‘Divorce led Stunt to join laundering gang’ – court

SOCIALITE JAMES Stunt may have got involved in a multimillion-pound money-laundering operation because the breakdown of his marriage to heiress Petra Ecclestone meant the “river of money” from her family was “running dry”, prosecutors have told a jury.

Stunt is one of eight defendants on trial over an alleged network which a court has heard saw £266m deposited in the bank account of Bradford gold dealer Fowler Oldfield over two years.

Prosecutor Nicholas Clarke QC told a jury that Stunt was married to the daughter of Formula 1 mogul Bernie Ecclestone and enjoyed “an extravagant lifestyle”.

But he said Stunt’s “personal finances are shrouded in mystery”.

Mr Clarke said that, at the time of the events being considered by the jury, Stunt was backed by his father-in-law’s wealth and had access to his wife’s money. He told the jury about some of Stunt’s outgoings, which included more than £340,000 to the charity Unicef and payments of more than £800,000 to the Lamborghini sports car company.

“There are also high-value art purchases from galleries and auction houses,” the prosecutor said.

He added: “They also had joint accounts that, effectively, had unlimited resources.”

Mr Clarke said: “James Stunt is no longer married to Petra Ecclestone and, given the breakdown in his marriage and the fact that the river of money from the Ecclestone sources may have been running dry, the financial future for James Stunt may have appeared to him less abundant than it had been. This might be an explanation as to why he got involved in a process that has been demonstrably proven to have involved the laundering of millions of pounds of cash.”

Stunt and seven fellow defendants deny money laundering. The case continues.