Prince embroiled in finance row as former aide arrested over love child payments claim
A legal battle is underway involving the Prince of Monaco and his former key advisor of 11 years.
The Royal Family in Monaco has descended into chaos after a former advisor of Prince Albert of Monaco has been arrested.
Claude Palmero, an advisor who was sacked by the Prince last year, was arrested on Wednesday night after making a number of claims that the Prince, who has reigned since 2005, gave money and gifts to his ex-lovers and their children.
The 68-year-old was questioned by police after Albert filed a lawsuit against him, prompting an investigation into alleged “breach of confidentiality, invasion of privacy and receiving the proceeds of two offences”.
He has since been released without charge, however the legal battle is still underway between the Prince and Palmero, who was Albert’s key advisor for 11 years.
According to The Times, the chaos began after Palmero was sacked last year after Albert engaged in a “clean-hands operation”, which came after accusations of widespread corruption.
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A few months after being sacked, French newspaper Le Monde obtained Palmero’s notebooks, which contained a series of damaging claims about the Prince.
Le Monde claimed that Albert gave Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, 32 — the daughter he had during a romance with an American former waitress before he got married — $86,000 every three months.
Allegations had also been made that the Prince had also backed a fashion business launched by Nicole Coste, a Franco-Togolese former air stewardess who he was involved with during his bachelor days, and that he paid for ransom insurance for Alexandre Grimaldi, 21, their son.
According to The Times, the notebooks also suggested that Albert’s wife Princess Charlene spent more than her official allowance of €1.5 million a year, with her husband paying these bills.
