Now Cristina Carta Villa, 59, is suing her 90-year-old “husband,” Gabriel Villa, to nullify the divorce she never knew about and keep him from selling an apartment they shared.
The two met at a friend’s house, quickly tying the knot in a New York ceremony in 1994. She left her job teaching Italian literature at Boston College to be with the lawyer and travel agent more than 30 years her senior.
“He was absolutely charming, and despite our age difference, it was love at first sight,” says Cristina Carta Villa.But all the while, Gabriel was apparently hedging his bets. Four months after the pair tied the knot, Gabriel Villa secretly arranged for a divorce in the Dominican Republic.
The wife says she never knew about, let alone consented to, a Dominican divorce, which was never registered in New York.
“It’s a fraud,” she tells The Post.The two bought a one-bedroom condo on West 55th Street; had a son, Lorenzo; and divided their time among Manhattan, Massachusetts and France.
“It was and somehow it’s still a great love,” Cristina Villa says. “Gabriel is a very charismatic man, strong, intelligent and very charming. I think we could say I was a loving and caring wife and mother.”When her husband was ill in the hospital, Cristina says, “I was always at his side.” He even made her his health-care proxy and gave her power of attorney.
But Gabriel allegedly told Dominican authorities life with his wife was “unbearable,” Cristina now alleges in court papers.
Even though the couple didn’t live in the Dominican Republic, Gabriel launched the legal dissolution there. He hired lawyers to represent each spouse and cited “incompatibility of temperaments” as the reason for the split, Cristina claims in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
Cristina found out about it only in November when a tax bill arrived for their Manhattan home and her name wasn’t on it. She hired a lawyer to investigate, only to learn that Gabriel had tried to remove her name from the deed, using the Dominican Republic proceeding as proof she was not an owner, she charges.
The wife says in court papers she “has no recollection of [giving] any authorization to anyone to proceed with a divorce, or even thinking about divorce from the man she had just recently married.” If legal authority was given, she was either “surreptitiously impaired, drugged or misled” into giving it, claim court papers.
“I realize now that during all these years of joy and happiness, and of difficult moments we shared together, my husband lied to me and had the Dominican divorce on the back of his mind. It’s what is hurting me the most,” she says.The divorce isn’t even legal in the Dominican Republic, Cristina argues, because neither spouse appeared in the court, and the split wasn’t published in a newspaper as required under Dominican law.
Cristina believes greed is behind the divorce duplicity.
Gabriel is “using an illegal and fraudulent divorce . . . to rob her,” Cristina charges.
She believes her husband wants to sell the apartment to his adult daughter, Marina Villa, who lives in Rome. One-bedroom condos in the Midtown building sell for roughly $1.4 million, records show.
NY Post
Mehn the man is wicked
ReplyDeletePEPSI ADDICT
Noted
ReplyDeletemaybe there's a reason 4 his action
ReplyDeleteThis is man greedy, what nonsense...
ReplyDeleteLife! Life! Na wa oooo
ReplyDeleteHmmm
ReplyDeleteLINDA NOTIFY DBANJ
You on your own woman
ReplyDeleteLet's go Linda
lol, sharp man
ReplyDeleteppl get wahala for this life.......
ReplyDeleteDon~ jazzycrush
Haba oga, if she was after money sef she would have wanted to divorce you after like one or two years. Old greedy man,lol. The man doesn't believe true love exists.
ReplyDeleteSay what! I never hear dis kind one before. Linda take note!
ReplyDeleteNna eh! This man is wicked o! Imagine living with sm1 αи∂ u won't have an idea u'v been divorced? Na wa o
ReplyDelete#It WiLL oNLy gEt beTTer
#iT MuSt eNd IN pRAisE
419 is everywhere i guess.
ReplyDeleteChai money ish
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy mehn.imagine the deceit.years of lies
ReplyDeleteHahahahahaha d man head dey deir....him no watsup
ReplyDeleteThe man is mean.
ReplyDeleteLols! Some men try to outsmart themselves.
ReplyDeleteCan u imagine that despite his old age.
ReplyDelete#Hajia Mufliat
Can you imagine
ReplyDeleteSome men are wicked sha ...20 whole years thrown into trash just like that, when no be LAWMA
ReplyDeleteWhat did u expect wen u marry a man 30yrs older than u...but the old man is greedy sha
ReplyDeleteObserved, sharp bad guys, with all humility and honesty I have feelings for Linda Ikeji and would sincerely wish to meet her in person this year as part of my resolution.
ReplyDeleteThis old man mean sha
ReplyDeleteWicked man 👨
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely nonsense the man need to be flogged..Linda observe carefully
ReplyDeleteBeware of fraudulent people, wicked man
ReplyDeleteSharp man cos chics ain't loyal......@Bia Bia 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
ReplyDeleteGreeduy n stupid ass man
ReplyDeleteGreeduy n stupid ass man
ReplyDeleteEnd time stories. * it's well*
ReplyDeleteThat was a cruel act by the man
ReplyDelete-D great anonymous now as Vivian Reginalds
That man na very very wicked man. D bible says,d heart of man is wicked,who can know it.
ReplyDeleteGreedy old man.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm! The heart of men
ReplyDeleteOk,de man na 419 ooo.
ReplyDelete#FINEST
Too bad of him . obong Abasi is fully involved
ReplyDeleteWicked stingy old man..
ReplyDeleteI will sue and take everything away from u, making u face ur worst fears of penniless..
Lady with class#
Some men and Evil. TUEH
ReplyDeleteSmart man. Ladies be wise. Engr Emy
ReplyDeleteMEN, THEY DON'T THINK TWICE BEFORE DOING ANYTHING. SO WICKED AT HEART
ReplyDeleteSuch is lyf. Linda observe!
ReplyDeletehe should take his monry to his grave. foolish old man
ReplyDeleteGreedy n wicked man.
ReplyDeleteThat's not cool at all. Ahan. Why now?
DeleteStupid and greedy man
Delete#*karlishah*
Trust No One.
ReplyDeletethis man is an example of a wicked man...
ReplyDeleteCould he be linked with the igbo clan?
ReplyDeleteSmart man
ReplyDeleteWhy marry her in the first place? Dumb story.
ReplyDeleteLobatan
ReplyDeleteBAD MAN...
ReplyDeleteThey know where they met.
ReplyDeleteAhhhhh eleyi gidi gan o. (This is very tough)
ReplyDeleteSon of a viper, why marry a lady u never trust a second in the first place.. some people's heart are sooo dark eh.
I didn't type this fa' it just popped out...
Some people's heart can be soooo dark eh?
ReplyDeleteThis is worse than cheating I tell but biko what type of divorce is this?
I didn't type this fa' it just popped out...
Hmm, wonder shall never cease. If he felt she was a gold digger, why didn't he leave her soon enough when they got married? All these years, putting her hopes up but to leave her with nothing at the end. WICKED OLD MAN!!!
ReplyDeleteHeart of men
ReplyDeleteHmmmm this old man is wicked
ReplyDeleteHmm
ReplyDeleteRapuluchukwuifenineadigommakings@yahoo.com
Direct from Delsu.
This is really strange.. Who should we believe.
ReplyDeleteLinda I hv arrived, post my comment.
makes me sick that some people here are trying to justify his actions, if he had his reason for the secret divorce 4 months into their marriage he shouldn't have stay with her for 20 years then he's just a greedy man and mean spirited, I'm sure a lot of you ladies will visit babalawo to punish such acts if you were the victim
ReplyDeleteMunachi read d story well abeg.. the man is too be thief. Why divorcing ur wife illegally.. all frauds bcos u want to sell ur property??? No matter the reason the wife should know about it.
ReplyDeleteEnter your comment...nawa. O
ReplyDeleteThis is really strange.. Who should we believe.
ReplyDeleteThis guy is evil
ReplyDeleteseen....angelmakiz@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteseen......johnkoledoye@gmail.com
ReplyDeletewicked man
ReplyDeleteGuy u nust be a mumu o. U hear one side of story u come dey judge. Sio
ReplyDeleteLOL THIS MAN IS SHINA RAMBO. HOW DID HE GET THE WOMAN'S SIGNATURE ON THE DIVORCE PAPERS. MEHNNNN DIS GUY NA BAEDT GUY SHA
ReplyDelete