Skip to main content

'Penniless' man is worth $65 million, court rules - and must give wife half

'Penniless' man is worth $65 million, court rules - and must give wife half, One of Britain's longest and most bitter divorce battles culminated on Friday with a High Court judge branding a well-connected millionaire a liar and his ex-wife a conspiracy theorist.

Far from being "penniless and hopelessly bankrupt", as he had claimed, Scot Young, 51, was worth 40 million pounds ($65 million) and his estranged wife Michelle Young, 49, should get half of it, judge Philip Moor ruled.

"This case has been quite extraordinary even by the standards of the most bitter of matrimonial breakdowns," Moor wrote in his ruling, noting that it had taken over six years and 65 court hearings to come to trial.

The case has made headlines in Britain because of the size of the claims and the fact that Scot Young has enjoyed financial help from high-profile friends including Philip Green, the billionaire owner of the Topshop retail chain.

Michelle Young has run up legal bills of 6.5 million pounds, while Scot Young has served six months in jail for failing to provide full and frank disclosure of his assets.

The pair were married for 17 years until 2006 and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle of mansions, jet-setting holidays and gifts of diamond jewelry funded by Scot Young's investments in property, technology and start-up companies.

It all fell apart when the marriage breakdown coincided with what the husband described as a total meltdown of his business empire that left him "penniless and hopelessly bankrupt" with unpaid debts of 28 million pounds.

The judge said it was impossible to know the full truth of his financial position due to "the significant number of lies told by the husband to so many people over such a long period".

He ordered Young to pay his ex-wife a lump sum of 20 million pounds within 28 days.

Michelle Young maintains that the meltdown was a fiction specifically designed to hide her ex-husband's wealth and deprive her and the couple's two daughters of their rightful share - a version of events also rejected by the judge.

"She sees conspiracy everywhere," he wrote.

A furious Michelle Young branded the ruling "disgraceful".

"I stand by what I said. He's worth billions," she told reporters outside the court, according to reports in several British national media. She also issued a written statement in which she called her ex-husband a "maniac".

Popular posts from this blog

Beautiful Ireland Introduction

Beautiful Ireland Introduction Beautiful Ireland Introduction  -  Ireland has always been considered a land of mystical and often magical happenings. It is a country steeped in myths and legends that live in harmony beside the modern world of today. Most travelers describe Ireland as a stunning land with unsurpassed beauty and one which possesses a history that goes back so far only the fairy folk remember its beginnings.

Royal wedding more than 24.5 million UK viewers

Royal wedding more than 24.5 million UK viewers, Prince William and Kate Middleton's Royal Wedding was watched by more than 24 million terrestrial TV viewers in the UK, according to overnight estimates from industry body Barb. The BBC achieved a large share of the UK viewing figures for Friday's (April 29) ceremony, with a peak figure of 20 million tuning in to the corporation's broadcast of the Westminster Abbey service. More than 34 million people caught at least some of the Royal Wedding coverage through the BBC, including on its iPlayer service, reports BBC News. Sky News said it had a peak of 661,000 viewers at the start of the wedding ceremony, while BBC Two, Channel 4 and Five only made up 1 per cent of the audience as the nuptials began. William and Kate's service is now in the all-time top 10 programmes in the UK, but drew less viewers than the 1966 World Cup Final (32.3 million) and Princess Diana's funeral in 1997 (32.1 million).

Guinness World Records Most live streams for a single event

Guinness World Records Most live streams for a single event, The YouTube broadcast of Prince William’s marriage to Catherine Middleton (both UK) in London, UK, on 29 April 2011 achieved a record 72 million live views, as people from 188 countries around the world tuned in to watch the event on the company’s official Royal Channel. Although this figure alone was enough to beat the 70 million streams achieved during the inauguration of US President Barack Obama in 2009, the wedding’s overall tally is likely to have been significantly higher when taking into account the millions watching via other live streaming services.