CNet founder sues Sotheby’s

The Sotheby’s art auction house has repeatedly inflated prices by failing to make full disclosures when it has an ownership stake in some of the works it sells, according to a federal suit brought by Halsey Minor, founder of CNet Networks Inc.

With the suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Minor intensified the legal volleying over an abortive auction in May.

First, Sotheby’s sued him in Manhattan federal court last month for failing to pay $16.8 million for three paintings for which he’d been the high bidder. Minor’s attorney said the San Francisco-based technology entrepreneur had answered the suit with a counterclaim saying the price was unfair because Sotheby’s didn’t disclose its ownership in a painting by Edward Hicks.

New York-based Sotheby’s did not return a call seeking comment.

-- Mike Boehm