In 2000 Sotheby’s and Christie’s are caught in a price-fixing scandal. Sotheby’s owner, Alfred Taubman, and the firm’s CEO, Diana Brooks, plead guilty to violating federal anti-trust laws. Brooks receives a reduced sentence after making a deal with the feds that implicates Taubman; in 2001, Taubman is found guilty of conspiracy and serves over 9 months in prison. Christie’s escapes charges, but both firms ultimately pay $512 million to settle a civil suit.

Top French auctioneer Jacques Tajan sells his Paris firm to LVMH in 2000. In 2003, former investment banker Rodica Seward buys the firm and takes control of its day-to-day operations. Amid tensions, Tajan departs in 2004, joining, in 2005, former rival Artcurial, where his son François had become cochairman earlier that year.

Luxury-loving LVMH owner Bernard Arnault acquires Phillips in 1999 for a reported $120 million. Daniella Luxembourg and Simon de Pury leave Sotheby’s to join Arnault. LVMH gradually bows out of the partnership. In 2004, Luxembourg departs to open her own gallery. In 2008, the Moscow-based luxury-retail company Mercury Group buys a controlling stake in the firm; de Pury continues as chairman and auctioneer.

After five centuries of protectionism, France enacts auction reform; in 2001, Sotheby’s and Christie’s hold their first sales in Paris.

In 2006, Sotheby’s acquires Maastricht’s Noortman Master Paintings; the following year Christie’s buys Haunch of Venison, the London/Zurich gallery. Dealers are alarmed at the houses’ foray into the primary market.

"House Rules: 1999-2009" originally appeared in the September 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's September 2009 Table of Contents.