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Melanie Brown's estranged husband Stephen Belafonte has asked her for "cash advance" in new court papers. Belafonte's lawyer insists that his client desperately needs money. Belafonte is said to be broke following his split from the former Scary Spice.

The Sun reports Brown has refused the request, claiming that Belafonte stole money from her instead. "He has plenty of funds I assume from the amounts he has earned and continues to earn (and taken) to pay for his expenses," Brown's lawyer says in new court papers. "We do not believe your client is entitled to much, if any, of the community, but will owe Mel for the amounts he has taken from her without her knowledge or consent."

Brown filed for divorce from her husband in March after their separation in December 2016. She claimed that Belafonte was extremely abusive during their 10-year marriage. In 2007, on the night of her "Dancing with the Stars" finale, he threw her on the floor and choked her. In 2012, he hit her during the closing ceremonies for the London Olympics.

The former Spice Girls member accused her husband of sexually exploiting her. He allegedly forced her to have a threesome with him and random women and secretly recorded the intercourses. She additionally claimed that Belafonte cheated on her with their nanny, Lorraine Gilles, and got her pregnant.

She was recently granted a restraining order against Gilles. It was also reported that Brown and her lawyers had acquired a court order to see inside a storage locker rented by Gilles. Brown said that the locker contained sex tapes and photos of Gilles and Belafonte. Unfortunately, the locker was already empty when Brown and her lawyers visited it on April 11.