A high-powered art advisor who worked with Tom Cruise and Sylvester Stallone is an unethical, abusive liar who slept with clients and dealers, got kickbacks and urged her former partner to whore herself out to close deals, according to a bombshell lawsuit.
Barbara Guggenheim, 78, who is not believed to be related to the famed museum family, once urged her young employee Abigail Asher — who later became her partner — to “wear leather and be provocative” and “that she should never go to a client’s home unless she was prepared to sleep with him,” Asher alleged.
Asher, 61, was “exploited, controlled and threatened by” Guggenheim for nearly 40 years before the two agreed to split in 2023 — only to have Guggenheim spy on her and falsely accuse her of stealing more than $20 million from their company, Asher alleged in court papers first reported by ArtNews.
Barbara Guggenheim