In Monaco, they are specialists in creating soap operas, but this time, one of them had a happy ending. At least, for Prince Albert (66), as his former financial manager, Claude Palmero, has finally been arrested by the Monegasque police. The finance expert was interrogated on Wednesday in Monte Carlo for several hours but was ultimately released without charges, following two complaints from Prince Albert, one for defamation and the other for suspicions, particularly of breach of trust.
Claude Palmero served the prince for 22 years and was well aware of what was happening in the Rock. Last January, the portal Dossiers du Roche began publishing financial documents showing the financial irregularities of the Grimaldi. It was discovered that Palmero was the one who leaked all the information. As a result of the revelations, Paris Match followed the news, and the scandal snowballed.
The administrator of the crown's assets and part of the prince's and his family's personal fortune was abruptly dismissed in June of last year for alleged crimes ranging from breach of trust to document theft, allegedly falsifying invoices, and possible embezzlement of funds. In retaliation for what Palmero considered an injustice, he decided to take the liberty of showing the public how the Grimaldi family spent lavishly and what schemes existed.
For example, he revealed that Albert II has 246 million euros in tax havens and had a secret account in France from which he transferred 400,000 euros annually to each of his recognized illegitimate children, Jazmín Grace and Alexandre. It was also revealed that he bought his daughter a 2.5 million euro apartment in New York for her 25th birthday. Among other things, it was known that they illegally hired nannies who entered with fake passports to care for Jacques and Gabriela, Charlene and Albert's children; several employees of Grace Kelly's son enriched themselves by favoring a businessman who benefited from 163 million in a real estate and urban development deal. Sean, Charlene's brother, benefited from over 900,000 euros to buy a house, and the princess, in addition to her annual allowance of 1.5 million euros, spent up to 15 million euros in several years. Due to everything that was happening, Albert filed a lawsuit against him for defamation and alleged breach of trust.
This past Wednesday, Palmero was arrested and interrogated by Monegasque investigators, as confirmed by Monaco's Attorney General to the newspaper Nice Matin. A few hours later, he was released. A new season begins in the soap opera of the French Riviera.