Jeff Koons sued by ex-porn star

2008-03-28 09:11

New York - Ilona Staller aka Cicciolina, a former European porn star and politician, sued her ex-husband, artist Jeffrey Koons, for millions of dollars in child support.

In papers filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, Staller said Koons owed about €1.5m for support of their 15-year-old son, Ludwig Maximilian Koons.

Staller's papers, filed late on Tuesday, said the child support payments of €15 000 a month had been ordered by an Italian court in June 2007.

They said the artist paid €191 426 for child support, leaving a balance owed of about €1.5m.

Following their divorce in New York in 1994, Koons was given custody of the then infant Ludwig.

A judge ordered that the child stay in New York, but in June 1994 Staller evaded Koons's security guards and fled to Italy with the boy.

When the divorce and custody issues were litigated again in Italy, Staller, an Italian citizen, was given a divorce. After an appeal, she received custody of the boy.

Koons, whose work has been seen at London's Royal Academy, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, ran up legal bills of almost $4m trying to get the boy back from Italy.

- AP