Edelsten set to seal split
ECCENTRIC millionaire businessman Geoffrey Edelsten is divorcing Gabi Grecko, claiming she owes him $65,000.
The 72-year-old, whose two-storey Palazzo Versace penthouse was auctioned last year after being seized by creditors in 2014, will take legal action through lawyers in New York, where the model and former prostitute lives, before he lodges paperwork to officially split in the family court in Melbourne next month.
Mr Edelsten complained to Melbourne East police in October that the 27-year-old launched a blackmail plot to extort $7000 from him, which he says he paid, when she threatened to go to the media with naked pictures of him – a claim she denies.
Victoria Police have confirmed that a complaint of blackmail was lodged but it is not being investigated.
Mr Edelsten also told officers she kicked and damaged a $35,000 Archibald Prize-listed painting of him and ex-wife Brynne by artist Vivian Falk.
In November he complained to Melbourne East police officers two watches, including a Breitling, several gold chains and his favourite DVDs totalling $23,000, were also taken by the glamour model.
“I think it’s sad all the things we said about each other when we broke up,” Ms Grecko said. “I’d be upset if he filed for a divorce because at one point I thought I had found the one.
“I haven’t taken any of his belongings and I didn’t blackmail him. I hope we can talk at some point before any permanent proceedings.”
September will mark a year since the pair have lived separately, freeing either of them to file for divorce.
Mr Edelsten says he “can’t wait to officially get rid of her”.
“She has made my life a misery,” he said.
“I’m finally enjoying life again and keen to date and proceed with my life and I can’t if I know she’s still in it, even if she is in New York.
“The fact she has admitted to being a prostitute and part of the mile-high club makes me sick.’’
Ms Grecko met Mr Edelsten on dating site sugardaddy.com, and less than a year later they married in Melbourne last June.
Ms Grecko was quoted in the New York Post as having been paid to perform sex acts on US police officers during a private flight to Las Vegas in 2013.