I'll settle for £300m: Wife of 'bankrupt' tycoon insists he's still worth billions in divorce battle
- Michelle Young launches High Court battle with tycoon husband Scot
- Mrs Young estimates her husband 'worth a few billion at least'
- She says couple took trips on Concorde, and he bought expensive yacht
- Tells judge she would 'settle' for £300m plus legal expenses
By BEN SPENCER
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The estranged wife at the centre of one of Britain’s biggest divorce cases yesterday said she would ‘settle for £300million’ of her husband’s money, plus legal bills.
Michelle Young estimated that Scot Young – once a successful property tycoon – was worth ‘a few billion at least’.
The couple yesterday embarked on the final chapter of a seven-year court divorce battle.
Battle: Michelle Young, 49, told a High Court judge that her estranged businessman husband Scot once spent £1 million a year on dining out as she launched a High Court divorce settlement battle
Mr Young, 51, insists he is ‘hopelessly insolvent’ and has no wealth or assets to fund the vast divorce settlement his 49-year-old wife demands.
Earlier this year he served three months of a six-month prison term for contempt of court after he failed to reveal information about his finances.
Mrs Young, mother to his two children, continues to insist he is hiding the truth, and yesterday told the High Court he had ‘a vast fortune hidden’.
She has refused to complete their divorce until the settlement is agreed, stopping him marrying his fiancée Noelle Reno, a 29-year-old model.
High seas: Mrs Young said her husband Young paid '£2 million to £4 million' for a boat - 'a flash gin-palace, Sunseeker-type boat' - and had talked about buying a 'very expensive helicopter' to fly between a home near Oxford and London
Mrs Young told Mr Justice Moor of the extravagant life she had enjoyed with her husband before they separated in 2006.
‘We had vast estates. We had staff,’ she said. ‘We had a very luxury lifestyle.’ Mrs Young, a former model, said she had jewellery which cost a million pounds and which she auctioned at Sotheby’s for between £160,000 and £180,000.
She added: ‘We had a chandelier in our drawing room. The other chandelier sits in the White House. They were valuable assets.
Plans: Once divorced Mr Young plans to wed his fiancee, 29-year-old model and actress, Noelle Reno
‘I paid £10,000 for a beautiful piece of furniture around 15 or 18 years ago. It was a beautiful side piece. I bought that at Sotheby’s.’
Mrs Young said they had moved house a number of times and the profit on one house was ‘£10million’. She said Mr Young paid ‘£2million to £4million’ for a yacht – ‘a flash gin-palace, Sunseeker-type boat’ – and had talked about buying a ‘very expensive helicopter’ to fly between their homes in Oxfordshire and London.
The couple lived in Belgravia, central London, for three or four years and in Miami where they owned three Porsche cars, she said.
Mrs Young told the judge: ‘My husband has never produced a shred of real evidence about where one asset has gone to.’ She accused him of being ‘incredibly’ secretive about finance and accused him of hiding his ‘vast fortune’ offshore.
‘He was constantly on the phone to his high-profile friends and advisers talking about multi-million-pound deals he was involved with,’ she said.
‘If I heard it... he would quickly run off... or jump out of the Phantom or Ferrari so I couldn’t hear.’ She added: ‘He was secretive. I wasn’t made aware very much regarding the business side.’
Mrs Young, who in the past has described herself as a ‘pioneer’ for divorcing women, said she wanted a £25million house and wanted to live in Belgravia. She was previously awarded £30,000 a month to pay for rent and school fees for their two daughters, Scarlett, 20 and Sasha, 18.
In court hearings earlier this year she claimed she was owed more than £1million in unpaid maintenance.
Mr Young denied his ex-wife’s allegations yesterday and at one point asked the judge if her ‘ranting’ was allowed.
He was made bankrupt over a £1.8million debt in 2010 and claims to be living off the generosity of friends including entrepreneur Sir Philip Green and the late Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky.
The estranged couple began their relationship in 1989 and married in 1995, before separating in 2006. After a hearing due to last four weeks Mr Justice Moor will make a final decision about how much Mr Young is worth.
The trial continues.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2481811/Ill-settle-300m-Wife-bankrupt-tycoon-insists-hes-worth-billions-divorce-battle.html#ixzz2lPOWFGQv
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