A jury has found James Stunt, the former son-in-law of Bernie Ecclestone, not guilty of forgery but he will face a fresh trial on charges of money laundering.
Stunt, 40, the ex-husband of Petra Ecclestone, was one of eight defendants in the biggest money-laundering trial in British criminal history.
The case centred on what prosecutors alleged was a sophisticated £266m operation in which the “criminal cash” was deposited in the bank account of the Bradford gold dealer Fowler Oldfield from 2014 to 2016.
A jury at Leeds Cloth Hall court cleared four defendants of all charges on Wednesday, but after six days of deliberation, were unable to reach verdicts on a money-laundering charge against Stunt, Greg Frankel, 44, Haroon Rashid, 51, and Daniel Rawson, 45.
The judge, Andrew Stubbs KC, discharged the jury after a trial that lasted nearly eight months.
Nicholas Clarke KC, prosecuting, told the court there would be a retrial for Stunt, Frankel, Rashid and Rawson on the money-laundering charge.
Paul Miller, 45, Heidi Buckler, 45, Alexander Tulloch, 41, and Francesca Sota, 34, were found not guilty of money laundering. Sota was also cleared of forgery.
Prosecutors had said the eight defendants were part of a scheme to turn the proceeds of crime into untraceable gold.
Jurors heard that cash was brought from all over the UK to Fowler Oldfield and Stunt’s business premises in London between 2014 and 2016.
It was alleged the defendants then hid its origin by laundering it through a company bank account and using the proceeds to buy gold, which was shipped to Dubai.
The defendants facing retrial are expected to appear again before the same court for another hearing on 27 January.
