During his days on the arm of his pop star ex-fiancee, Mariah Carey, James Packer seemed unfazed, even welcoming at times, of paparazzi intrusion, but it was a different story during his recent holiday in the South Pacific with Today's Karl Stefanovic and his girlfriend Jasmine Yarbrough.
After Stefanovic aroused suspicions to his whereabouts caused by his sudden disappearance in the middle of his breakfast-presenting duties on Channel Nine, it wasn't long before two Sydney photographers were hot on his heels.
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Mariah Carey's blunt response about James Packer
An interview on Israeli TV gets awkward when Mariah Carey is gets questioned about her ex-finance James Packer.
Upon arriving in French Polynesia, a hired, private boat took the snappers to Packer's luxury superyacht, the Arctic P, anchored in the tropical island paradise off the island of Taha'a.
But unlike Stefanovic, 42, Yarbrough, 33, and her model friend, Rose Ashton, the photographers were uninvited guests and the billionaire casino mogul, 49, wanted rid.
"Just as we got there, Karl and Jasmine arrived on jet skis and we got to work," one of the photographers told Fairfax Media.
"About a minute later and the Arctic P's crew had surrounded our boat on jet skis, causing wake. One of Packer's crew came up to our boat on one of their big tender boats (they have about five hanging off the Arctic P) and tried to negotiate with our skipper to pay him off in order to get rid of us."
The skipper only spoke French, so the bribery didn't work, but that didn't stop Packer's crew parking up to obstruct their view.
"The crew member stayed in a tender boat in front of our boat in an attempt to block us from taking photographs, but we still managed to get our shots," the photographer added.
Later that night in a possible bid to hide the 88-metre floating mansion, said to be one of the largest privately owned yachts in the world that features a helipad, observation tower, amphitheatre, jacuzzi and swimming pool, the photographer claimed that the Automatic Identification Signals (AIS) (a GPS that helps track vessels) went dark and the Arctic P turned up the next day almost 200km away.
"After we shot them off the island of Taha'a their transponder was switched off in the middle of the night and they moved to the nearby island of Mo'orea, but it didn't stop us from tracking them down," he said.
"It was very obvious that they did not want these photos taken."
Fairfax Media has asked a spokeswoman for James Packer for comment, but they did not respond.
While the photographers could easily locate Packer, his ex Mariah Carey, it seems, cannot.
I don't know where the motherf---er is.
As she promoted an anti-ageing skincare brand in Israel earlier this week, a reporter asked the Hero singer, 47, about the whereabouts of Packer, who is being sought for information about his relationship with Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu over allegations Netanyahu accepted lavish gifts from wealthy businessmen, including Packer. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Packer.
"I don't know where the motherf---er is. How am I supposed to know?" Carey said about Packer's current location.
The reporter asked if she spotted any special connection between Packer and Netanyahu at a dinner Carey also attended.
"I was eating the food. They had some food there that was pretty good. I don't know ... I was just there because I was invited to a dinner," she replied.
According to fresh reports from Israel, Packer has since agreed to meet police conducting the corruption investigation.
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