The stolen gold of the 17th -century French shipwreck could lead to charges for the novelist of the United States and her husband

An 80 -year -old American novelist and her husband is among several people who face a possible trial in France for the illegal sale of gold bars that were looted from a wreck of the 18th century, after French prosecutors requested that the case go to court.

Eleonor “Gay” Couter and her 82 -year -old PHILIP husband have been accused of helping to sell online bullion for a French diver who stole it decades ago, but they have denied knowledge of any irregularity.

Le Prince of Conty, a French ship that traded with Asia, sank on the coast of Brittany during a stormy night in the winter of 1746. Of the 229 men on board, only 45 managed to survive, according to the Ministry of Culture of France.

His shipwreck was discovered more than two centuries later, in 1974, which is located at 30 to 50 feet of water near the island of Belle-ile-en -mer.

The shipwreck was looted in 1975 after a gold bullion was discovered during a site survey.

Archaeologists in the 1980s discovered an excellent 18th -century Chinese porcelain, the remains of the tea boxes and three Chinese gold bars in and around the shipwreck.

But a violent storm in 1985 dispersed the remains of the ship, ending the official excavations.

Some of the gold bars looted from the ship finally found their way to an auction in San Francisco, News bay area reported.

In 2018, the Head of the Department of Underwater Archeology of France, Michel L’Ol, saw a suspicious sale of five gold linges on a website of the US House of Auctions. UU.

He told the authorities that he believed that they came from the prince of conty, and seized the treasure, Returning to France in 2022.

“These objects tell the history of France, its trade and its people,” said Steve Francis, a high -ranking official in the United States National Security Department in a statement at that time. “HSI is proud to have played a role to ensure that these artifacts remain part of the history of France so that future generations enjoy.”

The researchers identified the seller as a running “gay” by Eleonor, a film author and producer who lives in Florida.

Tracking the gold

Courter said a couple of French friends had given him the precious metal, Annette May Pesty, today 78, and his now deceased companion Gerard.

Pesty had told the television series “Antiques Roadshow” in 1999 that he discovered gold while diving on the island of Western Africa of Cabo Verde.

But the researchers found that this was unlikely and, on the other hand, focused on his brother -in -law, now the 77 -year -old submarine photographer Yves Gladu.

A 1983 trial had found five people guilty of embezzlement and receiving goods stolen from the looting of Prince of Conty.

Gladu was not among them.

Sing of custody in 2022, he confessed to having recovered 16 gold bars of the ship for about 40 dives at the site between 1976 and 1999.

He said that he had sold them all in 2006 to a retired member of the military living in Switzerland.

But he denied having given his American friends to his American friends.

She had met the author and her husband since the 1980s, and joined him on vacation in his catamaran in Greece in 2011, in the Caribbean in 2014 and in French Polynesia in 2015, the researchers found.

The couple of cutters were arrested in the United Kingdom in 2022, then put under house arrest.

French researchers concluded that they had been in possession of at least 23 gold bars in total.

They discovered that they had sold 18 ingots for more than $ 192,000, including some through the EBAY online sales platform.

But the cutters said the agreement had always been for money to go to Gladu.

“They are deeply pleasant people”

A prosecutor in the western city of Brest has requested that Cutters, Gladu and Annette May Pesty be tried, according to a document obtained by News on Tuesday.

A investigator magistrate still has to decide whether or not to order a trial, but prosecutors said that a trial was probably in the fall of 2026.

The United States couple’s lawyer, Gregory Levy, said they had no idea what they were getting.

“The accepted courtyards because they are deeply pleasant people. They did not see the damage as in the United States, the regulations for gold are completely different from those of France,” he said, adding that the couple had not benefited from sales.

The lawyers of the other suspects did not immediately respond to an News comments request.

Courter has written several fiction and non -fiction books, some nautical themes, according to its website.

One is a thriller set on one cruise, while another is his real life story of being caught in a lining of the ocean off the Japanese coast during a quarantine Covid-19 2020.

• Shipwreck