After months of mudslinging, the Countess and the Mogul have halted their lurid divorce trial and are on the brink of settling.
Early reports from sources who’ve been briefed on the negotiations have credited the progress to the mogul’s new willingness to consider forking over a $16 million waterfront apartment in Stockholm that her highness has desperately wanted.
By late yesterday, however, sources were backpedaling frantically, insisting the posh Scandinavian pad was off the table, and that the mogul was merely sweetening the pot by throwing a little more loot his wife’s way.
Prior to yesterday morning, multi-millionaire United Technologies Chairman George David and his beautiful Swedish countess bride of seven years, Marie Douglas-David, had been at a messy impasse.
His long-standing position, since suing for divorce two years ago, was that her highness should take the post-nuptial agreement she OK’d four years ago — then worth $70 million, now, due to stock market fluctuations, worth $45 million — and not let the Park Avenue penthouse door hit her on the way out.
Her longstanding position? The post-nup isn’t enough — she’d burn through that money in 15 years. In court papers of her own she demanded $99 million — almost a third of his more than $300 million assets — and said she was struggling to get by on only $22,000 a week.
An ugly, public battle, complete with details of his-and-her cheating and astronomical spending habits, ensued. He spent $10,000 a pop on Manolo Blahniks for his mistress, he testified Tuesday, matter-of-factly.
Meanwhile, she called him a controlling bully who wouldn’t come see her after a miscarriage. But yesterday morning, their line in the sand moved — in the countess’ favor, though nowhere near the $99 million she’d sought.
A sticking point in the talks has likely been the valuable apartment they bought together — with his money — in the summer of 2005.
According to court papers and testimony, the hubby bought the palatial pad for 26 million Swedish kronor — about $3 million. Then, over the next two years, he poured in another $13 million in renovations.
He bought it for her, the countess insists, but kept her name off the deed, saying the sale might attract negative publicity in the Swedish press.
The countess had once been one of the wealthiest teen girls in Sweden, until her daddy, Count Carl Philip Douglas, was imprisoned for tax fraud.
Closed-door negotiations were planned to continue throughout the night, with the parties returning this morning to update the trial judge.