Was Riviera villa raid revenge for an unpaid bill?
Sidcup-based CCTV installer accused of plotting crime over £8,000 invoice
A HEDGE fund tycoon and his wife are suing a tradesman for £200,000 after claiming he arranged for their luxury French Riviera villa to be burgled.
Ivan Ritossa, chief executive of Autonomy Capital, and his wife Marina, say CCTV installer Bruce Pearce acted in spite after a fallout over an unpaid invoice.
But lawyers for Mr Pearce, 52, who is based in Sidcup, south-east London, told a court that the allegations were ‘incredible and implausible’, as they counterclaimed for just under £8,000, the value of the outstanding bill for installing a security system. The Ritos
‘Irrational animosity’
sas, whose main home is a £10million Chelsea mansion, say that after being hired in 2018 to fit the system at their sprawling villa in exclusive Saint-JeanCap-Ferrat, Mr Pearce developed an ‘irrational animosity’ towards 53-yearold Mrs Ritossa.
Central London County Court was told that relations ‘deteriorated’, with Mrs Ritossa complaining the work had not been completed and that the system did not function correctly. But Mr Pearce for his part refused to carry out more work until he had been paid.
Then in November 2019, the break-in occurred and Mr Pearce emailed the couple shortly afterwards, saying he would not be doing any more work for them, it was alleged.
The couple’s barrister, James Wibberley, told Judge David Saunders that the burglary involved ‘the disabling and removal of the security system, door entry system and Sonance speakers supplied and/or installed by the defendants’.
He said: ‘Nothing was taken except items installed by Mr
Pearce.’ The couple’s holiday home is on the tiny Saint-JeanCap-Ferrat peninsula on the Cote d’Azur, located near the grand Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, which once belonged to the banking family.
The peninsula has been nicknamed ‘Cape Celebrity’ due to its high-flying visitors, who have included the likes of Edith Piaf, Somerset Maugham and Elizabeth Taylor.
Unsurprisingly, property prices are sky-high, with homes often selling for millions.
Mr Ritossa, 60, and his wife are suing Mr Pearce and his company Elegant Integration for over £58,000 in damages, plus lawyers’ costs of over £145,000.
The couple’s barrister said Mrs Ritossa had also faced claims she is ‘erratic, rude, hysterical and appeared unstable/ unbalanced’, adding Mr Pearce’s ‘contempt for Mrs Ritossa is palpable’.
But Rowan Pennington-Benton, for Mr Pearce, said there was no evidence to support the accusations against his client, which he said Mr Pearce ‘vehemently and wholeheartedly’ denies.
The judge adjourned the case to a later date.
Mr Ritossa is one of the world’s top bankers and has been credited with transforming and modernising Barclays’ foreign exchange arm.
But Autonomy Capital is reported to have been struggling recently, with bad bets wiping billions off the fund.
Mr Ritossa and Mr Pearce were contacted for comment.