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Littman inherited the collection, which includes works by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and José Clemente Orozco, from Natasha Gelman, who, along with her husband, Jacques, amassed it as they took part in the midcentury Mexico City art scene. The couple are probably best known for their collection of 20th-century European art, which Natasha bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York when she died in 1998.

Natasha wrote a 1993 will that left the 95-piece Mexican collection to Littman, a friend and advisor. After her death, Littman established the Vergel Foundation to oversee it, showcased the works in museums around the world, and tripled the size of the collection. He also found a temporary home for the collection in 2004, in a museum created by Costco and its Mexican partner in Cuernavaca, where Natasha had lived at the end of her life.

Two years ago, however, Jerry Jung, a cousin of Natasha, used a loophole in Mexican law to try to gain control of the collection. He hired a team of lawyers, one of whom, Francisco Fuentes Olvera, bought the succession rights to Natasha's Mexican estate for $20,000 from her half brother, Mario Sebastian, in 2007 just before he died. The transaction gives the lawyer the right to any part of the estate not left to somebody else. Jung's legal team is now attacking Littman's handling of the Mexican estate in Mexican City family court.

Fuentes Olvera has since won rulings that temporarily name him executor of Natasha's will and name him the rightful owner of the Gelman collection. Littman's lawyers have appealed the rulings as well as submitted a formal complaint against the judge, Celia Santos, saying that she ignored inheritance laws in her rulings. Littman recently won a number of suspensions of Santos's decisions in Mexican federal courts, which Jung's lawyers are appealing.

The two camps have also started separate litigation over Littman's control of the collection, and the Mexico City prosecutor has opened a criminal investigation of Littman's handling of the estate.

In the meantime, Littman removed the works from the Cuernavaca museum last spring and hid them, canceling a tour of European and North American museums for this fall. "With all this that's happened, we have to keep [the collection] safe," said John Koegel, a lawyer for Littman. "You never know when Judge Santos will pop out another order."