Billionaire’s ex-wife fighting in court for $450m slice of his global fortune

A mega-rich Australian businessman is embroiled in a bitter divorce case where his ex-wife wants to increase her slice of the asset split to $450 million.

A mega-rich Australian businessman has been accused by his ex-wife of moving a large slab of his financial empire overseas to minimise her payout in their bitter divorce case.

The wife, who has so far received $10.8m and a property portfolio worth tens of millions, launched legal action in the Family Court of Australia in an attempt to freeze her ex’s assets and increase her share to $450m.

She also claimed he abused her and had her sign a financial agreement under duress when he knew she was abusing alcohol.

The husband denied the claims.

Despite the pair already having a financial agreement, the wife asked the court to rescind it so she could make a new claim to force her husband — who strenuously opposed the application — to pay her up to $450 million.

The couple are at war over the husband’s billion-dollar empire

The couple cannot be named because the Family Court suppresses identities of parties appearing before the court.

The court rejected the wife’s injunction application as “unjustified” in a recently published judgment.

Justice Michael Baumann ruled that the husband moved money overseas in the natural course of building his business empire.

Restricting the husband’s money movements had the potential to diminish or destroy the wealth pool and impact shareholders, the judge told the court.

The husband also claimed he sold assets to “fund business operations” and give his wife $10.8 million.

Also sinking the wife’s injunction application was that she had already entered a financial agreement with the husband that paid her $10.8 million, which the court would need to reverse.

The wife also received properties in Australia worth more than $10 million, was committed to a development in another country, and had $9.6 million in her bank accounts.

He was also set to transfer her another property and make a “balancing payment” to the wife if it was valued less than $15 million.

The couple cannot be identified because the proceedings are in the Family Court of Australia

The wife was also receiving $30,000 a month from the husband to meet her and their children’s expenses and was to be paid $1 million over four years in “spousal maintenance”.

The wife’s lawyers told the court she wanted to set aside the financial agreement and pursue a much larger settlement of up to $450 million.

In response, the husband’s lawyers told the court this would outstrip his assets in Australia, worth about $174 million.

The court heard the majority of the husband’s wealth had traditionally been held overseas and that he conducted his business operations in multiple countries.

In making the injunction application, the wife accused the husband of spousal abuse during their marriage.

This included claims that he “exercised financial control” and “isolated” her from “family and friends”.

The wife also claimed he “exerted coercive control” and made her sign their financial agreement under “duress” via “false marriage representations”.

She claimed he did this while being aware she suffered from “alcohol addiction”.

The husband denied the allegations.

In rejecting the application, Justice Baumann told the court: “The wife has not established at this stage that the husband has either an intention or a scheme to reduce the pool of interests in Australia.”

“The wife has not pointed to any evidence of funds leaving Australia.”

The ruling does not prevent her from launching future actions.

The case continues.

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Originally published as Billionaire’s ex-wife fighting in court for $450m slice of his global fortune