Latest news with #JamesStunt
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Barclays fined £42m over fraud linked to Bernie Ecclestone's former son-in-law
Barclays has been fined £42m for money-laundering failings in a case linked to Bernie Ecclestone's former son-in-law. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the bank suffered multiple 'failings in its financial crime risk management' while providing services to Stunt & Co, a gold bullion trader started by James Stunt. Mr Stunt is a London socialite and art collector who was married to Petra Ecclestone between 2011 and 2017. His business was found to be at the centre of a £266m money-laundering scheme and he was prosecuted as a result of his involvement. However, he was ultimately acquitted this year following a five-month trial at Leeds Crown Court. Four others involved in the scheme were separately convicted in March for their roles in what has been described as one of the largest money-laundering operations ever discovered in Britain. Police said the illicit funds were linked to organised crime, including drug dealing. The FCA said Barclays failed to collect sufficient information about the source of £46.8m worth of funds paid into Stunt & Co's account by another firm, Bradford jeweller Fowler Oldfield. The funds were later revealed to be the proceeds of crime. Barclays failed to monitor ongoing risks linked to Stunt & Co even after being informed that the company's offices had been raided by police, the watchdog said. Instead, the bank gave Stunt & Co's account a 'low-risk' rating, even after it became aware of the money-laundering investigations. Barclays only reviewed its relationship with Stunt & Co after it learnt of the FCA's decision to prosecute NatWest over its links to Fowler Oldfield. NatWest was subsequently fined £264.8m in 2021. The FCA also fined Barclays for failing to properly monitor wealth management firm WealthTek, whose founder has been accused of running one of the 'most serious and largest frauds' the City watchdog has ever investigated. John Dance, WealthTek's founder and a former DJ, has been accused of taking more than £64m from clients to fund a lavish lifestyle. This includes allegedly using funds to buy a nightclub and six racehorses including Bravemansgame, which won the King George VI Chase race at Kempton in 2022. Mr Dance faces fraud and money-laundering charges, with a court date set for September 2027. He has denied the charges. Barclays failed to collect sufficient information about WealthTek before giving it an account, meaning it missed a notice that the FCA had blocked the wealth management company from handling client money. Therese Chambers, of the FCA, said: 'The consequences of poor financial crime controls are very real – they allow criminals to launder the proceeds of their crimes and they allow fraudsters to defraud consumers. 'Banks need to take responsibility and act promptly, particularly when obvious risks are brought to their attention.' A Barclays spokesman said: 'Barclays remains deeply committed to the fight against financial crime and fraud. 'The FCA's investigation relating to Stunt & Co was centred around historical money-laundering activity and made no findings that the bank had breached money-laundering regulations. 'As acknowledged by the FCA, Barclays undertook an extensive review and self-reported its findings to the FCA. Barclays fully co-operated with both investigations and has further strengthened its financial crime and other control capabilities.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Wall Street Journal
16-07-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Barclays Fined $56 Million for Money-Laundering Failures
Barclays BARC 0.22%increase; green up pointing triangle has been fined roughly $56 million for lapses in dealings with risky customers, including a client tied to one of Britain's biggest money-laundering cases. U.K. regulators fined the bank more than 39 million pounds, equivalent to $52 million, for failing to detect and manage money-laundering risks in its yearslong relationship with Stunt & Co., a gold firm run by socialite James Stunt. It received a separate £3 million fine Wednesday for its dealings with a failed wealth-management firm, WealthTek.
The Guardian
16-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Barclays fined £42m over poor handling of financial crime risk
The UK financial watchdog has fined Barclays Bank £42m over its 'poor handling' of financial crime risks linked to Stunt & Co, the firm run by socialite James Stunt, and wealth management company WealthTek. The Financial Conduct Authority said the fines related to separate failings linked to the two businesses. It fined Barclays Bank £39.3m for 'failing to adequately manage money laundering risks' related to providing banking services to Stunt & Co. Meanwhile, Barclays Bank UK has been fined £3.1m after it failed to check it had enough information to understand the money laundering risk before opening a client money account for the now-collapsed WealthTek. Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said: 'The consequences of poor financial crime controls are very real – they allow criminals to launder the proceeds of their crimes, and they allow fraudsters to defraud consumers. 'Banks need to take responsibility and act promptly, particularly when obvious risks are brought to their attention. 'In the first of these cases, Barclays secured a significant reduction in its fine through its extensive cooperation with our investigation and through making a voluntary payment to affected consumers at our request.' Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion In March, James Stunt, the former son-in-law of Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone, was cleared at Leeds crown court of any involvement in a £200m money laundering operation. Four other men were convicted.
Daily Mail
04-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: F1 heiress Petra Ecclestone's bullion dealer ex faces losing company over unpaid bills
James Stunt told a Crown Court jury earlier this year that he had insisted on a prenuptial agreement which would limit his share to £16 million in the event of divorce. But does the bullion dealer, whose marriage to Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone ended in 2017, now wish that he had sought rather more? I ask because the 43-year-old godson of convicted crime baron Terry Adams seems dogged by financial woe. Declared bankrupt in 2019, he is now, I can disclose, perhaps destined for another legal tussle, this time in the High Court, rather than Leeds Crown Court, where he was cleared three months ago of all charges relating to a £266 million money-laundering operation – unlike his four fellow co-defendants, three of whom remain on the run. His company, Stunt Acquisitions Ltd, is the subject of a winding-up petition – a legal means of forcing a company into compulsory liquidation due to unpaid debts – issued by Westminster City Council. 'I can confirm we have served a winding-up petition relating to non-payment of business rates,' a council spokesman tells me. There is no comment from Stunt, who owns at least 75 per cent of the company, but I'm told that one of his fellow directors believes the petition contains 'a number of factual errors' and is seeking to have the petition withdrawn. That may prove rather optimistic, as I understand that the company owes more than £170,000 in unpaid business rates relating to its occupation of offices in Leconfield House, Mayfair – once the London HQ of MI5 but now owned by flamboyant entrepreneur Robert Tchenguiz. In the glory days of his marriage to Petra, Stunt routinely asserted that he, like his then father-in-law, Formula 1 tycoon Bernie Ecclestone, was a billionaire. But observers were – and have remained – sceptical, especially after The Mail on Sunday revealed the existence of a bogus email sent from Stunt Acquisitions. It purported to be from Nicolas Descharnes, the world's pre-eminent authority on the works of Salvador Dali – and was crafted so that it appeared to have been sent from Descharnes's home address in France. Its contents were still more disquieting, seemingly showing that Descharnes had authenticated a painting as an 'original Dali' and declared it, and a preparatory sketch, to be 'beautiful work and a great discovery'. The bogus 'authentication' was, in fact, for a painting which Descharnes had examined in the offices of Stunt Acquisitions – and had declared a fake within minutes. Despite this, the 'Dali' – entitled Corpus Hypercubus 1953 – was lent by Stunt to Dumfries House, the magnificent Palladian pile in Ayrshire saved for the nation by King Charles. Perhaps further details will emerge on July 30 – the date on which Westminster's winding-up petition will be heard. Diane's sheer bravado at the 'Italian Hollywood' She was 'the face that launched a thousand ships' as Helen in the 2004 film Troy, and Diane Kruger is clearly determined to leave a lasting impression. The German actress, 48, wore a £363 transparent red dress by Norma Kamali to a fashion event at Rome's Cinecitta Studios, which are known as the 'Italian Hollywood'. Her £685 Soave heels were by Aquazzura, which hosted the event with fashion retailer MyTheresa. Diane, who has a six-year-old daughter with American actor Norman Reedus, has modelled for brands including Chanel and Prada. Misogyny 'rife' in fashion industry, blasts Savannah Wedding dress designer Savannah Miller has made a name for herself decorating society brides in ethereal gowns – including Boris Johnson's wife Carrie and model Lady Clara Paget – but she admits her journey through the fashion world has been far from smooth. 'Despite everyone's best efforts, misogyny is rife,' says the older sister of Hollywood star Sienna. 'I would love to see women and men treated equally in all respects. I don't see why it is still such a problem.' The Gloucestershire-based designer, 46, has three children with her ex-husband Nick Skinner. She is now married to James Whewell, heir to the Wyresdale Park estate. 'We are still a long way away from achieving equality in the workplace,' she adds. 'I resent the narrative around women returning to work after having children and wish that women's careers were given the same weight and importance as men's. 'In my experience, women who have had children and returned to work have so much more empathy and focus and are a much bigger asset to the working environment.' Jesse Wood steps out with new love Fearne Cotton has had 'new beginnings' inked on her right hip since splitting up with Jesse Wood. For her estranged husband, actions speak louder than words. The son of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has made his first red-carpet appearance with former Made In Chelsea star Gemma Gregory. Jesse, 48, and Gemma, 39, attended the VIP screening of Twiggy at The Cinema at Selfridges, hosted by the documentary's director, Sadie Frost. I disclosed in March that the couple had been enjoying a passionate romance for some time. Becoming a manager or a pub landlord used to be the most former footballers could hope for. Today, they're making millions from podcasts. First, Gary Lineker created the company behind hits such as The Rest Is History. Now, fellow ex-England striker Peter Crouch has made a million from his own podcast company. The 6ft 7in star's firm, Tall Or Nothing Ltd, leapt in value from £1.68 million to £2.68 million in 2024, according to newly published accounts. That Peter Crouch Podcast is one of the most popular audio sports shows and had a reported 60 million listens on the BBC before he quit the Corporation in 2022. Tall Or Nothing also produces The Therapy Crouch Podcast which he makes with his wife of 14 years, the model Abbey Clancy. Figures show the business holds cash reserves of £1 million, investments of £400,000 and is owed £1.7 million by debtors. (Very) modern manners There's 'glamping' – and then there's aristo-style alfresco. Lady Sophia Topley, daughter of the 11th Duke of Devonshire and his wife Deborah Mitford, has revealed that she and her husband, William Topley, have hauled their marital bed outdoors at their Wiltshire home to escape the summer heat. 'It's so hot, so we're sleeping in the garden,' explains Sophia, sharing a photo online of herself ready for bed. Their floral borders and ancient brick walls make for an unusual backdrop to what Sophia – aunt of the late model Stella Tennant – calls 'sleeping under the stars'. Neighbours see the dark side of rocker's shed He sold his house in London's Maida Vale to Earl Spencer – and donated the £3.6 million proceeds to Crisis, a charity for the homeless. More than two decades later, might the antics of neighbours at his current London residence in leafy Hampstead persuade Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour to repeat the trick? I ask because a shed – newly installed in his garden and painted green so as 'to minimise its visual impact' – has inspired a fearful reaction from the Hampstead Hill Gardens Residents' Association. Deriding it as 'overbearing, and significantly more visually and physically intrusive than what was approved', the association is calling on the local council to order its removal. Gilmour declines to comment. The One Show host Alex Jones, who's from Carmarthenshire, suggests that the Welsh are an unforgiving bunch. The former Strictly contestant, 48, is grateful that young 'people are forced into performing' in her native Wales. 'It's really good for confidence and it puts everyone on an even playing field,' she tells the Spooning With Mark Wogan podcast. 'It's something England can learn from.' Referring to the Severn crossing, she warns, however: 'If you put a foot wrong, they won't let you put a foot back over that bridge.' The smart set's talking man with a golden loo When a golden lavatory worth £4.75 million was stolen from Blenheim Palace, the Oxfordshire birthplace of Winston Churchill, in 2019, it was thought to have been broken up and melted down soon afterwards, as no part of it has ever been recovered. Now, however, society jeweller Stephen Webster says he has been accused of harbouring stolen goods because of the golden loo installed in his new shop in Mayfair's Burlington Arcade. 'People keep asking me if it's the one that was stolen from Blenheim,' he tells me at the launch party. 'I promise it's not.' Webster, whose avant garde creations are worn by Kate Moss, Dame Joanna Lumley and Madonna, explains: 'My toilet is the only thing that's left in the space from when it was a James Bond pop-up shop, and it was a celebration of Goldfinger's 60 years and everything in it was gold.' Bond girl, 47, reveals battle for her baby She was Daniel Craig's Bond girl during his first outing as 007 in Casino Royale, and now Caterina Murino is embarking on a long-awaited mission of her own. The Italian actress has revealed that she is expecting her first child. The boy is due to be born in September, the month she turns 48. Caterina – who has been with her boyfriend, the French lawyer Edouard Rigaud, for eight years – says she suffered two miscarriages and had been undergoing IVF treatment, which she describes as 'trying'. 'At my age, I had to ask medicine to help nature,' she says. Speaking about becoming a mother in her late 40s, she says: 'You don't always decide when the right time to become a mother comes.' Caterina received a death threat after canoodling with Craig in Casino Royale . 'When he kissed me in the film, maybe it was because it was the first and only time I've ever been kissed by an Englishman, but it was so sexy, so real,' she said. 'It must have looked very real, because among the many fan letters I got was a death threat from someone who was jealous.'
Daily Mail
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Art dealer's withering verdict on Petra Ecclestone's ex James Stunt
Cleared of all charges relating to a £266 million money-laundering scam – unlike his four fellow co-defendants, three of whom are on the run – James Stunt, who was declared bankrupt in 2019, argues that the value of his artworks, currently held by museums and galleries, is greater in value than his debts. But I can disclose that perhaps the most impeccably informed of Stunt's old acquaintances disagrees. New York art dealer Ezra Chowaiki, released from a US prison in 2020 after a 13-month stretch for fraud, first met the self-styled gold bullion dealer one weekend in 2015, when Stunt was still married to Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone. What followed was so extraordinary that it helped spur Chowaiki into writing an eye-popping expose of the art world, the basis for a documentary now in development. 'Even within the absurd circus that is the high-end art world, Stunt stood out as a master clown,' Chowaiki tells me from New York, recalling their first encounter during which Stunt asserted that his Rolls was 'the only truly bulletproof car in England' and 'worth £1 million'. At his Mayfair office – which resembled 'something between Miami Vice and Succession' – Stunt reached into a safe, threw an object into Chowaiki's lap and asked: 'Do you know how much that's worth?' It was a gold ingot. Chowaiki then offered Stunt a painting. It was, aptly, a clown by Salvador Dali, priced £1.16million. Stunt responded by getting out his phone, showing Chowaiki two paintings by French artist Georges Braque and saying that he'd trade them for the Dali and $1million. Saying that he'd think about it, Chowaiki left London. In the following week, he alleges, he was 'hounded' by Stunt, who now offered the Braques for the Dali plus $500,000, and sent a series of 'increasingly deranged and voluminous texts'. Chowaiki insisted that Stunt send him photos of the Braques in their frames. 'The images he had sent could have been scanned from books,' reflects Chowaiki, who says that he had severe doubts about the authenticity of one of the paintings in particular. He had one last exchange with Stunt, who lent several paintings to Dumfries House – saved for the nation by King Charles – only for it to emerge that a number of them were fakes. Called by Stunt, who was seeking guidance about how to have the Picassos in his collection authenticated, Chowaiki explained that they should be submitted to Picasso's son, Claude. He recalls that Stunt asked in a 'hushed' tone: 'Do you think Claude could The comment (presumably a joke) made Chowaiki laugh, he recalls, before he explained to Stunt that Claude 'would never compromise himself'. A source close to Stunt says that the visit to his office couldn't have happened as he did not have access to his office at weekend. Doubtless Stunt is speaking in good faith, besides which, as his former butler, John Gilmour, told the Mail On Sunday last month, he frequently enjoyed Sunday lunch with his godfather, convicted crime baron Terry Adams. But one wonders if he has failed, in this instance, to take into account his past cocaine addiction and the consequent damage that it might have done to his memory. Chowaiki's texts for the weekend in question unequivocally show that Stunt asked to meet him on September 27, 2015. The source additionally insists he did not toss a gold ingot as Chowaiki suggests and denies that Stunt ever asked whether Claude Picasso could be influenced. Chowaiki, aware that he blotted his own copybook, counters: 'As unreliable a narrator as I may be, I'm still better than most in this field. Plus, I keep my texts.' Double take as 'Kate' parties at Annabel's The Princess of Wales's absence from Royal Ascot was much remarked-upon, and some at Annabel's summer solstice party were convinced they had spotted her at the private members club in Mayfair. However, on closer inspection, they realised it was Meg Bellamy, who played the younger version of Catherine in drama The Crown. The actress, 22, wore a white mini dress, and one guest tells me: 'I had to do a double take.' Hancock's new ink Matt Hancock's reinvention continues. The former Tory MP, 46, resigned as health secretary after CCTV showed him kissing and embracing Gina Coladangelo, his aide, at Whitehall in breach of Covid distancing restrictions in 2021. The pair were both married to other people. This week, his daughter Hope, 18, announced online: 'My dad got a tattoo today. Mid-life crisis.' Hancock declines to say which design is now inked on his body – or on which part of his anatomy – telling me: 'I'm not commenting.' Not like him… Brian's boozy podcast appearance Recalling actor Brian Cox's recent appearance on her podcast, chef Angela Hartnett mischievously claims the Succession star, 79, got tipsy on margaritas before going on the West End stage that night. With Cox playing JS Bach in The Score at the time, Hartnett quips: 'We just got Brian Cox drunk, it was fine. He went on to do a show later, it was amazing.' Podcast co-host Nick Grimshaw says: 'He got right on it.' Surely not! Dominic West and Alexandra Tolstoy share trek's appeal Dominic West once trekked to the South Pole with Prince Harry, who later shunned him. But The Affair star's latest adventure found him saddling up with a far more appealing companion. Alexandra Tolstoy, 51, rode horseback across Kyrgyzstan with West, 55, for a new documentary. 'It's a bit embarrassing I haven't watched The Wire,' she says of one of the actor's most celebrated TV dramas. 'But it's been so much fun.' Author and broadcaster Tolstoy is a tourism ambassador for the former Soviet state. Royal fiction is foul play The Royal Family may feel they have enough to contend with from America, especially its West Coast. But things can deteriorate further, judging by a play now being performed off Broadway. It would be a challenge to summarise Prince Faggot – the play's title – as merely 'imaginative', given that it features a fetish mask and recreational drugs and other activities which would look more in place in Fifty Shades Of Grey. A programme note asserts that all the text is fictional and adds that 'any resemblance to real events is purely coincidental'. Yet playwright Jordan Tannahill opts for a central character called Prince George, son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate. Shame on Tannahill. The smart set's talking about Henry's Royal Ascot role Carriage three in the Royal Procession caught the eye at Royal Ascot, thanks to the elegant figure of Harriet Sperling, the paediatric nurse accompanying the King's nephew, Peter Phillips, just over a year after the couple – both divorced – were first seen together in public. Their marital histories would once have made their attendance unthinkable, but this more forgiving era had another beneficiary – in carriage four. Not Lady Joanna Morton Jack, the Earl and Countess of Halifax's only daughter, but Joanna's husband, judge's son Henry Morton Jack. A barrister of brilliance, he's described as 'hugely talented' by Chambers legal directory. But he's not always been quite so upright... most memorably at a Madonna film premiere party in his youth when he and his chum, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's son, Lord Freddie Windsor, took a little too much refreshment. Tuesday was certainly a day to build up a thirst but, happily, Henry, 46, remained splendidly vertical. How divorced Luke finally beat drugs Rupert Murdoch's former grandson-in-law, British rapper Luke 'Lukey' Storey, has spoken publicly for the first time about the addiction that destroyed his marriage to the media magnate's granddaughter – just 12 hours after they said 'I do'. Charlotte Freud, 24, daughter of media executive Elisabeth Murdoch and PR supremo Matthew Freud, married Luke in 2022 in a star-studded Cotswolds wedding with guests including Woody Harrelson and Claudia Winkleman. But behind the spectacle, the couple were already teetering on the brink. 'We had been married for 12 hours when our whole world fell apart,' Charlotte later admitted. Luke relapsed on the way to their honeymoon. What followed was a turbulent, 14-month marriage marked by mutual attempts at recovery – and frequent collapse. for Sarah's memoir, How Not To Be A Political Wife, at Hatchards in Piccadilly, London. 'It wasn't easy writing this book – and for some it will be an equally difficult read,' she admits. Luke, 39, now says: 'I ruined a lot of relationships while I was using – people I loved dearly, close friends, family. You can't heal relationships while you're still actively hurting yourself.' Sarah's bond with Kemi She may have fallen out with David 'man-baby' Cameron, but my colleague Sarah Vine enjoys warmer relations with the current Tory leader. Kemi Badenoch joined guests including Kirstie Allsopp and Piers Morgan at the launch party for Sarah's memoir, How Not To Be A Political Wife, at Hatchards in Piccadilly, London. 'It wasn't easy writing this book – and for some it will be an equally difficult read,' she admits. (Very) modern manners The love lives of Fern Britton's daughters are providing inspiration for her novels. 'Grace has a lovely partner, but Winnie is single, and whilst she's a very attractive girl, it all seems so difficult now,' says Fern, 67, who separated from their father, TV chef Phil Vickery, in 2020. 'In the 1970s, a man would come and say, 'Oh, do you want to go out?' and you'd reply, 'Yes, thank you'. Now, it seems they're all giving each other therapy about someone they've been seeing for ten days.' She tells Saga magazine: 'I was intrigued about how these relationships work and wanted to explore that a bit.'
