Socialite James Stunt walked free from court today after being cleared of involvement in a £266 million money laundering operation.
The former husband of Petra Ecclestone, who is associated with Formula One, faced allegations of being involved in a scheme to convert illegal money from drug gangs into gold.
At the time of the accusations, Stunt, aged 43, resided in an extravagant mansion in Los Angeles. Despite the substantial amounts of money – totaling tens of millions of pounds – being discovered in his company’s London offices, he maintained that he was unaware of its criminal origins or its connection to a global money laundering operation.
After enduring a lengthy legal process, Stunt has been acquitted of all charges. This decision comes eight years after law enforcement officers raided his office, five years after he was formally accused, and after two extensive jury trials.
Stunt clapped his hands together with relief as he was found not guilty of money laundering, having been cleared by majority verdict. He hugged his father outside the court room as they struggled to hold back the tears.
Rawson, the only other defendant in the dock, collapsed in tears and fell to the floor of the dock after being found guilty.
The other three defendants Frankel, Rashid and Babber, who were not in court and are understood to be on the run, were also found guilty.
Following the verdict, Stunt said: ‘It has been nine years of hell.’
James Stunt (pictured with his ex-wife Petra Ecclestone at their engagement party in 2011) walked free from court after being cleared of involvement in a £266m money laundering con
Stunt clapped his hands together with relief as he was found not guilty of money laundering. He is seen outside of Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday morning
A look at Mr Stunt’s huge mansion in Los Angeles which he shared with his ‘staggeringly wealthy’ ex-wife, Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone
In the meantime, all his assets have been frozen by a court ‘restraint order’ and the once super-rich tycoon was declared bankrupt in 2019, with Legal Aid funded by taxpayers estimated at more than £1.5m for his legal fees.
Whether he can now recover any of his seized assets and what wealth is left remains to be seen and could be decided in another court battle.
His lawyers today insisted they will now apply to the High Court to have the restraint order freezing his assets lifted. It is not expected to be opposed.
Just what has been frozen has never been revealed.
The first trial ended with the jury unable to reach a verdict over the key charge and he has now been found not guilty of money laundering at the end of a four-month trial at Leeds Crown Court.
During his six-year marriage, which ended in 2017 with him receiving a £10m divorce settlement, Stunt and his wife spent a total of £69m. They lived in ‘America’s most expensive home’, and he behaved like a latter-day emperor, splashing out on masterpiece paintings, fine wine, gambling millions and being driven around in a fleet of expensive cars.
In the witness box Stunt spoke about the drug addictions and gambling habit he has battled with over the years and detailed a life of privilege and opulence.
Stunt gave the impression that if cleared by the jury he could return to this life of luxury.
Stunt is pictured on Tuesday arriving at Leeds Crown Court
Mr Stunt pictured with his then-wife Petra Ecclestone at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2012
But Stunt was described by the prosecutor in the first trial as a ‘conman’ who has been ‘putting on a front’ all of his life and it is not known what assets remains under his name.
He claimed in court around 100 works of art were seized under the court order pending the result of the money laundering trial and a document produced to show West Yorkshire Police had insured paintings for £100m. His fine wines were said to be worth £30m.
While a Chelsea Harbour apartment he bought for £3,375,000 in 2012 remains registered to him.
The jury was told how Stunt became embroiled in the money laundering operation after his dream of refining the highest quality ‘Stunt’ branded gold bars went disastrously wrong.
He built a refinery in Sheffield but was unable to source the unrefined or scrap gold that he needed as the raw material. He went into partnership with Bradford-jewellers Fowler Oldfield, but the prosecution claimed the loss-making gold manufacturing venture in time turned into a profitable criminal money laundering enterprise.
Up to £30m of criminal cash, probably from drug gangs, was delivered to his firm’s London office, counted and collected to be deposited in the Fowler Oldfield NatWest bank account.
In total £266m of ‘dirty’ money was laundered, mainly between 2014 and 2016, by those involved in the entire scheme, organised by a master fixer in Dubai, the jury heard.
A significant amount of gold that was processed by Stunt’s refinery was also turned into untraceable gold grain and sent to Dubai, presumably to be despatched to the criminal gang masters providing the mountains of ‘dirty’ cash, the court was told.
Police alleged that up to £30m in cash was counted and collected at Stunt’s London office
Mr Stunt told the court he had no idea how much money was being counted at his opulent London office (pictured)
Before this trial 14 couriers who delivered cash to Fowler Oldfield in Bradford were convicted of money laundering and NatWest fined £265m for breaking anti-money laundering rules.
Stunt insisted he believed the cash counted in his office was from Fowler Oldfield customers and he had no idea it came from criminal sources or the operation was illegal.
In both trials a photograph of him posing with King Charles at a private palace audience was shown to the jury in his defence.
Details of how he donated £2.2m to charities, including substantial donations to the Prince’s Trust, were given in court.
It was even revealed in the first trial how he boasted to a bank that the then Prince of Wales was one of his ‘best friends.’
The judge rejected an attempt to allow letters from Charles, thanking him for loans and donations to his charities, to be read to the jury.
But ultimately the jury wasn’t convinced Stunt was aware of the criminality his Mayfair-based company had become embroiled in and he was cleared.
Mr Stunt made huge charity donations during his marriage to Petra Ecclestone and his generosity earnt him an audience with King Charles, the court heard
James Stunt, pictured with new girlfriend Helena Robinson at Leeds Cloth Hall Court in 2022
THE TAXPAYERS’ BILL
Despite his opulent lifestyle, James Stunt’s appearance in court has cost taxpayers a fortune.
The freezing of his assets and a subsequent bankruptcy order against Stunt means that he was eligible for Legal Aid.
Taxpayers have had to pick up the bill for his legal fees during two long crown court trials and the huge amount of preparation work his solicitors carried out.
The total cost has not been disclosed but is estimated to exceed £1.5 million.
The first trial in 2022 lasted seven months and his retrial four months. In both he was represented by a KC and junior counsel. A legal source estimated the first trial barristers bill at around £300,000 and the retrial more than half that figure.
The time spent by lawyers preparing the case over many months would dwarf the trial cost.
In addition, the cost to the public purse of running and staffing the crown court for 11 months in total is over £600,000.
James Stunt arrives at the Rolls Building, in London, on March 6 2024 for his bankruptcy trial
NATWEST
The massive money laundering operation was made possible by criminal failures at the NatWest bank where the millions in cash was deposited.
The bank was fined almost £265 million at Southwark Crown Court in December 2021 for failing to comply with anti-laundering rules in connection with deposits to Bradford-based gold dealer Fowler Oldfield.
Between 2012 and 2016 about 50 NatWest branches were used to deposit around £264m in cash and £365m in total funds into the company’s account.
This included £42 million at a branch in Southall, west London, between January 2015 and March 2016. Up to £1.8 million of cash was being paid in every day at the height of the activity on the account, according to the Financial Conduct Authority.
However, while some staff flagged worries and automated monitoring systems also issued alerts, these concerns did not result in NatWest filing suspicious activity reports to the authorities at the time.
The court heard a staff member at Fowler Oldfield developed a ‘corrupt relationship’ with a NatWest bank manager who was able to ‘deflect’ questions and facilitated the unusual deposits. He is currently under police investigation.
NatWest admitted three money laundering offences and was the first bank to be prosecuted by the City regulator for such offences.
Passing sentence Mrs Justice Cockerill said that although the bank was ‘in no way complicit’ in money laundering, it had been ‘functionally vital’. She said: ‘Without the bank’s failures, the money could not be effectively laundered.’
