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Gold coins recovered successful centuries-old shipwrecks
An 80-year-old American novelist and her hubby are among respective radical facing a imaginable proceedings successful France implicit the amerciable merchantability of golden bars plundered from an c shipwreck, aft French prosecutors requested the lawsuit spell to court.
Eleonor "Gay" Courter and her 82-year-old hubby Philip person been accused of helping to merchantability the bullion online for a French diver who stole it decades ago, but person denied cognition of immoderate wrongdoing.
Le Prince de Conty, a French vessel trading with Asia, sank disconnected the seashore of Brittany during a stormy nighttime successful the wintertime of 1746. Of the 229 men aboard, lone 45 managed to survive, according to France's civilization ministry.
Its wreck was discovered much than 2 centuries later, successful 1974, lying successful 30 to 50 feet of h2o adjacent the land of Belle-Ile-en-Mer.
The wreck was looted successful 1975 aft a golden ingot was discovered during a tract survey.
Archaeologists successful the 1980s discovered good 18th-century Chinese porcelain, the remains of beverage crates, and 3 Chinese golden bars successful and astir the shipwreck.
But a convulsive tempest successful 1985 dispersed the ship's remains, ending authoritative excavations.
Some of the ship's looted golden bars yet recovered their mode to an auction successful San Francisco, CBS Bay Area reported.
A representation shows golden bars and porcelain fragments looted from the French Prince de Conty shipwreck that were seized by US authorities, during their authoritative restitution to France, successful Brest, eastbound France, connected June 15, 2022.
SANDRA FERRER/AFP via Getty Images
In 2018, the caput of France's underwater archaeology section Michel L'Hour spotted a suspicious merchantability of 5 golden ingots connected a U.S. auction location website.
He told U.S. authorities helium believed they hailed from the Prince de Conty, and they seized the treasure, returning it to France successful 2022.
"These objects archer the past of France, its commerce, and its people," said Steve Francis, a high-ranking authoritative successful the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in a statement astatine the time. "HSI is arrogant to person played a relation successful ensuring these artifacts proceed to beryllium portion of France's past for aboriginal generations to enjoy."
Investigators identified the seller arsenic a definite Eleonor "Gay" Courter, an writer and movie shaper surviving successful Florida.
Tracking the gold
Courter said she had been fixed the precious metallic by a mates of French friends, Annette May Pesty, contiguous 78, and her present deceased spouse Gerard.
Pesty had told the "Antiques Roadshow" tv bid successful 1999 that she discovered the golden portion diving disconnected the westbound African land of Cape Verde.
But investigators recovered this to beryllium improbable and alternatively focused connected her brother-in-law, present 77-year-old underwater lensman Yves Gladu.
A 1983 proceedings had recovered 5 radical blameworthy of embezzlement and receiving stolen goods implicit the plundering of the Prince de Conty.
Gladu was not among them.
Held successful custody successful 2022, helium confessed to having retrieved 16 golden bars from the vessel during astir 40 dives connected the tract betwixt 1976 and 1999.
He said helium had sold them each successful 2006 to a retired subordinate of the subject surviving successful Switzerland.
But helium denied ever having fixed immoderate to his American friends the Courters.
He had known the writer and her hubby since the 1980s, and they had joined him connected vacation connected his catamaran successful Greece successful 2011, successful the Caribbean successful 2014 and successful French Polynesia successful 2015, investigators found.
The Courter mates were detained successful the United Kingdom successful 2022, past enactment nether location arrest.
French investigators concluded that they had been successful possession of astatine slightest 23 golden bars successful total.
They recovered they had sold 18 ingots for much than $192,000, including immoderate via online merchantability level eBay.
But the Courters claimed the statement had ever been for the wealth to spell to Gladu.
"They are profoundly bully people"
A authoritative successful the occidental French metropolis of Brest has requested that the Courters, Gladu and Annette May Pesty beryllium tried, according to a papers obtained by AFP connected Tuesday.
An investigating magistrate inactive has to determine whether oregon not to bid a trial, but prosecutors said a proceedings was apt successful the autumn of 2026.
The U.S. couple's lawyer, Gregory Levy, said they had had nary thought what they were getting into.
"The Courters accepted due to the fact that they are profoundly bully people. They didn't spot the harm arsenic successful the United States, regulations for golden are wholly antithetic from those successful France," helium said, adding the mates had not profited from the sales.
Lawyers for the different suspects did not instantly respond to an AFP petition for comment.
Courter has written respective fabrication and non-fiction books, immoderate nautical-themed, according to her website.
One is simply a thriller acceptable connected a cruise ship, portion different is her real-life relationship of being trapped connected an water liner disconnected the Japanese seashore during a 2020 COVID-19 quarantine.
English (US) ·