Landlord seeks Libbie Mugrabi's Basquiat to settle US$2.3 million rent debt
A US$2.3 million rent bill could cost New York socialite Libbie Mugrabi an untitled 1982 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat.
320 E 82nd Owner, LLC, her former landlord, has filed a petition to compel Mugrabi and Phillips, the auction house, to turn over the painting to satisfy the judgment, according to ARTnews. A turnover petition is a court request to hand over an asset to pay a debt.
On October 14, New York County Supreme Court Judge Linda M. Capitti signed an order that freezes the work. Mugrabi and Phillips cannot sell or transfer it while the case continues.
The same order tells both sides to appear in court on November 17. They must show cause, meaning explain why the judge should not order them, why the Basquiat and Mugrabi's 100% membership interest in Moo Moo Enterprises, Inc. should not be handed over to the landlord.
The debt dates to 2019 and 2020. The landlord says Mugrabi failed to pay rent while living at the Park Mansion, an apartment building in Yorkville on Manhattan's Upper East Side. A Manhattan court ordered her in 2023 to pay US$1.8 million in back rent and lawyers' fees.
That figure then grew. After an inquest, a legal hearing to fix damages, in June, a judge added 9 percent statutory interest, the fixed rate set by New York law. The total reached US$2.3 million.
The painting at the centre of the fight has been stuck in limbo for two years. It has been in Phillips's possession since at least October 2024, when it was consigned, or handed over for sale, for a sale in London. Phillips pulled it after a dispute surfaced over a lien, a legal claim that lets a lender hold an asset until a loan is repaid.
In July, a judge granted Mugrabi partial summary judgment on that side dispute. The judge found that Ian Peck and Terence Doran had no right to keep their lien on the Basquiat because a related US$3 million loan was never funded.
The landlord's move was first reported by the New York Post on October 17. The petition was filed by the law firm Goetz Platzer LLP.
What makes this stand out is the gap over what the canvas is worth. Mugrabi claims it is worth more than US$30 million. The landlord's petition puts it at US$4 million to US$6 million. Either figure would cover the rent debt several times over.
For now, nothing can move. The work stays with Phillips. The next decision rests with the November hearing in New York.
