Failed SKorea bank's art earns $2.4M at HK auction
HONG KONG (AP) — Auctioneers in Hong Kong sold 10 paintings Tuesday seized from a South Korean bank that collapsed amid a corruption scandal to raise $2.4 million to help repay depositors.
Contemporary paintings by Chinese and Western artists were among the works that went on the block, including works by noted Chinese artists Zeng Fanzhi and Zhang Xiaogang and American Julian Schnabel.
They're part of a cache of artworks confiscated from Busan Savings Bank, which went bankrupt in 2011 amid accusations of illegal loans, accounting fraud and other wrongdoing estimated at more than 7 trillion won ($6.2 billion).
They fetched 18.8 million Hong Kong dollars ($2.4 million).
The art is part of a collection seized by the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Jun Lee, chief executive of Seoul Auctions, which is managing the sale of the seized artworks, said 81 more pieces worth $5 million from Busan Savings Bank and other South Korean banks that collapsed last year will be sold off in Hong Kong at later auctions.
