Petra Ecclestone's Ex-Husband Charged With Money Laundering
Well, Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone has to be counting
her lucky stars these days for having divorced her ex and baby daddy James
Stunt. He has a long history of erratic behavior, which we will get into
shortly, but now he's been charged with what in the U.S. would be two felony
counts for money laundering and forgery. The former art collector and gold
bullion trader was charged after a thorough investigation by the West Yorkshire
Police. A court date has been set for July 9.
Stunt took to social media to defend himself, calling the
charges the "biggest miscarriage of justice." He went on to say
"Forgery FYI is my PA with my permission using my signature on my own
cheque on my own personal account lmao…"
We're not sure we're buying Stunt's claims of innocence.
He's shown his character a number of times over the past several years. In
2017, Ecclestone locked herself in a bathroom in the then couple's shared $87.6
million London Mansion due to a violent fight with her then-estranged husband.
Stunt is reportedly well known for his temper and short fuse. During a
preliminary hearing for the couple's divorce, Stunt referred to his billionaire
ex-father-in-law Bernie Ecclestone as a certain crude four-letter word that
starts with a "c."
Ecclestone is no fan of his former son-in-law either. He has
referred to Stunt as erratic and said that he once threatened to blow Petra's
head off during an argument. After Petra locked herself in the bathroom, police
arrived at the house, she was shaken up but thankfully not harmed.
The former couple met on a blind date in 2006. They married
in a lavish, $15 million event in Italy in 2011. Stunt signed a pre-nup worth a
bit more than $17 million.
The former couple has a daughter and twin sons. Petra was
granted sole custody of their three children.
In 2018, James Stunt's assets were frozen and he was
declared bankrupt with debts of more than $6.2 million. His $13.6 million
luxury cottage in Belgravia, central London, was repossessed along with two
other flats, each worth $6.2 million. Then, later that year, Stunt reported
that he was robbed of nearly $126 million in cash, gold, and gems from his
London home. Apparently, Stunt had recently moved into the Belgravia area home
and had not yet had time to install a security system. The items were
reportedly stolen from his safe, which was located in the basement of the home.
Stunt reported the robbery on December 14th. He allegedly considers it an
inside job and suspects one of his five security guards, butler, or other
domestic staff. There was no evidence of a break-in. In fact, his former
bodyguard, who was on duty all night on the night in question told the press
that Stunt was lying and there was no break-in, which is another black mark on
his character.
Additionally, that same bodyguard also revealed that Stunt
allegedly paid him to provide a urine sample for Stunt so that he could cheat a
drug test and see his children.
Then, in the fall of 2019 Stunt was accused of loaning
forged paintings to Prince Charles' foundation. A few months later, he was
accused of attempting to borrow $51.7 million against these same paintings.
This led to speculation that the loan to Prince Charles was in order to
increase the value of these works by displaying them in the Dumfries House,
where Prince Charles's foundation is located. The three allegedly forged
paintings were part of a group of 17 works that some time ago were loaned to
Dumfries House for a period of ten years, and were supposed to be the work of
masters Monet, Picasso, and Dalí. But an American artist named Tony Tetro
claims to have painted the three works himself, bringing his claims to the
press and causing the paintings to be removed from public display.
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