Kelly Rutherford's custody battle with her German businessman ex-husband Daniel Giersch is getting more complicated. After the actress refused to send her children back to Monaco to live with Giersch, he accused the "Gossip Girl" actress of "kidnapping" and "child abduction" in a statement released by his lawyer, People reported.
"Daniel will continue to protect the children from any harm and any media exposure," attorney Fahi Takesh Hallin said in the statement obtained by People. "Unfortunately Kelly has now added child abduction to extortion and false statements on her list of actions. Daniel will make sure that the children's safety and well being will be restored as soon as possible."
The former couple's two children, 8-year-old son Hermes and 6-year-old daughter Helena, were in New York visiting Rutherford for the summer, as previously reported by HNGN. It had been three years since Rutherford had spent time with her children after they were ordered to live with their father in Monaco. The children were supposed to return to Giersch on August 7, but Rutherford refused to send her children overseas.
"I am over the moon that my children are back in the United States," she told Us Weekly last month. "I haven't stopped hugging and kissing them."
Rutherford's attorney, Wendy Murphy, responded to Hallin's allegations that her client is guilty of child abduction, which goes against a 2012 custody agreement.
"Mr. Giersch made an agreement with Kelly and the American courts in 2012 that the children would live abroad with him only temporarily while he resolved his U.S. work visa issues," Murphy said in a statement. "He did nothing to address his visa problems, and three years is exceedingly not temporary."
