Tearful Russian billionaire who spent $2 billion on art tells jurors Sotheby's cheated him

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A Russian billionaire who accused Sotheby’s of teaming up with a Swiss art dealer to cheat him out of tens of millions of dollars became tearful Friday while testifying about discovering he'd been part of a con game too common in an “art market that needs to be more transparent.” The emotional moment came as fertilizer magnate Dmitry Rybolovlev, speaking through an interpreter, completed two days of testimony in Manhattan federal court to support his lawsuit against Sotheby’s. Russian Oligarch Sotheby's Trial “So when you trust people, and I'm not a person who trusts easily, but when a person is like a member of your family,” Rybolovlev said as he dropped his head briefly before wiping tears from his eyes and continuing on: “There is a point in time and that you start to completely and utterly trust a person.” Rybolovlev is trying to hold Sotheby's responsible for what his lawyers said was the loss of over $160 million. when the largest company in this industry is involved in actions of this sort, you know, clients don't stand a chance.” In an opening statement earlier in the week, Sotheby’s attorney Sara Shudofsky said Rybolovlev was “trying to make an innocent party pay for what somebody else did to him.” Rybolovlev's lawyer, Daniel Kornstein, said in his opening that Sotheby's joined an elaborate fraud. Only four are at issue in the trial, including Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi, ” Latin for “Savior of the World,” which Rybolovlev's lawyers say Bouvier bought from Sotheby’s for $83 million, only to resell to Rybolovlev a day later for over $127 million.