Latest news with #PhilipCourter
Times
18 hours ago
- Times
US couple face trial in France over gold looted from shipwreck
When the French trading ship Le Prince de Conty sank in thick fog off the coast of Brittany in 1746, it was said to have been cursed. Nearly three centuries later, the legacy of the doomed vessel has brought misfortune to an elderly couple across the Atlantic in Florida. Gay Courter, an 80-year-old author, and her husband, Philip, 82, face trial in France this autumn over allegations that they illegally sold gold bars which were plundered from the wreck of the French East India Company ship. They deny wrongdoing, saying the gold was given to them by a French couple whom they had befriended, and they did not know it was stolen. Le Prince de Conty went down in a storm after an ill-fated voyage back to France from China, during which some of its crew died of scurvy and others were killed by English pirates.
The Independent
21 hours ago
- The Independent
Florida retirees may face trial in France over sale of stolen gold from 18th-century shipwreck
An 80-year-old novelist and her husband could face trial in France over the alleged theft and illegal sale of gold bars taken from an 18th-century shipwreck. Investigators say Florida resident Eleonor 'Gay' Courter and her husband, Philip Courter, helped a French diver sell gold bars that he stole from a shipwreck decades ago. The couple denies having any knowledge of wrongdoing. Le Prince de Conty, a French ship trading with Asia, sank off the coast of Brittany in 1746. The shipwreck was first discovered in 1974. A year later, the wreckage was looted after a gold ingot was found there, the AFP reports. Michel L'Hour, head of France's underwater archaeology agency, then spotted a suspicious sale of gold from a U.S. auction house in 2018. He contacted U.S. authorities, who then seized the five ingots and two other artifacts. The artifacts were repatriated to France in 2022. Authorities went on to identify the seller as Eleonor Courter, who claims she was given the gold by her French friends Annette May Pesty and Gerard Pesty, who has since died. Annette Pesty brought the gold ingots on the television show Antiques Roadshow in 1999, claiming she got them while diving off the African island of Cape Verde, AFP reports. But investigators didn't believe that to be true and instead turned their focus to her brother-in-law, Yves Gladu, who worked as an underwater photographer. In 2022, Gladu confessed to stealing 16 gold bars from the shipwreck between 1976 and 1999. He denied giving any to the Courters and said he instead sold them to a man in Switzerland. But investigators discovered Gladu had known the Courters for decades, AFP reports. The couple went on trips with him to Greece in 2011, the Caribbean in 2014 and French Polynesia in 2015, investigators say. Investigators now believe the Courters possessed at least 23 gold bars and had sold 18 of them for more than $192,000, according to AFP. The Courters say they had arranged for the money to go to Gladu. Police arrested the Courters in the U.K. three years ago. The couple has been on house arrest there ever since. A French prosecutor has requested that the Courters, Gladu and Pesty all be tried in connection with the theft and sale of the gold ingots. The trial, if ordered by an investigating magistrate, will likely take place next year. The Courters' attorney, Gregory Levy, maintains his clients didn't know they were doing anything wrong and says they did not profit from the sale of the gold. 'The Courters accepted because they are profoundly nice people,' Levy told AFP. 'They didn't see the harm as, in the United States, regulations for gold are completely different from those in France.' The Courters have two sons and a daughter, whom they adopted from foster care when she was 12, according to Eleonor's website. The 80-year-old has published nearly a dozen books, five of which are bestsellers.
National Post
a day ago
- National Post
U.S. couple risk trial in France over stolen 18th-century shipwreck gold
Brest, France — An 80-year-old U.S. novelist and her husband are among several people facing a possible trial in France over the illegal sale of gold bars plundered from an 18th-century shipwreck, after French prosecutors requested the case go to court. Article content Eleonor 'Gay' Courter and her 82-year-old husband, Philip, have been accused of helping to sell the bullion online for a French diver who stole it decades ago, but have denied knowledge of any wrongdoing. Article content Article content Article content Le Prince de Conty, a French ship trading with Asia, sank off the coast of Brittany during a stormy night in the winter of 1746. Article content Article content Archaeologists in the 1980s discovered fine 18th-century Chinese porcelain, the remains of tea crates, and three Chinese gold bars in and around the shipwreck. But a violent storm in 1985 dispersed the ship's remains, ending official excavations. Article content Years later in 2018, the head of France's underwater archaeology department, Michel L'Hour, spotted a suspicious sale of five gold ingots on a U.S. auction house website. He told U.S. authorities he believed they hailed from the Prince de Conty, and they seized the treasure, returning it to France in 2022. Article content Investigators identified the seller as a certain Eleonor 'Gay' Courter, an author and film producer living in Florida. Article content Article content Pesty had told the Antiques Roadshow television series in 1999 that she discovered the gold while diving off the west African island of Cape Verde. But investigators found this to be unlikely and instead focused on her brother-in-law, now 77-year-old underwater photographer Yves Gladu. Article content Article content A 1983 trial had found five people guilty of embezzlement and receiving stolen goods over the plundering of the Prince de Conty. Gladu was not among them. Article content Held in custody in 2022, he confessed to having retrieved 16 gold bars from the ship during around 40 dives on the site between 1976 and 1999. He said he had sold them all in 2006 to a retired member of the military living in Switzerland. But he denied ever having given any to his American friends the Courters. Article content He had known the author and her husband since the 1980s, and they had joined him on holiday on his catamaran in Greece in 2011, in the Caribbean in 2014 and in French Polynesia in 2015, investigators found.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Stolen gold from French shipwreck could spell trouble for U.S. couple
An 80-year-old American novelist and her husband are among several people facing a possible trial in France over the illegal sale of gold bars plundered from an 18th-century shipwreck, after French prosecutors requested the case go to court. Eleonor "Gay" Courter and her 82-year-old husband Philip have been accused of helping to sell the bullion online for a French diver who stole it decades ago, but have denied knowledge of any wrongdoing. Le Prince de Conty, a French ship trading with Asia, sank off the coast of Brittany during a stormy night in the winter of 1746. Of the 229 men aboard, only 45 managed to survive, according to France's culture ministry. Its wreck was discovered more than two centuries later, in 1974, lying in 30 to 50 feet of water near the island of Belle-Ile-en-Mer. The wreck was looted in 1975 after a gold ingot was discovered during a site survey. Archaeologists in the 1980s discovered fine 18th-century Chinese porcelain, the remains of tea crates, and three Chinese gold bars in and around the shipwreck. But a violent storm in 1985 dispersed the ship's remains, ending official excavations. Some of the ship's looted gold bars eventually found their way to an auction in San Francisco, CBS Bay Area reported. In 2018, the head of France's underwater archaeology department Michel L'Hour spotted a suspicious sale of five gold ingots on a U.S. auction house website. He told U.S. authorities he believed they hailed from the Prince de Conty, and they seized the treasure, returning it to France in 2022. "These objects tell the history of France, its commerce, and its people," said Steve Francis, a high-ranking official in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in a statement at the time. "HSI is proud to have played a role in ensuring these artifacts continue to be part of France's history for future generations to enjoy." Investigators identified the seller as a certain Eleonor "Gay" Courter, an author and film producer living in Florida. Tracking the gold Courter said she had been given the precious metal by a couple of French friends, Annette May Pesty, today 78, and her now deceased partner Gerard. Pesty had told the "Antiques Roadshow" television series in 1999 that she discovered the gold while diving off the west African island of Cape Verde. But investigators found this to be unlikely and instead focused on her brother-in-law, now 77-year-old underwater photographer Yves Gladu. A 1983 trial had found five people guilty of embezzlement and receiving stolen goods over the plundering of the Prince de Conty. Gladu was not among them. Held in custody in 2022, he confessed to having retrieved 16 gold bars from the ship during around 40 dives on the site between 1976 and 1999. He said he had sold them all in 2006 to a retired member of the military living in Switzerland. But he denied ever having given any to his American friends the Courters. He had known the author and her husband since the 1980s, and they had joined him on holiday on his catamaran in Greece in 2011, in the Caribbean in 2014 and in French Polynesia in 2015, investigators found. The Courter couple were detained in the United Kingdom in 2022, then put under house arrest. French investigators concluded that they had been in possession of at least 23 gold bars in total. They found they had sold 18 ingots for more than $192,000, including some via online sale platform eBay. But the Courters claimed the arrangement had always been for the money to go to Gladu. "They are profoundly nice people" A prosecutor in the western French city of Brest has requested that the Courters, Gladu and Annette May Pesty be tried, according to a document obtained by AFP on Tuesday. An investigating magistrate still has to decide whether or not to order a trial, but prosecutors said a trial was likely in the autumn of 2026. The U.S. couple's lawyer, Gregory Levy, said they had had no idea what they were getting into. "The Courters accepted because they are profoundly nice people. They didn't see the harm as in the United States, regulations for gold are completely different from those in France," he said, adding the couple had not profited from the sales. Lawyers for the other suspects did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment. Courter has written several fiction and non-fiction books, some nautical-themed, according to her website. One is a thriller set on a cruise ship, while another is her real-life account of being trapped on an ocean liner off the Japanese coast during a 2020 COVID-19 quarantine. Supreme Court takes up case on bans for transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports Liverpool soccer star Diogo Jota killed in car crash in Spain, officials say What to know about Rep. Hakeem Jeffries hours-long House speech ahead of budget bill vote
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Elderly US novelist and husband embroiled in scandal involving shipwreck's stolen treasure
An elderly novelist and her husband embroiled in a scandal over the illegal sale of gold bars plundered from a shipwreck are facing a possible trial in France over their alleged involvement. Eleonor 'Gay' Courter, 80, and her husband Philip, 82, of Florida, are accused by authorities of helping to sell the bullion online on behalf of a diver who stole it decades ago. The gold in question had been aboard the Le Prince de Conty, a French ship trading in Asia, that sank off the coast of Brittany in the winter of 1746. Its wreck wasn't discovered until two centuries later, when divers found it in 1974 in waters near the island of Belle-Île-en-Mer. The gold onboard was looted. Suspicions of the involvement of the two started in 2019, when the head of France's underwater archaeology department (DRASSM), Michel L'Hour, spotted five gold ingots for sale on a US auction house. L'Hour told authorities in the US that he believed the precious metal had been onboard the ship, and the gold was seized. It was returned to France thereafter. Investigators say Courter, an author and film producer, was behind the sales. A prosecutor in the French city of Brest has requested that the Courters, alongside their alleged accomplice, Annette May Pesty, are tried. An investigating magistrate still has to decide whether or not to order a trial, but prosecutors said a trial was likely in the autumn of 2026. The couple have denied any involvement, they had previously been arrested in June 2022 on European warrants in connection with money laundering, organized crime, and the trafficking of cultural stolen goods. The Courters became involved after meeting fellow sailing enthusiasts Gérard and Annette Pesty when the French couple had been on holiday in Crystal River, Florida, in 1981. Both families had children of roughly the same ages, and their friendships blossomed. By 1984, they were vacationing together near Great Inagua, an island in the Bahamas known for its flamingos. The Pestys spent their summers in France, running their pharmacy, allowing them to travel for the rest of the year. Gay told The New Yorker last year that they were closer with the Pestys than she or Philip were with their own siblings. She described Gérard, who has since passed away, as a 'crazy guy with so many irons in the fire'. So when he made his impromptu appearance in Crystal River with his briefcase of gold, the Courters were shocked, but not disbelieving. The couple told the outlet that Gérard had around twenty ingots, which he told them had been recovered from a French shipwreck by Yves Gladu, a renowned underwater photographer, and his wife Brigitte, the sister of Gérard. Gérard told the Courters that he had already sold three ingots to the British Museum and was looking to offload the rest of his collection to an American buyer. He asked his friends if they would hold onto the gold while he was in France. The Courters stashed the ingots in their ceiling, before moving it to a safe-deposit box. Pesty had told the TV series Antiques Roadshow in 1999 that she discovered the gold while diving off the west African island of Cape Verde. Investigators found this to be unlikely and instead focused on her brother-in-law Yves Gladu. A 1983 trial had found five people guilty of embezzlement and receiving stolen goods over the plundering of the Prince de Conty. Gladu was not among them. After being held in custody in 2022, Gladu confessed to having stolen 16 of the bars from the ship over the course of 20 years. Gladu said he had sold them all in 2006 to a retired member of the military living in Switzerland. He denied ever having given any to the Courters. He had known the author and her husband since the 1980s and they had joined him on holiday on his catamaran in Greece in 2011, in the Caribbean in 2014 and in French Polynesia in 2015, investigators found. French investigators concluded that they had been in possession of at least 23 gold bars in total. They found they had sold 18 ingots for more than $192,000, including some via online sale platform eBay. The Courters claimed the arrangement had always been for the money to go to Gladu. It was following his confession that the couple were detained in the UK and placed under house arrest. They were released when their bail came through and had their arrest warrants dropped almost six months after they were issued. Their lawyer, Gregory Levy, said the couple had had no idea what they were getting into. 'The Courters accepted because they are profoundly nice people. They didn't see the harm as in the United States, regulations for gold are completely different from those in France,' he said, adding the couple had not profited from the sales. Courter is the author of five best-selling novels, with over three million copies in print. Her book 'I Speak For This Child' was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The British Museum still has several of the bars in their collection, a spokesperson told the Daily Mail: 'The Museum has long been keen to find a resolution to this matter, and has worked cooperatively with the relevant authorities. 'Legislation restricts our ability to return objects from the collection, but we have been clear that we are interested in a long term loan and we are hopeful that this offer can be taken forward.'
