Mel B settles Stephen Belafonte domestic violence case to avoid threesome sex videos going public
The warring couple have come to an agreement and are now thrashing out a private deal following a marathon eight-month court fight
MEL B has avoided details of drug-fuelled threesome videos becoming public – after settling with her estranged husband Stephen Belafonte at the last minute.
The Spice Girl, 42, is ending her legal battle with her ex – thrashing out a private deal with his lawyers following a marathon eight-month court fight.
She had been seeking a restraining order against the film producer and had accused him of drugging her, hitting her, choking her and forcing her to make more than 20 sex tapes.
Belafonte in return had claimed she was addicted to cocaine and alcohol, impairing her ability to look after her kids.
But hours before a two-week trial was due to get underway yesterday to decide on the matter, a deal was struck.
Belafonte's lawyer Grace Jamra told LA Judge Mark Juhas: “All the issues before you including the domestic violence restraining order and custody of a minor child have been dissolved.”
Sean Macias, Mel’s lawyer, told the judge: “We all came to an agreement in principle late last night. We are pretty much done in principle.”
The settlement means the domestic violence restraining order placed on Belafonte will be lifted and he has agreed a deal over access to his child with Mel B, six-year-old Madison.
A deal will likely prevent the lurid allegations of drug taking and sex tapes being aired in a trial.
Mel also took out a restraining order against the couple's former nanny, Lorraine Gilles, 26, after accusing her of having an affair with Belafonte and plotting with him to make sex tapes.
The restraining order remains in place for Gilles, but Mel's lawyers said they expected to come to a settlement with her before Monday morning.
Former X Factor judge Mel sat in court today but spoke only to confirm who her two lawyers were.
She wore a green bodycon dress with pink Louboutin heels, a pink designer bag and tortoiseshell sunglasses.
The star also had a leopard print wheely bag with her, a throwback to her days as 'Scary Spice'
Mel refused to comment outside court but her family law mediator Shaun Collinson said: “She’s a spice girl - she stood her ground. Amazing job.
“We replaced the DV (Domestic Violence Restraining Order) with a private settlement agreement and we're moving forward. You can't talk about the private settlement, it's confidential.”
Collinson insisted that the couple had “not yet” reached an agreement over the custody of Madison, but they were working on it.
In an Instagram video, Belafonte said: "Today's a beautiful day, I'm just leaving court, you know what I've gotta tell ya, I'm the happiest guy in the world today.
"It's about family, family has been restored, you know I want to thank my family lawyers because they are a family and helped me mentally and legally.
"I'm just glad the cloud of suspicion of domestic violence is no longer over my head and I, my God, Angel I love you, Madison I love you, Phoenix I love you, Giselle I love you. I love my children."
Belafonte's lawyers said “some” of the disputes over the couple’s shared possessions had been resolved.
But lawyers for Mel said there were still some unsettled arguments over property and they would meet outside of court with a retired judicial officer and thrash them out within 90 days.
The couple's lawyers have four months to work out the finer points of their agreement, meeting Judge Juhas again on March 15 next year.
As part of the trial, a library of 56 videos allegedly containing evident of Mel snorting cocaine and "in sexual activity" was put into evidence by Stephen.
It is reported that the tapes will be returned to him now the trial is no longer going ahead, but may still be used in the trial with former nanny Lorraine Gilles, which is due to take place on Monday.
Both Mel and Belafonte still have to settle their divorce case.
The court case proved expensive for Mel, with claims that she spent £750,000 on hot-shot lawyers Jacalyn Davis, Susan Weisner and Larry Bakman, only to split with them days before the trial.
Instead she hired little-known LA law firm Osuna and Dotson.
In earlier court hearings, Belafonte's lawyer Grace Jamra claimed that Mel had “wiped out all her Spice Girls money”, estimated to be £38million.
Her lawyer, Claudia Osuna, apologised to the judge yesterday for the delay caused by the last-minute change, and for Mel's failure to turn up to give evidence this week.
Lorraine Gilles' lawyer Daniel Holzman, who phoned into the hearing, said he was nearly done with a deal over Gilles' restraining order.
He said: “In the majority of issues I think we are there. We don't have anything signed but we need to dot all the 'i's and cross all the 't's.”
Judge Juhas said yesterday: “This is nothing personal but I'm hoping that I won’t see any of you on Monday morning.”
Mel's close friend, hair stylist Gary Madatyan, came to watch yesterday’s proceedings and give moral support to Mel.
The couple were spotted 'kissing' earlier this year, but Madatyan dismissed rumours saying the two had a purely platonic relationship.
He told The Sun last month: “She doesn’t have a man in her life at the moment, she is single and very happy being on her own, she’s still turning a lot of heads!”
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