Since 2012, actress Kelly Rutherford has been engaged in a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband, Daniel Giersch.
The stakes are high, as Giersch lives in Monaco and the couple’s two children – 8-year-old Hermes and 6-year-old Helena – have resided with him there for the past three years.
Last month, Rutherford was reunited with her kids, and it looked as though they’d be staying with her in LA for the foreseeable future.
Kelly’s joy proved to be short-lived, however, as an LA judge determined that the matter was already settled in Monaco courts, and the US has no jurisdiction to grant her custody.
Rutherford has been ordered to return her kids to Monaco, but she is now refusing to do so, and lawyers for Giersch say the 46-year-old former Gossip Girl star is guilty of child abduction.
"Daniel will continue to protect the children from any harm and any media exposure," reads a statement from Giersch’s attorney. "Unfortunately Kelly has now added child abduction to extortion and false statements on her list of actions.
"Child abduction is a crime, and everyone involved in kidnapping or abducting the children will face the appropriate legal consequences. Anyone associating themselves with Kelly and her abduction is violating the law."
The accusations of child abduction (coupled with the fact that it was Kelly’s lawyer who got Giersch deported in the first place) all but guarantees that Rutherford will lose her custody appeal, and the children will be returned to Giersch for good.
Unfortunately, Kelly is now facing much more serious legal troubles.
