Former auction officials indicted

Friday, May 4, 2001 | 10:34 a.m.

Casting a cloud on next week's big art shows in New York, a federal grand jury in New York indicted the former chairmen of Sotheby's and Christie's on charges they conspired to fix auction commission rates charged to sellers in the U.S. and elsewhere for six years.

The two auction houses had already agreed to pay more than $500 million to settle civil lawsuits brought by customers after the price fixing allegations became public.

In addition, the two venerable names -- Christie's International and Sotheby's Holdings Inc. -- have been struggling with a flattening market. Both are making moves to cut costs; privately held Christie's is folding its lower-priced division into its main business.

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