Ursula Andress, the iconic Bond girl who turned 90 on Thursday, has said she is “devastated” after allegedly losing £17 million of her fortune to her late wealth manager, Eric Freymond. The Swiss actress claimed she was specifically targeted in a scam that left her with only £2 million of her original £19 million wealth.
Andress has filed a criminal complaint against Freymond’s estate, alleging he transferred her funds from Lombard Odier bank to an account at Saanenbank in spring 2024 without her knowledge. She said he then made art purchases worth several million Swiss francs and invested in worthless stocks. The artworks are reportedly held in Freymond’s wife Caroline’s name, though she is not implicated.
Speaking to German news outlet Blick, Andress said: “For eight years, I was courted and wooed. They lied to me ruthlessly and exploited my goodwill and trust in a perfidious, even criminal, way to take everything from me. And they were counting on my age. I’m so devastated.” She added that she suffers from anxiety and insomnia, calling the feeling of helplessness “unbearable”.
Freymond died after being struck by a train in an apparent suicide last year. He had previously been accused of embezzling money from Hermès heir Nicolas Puech, confessing to some charges shortly before his death. Andress’s management said in a statement that she was deprived of a large portion of her assets in a fraud scheme of “exceptional scale and complexity”, and that she would not comment further due to ongoing proceedings.
Andress rose to fame as Honey Ryder, the first Bond girl, in the 1962 film Dr No, earning a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year. She also starred in the 1967 Bond parody Casino Royale and films such as The Blue Max, Red Sun, and Clash of the Titans.
