Scot And Michelle Young Divorce: Judge Rules 'Billionaire' Tycoon Is Worth 'Only' £40million!
She had demanded £300million after claiming her tycoon husband was worth “a few billion at least” but had hidden “a vast fortune”
PA
The wife in Britain’s longest and most bitter divorce case today blasted a court decision to award her only £20million as “a disgrace”.
Michelle Young, 49, had demanded £300million after claiming tycoon husband Scot was worth “a few billion at least” but had hidden “a vast fortune”.
But Scot, 51, a friend of X Factor boss Simon Cowell, claimed he was bankrupt with £28million debts.
Speaking outside court, mum-of-two Mrs Young described her £1.6million legal battle as “a desperate struggle for me and my daughters”.
She accused her property dealer husband of making a mockery of the justice system and vowed: “This is not over.”
Dismissing the award of the High Court Family Division in London she went on “It’s disgraceful. I stand by what I said. He’s worth billions.
"This has been a desperate struggle for me and my two daughters, cast adrift seven years ago by a powerful maniac who felt he could hide his vast wealth behind his super-rich friends.
“Many people watching this will think it’s a fortune but at the moment all this order is is a piece of paper.
"I will need to borrow heavily against this award to fund an asset recovery mission, the like of which I doubt this country will have seen before.
“So this isn’t over. Not for me, not for my two daughters, and not for Mr Young.”
Asked about his wife’s reaction to the ruling, Mr Young said: “Disgraceful? That was my wife’s quote, was it? No comment.”
The couple, who live in London, separated after a 17-year relationship in 2006.
Michelle had told the 12-day hearing she would settle for £300million and wanted a £25million house in Belgravia.
PA
Details of the couple’s “luxury marriage” were aired in court.
It was claimed Mr Young spent up to £5,000 a night eating out, that they went to a Raymond Blanc restaurant twice a week, that Mr Young paid up to £4million for “a flash gin-palace, Sunseeker-type boat” and that she had jewellery which Mr Young said cost a million pounds and which she auctioned at Sotheby’s for between £160,000 and £180,000.
It was also said that they went on three to four foreign holidays a year, staying in villas and presidential suites.
Michelle told the hearing: “We had vast estates. We had staff. We had a very luxury lifestyle.
“We had a chandelier in our drawing room. The other chandelier sits in the White House. They were valuable assets.”
The family lived in Belgravia for three or four years and in Miami, Florida, where they owned three Porsche cars.
The hearing was told how Mr Young branded Michelle a “greedy cow” and was jailed for three months earlier this year after he refused to reveal information about his finances.
He was alleged to have created a business structure called “Project Marriage Walk” to hide assets from his wife when their marriage came unstuck .
Michelle spent £1.6million on legal fees trying to get a “fair share” of her husband’s wealth and he represented himself during the court hearing.
In a written ruling Mr Justice Moor said: “This case has been quite extraordinary even by the standards of the most bitter of matrimonial breakdowns.
“Extremely serious allegations have been bandied around like confetti. Some of these allegations can only be described as ‘wild’.
“The case has cost the wife millions of pounds in litigation fees. It has taken some six and a half years to come to trial.
"There have been around 65 separate hearings.
“At an earlier stage, I committed the husband to prison for six months for contempt of court. I ... have to make a large number of findings of fact in relation to matters that are very hotly in issue.
“I have also decided that I have to be highly critical of the way in which the case has been conducted at various times by both parties.
“In many respects, this is about as bad an example of how not to litigate as any I have ever encountered.”
He added: “I only have two things to say. First, this debt will exist for all time. The husband will never be free of it.
"It is very much in his interests to discharge it so he can move on. Second, I have rejected all the more fanciful allegations made against him.
“I hope that he will take the view that he is better off paying the ... £20 million so that he can then concentrate on rebuilding his life.
'Luxury marriage'
Mrs Young told the trial that she and her husband lived a "luxury marriage".
She said:
:: Mr Young would spend up to £5,000 in a restaurant;
:: They went to a Raymond Blanc restaurant twice a week;
:: Mr Young paid £2 million to £4 million for "a flash gin-palace, Sunseeker-type boat";
:: She had jewellery which Mr Young said cost a million pounds and which she auctioned at Sotheby's for between £160,000 and £180,000;
:: They went on three to four foreign holidays a year - staying in villas and presidential suites.
"We had vast estates. We had staff," she said. "We had a very luxury lifestyle.
"We had a chandelier in our drawing room. The other chandelier sits in the White House ... They were valuable assets."
She said they lived in Belgravia for three or four years and in Miami, Florida, where they owned three Porsche cars.
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