Sotheby's to Sell 16 Works from Bankrupt Hedge Funder's Collection

Sotheby's will sell 16 works from the collection of Miami hedge funder George Allen Weiss during its marquee November sales, following the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of his firm last year.

Weiss's lawyer, Paul Battista, disclosed the consignment at a court hearing on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. The proceeds will go toward satisfying a $123 million debt to Bank of America secured by the artwork, Bloomberg reports.

Lawyers at the hearing said Sotheby's has guaranteed a minimum price for six of the 16 works. Court papers indicate that Weiss collects artists including Francis Bacon, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol. His collection includes at least 25 additional pieces beyond those heading to auction, according to Bloomberg.

Weiss's attorney did not immediately respond to ARTnews's request for comment. Sotheby's declined to comment.

The November sales are not Weiss's first attempt to monetize his holdings. A year ago, he sought to sell a Claude Monet Nymphéas (1914–17) for $36.5 million to help pay down the Bank of America debt, as ARTnews reported at the time. In June, he was preparing to sell a 1972 Bacon self-portrait through Gagosian Gallery, Bloomberg Law reported, having earlier agreed to consign works by Picasso and Paul Signac.

The scale of Weiss's liabilities extends well beyond the bank. Bankruptcy papers filed in 2025 showed he owed $180 million to the IRS, $121.4 million to Bank of America, and $113.5 million to Jefferies Strategic Investments. Bloomberg notes that proceeds from the Sotheby's sales could go to Jefferies and other creditors once the Bank of America loan is repaid.

The fall of a collector who once commanded a multibillion-dollar firm marks a steep turn. A 2022 biography, published when Weiss received an award from the Horatio Alger Association, states that his Jewish parents fled Vienna two weeks before Hitler invaded Austria. He began working in a restaurant at age 11 and later attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He founded Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers in 1978; at the time the biography was published, the firm managed $2.7 billion in assets.

How many of the remaining works in the collection follow the first 16 to the block — and what the six guaranteed pieces fetch in November — will determine how much of Weiss's roughly $415 million in disclosed debts his creditors can realistically recover.