Jon & Kate Plus $180K He Has to Pay Back

Divorce gets nastier with an arbitrator essentially accusing Jon of theft.

ByABC News
October 1, 2009, 10:22 PM

Oct. 13, 2009— -- The Jon and Kate Gosselin divorce took a sharply nastier turn today, with Jon ordered to reimburse the crumbling couple's joint bank account to the tune of nearly $200,000.

The Gosselin's respective lawyers met with a court-appointed arbitrator today to iron out the couple's economic issues: namely, that Kate Gosselin, who wants child and spousal support, has accused her ex of taking $230,000 from their joint bank account. Talking to "The Insider" last week, Jon Gosselin countered that he only took $22,000, which he said shouldn't matter to the mother of his kids because she has money hidden away.

But according to TMZ.com, today, Jon Gosselin was ordered to return $180,000 of the funds he withdrew from the account. If he doesn't repay the money by Oct. 26, he'll have to appear before the judge for a contempt proceeding.

"The remaining sum of $55,000, which Ms. Gosselin used for household bills and expenses relating to the children, will be subject to further determination by the arbitrator at a later date," Kate Gosselin's lawyer, Mark Momjian, said.

Kate Gosselin was also ordered to show financial records by the same date.

"All the attorneys on both sides worked very hard," Jon Gosselin's lawyer, Mark Jay Heller, said in a statement today. "We were very pleased with the outcome of the court proceedings and the arbitration session. We are very hopeful that there will soon be a resolution."

The cash controversy comes on the heels of Jon's declaration that he wants off the show and he wants his kids off camera for good.

"I don't think it's healthy for them, and the reason I don't think it's healthy for them is that we're going through a divorce right now," he told CNN's "Larry King Live" at the end of September. "And I don't think it should be televised, and I think my kids should be taken off the show."

TLC shut down filming of the children on "Jon & Kate Plus 8" after receiving a cease-and-desist order from Gosselin's attorney Thursday. A sign has been posted outside the family home in Pennsylvania ordering all film crews to back off the property.