Norwegian princess Märtha Louise and husband sue ex-friends for ‘betrayal of belief’ | Los Angeles
The Norwegian princess Märtha Louise and her husband, the American businessman Durek Verrett, are suing a number of former members of their interior circle for defamation over what they described as a “calculated betrayal of belief”.
Court paperwork filed in Los Angeles on 14 September declare the previous pals and colleagues took “non-public entry as soon as afforded to them and weaponised it”. The accused embody “former intimate companions, trusted trade associates, a member of the family”.
The paperwork allege that data together with “confidential communications, disputed accusations and claimed insider information” was used towards Märtha Louise, Verrett and his firm, Ohana, in what the couple describe as a “coordinated sequence of devastating public assaults”.
The compensation claims whole in extra of $80m, the newspaper VG reviews.
The authorized motion comes throughout a very difficult interval for the Norwegian royal household. King Harald died in August aged 89, to be succeeded by his son Haakon, who’s Märtha Louise’s brother. Harald’s sister, Princess Astrid, died aged 94, two days after attending his funeral in September.
At the identical time, the royal household has been embroiled in a number of scandals together with revelations concerning the Queen Mette-Marit’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Her son Marius Borg Høiby was discovered responsible of two counts of rape in June. The queen, who has pulmonary fibrosis, underwent a lung transplant in the identical month.
Märtha Louise and Verrett have been the topic of a number of headlines in recent times.
In 2023, earlier than marrying Verrett, who describes himself as a sixth-generation shaman, the princess renounced her royal duties to give attention to the couple’s different drugs trade. Last 12 months they starred in a Netflix documentary about their lives, Rebel Royals: An Unlikely Love Story.
The papers, filed to Los Angeles county superior courtroom, state that the case was prompted by a “calculated betrayal of belief” and mentions the “current loss” of the late king. The alleged “incessant misconduct” was mentioned to have began years in the past, however “continued and escalated” in 2025 and 2026.
“During that interval, plaintiffs skilled vital medical and private circumstances, together with Verrett’s severe kidney failure, dialysis therapy, well being deterioration and up to date kidney transplant, in addition to Princess Märtha Louise’s current lack of her father,” the papers state.
“Although plaintiffs would ordinarily have most well-liked to commit this era to their well being, household, grief, and restoration, the timing of this submitting is ruled by relevant authorized deadlines. Plaintiffs should proceed at this unlucky time to protect their claims and shield their rights arising from defendants’ publications and conduct in 2025 and 2026.”
The lawsuit says the accused folks, “removed from being distant critics reporting from the surface”, had been “at one time within the interior circle of Verrett and Princess Märtha Louise”. It provides: “They had been welcomed into Verrett’s non-public life, household relationships, communications, client-related affairs and trade operations by relationships of intimacy, belief, confidence, {and professional} accountability.”
The couple’s US lawyer Richard Roth advised VG: “Our purchasers’ reputations have been judged by the general public for years. Now the information will likely be examined in a courtroom of legislation.”
Court paperwork listing two future hearings for the case in December.
The palace and representatives of the couple have been contacted by the Guardian for remark.
