The son of a sugar baron has been arrested for domestic violence following an altercation at his Palm Beach home after he reportedly became ‘angry’ over having to sit next to a gay couple at a restaurant.
Alexander Nicholas Fanjul, also known as Nico, was arrested Monday evening on charges of domestic violence, theft, false imprisonment and cocaine possession.
Fanjul is the eldest son of Alexander Fanjul Sr, president and senior vice president of Florida Crystals, one of the largest sugar producers in the southeastern US.
According to a police report seen by the Palm Beach PostOfficers arrived at his home at 11 p.m. after neighbors called 911 about a woman screaming.
Officers on the scene reported hearing a woman yelling, “Get off me,” and that Fanjul was standing over the woman who was “in a defensive fetal position.”
Alexander Nicholas Fanjul, also known as Nico, was arrested Monday evening on charges of domestic violence, theft, false imprisonment and cocaine possession
Officers on the scene reported hearing a woman yelling, “Get off me,” and that Fanjul, seen here, was standing over the woman who was “in a defensive fetal position.”
Officers say the woman’s face was bleeding, and she later told police she had been physically attacked by Fanjul and “thought she was going to die.”
According to the woman, the couple had dined at the upscale Flagler Steakhouse at the Breakers Hotel when Fanjul “became enraged because the two were with a homosexual couple.”
After dinner, she said Fanjul “became more and more irate and kept talking about his frustration with the restaurant.”
While outside his home, the woman allegedly told Fanjul to drop the subject and then he started punching her in the face.
The attack is said to have left her with ‘bruising, bleeding and swelling of the face’.
Fanjul is also accused of ripping her handbag from her shoulder after threatening to call for help and then destroying her hand and phone.
After she started screaming, “he forcibly dragged her into the home to prevent her from getting help or escaping.”
Fanjul is the eldest son of Alexander Fanjul Sr, president and senior vice president of Florida Crystals, one of the largest sugar producers in the southeastern US.
According to the woman, the couple had been dining at the upscale Flagler Steakhouse in the Breakers Hotel when Fanjul “became enraged because the two were being sat by a homosexual couple.”
The officer noticed redness and bruising on the woman’s neck and a “trail of blood” as he allegedly dragged her.
According to the Palm Beach Post, Fanjul was released on $180,000 bond after his arrest.
During a hearing on Tuesday, a lawyer representing Fanjul told the newspaper he denies the allegations.
Circuit Judge Donald Hafele ordered that he refrain from taking non-prescribed medications, not contact his accuser and that he surrender his firearms.
Fanjul previously had a run-in with the law when he dated socialite Tinsley Mortimer, who later became a member of “The Real Housewives of New York City.”
Fanjul is seen here with his former girlfriend Tinsley Mortimer, who later joined the cast of ‘The Real Housewives of New York City’
Fanjul and Mortimer regularly came into contact with the police, with photos of Mortimer appearing in police reports of Mortimer with a black eye
Police were called several times due to arguments between the couple, resulting in Mortimer requiring hospital treatment on one occasion.
On another occasion in 2014, police were called to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Fort Lauderdale for domestic violence. Mortimer did not press charges.
In 2016, she was subsequently arrested for trespassing on his property, and reflected on the relationship in an interview with DailyMail.com.
She said: ‘Once you get into a cycle like that, it’s very difficult to get out of it. I was absolutely not myself at that time and it was only after the arrest that I was able to break free from it – the cycle was broken, thank God.’