Soon after our meeting rumours began circulating that Machold was in trouble. In 2005 an Austrian actress, Kyra Sator, started civil proceedings against him, claiming he misappropriated a collection of valuable stringed instruments inherited from her grandfather. In 2001 a minor Czech dealer, Nicolai Nantschev, had introduced her to Machold, who offered to sell part of her collection for her. According to court documents, Machold persuaded Sator to agree to a permanent swap of seven of her cellos for two of his Stradivaris and two del Gesùs. He explained that he wanted her cellos for an exhibition he was planning in Korea and would undertake the cost of restoring her neglected instruments, which she could not afford. A certified safe-keeping receipt signed by Machold, issued to Sator on June 6 2003, confirms that the violins, valued at $21.3 million, are her property and that she had authorised him to safeguard them and to show them to potential buyers. Sator has not seen those Strads and del Gesùs since. In her action against Machold, which she is pursuing vigorously, Sator says she also gave Machold some of her grandfather's instruments to sell without receiving any part payment or loan. Meanwhile, keen to learn more about the market, she turned detective, befriending musicians and scouring trade websites for sales and other transactions.