When Inigo Philbrick was sentenced to seven years in prison in May 2022 for masterminding an £80 million art fraud, his fiancée, former Made In Chelsea star Victoria Baker-Harber, vowed to stand by him.
I can reveal that Victoria didn't have to wait too long, as the art dealer has now been released from New York prison after serving less than two years of his sentence. He can now hug her daughter Gaia-Grace, whom he has never met.
“It’s a real surprise that he’s out so soon,” one of her friends tells me. “Everyone thought he would stay in prison a lot longer.”
The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirms Philbrick was released last month.
Philbrick, 36, born in Hackney, east London, was a protégé of top art dealer Jay Jopling and bought and sold paintings by artists including David Hockney.
He wore a watch worth £48,000, suits worth £5,000, a belt with a diamond in the pin and drank bottles of wine worth £5,000.
When Inigo Philbrick was sentenced to seven years in prison in May 2022 for masterminding an £80 million art fraud, his fiancée, former Made In Chelsea star Victoria Baker-Harber, vowed to stand by him
Victoria didn't have to wait too long as the art dealer was now released from New York prison after serving less than two years of his sentence
However, his business, which operated out of an art gallery in Mayfair, was a pyramid scheme in which he used some customers' money to buy works of art and pay off others.
And he was convicted in a Manhattan court and ordered to forfeit the £80 million he defrauded.
There is no suggestion Victoria, 35, daughter of Olympic sailor Michael Baker-Harber, knew about Philbrick's fraudulent scheme.
His house of cards collapsed in 2019 when he sold a Picasso painting at an auction in London.
The £5 million price tag wasn't enough to pay off all the people who thought they owned it, so Philbrick went on the run for six months.
The FBI tracked him down on the remote Pacific island of Vanuatu. Philbrick told a New York judge he did it “for the money” and said his victims could afford it.
Inigo Philbrick can now hug her daughter Gaia-Grace, whom he has never met (pictured with her mother Victoria).
However, one investor, Daniel Trumpel, a German art dealer, said: “This is money that my wife and I worked hard for and that Philbrick embezzled to finance his luxurious lifestyle.”
We can expect to hear all about Philbrick's time cooking porridge. Last year Victoria told me she was going to do a TV show about him. “I’m making a documentary. “It’s about my fiancé and his time in prison,” the socialite said. “It’s wild.”
Philbrick was fully behind the project: “He's all for it.” It was his idea.'
She added: “He didn't murder anyone. “He's put his hands up and admitted what he did and takes full responsibility and accountability, but everyone makes mistakes.”
Successor creator Jesse Armstrong will soon be as rich as one of the characters in his hit television drama, which chronicles the machinations of media tycoon Logan Roy and his toxic, feuding family.
Figures released this week show his production company Jebentus made £10.7m last year.
The company made a profit of £9.2m in the year to May 2023. So Shropshire-born Armstrong, 53, cashed out £1 million and has now amassed a staggering £21.6 million in his business.
The screenwriter, who previously worked on Peep Show and The Thick Of It, still lives modestly with his wife Millie, an NHS worker, and their two children in the same terraced house in south-east London of 20 years Home is years.
Sir Rod Stewart once said that it was more exciting to be on the cover of Railway Modeller magazine than to be on the cover of Rolling Stone.
But the 79-year-old singer claims the rock bible didn't take kindly to his comments.
Sir Rod Stewart once said that it was more exciting to be on the cover of Railway Modeller magazine than to be on the cover of Rolling Stone
“That’s true,” he says of Railway Modeller. “I’ve been on the front page four times now. And since I said that, I haven't been on the cover of Rolling Stone.'
If only his pal Donald Trump would be happy with such a mild thrill. “He’s not the guy I met 20 years ago,” he says of the former president.
I went to his house every Christmas and gave concerts. He was a good guy. But he's turned into some kind of monster.'
How do you ride in these shoes, Daphne?
Fashion icon Daphne Guinness can even make filling up with gas look glamorous.
The heiress, 56, was spotted wearing black, heelless Mary Jane platforms while filling up her car.
When asked if she wears such shoes in her car, Lord Moyne's daughter replies: “I drive barefoot.” Guinness has made a name for herself in the fashion world with her unusual taste in clothing and wants to be remembered for her music.
Her album “Sleep” will be released next month. Renowned American photographer David LaChapelle shot the video for their catchy song “Volcano.”
Oti Cha-Cha Chats with the Queen
Queen Camilla has an encyclopedic knowledge of Strictly Come Dancing, her favorite show, Oti Mabuse tells me.
The dancing star returned to the palace as a celebrity reader in the BBC's 500 Words of Creative Writing competition for children and says: “I came here when we did the Strictly Christmas special in 2017 and I've now met Queen Camilla.”
Queen Camilla has an encyclopedic knowledge of Strictly Come Dancing, her favorite show, Oti Mabuse tells me
“We reminisced and I was able to ask her a few questions because she is a lover of dance.”
She actually remembers individual dances before I left the show three years ago.' Plans to film a live episode of Strictly in the palace ballroom have not yet come to fruition.
Not just a pretty face: Lila banked £360,000
While her school friends graduate with thousands in debt, Lila Moss is doing well.
I heard that the 21-year-old model almost tripled her earnings in a year.
Newly filed accounts from her company Grace Grove, which she founded in 2021 to channel her modeling income, show her wealth rose to £360,000 in the 12 months to May last year, from £129,000 in 2022 to £135,000, plus £77,000.
Lila Grace Moss Hack attends the Fashion Awards 2023
At 1.70 m, Lila is shorter than the average model, but has managed to secure roles in advertising campaigns for brands such as Miu Miu, Pepe Jeans and Marc Jacobs Beauty.
Lila, the daughter of supermodel Kate Moss and magazine editor Jefferson Hack, is signed to her mother's agency.
After she began modeling at the age of 14, her career has been plagued by accusations of nepotism and she was recently criticized for appearing as editor-in-chief on Edward Enninful's final cover of British Vogue.
Brenda Blethyn was too convincing as a Geordie in Vera.
The actress says that as DCI Stanhope, she was asked to tone down her accent so that foreign viewers could understand her in the hit ITV1 drama.
Brenda Blethyn plays DCI Stanhope in the ITV1 drama Vera
“I don’t think I made it, but a lot of locals say I did,” says Blethyn, 78, who comes from Ramsgate, Kent.
“But I don’t really believe that. When I started it was pretty broad, but they said, 'No, you need to tone it down a bit' – probably because of overseas sales – and so it quieted down a bit.”
(Very) modern manners
Greta Scacchi, who became known as “Scorchy Scacchi” because of the many nude scenes in which she appeared, has discovered an advantage of getting older: she avoids penalty fares on the train.
“If you've been running to catch a train and you don't have a ticket with you, when you're sitting in first class and the ticket inspector comes by, he'll think you've 'lost it',” explains the 64-year-old Star of films including White Mischief.
“So you can just buy one.” “I enjoy the fact that people believe your stories.”
Her acclaimed BBC1 dramas such as Happy Valley, Last Tango In Halifax and Gentleman Jack are set in Yorkshire, where she grew up, but Sally Wainwright now lives in with her husband Austin Sherlaw-Johnson, an antique sheet music dealer the Cotswolds.
And the couple is eager to invest in some renovations. I understand that the screenwriter has applied for planning permission to build an indoor swimming pool on the grounds of his Oxfordshire home, which is in a conservation area.
The couple was denied a certificate of legal development last November because of the location of the planned pool building.
Better luck this time!
Charlotte's language lessons for Wolfie…
Thanks to her Iberian nanny, Princess Charlotte was already speaking some Spanish phrases at the tender age of two.
But Dara Huang, the mother of Princess Beatrice's stepson, struggles to convince her child of the benefits of learning a foreign language.
Britain's Prince George of Wales (L), Britain's Princess Beatrice of York's stepson Christopher (2L), Britain's Princess Charlotte of Wales (2R) and Britain's Prince Louis of Wales (R) attend the 'Together at Christmas' Christmas service at Westminster Abbey Part in London on December 8, 2023
“Does anyone else have the feeling that their children no longer want to speak a second language?” complains the architect and television presenter, who encouraged her son Christopher, known as Wolfie, to learn Mandarin.
He turns eight this month.
Dara, 41, who was previously engaged to Beatrice's husband, property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, was born and raised in America.
Her maternal grandfather immigrated to the United States from Taiwan. She received British citizenship in 2022.
Why Britannia under Labor may not rule at the Proms
If Sir Keir Starmer wins the general election, Britain's rule could be a thing of the past.
Acclaimed cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason recently caused a stir when he said the tradition of Rule Britannia at the Last Night Of The Proms made people uncomfortable and could be abandoned in favor of English folk music.
Now shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire, herself a celebrated cellist, has made it clear she is in tune with the “woke” crowd
Now shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire, herself a celebrated cellist, has made it clear she is in tune with the “woke” crowd.
“It’s not my favorite music,” she tells the Women With Balls podcast. “It’s just fantastic how they have varied the program.”
Although she says it is a decision of the organizers and not the politicians, she adds: “For many people, as Sheku Kanneh-Mason said, it will seem alienating.”
“I want the Proms, I want the culture to be accessible to everyone and for it to be a good debate for us.”