EXCLUSIVEBestselling author Barbara Stcherbatcheff is arrested in Bahamas for 'kidnapping son' 'sexposé' author, 42,for two years
A bestselling 'sexposé' author has been arrested in the Bahamas for allegedly kidnapping her son and going on the run across the globe for nearly two years, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
Barbara Stcherbatcheff, an American expat, investment banker, and former newspaper columnist, who wrote a book she subtitled 'The Devil Wears Pinstripes' vanished in February 2023 along with her eight-year-old boy Valentin Stankowski.
The blonde divorcee, 42, picked the youngster up from her ex-husband's home in Zurich, Switzerland, but failed to return him at the end of a week-long scheduled visit, according to authorities.
Interpol issued a 'yellow notice' missing person alert listing multiple countries – the UK, Ireland, Croatia, the US, Mexico, Belize, and Costa Rica - as possible places the fugitive mom could have taken Valentin.
But DailyMail.com can reveal the tug-of-love mystery was finally solved Tuesday when Bahamian cops swooped in on an exclusive gated community on the island of New Providence and located the pair.
Stcherbatcheff was staying 5,000 miles from her Zurich home with a local man described as her new boyfriend, a police source told DailyMail.com.
She was arrested in exclusive Lyford Cay, a private paradise that is home to an assortment of super-rich expats, including members of the Bacardi family and British businessman Joe Lewis. Houses there can fetch as much as $70million.
Former residents include Sean Connery and author Arthur Hailey.
Barbara Stcherbatcheff, 42, was arrested in the Bahamas for allegedly kidnapping her ten-year-old son Valentin, and going on the run across the globe for nearly two years
The boy was declared missing - with Interpol even issuing a 'yellow notice' in 2023 - after his mom picked him up from his father's house but failed to take him back
Valentin, who has dual Swiss and British citizenship, turned 10 in October. He was found unharmed.
He is being cared for by island authorities while they await the arrival of his father Daniel Stankowski on a flight from Switzerland, our source added.
Stcherbatcheff, a former columnist for The London Paper and author of the 2009 Sunday Times bestseller, Confessions of a City Girl, was taken into custody.
Interpol has not divulged any further details but the ex-couple are believed to have been ensnared in a heated custody dispute prior to Valentin going missing.
Stcherbatcheff appeared in a Bahamian court Wednesday, giving her name as Barbara Lynn Murphy and insisting that she had not gone by Stcherbatcheff for years.
Magistrate Kara Turnquest-Deveaux informed the petite suspect that Swiss authorities were seeking her extradition on charges of kidnapping and child stealing.
Prosecutor Darnell Dorsette said Valentin was safely in the custody of social services.
For now, Stcherbatcheff will remain locked up in Nassau's grim Fox Hill prison, the same rat-infested lockup where her fellow American Lindsay Shiver is being held while she waits to go on trial for allegedly plotting her husband's assassination.
Stcherbatcheff is a former columnist for The London Paper and author of the 2009 Sunday Times bestseller, Confessions of a City Girl. She published the book using the pseudonym 'Suzana S' to deliver a wild insider account of the City of London to critical acclaim
Stcherbatcheff grew up in Woodstock, Illinois, attended Colgate University in New York and went on the prestigious Tuck Bridge Program at Ivy League Dartmouth.
She emigrated to the UK to pursue a career in investment banking, later becoming a journalist and writing for Newsweek and The Daily Telegraph.
From 2008 to 2009 Stcherbatcheff penned an anonymous 'City Girl' column for The London Paper exposing the excesses of life in finance.
She developed the theme further in Confessions of a City Girl, which she subtitled The Devil Wears Pinstripes using the pseudonym Suzana S to deliver a wild insider account of the City of London to critical acclaim.
'When City Girl Barbara Stcherbatcheff first stepped into the Square Mile she had no idea of the fight for survival she would face over the next five years,' reads the book's promotional blurb.
'But despite lap dancing clubs and million-dollar losses; divorce in the City and the worst recession since the 1930s, City Girl was still standing. She'd taken on the boys at their own game - and won.'
Stcherbatcheff gave multiple interviews after the book's release, telling Germany's Der Speigel newspaper: 'Most people imagine me to be a bit crazier.
'As a city girl, for example, I swore when I lost money. But my male colleagues were much worse.
'They banged on the tables, threw the mouse across the room and smashed the monitors when things weren't going well.'
For now Stcherbatcheff will remain locked up in Nassau's grim Fox Hill prison in the Bahamas
In 2011 she claimed the Guinness World Record for running a marathon in an animal costume, completing the feat in three hours, 42 minutes and 11 seconds while dressed as a peacock.
A year later, Stcherbatcheff recorded a news segment for the BBC lambasting the 'sheer arrogance and pig-headedness' of her male counterparts in the wake of a financial scandal that saw former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond step down.
'I worked in London's financial center for five years surrounded by the fast cars, fancy lifestyles and champagne many people envy,' Stcherbatcheff explained.
'Sounds great right? For the guys, absolutely. But there's a dark side to the fun and games.'
Her antidote to the greed and risk taking she claimed was endemic in banking was to install females in top positions.
'They say trading is a man's game but I don't believe the hype,' Stcherbatcheff added.
'Everybody knows that women are more intuitive, less aggressive, egotistical and power hungry than men.
'What this means is that women tend to be more consistent traders that don't rack up huge losses.'
In 2011 she claimed the Guinness World Record for running a marathon in an animal costume, completing the feat in three hours, 42 minutes and 11 seconds while dressed as a peacock
In a 2014 article for Newsweek Stcherbatcheff explained why she, and a growing number of Americans, were giving up their citizenship because of the burden of filing complicated tax returns from overseas.
By 2016 she had relocated again to Switzerland where she worked as a corporate communications chief for the international investment firm, RobecoSAM, according to online profiles.
On X, formerly Twitter, Stcherbatcheff described herself as a 'journalist, author and economic commentator. Marathon runner' but her profile has been dormant since 2014.
The link to her personal website no longer works.
