Mel B’s lawyer claims ex nanny stole £230k from her and is threatening to release sex tapes
Mel B’s lawyer has claimed the singer’s ex nanny stole £230,858 ($300K) from her and is ‘conspiring’ with her estranged husband Stephen Belafonte by threatening to release sex tapes from her.
The former Spice girl- who is in the middle of a bitter divorce fight with her estranged husband Stephen Belafonte - arrived in court alongside her mum and daughter Phoneix Chi, on Friday in LA to request a restraining order against Lorraine Giles, 25.
Lorraine and her legal team have denied all allegations and claims she has just been caught in the middle of the divorce.
According to the , Mel’s lawyer Mark Bakman laid out a series of claims – including that Belafonte told Lorraine to rent a storage unit to store the sex tapes and then not tell Mel where it was.
Mel’s lawyer claimed that until they are returned to Mel’s ownership, there is an implicit threat that they could be shown to her daughters at their school and cause major embarrassment and harassment.
He went on to claim that Lorriane – who made £5130 ($6,667) a month working as the family nanny –was also paid £230k to ‘do his bidding’, which was paid by Mel without her consent.
He said: “Miss Gilles was stealing money from Miss Brown. No nanny can be expected to make $300,000. The payment of such a vast sum of money by Mr Belafonte to Miss Gilles could not be justified for nanny services.”
Bakman claimed that Lorraine was ‘acting in concert’ with Belafonte in the ‘continued abuse and harassment of my client.
He continued about Lorraine – who is also a witness in the pending divorce – saying: “Miss Gilles is a puppet in this case and Stephen Belafonte is the puppet master.”
Bakman requested a two-week postponement of the hearing, claiming Belafonte has been “evading service” of court documents relating to the divorce and as a result did not turn up in court. His request was denied.
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In response Lorriane’s lawyer, Todd Eagan, branded Bakman’s two-week postponement a ‘delaying tactic’ and requested that Mel B pays for Lorraine’s lawyer fees.
Eagan said: 'In order to obtain a stay away order (restraining order), Miss Brown must show that unlawful harassment occurred. But there has been no contact or communication between Miss Gilles and Miss Brown since September (when Gilles was fired from her nanny job).
'The purpose of this case has been to smear Lorraine Gilles. The case was originally filed in April. Times is up.
'Miss Gilles has been living under a cloud for to long. She has been destroyed in the media. We want to resolve this today.'
It comes as TMZ revealed how the Mel had been ordered to pay spousal support of £30,500 a month.
According to the website, the Spice Girls star has also been ordered to cough up a one time payment of $106, 900 ($140,000) to cover Stephen's legal fees.
The claims Stephen's request for emergency spousal support was granted by a judge in order to help pay for his food, phone and housing costs until the pair eventually work out a final divorce settlement.
The news comes weeks after a a court heard Mel “blew her multimillion Spice Girls’ fortune” when proceedings got underway in her bitter divorce battle.
The singer faced ex Stephen Belafonte, who she says tortured her with years of physical and mental abuse, in court in Los Angeles.
The pair both have outstanding tax debts after making “improvident” lifestyle choices, Los Angeles Superior Court was told.
Grace Jamra, representing Belafonte, said: “She wiped out all her Spice Girls’ money, approximately 50 million if not more.”
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