Massive $172million divorce battle comes to an end between wealthy couple after wife made shocking discovery
A wealthy businessman is forced to pay his wife an additional $10 million in a divorce settlement after she discovers his secret account.
The Sydney couple were embroiled in a legal battle when his wife claimed $174 million from the couple’s combined assets of $565 million.
The ruling showed that the couple had only been in a relationship for a relatively short period (less than ten years), had no children and that the husband brought in most of the wealth.
The court heard the woman sold an apartment for $260,000 before the relationship developed and that money was used as deposit on another property.
Judge Richard Schonell castigated both sides in his published ruling, saying they were sometimes untruthful.
The husband, whose legal name cannot be revealed, had claimed his assets were worth just $50 million, but using an old nickname proved to be his downfall when his ex-wife discovered it had been used for multiple online accounts .
Although business accounts were in the man’s brother’s name, the court ruled that he was a ‘front man’ and not the real manager of the money.
The company was found to have assets worth $480 million.
A wealthy businessman is forced to pay his wife an additional $10 million in a divorce settlement after she discovers his secret account
Because the man has businesses and properties spread all over the world, the woman has pursued him with actions in foreign courts.
The property portfolio is valued at tens of millions of dollars, including prime properties in Sydney and a $20 million trophy home overseas.
In addition to the divorcing couple, the husband’s brother also gave evidence at the trial with Judge Schonell unimpressed by all of them.
“They all have a clear motivation to provide self-serving evidence and the findings and admissions show that at times they have been untruthful,” he wrote in the ruling.
Judge Schonell found the woman’s evidence ‘implausible and at times fanciful’ and that ‘the man has attempted to conceal the true extent of his wealth’.
The judge awarded the woman another $10 million, bringing her total share to almost $20 million.