He safeguarded the family’s fortune—and their secrets. Now, it’s all unraveling.
TUCKED ONE STREET behind Monte Carlo’s historic harbor, which is famously dotted with champagne bars and anchored by the storied casino that was the backdrop to multiple James Bond films, the
Monaco police station may be the most unglamorous building in one of the world’s most glamorous settings.
Gray and boxy, it looks more like student housing on a university campus than a bulwark of security for the global elite who flock here as much for its aura of protective secrecy as its shimmering scenery.
But over two days this February, in the police captain’s office with a window facing up the rocky slope toward the palace, a dapper 68-year-old suspect in a corruption scandal rattled one of Europe’s most storied royal families and shook the foundations of a tiny country built on polished appearances, ironclad confidentiality and tightly choreographed power.
