The Black Box of the Art Business

In Switzerland, covering an area of 120,000 square meters, Geneva freeport shelters tens of billions of Euros of merchandise. A tax free area where the world’s wealthiest, speculators, collectors and art dealers store exceptional wines, diamonds, and especially works of art, in the greatest secrecy. A secrecy that can allow questionable financial operations.

At a time when the secrecy of Swiss banking is under international pressure, art is the new shelter of hidden international finance. Geneva freeport is today a place linked to the concealment of stolen art pieces, money laundering, and tax evasion. Under the freeport’s rules, objects could remain in untaxed limbo, in theory, forever. Treasures have come and they have not left. What does Geneva freeport really contain? Let’s investigate the most secret vault in the world. -

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[chigal]

This is incredible. That storage facility has hundreds of pieces of possibly stolen art. That's why there's no real accounting; it's to keep people away so no one questions what's really inside that facility.

[letsif]

Breaking into this place would make a really good heist movie.

[jessewaughcom]

Hugely informative and revealing documentary!

[DB-bctg]

There's always been something very fishy to me about art prices in general.

[MheGO]

I've been driving almost on a daily basis by it and never imagined what could be inside. Thought it was just a regular import/export facility.

[selfiopath]

Whenever I hear or think about money laundering and tax evasion, art market comes to mind first

[anbus]

Thank you so much for showing this BEST DOCUMENTARY.... Enjoyed immensely....😮🤔

[turquoisegreene]

Well... what did you expect? Safeguarding criminal's asses and assets has been Switzerland's job for 500 years now. That's why they are neutral. The criminals in power will never touch the place where their precious assets are.

[PumpkinBecki]

So incredibly depressing that these works of art are hidden away in places like this, seen as framed money instead of something beautiful to be seen and enjoyed.

[caseylevins]

This is fascinating and disturbing at the same time. Very well done.

The greed is saddening. I may just scrape by each day, but I sleep well each night. I feel sorry for how shallow these people are; it must be stressful.

[fobbitguy]

Seems the perfect place for the stolen art pieces from the Gardner museum in Boston to hide.

[dawnbancroft]

Very good video, I was impressed with the last chap known for his integrity fighting the good fight, gives hope .

[zwietnamu]

He has the right to give any price he wants and the buyer should make a research if this is worth the price or not. End of the story

[sharonb]

A very good video documentary about art. Thank you for sharing.

[lisastallingskeelor]

At some point the art world has got to either collapse or top off. These ridiculous prices are so out of hand. No you don’t want great works discounted to such low levels, the pieces would be lost, destroyed, etc forever. But there has to be an even ground somewhere. IMHO, governments need to only collect tax one time on a piece of art....or anything for that fact. It’s ludicrous for any country to keep profiting off of gift tax or sales tax on the same item. This is the main reason, Freeport’s exist. From there out and out theft is the second reason. I would not want to own art I could not enjoy or look at.

[MikelGCinema]

Oh the Swiss, over the years they have mastered the art of hiding valuables.

[zwietnamu]

Maybe Portrait of a Young Man by Raphael is in Geneva freeport. During the Second World War the painting was stolen by Germans from Poland. Many historians regard it as the most important painting missing since World War II.It is suggested that, if found, the painting would be worth in excess of 100 million US dollars

[patrickwilkes]

That video was AWESOME. GREAT narration and tons of really cool information.

[clairecordell]

I feel terrible for this art dealer - he's had FIFTY bank accounts closed down , life must be so hard for him , he can obviously barely survive , we must do something to help these poor people

[laurenbryant]

Yes, yes, a great Doc, but what separates this one from all the rest, and I mean all the rest, is the narrator mastering several languages. Loved it!