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Post by MyAdia on Sept 7, 2011 10:02:32 GMT -5
MyaDia, didn't it ever occur to Albert that the only reason that Charlene was on the cover of any magazine was because she was dating him? Otherwise, Charlene would have been lucky to get her photo in the Wittstock family album. If Albert had been dated a mule, then the mule would have gotten its photo on the cover. The press has been waiting for over 30 years for Albert to marry, Charlene just happened to be the one he was dating. Otherwise Charlene would be back working in the convenience store in Benoni. The press only cared about Charlene because of Albert; same with Nicole. Scout, I KNOW this but Albert is the fool who thinks that it was Charlene and not him. Albert is the fool who was too stupid to realize that the world was interested in him finally marrying and not Charlene. Albert was too stupid to realize that the initial international interest in his engagement was that HE finally decided to marry and not Charlene the person who he decided to marry. Once the engagement was announced, Charlene had no international appeal - neither grace nor personalty to attract anyone of substance to remain interested in her - but the usual sycophantic press.
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Post by khillaree on Sept 7, 2011 10:30:29 GMT -5
dadgumIT, the links aren't working on 2 threads and i really wanted to see the daily mail article. i can't find it on their page but i revel in their snarkiness ROFL Countess, the links work. Here's Richard Kay's full article with the photo that he chose for the article. His choice of photo - Charlene in her full trashiness - depicts Richard's real sense of snarkiness. Charlene is pure trash and anyone with an iota of common sense knows it - so that excludes Albert. The irony is that Charlene was giving details to Richard Kay when she wanted him to promote her in the press. From the Daily Mail - scroll down to after the article about Claudia.
Prince Albert's women at war
By RICHARD KAY 6th September 2011
Any hopes Prince Albert of Monaco might have of repairing the disastrous publicity surrounding his marriage to South African beauty Charlene Wittstock have taken another turn for the worse.
Just two months on from their wedding, which was almost cancelled when Charlene tried to flee the country over rumours Albert had fathered a lovechild, there has been a key departure from his inner circle.
It is his most trusted adviser, the formidable Madame Christiane Stahl, without whose approval he rarely made a move.
But the reason for her exit is being laid at the door of Charlene.
‘The two women loathed each other on sight,’ I am told. It was Mme Stahl’s task to groom Charlene to fulfil the role of heiress to the late Princess Grace.
This was seen as vital in the re-branding of Monaco from a ‘sunny place for shady people’ to a responsible financial centre. Stahl was to have guided Charlene to suitable designers as well as controlling interviews. But Charlene — at Harewood House in West Yorkshire this weekend with her husband for a Variety Club ball — refused to accept guidance and developed her own court.
This led to a photo session with Vanity Fair, which Stahl knew nothing about, in which Charlene wore a low-cut shirt. A Monaco insider tells me: ‘By the end the two women weren’t speaking.
‘Albert had to choose between his new bride and his old friend. It was impossible.’
Mrs Stahl pays for the prize which she gave, she said to everybody that Charlene was the woman that albert had to marry, which she would be the perfect woman. Us, us knew that a moment Charlene would make that well he seems. Today if Mrs Stahl is ejected it's her fault... For Mme Stahl :
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Post by sandsla on Sept 7, 2011 14:49:21 GMT -5
Mrs Stahl pays for the prize which she gave, she said to everybody that Charlene was the woman that albert had to marry, which she would be the perfect woman. Us, us knew that a moment Charlene would make that well he seems. Today if Mrs Stahl is ejected it's her fault... For Mme Stahl : Exactly this was the horse she backed for six years, and it turned around and bit her in the ass! What did she think was going to happen once Charlene had the title and wedding ring? That is if she had Charlene's number all along? Why didn't she see it coming? We all did and voiced it for six years! The thing is Albert deserves to be stuck with his lame horse to for making the stu[pid stupid decision to ever marry her! A little hard to erase that oh let's just give her a little time! Over on Royal Gossip her brethren is spelling it out why Charlene doesn't speak French--exactly what I said for years, except I was showing Charlene for the kind of self serving person she was...showing what kind of effort they could expect from her? These people are so stupid the are actually using the same argument to try to defend her/ How can you argue with someone that self serving and ignorant , and how could anyone at the Palace expect that Charlene was going to rise to the occasion when she was so unwilling at the time she was fighting for this? Once they handed it all to her on a silver platter, they thought she had a reason to perform then...these people are schmucks! If Albert was behind this whole campaign and not Stahl and her team then she should have quit, If Albert was smart enough to see the problem, and there are many, he should have gotten rid of Stahl years ago, but the answer to both of their problems was to get rid of Charlene, not promote her to a point where she had both of them over a barrel--they deserve it for being so stupid! It's not like they didn't have plenty of women holding up the reality of the situation to them for six long years! Getting rid of us was never going to get rid of the reality of the situation-which they tried! AdminNote: Reduced length of quoted text
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Post by sandsla on Sept 7, 2011 14:56:26 GMT -5
MyaDia, didn't it ever occur to Albert that the only reason that Charlene was on the cover of any magazine was because she was dating him? Otherwise, Charlene would have been lucky to get her photo in the Wittstock family album. If Albert had been dated a mule, then the mule would have gotten its photo on the cover. The press has been waiting for over 30 years for Albert to marry, Charlene just happened to be the one he was dating. Otherwise Charlene would be back working in the convenience store in Benoni. The press only cared about Charlene because of Albert; same with Nicole. Scout, I KNOW this but Albert is the fool who thinks that it was Charlene and not him. Albert is the fool who was too stupid to realize that the world was interested in him finally marrying and not Charlene. Albert was too stupid to realize that the initial international interest in his engagement was that HE finally decided to marry and not Charlene the person who he decided to marry. Once the engagement was announced, Charlene had no international appeal - neither grace nor personalty to attract anyone of substance to remain interested in her - but the usual sycophantic press. That's right too! Albert was a fool to think it was about Charlene and not him, but I don't think they really thought there was anything special about her, it was that they underestimated the public and just thought this jackass would do? That public would lick her up in the spoon because they have never seen a golddigger in a designer dress? ;D The character of the woman they hired didn't make a difference to them, and they assumed it wouldn't make a difference to the rest of the world? I don't know what they hought was so novel about Charlene that they actually thought she could be an traction--she has been a distraction for them after to chase after the disasters in her wake, and they will continue to have to do that until the day Charlene leaves Monaco! They will forever clean up her mess, and if it is true that someone tried to sabotage them, Charlene seemed to act in a way on her wedding day that would suggest the rumors were true, of course Albert didn't look overjoyed either. They only have themselves to blame in thinking people were going to enjoy some kind of creepy mock miserable looking couple wedding, because even if Stahl pushed fpr the wedding--Albert and Charlene were the ones that walked up the aisle--no one had a gun at their backs.
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Post by sandsla on Sept 7, 2011 15:26:54 GMT -5
I still think Stahl tried to install CW as her marionette and person close to Albert who always remembers who made her (highschool drop out - no profession - not very beautiful - too dump and/ or lazy to learn French or do real work) Princess of Monaco ... and will be gratefull. BUT as I wrote here month before the "wedding": - CW cares for nobodys interests but hers and is thus an unguidable and unguided missile. Stahl must have known it will be a hard job to turn CW in something that people "buy" as a Princess. But she thought it would be possible and didn't anticipate that disaster - and that's what makes her appear incompetent in my eyes. Many of us wrote here over and over again how the story will continue. And we were proven right! Even sooner that expected. Albert - watch your back!!! Great post! Sandsla, You have a great memory! I knew Albert was ticked off with her, and I vaguely remember something about her disappearing into the bathroom for a while. May be we thought she was upset, but may be in hindsight she was sulking or something else. Yes, that was after they left the ball and was at the nightclub, Charlene supposingly was reported to be in the bathroom for 45 minutes (with Stephanie). Charlene probably thought she was either teaching Albert a lesson by acting mad because Albert had the nerve to reproach her, that or she was playing sad looking to play on somone's sympathies, regardless of what her ploy was it didn't work, because the next day sad Charlene was dragging her ass and own suitcase back home! The other thing Cote mentioned was how upest everyone was when they walked in to the Ball, that they didn't even stop where they normally do, except Charlene bringing up the trail posing for cameras. It seemed both of the sisters were both unhappy that evening and I don't think it with each other, from what I could tell from some posts, it seems that the sisters at the time had some influence on Albert and that was the reason for Charlene's quick departure, or at least they helped it along!
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Post by sandsla on Sept 7, 2011 16:04:53 GMT -5
OK CM, I'm curious your take on this since you mentioned to me earlier that Stahl was the one who wanted the marriage with Charlene...actually it was more than that? Can you tell me if you think Stahl opposes Charlene or was the one that was always behind the Charlene campaign? Was it because her campaign was a failure, or because she was ALWAYS against Charlene and the promotion of her? Feel free to pm me if you want, I just can't help seeing a contradiction here? I'm curious what you think happened? I wrote a whole thing and then lost it - now it's late and I'm really tire, but I'll try to answer - I think (think ) Stahl was put into her position to guide and mold CW for the role of princess. Stahl never liked CW - but that wasn't important - whoever is actually running the show over there (it's clearly not PA) felt it was necessary for PA to finally get married and produce an heir - there was absolutely no one with such low self esteem that would agree to PA's terms that PA would also agree to BUT CHARLENE. Thus it was Stahl's job to guide CW. Whether she did it consciously or unconsciously - she screwed up. Whether the powers that are running things over there wanted this result or not - I don't have a clue - it seems pretty unbelievable anyone - and I do mean anyone - could mess things up so badly the way they did without it being done on purpose. Anyway, CW barely tolerated Stahl until she got what she wanted - the ring - once she got that, she did exactly what we all predicted she'd do - get rid of anyone and everyone she did not like, anyone who knew where all the skeletons were buried, and most importantly get rid of anyone who had PA's ear at all. (So there are more to come - let's hope LaCoste) Caro and Steph are not far behind. Albert is too stupid and inept to do anything about it. I feel however, CW has overplayed her hand - Stahl has some very powerful connections - many in the press. She's not going quietly- she may hide behind someone - but she'll get her message out. I don't think these latest negative articles and photos are just a coincidence. JMO. But I also believe there is so much more going on with this whole mess that we will never figure it out on our own, and whether it ever comes out or not is still up in the air. Hope that answers your question Sandsla AdminNote: Fixed quotesI hope you don't mind me mentioning this on the forum, but I recall you saying something about how Stahl wanted this marriage and actually prematuraly had it announced, kind of tricking Albert into it before he had made a real decision on it, and that was one reason why the announcement was off...Albert only getting a ring the day before, not the one that Charlene wears "pear shaped" (that tells you all you need to know about her right there! ;D) Also all the photoshopping, and the whole unpreparedness of it all? I mean Albert didn't need to announce the engagement right then, he gave the unusual amount of a year as an engagament...no need to rush the announcement. I've said this a thousand times, but the last thing from a PR stand point that Albert needed in his life right then, was a woman, especially a 20 year his junior golddigging bimbo like Charlene? Her appearance at the Olympics and knowing the already contrived idea that Albert had for his wife to be an Olypian, I'm sure he must have been on board with introducing Charlene at the OLypics, the whole idea of Charlene being promoted there and that is exactly what it was, an obvious PR sceme, that is not what i would call hiding Charlene! Even if Albert liked Charlene and Stahl was stuck with having to turn her into something suitable for his wife, she would have kept her hidden like people with clss do--they keep their personal relationships private as much as possible, unless they are desperate for attention and are juvenile teens. Albert's PR team strapped a kelg light on to Charlene fron the beginning, there was a time when Albert kept her hidden, before he was an idiot and moved her to Monaco? I don't know how thet thought they could make a princess out of a woman who not only let herself be kept by a man 20 yrs her senior, who is a prince and a billionaire, but she did it very public and they seemed to want to promote it--if Stahl was not smart enough to see that it was going to be hard to turn someone who she knew had to be a hustler, but now she is publicly seen as prostituting herself, I don't think you have to guess how that is going to turn out? If Stahl wanted to trun Albert's image into looking like a respectable man, adding a stupid almost always offensive dumb golddiger at his side was the last thing she should have done. I do think Stahl wanted to marry off Albert as fast as she could and she didn't care who? Albert needed to be seen as a new Monarch hard at work with NO WOMEN at his side for awhile, and let Albert find the right woman,and do her best to steer him away from the ignorant golddiggers. Ithink she would have gotten some support from Caroline there and a few others-she was meant to have some influence on Albert? As PR people flaunting a woman Albert might be dating in the press is so tacky and yet they seemed to build Albert's whole image around it, and to make it worse they could not have picked a creepier woman, but like you say, no woman worth anything is going to flaunt herself in the press especially for who she is sleeping with? How did they expect someone worth anything to sign on to that? Albert never had a chance to find a woman because Charlene was attached to him from day one--I really do think Albert was hoping to find someone else but he didn't realize that was only possible if he was willing to get rid of Charlene--no woman is going to be interested in a man who is publicly dating another woman, no matter how fake the relationship is? I don't know if Albert was ever interested in finding the right kind of woman but he and his pr team never gave him the chance...I think he feared that Charlene was the best he could do, another trype of woman could have helped Albert out, and his PR team should have seen that and hoped for that--it would have made there jobs a lot easier, if they were not looking for total control?
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Post by sandsla on Sept 7, 2011 16:22:37 GMT -5
I'm sorry for hogging up the board with my poorly formed posts--I have a huge migrain! But what I was getting at, if in fact Stahl was pushing for the marriage as you once mentioned CM, and Stahl told Albert this is what he needed to do, then it woud make sense that after it turned into a very expensive fiasco and total embarrassment for him (plus he is stuck with Charlene-in his own mind anyway), then it is understandable that he would want to get rid of Stahl, but how did he think he was going to get rid of the actual source of the problem, becaus if it turned out badly, since the problems for him are only get worse--Charlene has always been the problem! Maybe Albert understands now why all these women were trying to the bitter end to try to get him to abort the marriage plan before it was too late! Also as always Albert showed he has no foresight, even with our help! Albert lets his ego get in the way of doing what he knows is really right, and that is always a mistake. Even as naive as Albert may be to these women, if it had been the right thing to do he would have known it and he would have not waited six years-it's not like he is waiting for himself to mature like someone in their 20s. After 30 you don't have to wait so long to know how you feel about someone and if you want them ito be in the rst of your life. Myadia I do believe Albert did not realize how contrived and phoney the posters or will wishers of Charlene were --I think he did not realize how many of these people were connected to Charlene or the benefit they would reep if Charlene married the Prince of Monaco. I do think most of the press was mostly bought by him or Charlene, or promised access in some way, the voice of promotion from the palace was embarrassing. In the end he should have known the mistake of anyone who actually needs to be peddled or sold to the public so hard is not the kind of wman who is ever going to make a big splash princess or no princess. He would have never have had to spend a dime promoting a woman if she was the right one and what they should hve been looking for! A woman who does not like the press, but willing because she cared for Albert is what he should have been looking for not someone who is like a moth to light--that is obviously trouble!
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Post by MyAdia on Sept 7, 2011 16:37:31 GMT -5
Did I miss something. When and where did CM stated that Stahl was pushing for this wedding? I know a lot of people here assumed it, but I don't think CM posted an inside information that Stahl was pushing for this wedding. IT was clear to me from Stahl's quote about the first time that she met Charlene ( in her sychphantic book about Albert) that without a doubt that Stahl DID NOT like Charlene.
My problem with Stahl is when she decided to forgo and personal integrity and stayed on and did Albert's dirty work of promoting Charlene by lying to the people of Monaco and the press about who this gold digger really is. Stahl had to be either either desperate for work or was in love with Albert because she stayed on this job for six years and promoted Charlene at ALBERT"S request. Sandsla, I think that you are missing the main point in the DM article - Albert REQUESTED Stahl to mold Charlene. It was and is Albert's final decision to bring Charlene to Monaco, impose her on his people as an acting Princess of Monaco for five years and ultimately marry her. The blame is on Albert and not Stahl. Charlene is Albert's brainchild creation and the PARASITE that will destroy him. He is still too stupid to realize this. He is still convinced that he can throw money on her for clothes and jewelry and she will attract people ti Monaco. He is too stupid to see that most people see right through this con artist drag queen.
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Post by MyAdia on Sept 7, 2011 20:13:37 GMT -5
Forbes have this really long article about Albert's relationship with Eringer. I find the article very balanced - something Monaco is not used to so I am sure LAbert will throw one of his hissy fits. What Albert does not understand is that the serious press will not be his lap dog, which is why he and Charlene are nothing but tabloid fodder. The real press will not agree to the kind of coverage thjat Albert insists -especially fior Charlene - pre-submitted questions so someone can write down their answers. I do not like Eringer and I found his bill submitted to ALbert - which included a HUGE added severance amount - nothing but a shakedown. However, Albert should have settled this years ago. Look at all the mileage and negative things that Eringer has exposed since then. When Albert should be tough (like with his new gold digger wife and her free loading family and fighting corruption in his country), he has not. This is one battle that Albert should have never choose to fight for the long haul. Albert allowed his attorney Lacoste's pride lead this battle. Good lawd, ALbert is such a buffoon because now the rape accusation (an all his other baggage) is drudge up in a SERIOUS American media - which no one covered before.
The Prince And The Blogger
by Kai Falkenberg on 09.07.11 Forbes Magazine dated September 26, 2011
Monaco's Prince Albert II is engaged in a nasty legal war with his ex-spymaster, who is airing lots of royal dirty laundry.
In July, while Prince Albert II of Monaco celebrated his three-day- long, $65 million wedding to Charlene Wittstock, his lawyers tried to stomp out allegations that His Highness had raped a young fe- male painter seven years ago. His legal team focused its artillery power--13 lawsuits--on Robert Eringer, a novelist and former spymaster, whom the Palace called a ''shakedown'' artist. These days Eringer has turned irrepressible blogger, devoting many of his waking hours in Santa Barbara, Calif. to embarrassing the prince any way he can on his website, eringer33.com.
Why bother? After five years as the prince's personal intelligence advisor, Eringer claims, Albert suddenly stopped paying his bills. ''At the end of it all I was treated so shoddily, first with a false termination and Albert not properly dealing with that, then a year of being ignored,'' he says. In 2009 Eringer sued the prince for breach of contract, trying to recover $60,000 in back pay; the prince has spent many, many times that amount in legal fees. (He can afford it: The royal family is worth $1 billion.) So far the Palace has won seven default judgments against Eringer.
On Aug. 23 Eringer's own case fell apart after a U.S. District Court judge ruled that sovereign immunity applied to his contract--and granted Monaco's motion to dismiss.
By all rights Eringer, 57, and the prince, 53, ought to be pals. Back in 2002 they hit it off so well over drinks at Monte Carlo's Hotel Columbus, Eringer says, that Albert hired him to be his personal spymaster and keep sketchy people--arms dealers and money launderers among them--out of the tiny 800-year-old nation-state, including folks like Sir Mark Thatcher, the son of the former British prime minister, who was denied residency in Monaco. Eringer claims he outfoxed the Russian intelligence service's efforts to penetrate Albert's social orbit and created liaison relationships with more than a dozen foreign intelligence agencies. He also says he introduced the prince to senior intel officials in the U.S. like former CIA chief Porter Goss and FBI Director Robert Mueller.
His duties, Eringer insists, included handling some of the prince's more personal affairs. Among them: negotiating with the mother of one of Albert's illegitimate children and warn- ing the prince that one of his American friends boasted he had an embarrassing tape of Albert taken at a Parisian strip club. Eringer's suit and blog paint the prince as a hapless ruler with an insatiable libido, surrounded by manipulative sycophants. (The Palace ''declines to respond to his vulgar and libelous allegations.'') Even though his suit failed, Eringer gained some vindication: The ruling, he says, substantiates his far-ranging involvement with the prince. While Monaco's counsel dis- putes this interpretation, the opinion notes that Eringer performed tasks like ''investigating who would leak information about the prince to the press and helping a woman who alleged she was raped by the prince.''
Eringer isn't letting go. He's appealing the case and sees his life as a crusade to uncover the rot at the center of the principality. ''I'm gonna expose the truth,'' he says. ''[The prince has] mistreated a whole number of people, and I stand up for all of them,'' adding piece after piece to his nasty mosaic of Monaco.
Conduct Unbecoming On Apr. 17 Eringer published one of his most provocative posts: a graphic account by Elsa Caselli, a 35-year-old painter, claiming in a sworn affidavit that she was ''kidnapped and raped by Prince Albert'' during a yacht trip in St.-Tropez in August 2004. Reached by phone, Caselli confirms the details of her alleged attack, which she says occurred after being invited aboard by a friend of the prince's on the pretext of getting help promoting her children's book. She didn't press charges at the time. But, after years of counseling, she says she is now pursuing a complaint with a prosecutor in Nice. Albert's lawyers have sought to get the blog post deleted.
Eringer is by no means the first to report on the prince's bad behavior. His bachelor days were catnip for the tabs, especially when he was linked to the likes of Brooke Shields and Claudia Schiffer. His favorite local hangout, according to royal biographer John Glatt (The Royal House of Monaco), was a Tex-Mex bar owned by his childhood friend Mike Powers; the two made an annual jaunt to a south Texas ranch where they invited girls for trail riding and skinny-dipping.
Powers introduced Eringer to Albert in the late 1980s at Le Texan, immortalized in Eringer's own book Monaco Cool, published in 1993. In it he describes the prince ''throwing back slammers with the boys'' at Le Texan while wingmen like ''Shorty'' lined up new dates. The women's fairy-tale dreams always ended badly--dumped with a consolation prize like ''a ride in his Beamer'' and ''a few days with Shorty.''
While Eringer worked for the prince, Albert faced two paternity claims--and ultimately recognized both children. The first was Alexandre Coste, now 8, born to Nicole Coste, a former Air France flight attendant from Togo. She had a five-year-long relationship with the prince after meeting him on a flight from Nice to Paris. In an effort to compel Albert to recognize her son, Coste went public with her paternity claim in a May 2005 interview with Paris Match. The prince sued the magazine for invasion of privacy and was awarded $60,000 in damages in June 2005. But Coste ultimately won: A month after the court ruling Albert con- firmed the child was his.
Eringer says he had a decisive role in the second paternity affair. Since 1992 Tamara Rotolo, a onetime California waitress, had claimed that Prince Albert had fathered her daughter Jazmin Grace, now a college sophomore. After Rotolo lost a U.S. paternity suit on jurisdictional grounds, she accosted him, tot in tow, at a public event. A decade later--after a malpractice action against her former attorney--she filed suit again, this time in France.
As the legal machinery turned, Eringer says that at the prince's behest he launched Operation Hound Dog to dis- cover what the press knew about Rotolo and Jazmin. (That involved hiring someone who posed as a writer supposedly working on an unauthorized biography of Albert, Prince of Sport.) Eringer's suit claimed that during one discussion about Jazmin, the prince asked him, tongue-in-cheek, ''Could you arrange for her to have an accident?''
Eringer did arrange a meeting in Monaco between Albert and Rotolo and Jazmin in December 2005. The prince never showed up. Still, the Palace did come clean months later. Perhaps a long letter from celebrity security consultant Gavin de Becker had something to do with that. In the letter, attached to Eringer's suit, he rejects an alleged cash-for-no-recognition offer--''Compensatory money cannot compensate for unlove, or for a father wanting her to disappear,'' he writes. De Becker offered his own ultimatum: Officially own up to fatherhood or face a tell-all book by Jazmin portraying the prince as a dead- beat dad. Two months later he acknowledged her as his own.
''A Sunny Place For Shady People'' Reading Eringer's posts, you'd think that Monaco was a playground not for the hyperprosperous but a haven for ''prostitutes, burglars, money launderers, corrupt government ministers, dirty dealers connected to the Palace--and persons connected to Russian organized crime.'' Branded ''a sunny place for shady people'' by British novelist Somer- set Maugham eons ago, dismissed as a ''rogue state'' by the French parliament just a decade ago, Monaco is trying to clean up its rep. After his father died in 2005, Albert vowed to scrub the place.
Monaco's strict bank-secrecy laws and lack of income tax have long lured wealthy expats, offering privacy and security--with a cop for every 67 residents. Historically the Palace funded such amenities with revenue from its majority-owned casinos; now gaming kicks in just 3% of the state budget, while a 20% V.A.T. kicks in most of the rest and fills the royal coffers. Despite post-9/11 pressure on banks to crack down on dirty money, Monaco was blacklisted as ''an uncooperative tax haven'' by the OECD. At his induction ceremony Albert pledged ''extreme diligence to avoid ... financial activities which are not welcome in our country.''
Two years ago Monaco passed a new anti-money-laundering law with some teeth, committing to international standards of transparency and tax-information exchanges with over 20 states. The OECD removed Monaco from its watch list. ''On paper the law is good,'' says local money laundering expert Filippo Chierici, who says it threatens stiff penalties for lawyers and bankers who fail to investigate their clients.
But Eringer claims that, in practice, nothing has changed. His blog points to a complaint by the anticorruption group Transparency International alleging that Tunisia's recently deposed president used embezzled funds to buy real estate in Monaco, including an entire apartment block. Eringer also cites the March arrest in France of Monaco resident Adnan Houdrouge in connection with ''misappropriation of corporate assets and money laundering.''
The Prince of Ruse Who is Robert Eringer? He has been, by turns, free- lance reporter, literary agent, pulp novelist, FBI operative and private-sector spy. Despite such a colorful life, he often overplays his roles--taking a page from his fictional thrillers--in penetrating inner circles and sometimes betraying them.
Born in southern California to Disney (Donald Duck) illustrator Ellis Eringer, Robert moved with his family in the late 1960s to London. As a teen he opened a cafe there, Tricky Dick's, where, he says, serving the local riffraff taught him basic lessons in dealing with others. After a year or so at American University, Eringer knocked around as an investigative reporter, including a stint at the British tab Sunday People, where he says he infiltrated a U.K. branch of the Ku Klux Klan; his front- page exposé resulted in the group's retreat from Britain. ''I was the Prince of Ruse,'' Eringer says, ''exposing sleazeballs and scumbags''--cults, Ponzi schemes and neo-Nazi groups among them.
In the early 1990s he moved to Washington, D.C. and be- friended Clair George, a former top CIA official before his conviction for perjury during the Iran-Contra scandal. Pardoned by George H.W. Bush in 1992, George, by then doing private intel work, brought on Eringer to do ''creative problem resolution'' for billionaires and royalty.
Eringer exploited his role as literary agent to gather covert intelligence. In his book Ruse, he recounts the decade (1993–2003) he spent as an undercover FBI informant, posing as a book consultant to ensnare fugitives like Edward Lee Howard, a former CIA agent who defected to Moscow after being accused of leaking classified documents to the KGB, with offers of a book deal. Similarly, Eringer says, he helped the FBI keep tabs on fugitive Ira Einhorn in France, where he'd fled after murdering his ex-girlfriend.
Such skulduggery has gotten Eringer in trouble. Once, he acted on behalf of the Feld family, which owned Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, to deceive a writer in order to distract her for years from publishing a damaging book; sued by the author, the family later settled. At another time Eringer infiltrated Liberty Lobby, an ultra-right-wing political group, and acted as a chief source for a story in Investigator magazine. The resulting libel suit ended up in the Supreme Court; most of the claims were later dismissed.
The Untouchable? For now, anyway, the prince is legally off-limits. Eringer had withdrawn his original suit against Albert and refiled it against Monaco because immunity for states--sovereign immunity--is more restrictive than for heads of government. It might have been a nice test case. But, in the wake of the U.S. district court's recent ruling, it seems that Monaco can't be touched either.
Eringer, on the other hand, is easy legal prey. After lobbing more than a dozen criminal and civil defamation suits against Eringer in France, the prince broke his silence in an August interview with Monaco Hebdo magazine to paint his antagonist as ''a bitter person who spews his venom and resentments on the Internet.'' Under pressure, Eringer has deleted several posts--mostly alleging corruption--that particularly enflamed the Palace.
Blasting the defamation claims against him as blatant forum shopping, Eringer says the prince sought to exploit France's plaintiff-friendly libel laws even though the case has no connection to France. To nail Eringer the Palace must jump over a few hurdles, including a law passed by Congress last year that prevents U.S. courts from enforcing libel judgments issued in foreign courts against American residents if the speech isn't libelous under U.S. law. Still, the prince will press on; a hearing will take place this month about the post on the alleged rape victim, whom the prince's lawyer dismisses as a ''pathological liar.'' The Palace is also suing the French magazine L'Express over its report that just days before the official ceremony Albert's bride tried to flee the principality. L'Express added the prince's denial of the incident but stands by its story.
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Post by cm7007 on Sept 7, 2011 20:23:15 GMT -5
Somehow I'm feeling that perhaps PA was going for an MGM type makeover. He's always been interested in film for obvious reasons and he knows from things his mother said that the Studios - like MGM - totally created and re-made their stars from top to bottom - Most - most - of the stars came from dreck. Girls from good families were not encouraged by their families to enter "show business". If you read the bios of most of the stars (Joan Crawford's is a good example) you can see that most were dirt poor and had a lot of cosmetic work done at the request of the studios before their careers took off. The plastic surgeries done back then were in many, many ways much better than what is done today. Personas were created and the actor was told to never break character in public - ever. There is a famous story about Cary Grant saying to someone who said they had a friend who "always wanted to meet Cary Grant" - He said " So have I". So perhaps, Albert thought he could do what the studios did, and still do to an extent, and create his perfect princess/wife. He'd have the wife he thought everyone wanted for him, he'd have his freedom and people would finally get off his back about it. Stupid, I know - idiotic, yes, but then, so is Albert. Just a thought.
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Post by hibou on Sept 7, 2011 21:16:11 GMT -5
Thanks for the Forbes article MyAdia. I found it a fair article. I have always thought the lawsuit was not about a last pay check, but the way Eringer was treated. If Eringer over stepped in setting up MIS where was Albert on the decisions to do it or not? It was up to Albert to set the parameters of what the organization would become. As such he did nothing. Eringer's intell on shady characters seems on target especially with the Russians so if Albert didn't want his services any more he should have ended it properly and not ignored Eringer. Usually one ends an employment with a final paycheck and makes it clear that it's over. Albert is to blame for the mess, and then to let it drag on while the mess is exposed is just stupid. Where is the confidentiality agreement he should have gotten? He could have settled it long ago and none of us would know a thing. As such, it has become evident that Albert's ability to make decisions is quite flawed, just look who he married and why or how Stahl was fired by saying she was invited to leave. How daft is that statement. It lends credence to many of the things Eringer says. I think Eringer may not have won the final paycheck (look what it's costing him in attorney fees), but he appears to be winning the war. JMO
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Post by countess on Sept 8, 2011 11:47:39 GMT -5
i hate FATal, and for that reason alone i'm always team robbybobby! i don't care if every word is a lie or overstatement as long as it exposes fatal for what he is, has always been and will continue to be>>>>>>vile and corrupt
i love the serious press is looking at moronaco. fatal wanted attention and world wide press...be careful what you wish for! uncovering the rot that is moronaco <<< i really hope they keep it up and get him and he ends up like sadaam hussian or that serbia guy on the run forever.
i would think being a corrupt dictator of a country with no banking laws (they can take your money with no recourse) no freedom of speech, no freedom of press, shady mafia friends, laudering money through his foundations, not to mention the swindles and ponzi schemes he's associated with around the world, the idiot would be trying to keep a low profile.... rOFL i hope the russians bring him down one way or another, you can't be in business with bad guys and not think the blowback will hit you sooner or later.
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Post by royalpauper on Sept 8, 2011 12:14:23 GMT -5
Somehow I'm feeling that perhaps PA was going for an MGM type makeover. He's always been interested in film for obvious reasons and he knows from things his mother said that the Studios - like MGM - totally created and re-made their stars from top to bottom - Most - most - of the stars came from dreck. Girls from good families were not encouraged by their families to enter "show business". If you read the bios of most of the stars (Joan Crawford's is a good example) you can see that most were dirt poor and had a lot of cosmetic work done at the request of the studios before their careers took off. The plastic surgeries done back then were in many, many ways much better than what is done today. Personas were created and the actor was told to never break character in public - ever. There is a famous story about Cary Grant saying to someone who said they had a friend who "always wanted to meet Cary Grant" - He said " So have I". So perhaps, Albert thought he could do what the studios did, and still do to an extent, and create his perfect princess/wife. He'd have the wife he thought everyone wanted for him, he'd have his freedom and people would finally get off his back about it. Stupid, I know - idiotic, yes, but then, so is Albert. Just a thought. I agree!
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Post by hibou on Sept 8, 2011 16:21:42 GMT -5
Somehow I'm feeling that perhaps PA was going for an MGM type makeover. He's always been interested in film for obvious reasons and he knows from things his mother said that the Studios - like MGM - totally created and re-made their stars from top to bottom - Most - most - of the stars came from dreck. Girls from good families were not encouraged by their families to enter "show business". If you read the bios of most of the stars (Joan Crawford's is a good example) you can see that most were dirt poor and had a lot of cosmetic work done at the request of the studios before their careers took off. The plastic surgeries done back then were in many, many ways much better than what is done today. Personas were created and the actor was told to never break character in public - ever. There is a famous story about Cary Grant saying to someone who said they had a friend who "always wanted to meet Cary Grant" - He said " So have I". So perhaps, Albert thought he could do what the studios did, and still do to an extent, and create his perfect princess/wife. He'd have the wife he thought everyone wanted for him, he'd have his freedom and people would finally get off his back about it. Stupid, I know - idiotic, yes, but then, so is Albert. Just a thought. I agree! You both are probably right. It goes to show how out of touch with reality he is if he thought he could get away with the overhaul and no one would notice. He was trying to imitate his parents wedding day except that MGM paid for the whole thing, and Monaco paid for Albert's. JMO
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Post by smt on Sept 8, 2011 20:17:43 GMT -5
You both are probably right. It goes to show how out of touch with reality he is if he thought he could get away with the overhaul and no one would notice. He was trying to imitate his parents wedding day except that MGM paid for the whole thing, and Monaco paid for Albert's. JMO I guess he forgot that this isn't the 1950's and in the age of social media --- there is no room for make-believe!
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Post by paca on Sept 9, 2011 1:51:32 GMT -5
exactly. I have said it many times: Monaco is in many ways still stuck in the 50s and early 60s. Except that the rest of the world has moved on. Jeez, I had to get the authorization from my ex to have a current bank account. I don't have correct numbers, but I believe the average age of people in MC has to be somewhere in the late 50s. Monaco is living in a time warp. That's why so many elderly rich people feel comfortable there: it reminds them of the way the world was when they were young. And that is why the place is so little appealing to younger people. How many young people do you see lining up to move into a retirement home for criminals?
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Post by hibou on Sept 9, 2011 8:07:22 GMT -5
exactly. I have said it many times: Monaco is in many ways still stuck in the 50s and early 60s. Except that the rest of the world has moved on. Jeez, I had to get the authorization from my ex to have a current bank account. I don't have correct numbers, but I believe the average age of people in MC has to be somewhere in the late 50s. Monaco is living in a time warp. That's why so many elderly rich people feel comfortable there: it reminds them of the way the world was when they were young. And that is why the place is so little appealing to younger people. How many young people do you see lining up to move into a retirement home for criminals? Basically, Monaco is dieing without the influx of young people. Albert really needs to step down and let Caroline and the kids take over. Good thing you moved paca. Your kids will be better off out of there!
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Post by emmeline on Sept 9, 2011 11:13:00 GMT -5
It's true that Monaco does seem to need young crowds. Albert should let the Casiraghis and Caroline take over. He should have trained Andrea (or Pierre) long ago. The only young crowds he will get, if he has any luck, it's his kids' friends in 20 years. The Bitchstock doesn't have a belly yet.
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Post by paca on Sept 9, 2011 14:53:15 GMT -5
exactly. I have said it many times: Monaco is in many ways still stuck in the 50s and early 60s. Except that the rest of the world has moved on. Jeez, I had to get the authorization from my ex to have a current bank account. I don't have correct numbers, but I believe the average age of people in MC has to be somewhere in the late 50s. Monaco is living in a time warp. That's why so many elderly rich people feel comfortable there: it reminds them of the way the world was when they were young. And that is why the place is so little appealing to younger people. How many young people do you see lining up to move into a retirement home for criminals? Basically, Monaco is dieing without the influx of young people. Albert really needs to step down and let Caroline and the kids take over. Good thing you moved paca. Your kids will be better off out of there! that's so true. I see here every day how much healthier it is to live outside of MC area. MC really is another planet in another time. When you look at the interview of the new minister of education, you can tell how little they are interested in changing and actually evolving. She actually say we are looking if it works out in France and if they have good experiences, we will follow; What happened to Alberts claim that MC has to take leadership. Nothing easier then changing the system for 5000 students then for 5 million. These people are so lazy it hurts. And then they complain that everything is going down the drain. With people like that in leading positions, how do you think the rest is? The French education system is wanting anyways; I can see that everyday now. My boys have to work a lot harder now then they used to. And they are receiving heaps more assistance catching up with their German too. People in MC don't even realize how bad their system is because they are surrounded by one that isn't any better.
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Post by scout on Sept 9, 2011 16:47:24 GMT -5
It's true that Monaco does seem to need young crowds. Albert should let the Casiraghis and Caroline take over. He should have trained Andrea (or Pierre) long ago. The only young crowds he will get, if he has any luck, it's his kids' friends in 20 years. The Bitchstock doesn't have a belly yet. The last thing needed is for Albert to train anyone for any job. He is clueless about work. He just needs to GO! Whoever takes over would be better off just going in cold and learning on the job, rather than having any help from Albert. Years ago when Andrea was a teenager, didn't Caroline and Albert have some words because she wanted Albert to take a more active role with Andrea and help him prepare for his future and Albert refused? I think Eringer described Albert best: he's a hedonist.
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