Rothko Case - Former Estate Executors

Former Estate Executors

The Internal Revenue Service audited the Rothko Foundation and determined that Mark Rothko's former friend and ex-estate executor Bernard Reis was liable for various self-dealing excise taxes under section 4941 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (IRS code) for the years 1970 through 1974 in the total amount of $18,582,500, and additions to tax under sections 6651 and 6684 for the same years in the respective total amounts of $518,125 and $2,112,500. Reis' estate (he was dead by that time) lost its summary judgment motion to make the ruling go away.

Despite Theodoros Stamos protestations that he had done nothing wrong, the Tax Court also ruled against him for liability for various self-dealing excise taxes under IRS code section 4941 for the years 1970 through 1976 in the total amount of $19,407,500, and additions to tax under sections 6651(a)(1) and 6684 for the same years in the respective total amounts of $724,375 and $2,957,500. Stamos also lost his appeal.

Marlborough A.G.'s founder Frank Lloyd paid a third of the $9.2 million award to the Rothko children as a fine against Marlborough for violating the court's injunction against the sale of any further paintings before a final ruling or settlement. The disgraced Lloyd is not mentioned as active after 1972 on the gallery history page on Marlborough's website. Lloyd died in 1998 at age 86.