Prosecutors are racing to ready their case of collusion against Christie’s and Sotheby’s. “If the Justice Department is successful in establishing that the price-fixing dates back nine years, civil awards could cripple both companies. One lawyer suing the auction houses said that the damages could run well into the hundreds of millions of dollars, which, when tripled under provisions in such cases, could mean combined losses to Sotheby’s and Christie’s of close to $1.5 billion.” – New York Times