Wednesday, July 7, 2010

FORBES: PRINCE ALBERT'S RUSSIAN SPIES


Ten alleged Russian spies were arrested in the US at the end of June for allegedly trying to collect state secrets. That's nothing compared to the Russian spies allegedly dogging Monaco's Prince Albert, who appears on our recently published list of World's Richest Royals.

In a complaint filed by U.S. citizen Robert Eringer in the Superior Court of California last October, Eringer alleges that Russian spies were trying to gain access to Prince Albert's inner circle and that Monaco was being used as a haven for laundering moneyed Russian interests.

Eringer who claims he was hired in 2002 at a meeting in Monaco and retained as Prince Albert's intelligence advisor in order "to investigate individuals and entities about whom HSH [Prince Albert] had concerns," states he has documents detailing nefarious plots and threats he helped circumvent - from revealing a retired U.S Air Force colonel' involvement in Russian money laundering and espionage against the U.S. to negotiating with the mother of Prince Albert's illegitimate daughter.

Eringer claims his services were terminated five years later and he is now suing for over $50,000 he says he is owed. Claiming the Prince can verify all, Eringer, who worked out of California, wants the court to compel the Prince to provide a deposition in that state.

Prince Albert's lawyers have declared the case meritless and a crude attempt at extorting undeserved funds from the prince. The prince recently hired Gregory Craig who worked in the Obama administration and has defended former U.S. President Bill Clinton. In June a motion to stay discovery was filed, stating, "the Principality will suffer immediate and irreparable injury from unjustifiable discovery of a sovereign state."

Monaco's embassy issued a statement to Forbes that it could not comment at this time.