"We broke up through his butler"

Palm Beach jewelry designer Fleur Cinque, who's entangled in a lawsuit with multi-millionaire Formula One boat racer John Haggin over a $200,000 engagement ring, says she has no intention ever to return the bauble — even though she says she doesn't like the pear shape of the 7.12-carat diamond.

She deserves to keep it, Cinque said, after what Haggin put her through!

For one thing Haggin, an heir to the Yellow Pages fortune, broke off the engagement through his butler!

And, Cinque said, she discovered Haggin was juggling two other women — in addition to his getting a divorce from equestrian Angenita Grande.

"There's somewhat of a Tiger Woods situation going on with John," the soft-spoken 44-year-old widow Cinque said.

Jewelry designer Cinque, who's raising two children, was introduced to the 53-year-old Haggin last year. She didn't make much of the fact Haggin once was married to scandalous socialite Roxanne Pulitzer.

She said he quickly latched on to her two boys, 9 and 12, lavishing them with a father figure's attention, trips to baseball games and sleepovers on the floor.

"He was very sweet to the boys and very charming," she said. "One day (Jan. 2), when we were just dating, we were on Worth Avenue for lunch and we were standing near Chris Kaufmann's window. He saw the ring and told me he wanted to get it for me.

"He said it would ‘keep the wolves away' because he was traveling a lot."

Haggin also asked Cinque to marry him, and she said yes.

By March, however, Cinque says she found out he also had a galpal in Tampa and another in Jacksonville.

Then came the call from the butler.

"The butler called me to say John was breaking up with me," Cinque said, "and that he was in Jacksonville with another woman. I had to hear all this from his staff!"

A few weeks later, Cinque said, the butler called again. This time, the message was that Haggin wanted the engagement ring back. Cinque wouldn't give it back, so Haggin sued in a Palm Beach County circuit court. She sued him right back.

"Apparently, the girl in Jacksonville has been whining to him about wanting a ring," Cinque said. "I'm sure he wants it to give it to her. He's just too cheap to buy her a new one.

"I'm spending money on these lawsuits, and my goal is to keep it. I'll sell, hopefully I'll get $50,000 out of it, and I'll pay my legal bills.

"I'm not a gold digger. My family's quite wealthy. But not only did he crush my children's hearts, now he's suing me. He's disgusting."

A phone call for comment made to Riviera Beach office of Haggin's boat racing team, Miss Geico, wasn't returned.

(Published by Page2 Live - November 4, 2010)