A sugar billionaire’s son agreed to buy a $15 million Jackson Pollock painting — but has yet to fork over a dime for it, court records show.
David Mimran, whose father Jean Claude is worth an estimated $2 billion thanks to business ventures in West Africa and Switzerland, agreed to purchase the untitled, 1948 abstract impressionist artwork if it didn’t find a buyer at a November auction, Phillips Auctioneers said in a lawsuit.
When the oil painting didn’t sell, Mimran, 56, was obligated to purchase it — but blew off two payment deadlines, including one in March and another in June.
“David Mimran, the son of a billionaire businessman, uses his perceived wealth to convince
business partners to transact with him. But then he fails to keep his promises,” Phillips said in legal papers against the London resident.
Lawyers for Mimran acknowledged he wouldn’t be paying by the June 30 deadline.
“He is unable to complete the purchase of the painting on Monday,” Mimran’s attorneys wrote in a June 25 email to Phillips Auctioneers which was included in court papers. “Nor is he able to make a substantial down payment.
“David has requested an additional 60 days to pay because he says that substantial assets of his in Western Africa are finally in the process of becoming accessible,” they added.
It’s not the first time Mimran, whose father sold a luxury Swiss resort he co-owned for $250 million earlier this year, has left behind a hefty debt.
Jean-Claude Mimran’s company, The Mimran Group, operated several agricultural businesses in West Africa before selling at least some of the entities in 2018, according to a report.
The former Manhattan resident and filmmaker, David Mimran left the Big Apple in 2013 having failed to pay a more than $7 million divorce settlement to his first wife. He is now married to model Julie Ordon.
“It’s astonishing that Mimran believes he can bid like a billionaire and then hide behind the claim that he’s broke. If Mimran didn’t have a dollar to his name to pay for the artwork, as he claims, then he shouldn’t have raised a paddle,” said Phillips Auctioneer attorney Luke Nikas of the firm Quinn Emanuel.
Lawyers for Mimran did not respond to a message seeking comment.
