Art-World Mogul Finds Herself in Bankruptcy Court

Louise Blouin, who grew up in a small town in Quebec, rose to the top tiers of society in New York and London a little more than two decades ago. She made a name for herself as an art-world mogul and a host of heady salons and glittering parties filled with artists, scientists, dignitaries and billionaires. But her time as a power player seemed to come to an end on Feb. 13, when she entered a bankruptcy courtroom in Central Islip, N.Y., the New York Times reported. Having informed the judge in December that she could not afford a lawyer, she arrived in the company of her third husband, Mathew Kabatoff. The judge, Alan S. Trust, heard hours of testimony as he considered whether or not he would approve the sale of La Dune, the beachfront estate that Blouin had once hoped to sell for no less than $115 million. The property had been on and off the market for several years before an anonymous bidder struck an agreement to buy it for nearly $89 million at an auction at Sotheby’s Auction House in Manhattan on Jan. 24. In court last week, Blouin did her best to thwart a sale at that price. The price tag for La Dune fell millions short of the debt on the property, according to John Isbell, a lawyer who worked on the deal on behalf of the real estate lender Bay Point Advisors.