Harry and Meghan bought their dream California home from a Russian oligarch who allegedly threatened to chop up his wife.
Questions were being asked last night about how much the couple knew before splashing £11million on a nine-bedroom mansion on the market for a knockdown price.
The previous owner of the Chateau of Riven Rock – as their new home is known – was Sergey Grishin, 54, nicknamed the ‘Scarface Oligarch’.
He sold the seven-acre site, complete with pool, tennis court, guest quarters and stunning main house, to the Sussexes for a heavy discount, having previously asked £26million just three years ago.
Grishin and his ex-wife Anna Fedoseeva are embroiled in a lurid legal battle of claim and counter-claim.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle splashed £11million on the nine-bedroom mansion in California, which was previously owned by Sergey Grishin, 54, nicknamed the ‘Scarface Oligarch’
Her court action includes allegations that he held a gun to her head and knocked out her teeth – claims he denies.
Other accusations are that Grishin also waged an alleged campaign of harassment against his ex-wife’s business partner, Jennifer Sulkess with claims of assault, battery, extortion, domestic violence, invasion of privacy and cyberstalking.
A spokesman for Grishin said he was ‘the unfortunate victim of a fraud’ perpetrated by his former wife ‘in respect of which he has been obliged to file legal proceedings against her’.
The spokesman added: ‘His legal claim sets out that fewer than two months after their marriage, Ms Fedoseeva became romantically involved with another woman and thereafter entered into a scheme to defraud him out of millions of dollars to finance her and her lover’s lifestyles.
‘When that fraudulent scheme failed, Ms Fedoseeva made a series of false and highly defamatory allegations about Mr Grishin – including of physical threats and violence – which are utterly fanciful, hotly denied and have no basis in truth whatever, and which Mr Grishin trusts will be proven to be entirely false when the matter comes before the court.’
Grishin faces jail over allegations that he held a gun to his estranged wife Anna Fedoseeva’s head and knocked out her teeth
