Basquiat Sells for $22 Million in Art Auction Tied to 1MDB Fraud

Paintings and a photograph tied to the 1MDB scandal were sold at auction Thursday, with one artwork from Jean-Michel Basquiat fetching more than double its previous price.

A Pablo Picasso still life, two works by Basquiat and a print of a Diane Arbus photograph had high bids totaling $35.8 million as the online auction closed. It represented the latest effort by the US government to claw back some of the $4.5 billion siphoned from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund between 2009 and 2015.

The US Marshals Service 1MDB art auction including artworks by Diane Arbus, Pablo Picasso and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

The sale was conducted by Gaston & Sheehan Auctioneers, a family-owned business in Pflugerville, Texas, ...