Princess Eugenie’s gallery cleared of breaching russian sanctions

The art gallery, directed by Princess Eugenie, was acquitted in a case concerning breaches of anti-russian sanctions in connection with the sale of a work of art.

In November 2025, charges were brought against the Hauser & Wirth gallery and the transport company Artay Rauchwerger Solomons following the sale of a work on paper to a man named Alexander Popov.

The work, entitled ‘Escape from Humanity’, was created by the American artist George Condo, whose piece had previously been sold at auction in Hong Kong for around 5 million pounds sterling.

The prosecution argued that Mr Popov is a resident of russia and claimed that the transaction breached sanctions imposed by the UK government on the transfer of luxury goods, which were introduced following russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The sanctions prohibit the export of luxury goods — including designer clothing, jewellery and sculptures — worth more than £250 to russia or for use within russia.

Hauser & Wirth, which has a gallery on Savile Row in Mayfair, as well as branches in New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Paris, filed a motion to have the charges dropped, together with a transport company.

On Thursday, at Southwark Crown Court, Judge Tony Baumgardner quashed both criminal charges, ruling that the prosecution had failed to provide sufficient evidence that Mr Popov was a resident of russia at the time the art deal was concluded.

The judge’s decision brought an end to the criminal proceedings, which had been initiated by an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs and are believed to be the first case of its kind involving allegations of providing russians with access to luxury goods.

Princess Eugenie, who has served as director of Hauser & Wirth since 2015, was not charged with any offences in connection with this criminal case.

In his statement contesting the charges, which was heard in early May, Hauser & Wirth’s solicitor, Hugo Keith KC, suggested that the case might not have been brought at all had the courier company DHL not mistakenly provided a Moscow address instead of an Armenian one.

He noted that Mr Popov, against whom no individual sanctions had ever been imposed, had been letting out his Moscow flat, had distanced himself from the regime of russian President Vladimir Putin, and had taken the ‘work of his life’ out of the country.

Prosecutor Kevin Dent, a Queen’s Counsel, argued that in early 2022, Mr Popov and his wife were described as “young and dynamic collectors living in russia” who had a foundation in the very heart of Moscow.

“He is a russian citizen, owned property in russia, ran a business in russia and had a foundation in russia,” he argued.

However, Mr Kit presented evidence that Mr Popov had renounced his russian citizenship and purchased property in Bosnia and Armenia.

In delivering his judgement, Judge Baumgardner acknowledged that Mr Popov had distanced himself from russia, and concluded: “Although the work of art was provided to Mr Popov, I have come to the conclusion that the prosecution has failed to prove that he is a person associated with russia.

This failure is fatal to all the charges.”

The judge dismissed the charges against each of the defendants relating to the provision of a luxury item to a person linked to russia.

Source: The Independent