Fortescue is close to settling a two-year-old legal dispute with the family office of American billionaire Paul Tudor Jones in a move that will spare the company’s executive chairman Andrew Forrest from giving seven hours of evidence in a US court.

Forrest, Australia’s second-richest person, was scheduled to face up to seven hours of questioning under oath earlier this month as part of a lawsuit filed in the Connecticut District Court by Kid Shelleen, the private company of hedge fund manager Tudor Jones.