"Frederick Barclay must pay a £100m divorce settlement to his former wife Hiroko after a High Court battle in which a judge described the British billionaire’s behaviour over the sale of a luxury yacht as “reprehensible”.
Justice Jonathan Cohen ordered Barclay, 86, who with his late twin brother David built a business empire spanning property, hotels, as well as ownership of the Daily Telegraph newspaper, should pay his ex-wife £50m in three months and the remainder next year.
Hiroko Barclay had sought £120m after the end of the couple’s 34-year marriage. Her divorce settlement is one of the biggest awards in recent years by London’s High Court but far lower than the £435m awarded in 2016 to Tatiana Akhmedova, ex-wife of Russian billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov.
The High Court imposed wide-ranging reporting restrictions on the Barclay case as divorce proceedings are usually heard in private, but Cohen handed down a short public ruling on Wednesday. In it, the judge criticised Barclay’s conduct relating to a luxury yacht after the High Court made orders to control the boat’s sale and use of the proceeds. Barclay “completely ignored those orders, sold the yacht, and applied the equity for his own use. I regarded that behaviour as reprehensible,” Cohen ruled.
Cohen said Barclay “is a public figure who should have been aware of the potential consequences of disobedience of court orders and his behaviour in the proceedings should not be allowed to pass completely under the radar”. The judge said he had been “critical, indeed at times very critical” of aspects of the way Barclay presented his case and his “acts of omission”.
ft.com
The Barclay brothers formerly owned the Telegraph and the Ritz, and moved to a small Channel Island where they avoided tax on their huge fortune.
Some of their secrets came out in the 2017 Paradise Papers scandal.
Justice Jonathan Cohen ordered Barclay, 86, who with his late twin brother David built a business empire spanning property, hotels, as well as ownership of the Daily Telegraph newspaper, should pay his ex-wife £50m in three months and the remainder next year.
Hiroko Barclay had sought £120m after the end of the couple’s 34-year marriage. Her divorce settlement is one of the biggest awards in recent years by London’s High Court but far lower than the £435m awarded in 2016 to Tatiana Akhmedova, ex-wife of Russian billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov.
The High Court imposed wide-ranging reporting restrictions on the Barclay case as divorce proceedings are usually heard in private, but Cohen handed down a short public ruling on Wednesday. In it, the judge criticised Barclay’s conduct relating to a luxury yacht after the High Court made orders to control the boat’s sale and use of the proceeds. Barclay “completely ignored those orders, sold the yacht, and applied the equity for his own use. I regarded that behaviour as reprehensible,” Cohen ruled.
Cohen said Barclay “is a public figure who should have been aware of the potential consequences of disobedience of court orders and his behaviour in the proceedings should not be allowed to pass completely under the radar”. The judge said he had been “critical, indeed at times very critical” of aspects of the way Barclay presented his case and his “acts of omission”.
ft.com
The Barclay brothers formerly owned the Telegraph and the Ritz, and moved to a small Channel Island where they avoided tax on their huge fortune.
Some of their secrets came out in the 2017 Paradise Papers scandal.
