Socialite James Stunt walked free from court today after being cleared of involvement in a £266 million money laundering operation.

The ex-husband of Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone was accused being at the heart of an operation to turn criminal cash from drugs gangs into gold.

Stunt, 43, was living in a Los Angeles mansion and always insisted he had no idea tens of millions of pounds of cash being counted in his firm’s London headquarters was from criminal sources and part of an international money laundering scheme.

He has finally been cleared after the jury were handed a majority direction, eight years after his office was raided by police, five years after he was charged and following two lengthy jury trials.

The first trial ended with the jury unable to reach a verdict over the key charge and he has now been found not guilty of money laundering at the end of a four-month trial at Leeds Crown Court.

In the meantime, all his assets have been frozen by a court ‘restraint order’ and the once super-rich tycoon was declared bankrupt in 2019, with Legal Aid funded by taxpayers estimated at more than £1.5m for his legal fees.

Whether he can now recover any of his seized assets and what wealth is left remains to be seen and could be decided in another court battle.

During his six-year marriage, which ended in 2017 with him receiving a £10m divorce settlement, Stunt and his wife spent a total of £69m. They lived in ‘America’s most expensive home’, and he behaved like a latter-day emperor, splashing out on masterpiece paintings, fine wine, gambling millions and being driven around in a fleet of expensive cars.

James Stunt (pictured with his ex-wife  Petra Ecclestone at their engagement party in 2011) walked free from court after being cleared of involvement in a £266m money laundering con

A look at Mr Stunt’s huge mansion in Los Angeles which he shared with his ‘staggeringly wealthy’ ex-wife, Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone

In the witness box Stunt spoke about the drug addictions and gambling habit he has battled with over the years and detailed a life of privilege and opulence.

Stunt gave the impression that if cleared by the jury he could return to this life of luxury.

But Stunt was described by the prosecutor in the first trial as a ‘conman’ who has been ‘putting on a front’ all of his life and it is not known what assets remains under his name.

He claimed in court around 100 works of art were seized under the court order pending the result of the money laundering trial and a document produced to show West Yorkshire Police had insured paintings for £100m. His fine wines were said to be worth £30m.

While a Chelsea Harbour apartment he bought for £3,375,000 in 2012 remains registered to him.

The jury was told how Stunt became embroiled in the money laundering operation after his dream of refining the highest quality ‘Stunt’ branded gold bars went disastrously wrong.

He built a refinery in Sheffield but was unable to source the unrefined or scrap gold that he needed as the raw material. He went into partnership with Bradford-jewellers Fowler Oldfield, but the prosecution claimed the loss-making gold manufacturing venture in time turned into a profitable criminal money laundering enterprise.

Up to £30m of criminal cash, probably from drug gangs, was delivered to his firm’s London office, counted and collected to be deposited in the Fowler Oldfield NatWest bank account.

Mr Stunt pictured with his then-wife Petra Ecclestone at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2012

In total £266m of ‘dirty’ money was laundered, mainly between 2014 and 2016, by those involved in the entire scheme, organised by a master fixer in Dubai, the jury heard.

A significant amount of gold that was processed by Stunt’s refinery was also turned into untraceable gold grain and sent to Dubai, presumably to be despatched to the criminal gang masters providing the mountains of ‘dirty’ cash, the court was told.

Before this trial 14 couriers who delivered cash to Fowler Oldfield in Bradford were convicted of money laundering and NatWest fined £265m for breaking anti-money laundering rules.

Stunt insisted he believed the cash counted in his office was from Fowler Oldfield customers and he had no idea it came from criminal sources or the operation was illegal.

In both trials a photograph of him posing with King Charles at a private palace audience was shown to the jury in his defence.

Details of how he donated £2.2m to charities, including substantial donations to the Prince’s Trust, were given in court.

It was even revealed in the first trial how he boasted to a bank that the then Prince of Wales was one of his ‘best friends.’

Mr Stunt made huge charity donations during his marriage to Petra Ecclestone and his generosity earnt him an audience with King Charles, the court heard

 Police alleged that up to £30m in cash was counted and collected at Stunt’s London office 

Mr Stunt told the court he had no idea how much money was being counted at his opulent London office (pictured) 

The judge rejected an attempt to allow letters from Charles, thanking him for loans and donations to his charities, to be read to the jury.

But ultimately the jury wasn’t convinced Stunt was aware of the criminality his Mayfair-based company had become embroiled in and he was cleared.