PANews reported on February 7 that according to ARTNews, Justin Sun is suing billionaire collector David Geffen, demanding the return of Alberto Giacometti's sculpture "Le Nez", which he purchased at Sotheby's for US$78.4 million in 2021. Justin Sun accused his art consultant Xiong Zihan Sydney of selling the sculpture to Geffen without his knowledge by forging signatures and fictitious lawyers.
Sun claimed that he never authorized Xiong to conduct any transactions, but Xiong nevertheless reached a deal with an art dealer between January and March 2024 to exchange two paintings and $10.5 million in cryptocurrency for the sculpture, far below Sun's target price. In addition, Xiong allegedly deceived Sun with the cash portion of the transaction, giving it to him as a "deposit" from a fictitious buyer while withholding $500,000. Sun did not discover this until December last year when he inquired about the progress of the transaction.
However, Geffen's lawyers disputed the allegation, calling it bizarre and unfounded, suggesting that Sun simply regretted the deal. His lawyers noted that the deal was done through an intermediary, and if Sun is now unhappy with the deal his intermediary secured for him, that is not a basis for a claim against Geffen. Sun's lawyers, in turn, argued that Geffen's team should have spotted obvious red flags before the deal, particularly the lawyer Xiong allegedly hired to conduct business through a personal Gmail account. The lawyers questioned the existence of this lawyer and said Xiong had illegally forged Sun's signature repeatedly and fabricated the existence of a lawyer.
