LA mansion where over 1,000 guns were seized belonged to billionaire Gordon's Getty's former mistress Cynthia Beck
The mysterious LA real estate mogul and former mistress of oil fortune heir Gordon Getty, Cynthia Beck is in the news again. This time, it is because of something far from a tabloid report. Beck made headlines, after an investigation by members of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) brought to light over a 1,000 guns and firearms that were recovered from her posh Bel-Air mansion.
According to recent reports, authorities are investigating the illegal selling and manufacturing of weapons in the $7million, five-bedroom property. The weapon inventory is so large that police are still said to be working their way through it all — the ammunition haul ranging from handguns and shotguns to even weapon making paraphernalia. The inventory is even said to have antique Civil War rifles.
There has been an arrest in the case, that of 57-year-old Girard Damien Saenz, who was taken to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department after the raid and then released on a $50,000 bond. Beck and Saenz are known to be longtime friends and shared property owners and yet there's no news about the whereabouts of Beck, except that she's living a life of seclusion in Europe.
Beck receded from the limelight after the affair between her and Getty became tabloid fodder back in 1999. The couple had an affair for 14 years in secret and even had three children together — Nicolette, Kendalle, and Alexandra. At the time, Getty was married to Ann Gilbert/Getty, and the couple had four children together including Andrew Getty, who died tragically at the age of 17 in his Hollywood home back in 2015.
Even though Ann knew about the affair and the children when they went to court to legally change their name and claim what was theirs all the way back in 1999, the two remained married still. Reports say that the affair wasn't really a secret and that many people close to Getty knew about it. The philanthropist, musician, and son of oil tycoon J Paul Getty, Gordon Getty didn't even try to hide the affair when the scandal broke. Instead, he issued a statement saying "Nicolette, Kendalle, and Alexandra are my children. Their mother is Cynthia Beck, and I love them very much. The most important concern is that the children's needs be addressed. This will be our first priority," the statement said, "The Getty family has been fully supportive throughout this situation, and for that, I am very grateful," it said.
The very secretive Beck, however, made no statements. There aren't even many photographs of her, which is really saying something considering how Gordon Getty was almost considered royalty at the time. Those that have met her say that she's a "lovely woman". "She is a nice lady and lives in the LA area," her daughters' lawyer Stephen Burgin said about Beck. However, it does appear that she may have never wanted the affair to come into such limelight. "they know and love their dad…" Burgin had said at the time when the kids had gone to court. "The mother is certainly aware of it. But this is not her issue, it's their issue," he had said about the kids wanting their father's last name.
Apart from the Bel Air home, she owns about 20 odd properties in Los Angeles and some of them, even though rundown, are worth millions. Most of them she purchased when she and Getty were together. These homes have neighbors like Laurene Powell, Steve Job's widow, Stan Kroenke, LA Ram's owner, and Walmart heiress Ann Walton. In fact, Leo DiCaprio even had an empty plot around one of these properties back in 2015.
The most expensive of the lot is her Malibu mansion and a three-acre estate in Beverly Hills, both of which she has neglected and are falling apart. However, she still remains their owner and hasn't sold them off even though they are in bad shape. She also owns a four-bedroom place in West Sunset Boulevard with Girard Damien Saenz and her daughters Kendalle and Nicolette. She bought the home back in 2007 for $405,000, according to reports.