Wall Street Collector Launches Legal Fight Over Koons Works

• Collector Steven Tananbaum filed suit in New York court • Delivery of works said to be delayed after deposits, fees

One of Wall Street’s biggest investors in distressed debt claims a prominent New York gallery and artist Jeff Koons are cheating customers by failing to deliver works worth millions of dollars.

The collector, GoldenTree Asset Management LP Chief Investment Officer Steven Tananbaum, sued the Gagosian Gallery and the artist Thursday over the non-delivery of three Koons sculptures, claiming they take deposits and payments from collectors and then delay delivery of works.

It’s a “a garden-variety, interest-free fraudulent financial routine,” according to the ...