Mr Taubman now faces up to three years in jail

Assistant US Attorney John Greene told the court during the trial that Mr Taubman "had the motive, capacity and opportunity to conspire to fix auction rates."

Mr Taubman's lawyers had disputed his role in the plot, depicting the millionaire as a disinterested businessman with little head for figures who regularly fell asleep during business meetings.

Now that he has been found guilty, his lawyers are likely to argue that "he is 76 hears old, he has a hearing problem prision will do him no good, it is not going to be a deterrent to anyone else to send this elderly gentleman to prison," Mark Hamlett from the New York Law Journal told the BBC's World Business Report.

"Taubman was really the last one standing. Diana Brooks had pleaded guilty. Christies had a conditional amnesty agreement," he added.

"He is a self-made man, his backgorund is typical of the American dream," Antiques Trade Gazette's Ivan McCriston told the BBC's World Business Report.

Secret meetings

They also attempted to pin much of the blame on Ms Brooks, whose evidence was to prove crucial to the trial.

However Ms Brooks, former chief executive of Sotheby's, testified that Mr Taubman had orchestrated a series of secret meetings with his equal at Christie's, Mr Tennant.

She also said that at one point Mr Taubman had told her she would "look good in stripes", a reference to prison uniforms.