Courtesy Sotheby's

Sotheby's is suing Halsey Minor, founder of Cnet, since he has failed to pay for Edward Hicks's "The Peaceable Kingdom with the Leopard of Serenity" (c. 1846–48) after buying it for $9,673,000 at auction.

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Minor bought the Hicks masterpiece along with Andy Warhol's Diamond Dust Shoes and Childe Hassam's Paris, Winter Days in May; in addition to the $13 million he bid for the works, he owes interest and legal and late fees, according to the complaint, filed in Manhattan federal court.

Minor told Bloomberg that he's refused to pay the $9.6 million he offered for Peaceable Kingdom since discovering that Sotheby's had an undisclosed interest in the work. He says he plans to file a counter-suit.

Sotheby's says that Minor originally told them he couldn't pay the sum because he was owed money himself, and that he was offered "generous payment terms."

Sotheby's spokesperson Diana Phillips also says that the house's interest in the work — the former owner, jeweler Ralph Esmerian, had pledged it as collateral for a loan — was "widely reported."