\n<\/p>\n
That was years ago, before Guggenheim and Asher\u2019s professional love story exploded in the worst kind of divorce\u2014with dueling legal complaints, personal attacks, and scandalous claims about sex and corruption. Guggenheim is alleging that Asher stole from their company to fund her lifestyle and that she launched her own competing advisory in secret. Asher is countering that it\u2019s Guggenheim who dipped into the business, and that she had been \u201cbullying, threatening, and gaslighting\u201d Asher for the better part of her career. Both women are aghast at the other\u2019s claims. Art world colleagues, still reeling from the conviction of top art advisor Lisa Schiff for defrauding clients out of millions, are in fresh states of shock. After all, the two women were a bedrock of the industry and seemed to be the perfect match. Guggenheim was the high-flying, glamorous face of the firm, giving lectures around the country, pairing masterpieces with masters of the universe. Asher was the younger, serious Brit working out of New York, bringing in a new generation of moneyed clients and nurturing them with care and fastidiousness. \u201cIt really did seem at the time like a match made in heaven,\u201d says LA art adviser Patricia Peyser, who has worked closely with them for 20 years, and admires them both.<\/p>\n
Now, big-league names on both sides are jumping to each woman\u2019s defense. \u201cAbigail\u2019s as honest as the day is long, an absolute stickler for form,\u201d says longtime friend Adam Chinn, former COO of Sotheby\u2019s<\/a>, who\u2019s done multiple deals with her. \u201cShe\u2019s professional to the point of being beyond meticulous.\u201d As for Guggenheim, her close friend Michael Ovitz, CAA cofounder and a major collector, says, \u201cShe\u2019s one of the most trustworthy people that I know. I\u2019ve never ever in 45 years caught her in anything duplicitous, any fibs, any storytelling, any lack of integrity. And Abigail\u2019s trying to destroy her at this time is just crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n