Crypto tycoon Justin Sun, who made international art news last year for buying a $6 million banana, is suing entertainment mogul David Geffen for the return of a prized sculpture, alleging it was illicitly sold as part of an elaborate scheme.
In a complaint filed Feb. 4 in federal court for the Southern District of New York, Sun alleges that his former art adviser stole the Alberto Giacometti sculpture “Le Nez,” which the tycoon bought for $78.4 million in 2021, and sold it to Geffen.
By the time Sun, a 34-year-old billionaire who founded the San Francisco-based Tron blockchain and its associated cryptocurrency, learned of the alleged trickery, the sculpture had been in Geffen’s New York home for nearly a year, according to the complaint.
Sun claims that after telling his adviser Sydney Xiong that he wished to sell “Le Nez,” she falsely represented her art market foundation APENFT as the owner of the piece, then forged his signature on sale documents, fabricated the identity of a lawyer who co-signed the deal, and arranged for the illicit transport of the piece to New York. The sculpture was sold to Geffen, a renowned art collector, through his intermediaries in exchange for $10.5 million in cryptocurrency and two paintings worth $55 million — far below Sun’s asking price of more than $80 million, the lawsuit says. Sun claims that Geffen and his team should have realized something was amiss with the deal.
Geffen, a producer and cofounder of the DreamWorks film studio, denies the claims and refuses to return the artwork. A spokesperson for his legal counsel told The Standard that Sun’s lawsuit is a “desperate and bizarre attempt to hide reality” and a ploy to rebound on an investment that fell flat.
“After trying and failing to sell the paintings, he now wants to retrade the deal based on the implausible claim that his own art advisor and liaison to the art world duped him,” the attorney said in a statement. “All indicators in Mr. Sun’s complaint point to seller’s remorse which is not a basis upon which to sue Mr. Geffen.”
Sun’s lawyer said his client was cheated.
“Sydney Xiong confessed to theft. She repeatedly forged Mr. Sun’s signature and fabricated the existence of a lawyer,” William Charron said in a statement. “Legitimate art transactions — let alone ones worth tens of millions of dollars — simply don’t occur that way.”
Xiong could not be reached for comment. According to the complaint, she has confessed to the scheme. It is unclear whether she has been charged with any wrongdoing.
Losing the nose
In November 2021, the suit says, Xiong advised Sun on his purchase of “Le Nez,” one of Giacometti’s rare suspended sculptures depicting a man with an unusually large nose. In an interview with The New York Times, Xiong said Sun was not familiar with Giacometti until she told him of the artist’s importance three hours prior to purchasing the artwork.
In 2023, Sun began looking to sell “Le Nez” and asked Xiong to alert him to any potential buyers who would pay more than $80 million, the suit says.
That year, Sun agreed to allow “Le Nez” to be displayed at the Fondation Giacometti in Paris, with APENFT sharing sponsorship credit for the exhibition. However, after the exhibition, rather than send the work back to Sun’s warehouse in Singapore, Xiong allegedly arranged for it to be transported to a warehouse in Delaware under the control of Cole and David Tunkl, two Los Angeles-based art dealers who have worked for Geffen, the suit claims.
Xiong, allegedly acting as a fictitious lawyer named Laura Chang, then brokered a deal with Geffen through the Tunkls’ lawyer, Ralph Lerner. He said Chang stipulated that any deal for the sculpture “could not involve [Sun] himself actually having to sign a contract,” according to the suit.
Xiong forged Sun’s signature on various documents, including a “bill of sale,” the suit claims. The sale went through without Sun’s knowledge or consent, and “Le Nez” was shipped to Geffen’s residence in New York, according to the suit.
The Tunkls then sent $10.5 million in cryptocurrency to Xiong, of which she pocketed $500,000 and transferred the rest to Sun, his complaint says. As part of the “exchange agreement,” the Tunkls are holding Geffen’s artworks worth a combined $55 million, the suit says.
After secretly selling the Giacometti to Geffen, Xiong allegedly informed Sun of an interested buyer for the sculpture, David Martinez, saying the $10 million she had transferred was an initial offer of good faith from the art collector for a deal that would close later.
Months later, with no deal to show for it, Sun questioned Xiong about the holdup, the suit says. She initially blamed the Tunkls. But after Sun reached out to them through WhatsApp to cancel the deal, Xiong revealed her scheme to him, the suit alleges.
Neither the Tunkls nor their lawyer Lerner responded to requests for comment.
Sun wrote to Geffen, explaining what had happened and asking for the sculpture back. In January, counsel for Geffen refused the demand.
Fallout
While the suit targets Geffen and his trust, it does not contend that he played any role in the fiasco.
Art experts say this is not unusual. Deals worth tens of millions are often made without any direct involvement by the buyer and seller.
“That’s what an agent gets paid for,” said Bay Area gallerist Tony Meier. “It’s no different than a house; 99% of the time, the seller’s identity is not public, unless it’s a highly, highly publicized artwork.”
Still, Sun claims that the “blatant forgeries and fabrications” should have raised an alarm for the Tunkls.
No stranger to high-profile debacles, Sun’s moves have landed him in hot water before.
In March 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged him and his companies for violations related to the unregistered sale of crypto securities and wash trading. Sun orchestrated a scheme to pay eight celebrities — including Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, and Soulja Boy — to promote his companies without disclosing their compensation. The celebrities have agreed to pay a total of $400,000 to settle the charges, but the charges against Sun have yet to be settled.
Sun’s forays into the art world first attracted attention in November, when he paid $6.2 million for a contemporary piece called “Comedian,” which was a banana duct-taped to a wall. After buying the work, he ate it. The piece was satirized in a Meta commercial that aired during Sunday’s Super Bowl.