Foundation for Russian Country Homes, a non-profit organization that supports research on the restoration of cultural and historic buildings in rural areas.
Yves Bouvier initiated and chaired the Moscow World Fine Art Fair in 2004, a yearly exhibition taking place in May for art dealers and collectors.
Yves Bouvier contributed to the establishment of the Salzburg World Fine Art Fair.
In 2015, Yves Bouvier initiated the creation of the Singapore Pinacotheque de Paris, an expansion of Pinacotheque de Paris.
Art Heritage Singapore, the company behind the project and of which Yves Bouvier was a shareholder, was sued by media and security companies involved in the project for almost $900,000.
Yves Bouvier was involved with the "pole R4" project, an artistic "micro-city" on the site of a former Renault factory in Seguin Island, Paris.
The project, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, was until September 2016 managed and financed by Yves Bouvier, and was scheduled to open in 2017.
In September 2016 it was announced that Yves Bouvier had sold his entire stake to the Emerige Group and its financial partner, Addax and Oryx Group Limited.
In 2015, Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev accused Yves Bouvier of defrauding him out of nearly $1 billion via the sale of artwork at inflated prices while he was employed as a consultant and was receiving a commission of 2 per cent on the value of each purchase.
Yves Bouvier has denied all claims, stating that he presented himself as the seller of the artwork, rather than an adviser and that the 2 percent fee related to the transportation, storage and certification service that he provided.
Yves Bouvier met Rybolovlev for the first time in 2003, when he came to see him for the occasion of the delivery of the Marc Chagall painting, Le Cirque.
Rybolovlev feared he had been scammed, but Yves Bouvier acquired the certificate a few days later and requested Rappo to organize a meeting with the Rybolovlev at their home in Cologny.
Yves Bouvier promised Rappo that he would give her a commission for every work sold to Rybolovlev, for introducing him to the billionaire.
Yves Bouvier subsequently acquired several paintings for Rybolovlev, including Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani.
In February 2015, Yves Bouvier was arrested in Monaco on suspicion of defrauding Dmitry Rybolovlev.
Yves Bouvier denied all accusations, argued that he first heard about the complaint was when he was arrested, and that the price of the paintings had been agreed by both parties.
Yves Bouvier called for an investigation into HSBC's provision of a letter to Monaco police that falsely stated that he and a co-defendant in a money laundering case, Tania Rappo, shared an account at the bank.
In 2017 French and Monegasque press reported that Rybolovlev arranged substantial inducements to various other members of the Monegasque establishment, including the judiciary, law enforcement and members of government, to have Yves Bouvier arrested and investigated as part of his dispute with the art dealer.
The text messages revealed that days before the arrest of Yves Bouvier, Rybolovlev had hosted Narmino and his family and HSBC Monaco managing director Gerard Cohen at his residence in Gstaad, Switzerland.
Yves Bouvier was released from custody and place under judicial control.
In May 2016, Yves Bouvier's lawyers filed an appeal against the High Court's ruling, arguing the case should be heard in Switzerland rather than Singapore.
Rybolovlev accused auction house Sotheby's of being complicit in Yves Bouvier's alleged defrauding scheme.
Yves Bouvier subsequently purchased paintings - via Sotheby's - for amounts lower than those indicated in the valuation, before reselling them to Rybolovlev, mostly at prices higher than those indicated in the evaluation of the auction house.
Yves Bouvier was connected to a legal case involving a Canadian collector named Lorette Shefner in 2008.
Yves Bouvier has denied any connection to Beltracchi and has dismissed media coverage as uninformed speculation.
In September 2015, Yves Bouvier was indicted on charges of concealed theft of two Picassos belonging to Catherine Hutin-Blay, step-daughter of Picasso, who claims that they were stolen from her collection.
On 3 August 2020, Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court ruled that some of the documents in question must be inspected, which subsequently led the authorities to accuse Yves Bouvier of owing taxes on CHF 330 million.
However, the authorities dispute this, arguing that Yves Bouvier continues to be domiciled and conducting business in Switzerland.
Yves Bouvier settled in Singapore in 2008 where he currently resides, which is being contested by Swiss tax authorities saying he is still a Geneva resident.
Yves Bouvier became known to the general public after being "offered" at the age of 17 as a birthday present to French footballer Frank Ribery.