The 80-year-old American novelist and her husband are among several people facing a possible trial in France for the sale of illegal gold bands robbed of the eighteenth-century wreck, after the French prosecutors asked the case to go to court.
Eleonor Gay Courter and her 82 -year -old Philip were accused of selling Bullion Online French divers who stole it several decades ago, but denied knowledge of any violations.
The French ship Le Prince de Conty, the sale of Asia, drowned to the shores of the Brittany during a stormy night in 1746. In the winter. 229 men in only 45 were able to survive, the French Ministry of Culture said.
Its debris has been discovered for more than two centuries, in 1974, lying 30-50 feet of water near Belle-Ile-Ein island.
The not kept was robbed in 1975. After the golden bloat was discovered.
In the 1990s, archaeologists discovered excellent 18th -century Chinese porcelain, tea boxes and three Chinese gold bars in the wreck and its surroundings.
But the cruel storm in 1985. Distinguished the remains of the ship and completed official excavations.
Some of the ship’s robbery gold bars finally found the way to auction in San Francisco, CBS Bay area reported;
The picture shows the golden bars and porcelain fragments robbed of the French Prince de Conty ship accident confiscated by the US authorities.
2018 Michel L’Hour, head of the French underwater archeology department, noticed a suspicious sales of five gold blocks on the US auction house website.
He told us to the authorities that he believes they came from Prince de Conty, and they seized the treasure, Returning him to France in 2022.;
“These objects tell the story of France, its commerce and its people,” said Steve Francis, a senior official at the US Homeland Security Department at the time. “HSI is proud to play a role in ensuring that these artifacts will continue to be part of French history for future generations.”
Investigators have identified the seller as a kind of Eleonor Gay judge, author and film producer living in Florida.
Watch the gold
The judge said a couple of French friends gave her precious metal, Annette May Pty, 78 today, and now a dead partner Gerard.
1999 Antiques Roadshow TV series Antiques Roadshow said she had discovered gold while diving West African Island Cape Verde.
However, the researchers found that it was unlikely, and instead focused on his stepdaughter, now 77-year-old submarine photographer Yves Glad.
1983 It was found in the trial that five people were guilty of plundering and stolen goods received by Prince de Conty robbery.
Gladu was not among them.
2022 Detained in prison, he admitted that during the 1976-1999. About 40 dives from the ship had taken 16 gold bars.
He said that 2006 Sold them all to military members living in Switzerland.
But he denied that he had ever given his friends to his friends.
He knew the authors and her husband since the 1980s, and they joined him while on holiday in his catamaran Greece in 2014, 2014. In the Caribbean Sea, in 2014, and in French Polynesia in 2015, researchers found.
The judges’ couple was detained in the United Kingdom in 2022, then arrested home.
French researchers concluded that they had a total of at least 23 gold bands.
They found that they sold $ 18 for more than $ 192,000, including some through the online sales platform for eBay.
However, the judges stated that the agreement was always for the money to get into the glad.
“They are infinitely pleasant people”
Based on the AFP document received on Tuesday, Brest in the Western French city requested that the Courters, Gladu and Annette be tested.
The investigation’s magistrate still has to decide whether to order a trial, but prosecutors said the trial was probably in 2026. In the fall.
The US couple’s lawyer Gregory Levy said they had no idea what they had got into.
“The judges accepted because they are extremely pleasant people. They didn’t see any damage because the US gold regulations are completely different from those in France,” he said, adding that the couple had no benefit from sales.
The lawyers of other suspects did not immediately respond to the AFP request to comment.
According to her website, the judge wrote several books of fiction and non -fiction, some maritime themes.
One is a thriller built on a cruise ship and the other is the story of her real life that in 2020 The Covidid-19 quarantine is stuck on the ocean liner by the Japanese coast.
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