German Held on Art Smuggling in China as Sotheby’s Questioned
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The German manager of an art-freight company is being detained in a Chinese jail for allegedly falsifying values of imported artworks to help buyers avoid 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) in import duties and value added taxes.
Customs officials raided the Beijing office of Integrated Fine Arts Solutions Ltd., which specializes in contemporary art, on March 30, seizing records and arresting Nils Jennrich, 32, and his Chinese colleague, according to Torsten Hendricks, IFAS’s Hong Kong-based Asia director. They’ve been held ever since. Hendricks denies the allegations against his employees.