Margin Call: The man who beat Lew to Thai villa

Illustration: Rod Clement

His name is Christian Larpin. He may or may not be a Swiss billionaire.

But after much digging, Margin Call can reveal he’s the man who beat Solomon Lew to a roughly $5 million villa in Thailand’s holiday oasis of Phuket.

On the other side of Southeast Asia’s most contentious property transaction was Singapore-based Kai Nargolwala, a board member of Swiss investment banking giant Credit ­Suisse, and wealthy wife Aparna.

Credit Suisse’s Kai Nargolwala.

As Margin Call revealed this week, the luxury property sale involved a transfer of shares from a holding company, Querencia Limited, which is domiciled in the tax-friendly British Virgin Islands.

That transfer enraged the indisputable billionaire Lew, who is arguing in court cases in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and Singapore’s High Court that he made a “verbal agreement” with Nargolwala’s camp on October 11 last year to buy the villa.

In summary, Lew wants the place. Now. Evidently Nargolwala and wife Aparna had a different take on the villa conversation with Lew.

On November 16, only a month later, they transferred the shares out of their company Querencia and into Quo Vadis Investments Limited, one of Larpin’s many Hong Kong-incorporated companies.

Premier Investments chairman Solomon Lew. Picture: AAP

By November 24 — as Lew was briefing his lawyers at offshore “magic circle” practice Maples and Calder — the ­Larpins were enjoying the first evening at what Christian’s glamorous wife Corina described to her friends as their “new Phuket refuge”.

The international jetsetters have been in and out the luxe pad ever since.

We gather Corina has a particular predilection for the infinity pool, with its sweeping views of across the Andaman Sea.

Christian, for his part, is said to be enjoying a tropical backdrop worthy of his white loafers.

Meanwhile Lew has had to make do with his 54m superyacht Maridome, as he seeks vengeance on Credit Suisse’s Nargolwala.

One thing a few billion dollars can buy you is legal options, something the personally aggrieved Lew is now impressing on his Singaporean nemesis.

Man of mystery

Back to the man in the white suit, Christian Larpin. Who exactly is this Swiss Gatsby?

Corporate records in his two primary bases of Switzerland (where he has a financial consultancy) and Hong Kong (where he has almost 50 corporate vehicles, ranging from financial outfits to a charter yacht business, Michelangelo Cruises Limited) paint a entrepreneurial character.

Corina and Christian Larpin

So does his entry in the Paradise Papers, that trove of records from internationally minded business people who used the legal services of legal firm Appleby (another offshore “magic circle” practice with a focus on work in lax tax jurisdictions).

But is Larpin really a “Swiss billionaire” as the venerable Vietnam Investment Review reported last year?

Undoubtedly he is in Vietnamese dong (currently worth $0.0000585320 a piece). It’s not clear that his billionaire status continues when his fortune is converted into Australian or American dollars.

Still, he’s a man of some means. He’s also a character with some backstory.

Reports suggest almost 20 years ago he was the chairman and one-third owner of Elite Models, a firm that then represented among other amazons Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer.

Corina, enjoying her new Thai infinity pool.

For love nor money Margin Call yesterday couldn’t find a point of contact for the man-of-the-world Larpin.

According to the Vietnam Investment Review Larpin’s fortune is now spread across his Asia-focused investment fund, olive oil processing firms, his luxury cruise business, beachfront property in Vietnam’s Phu Quoc and a high-end jewellery outfit.

That last business would appear to be run by his Romanian-born wife.

Jeweller to the stars

Like her husband, Corina Larpin is a person of considerable entrepreneurism.

She’s the creative force behind Stefere, a jewellery brand popular with the celebrity set.

Madonna, Elton John, Nicki Minaj — name a pop star and there’s a picture of them in one of Larpin’s bedazzled creations.

Their popularity, along with her husband’s supplementary income, funds a fabulous life spanning West Hollywood’s Soho House, Hong Kong’s Peninsula and now her new refuge in Phuket.

Ready to rumble

Could the pugnacious Lew ruin this life of jetsetting bliss?

That’s one for the Singaporean High Court.

According to court documents, Larpin learned of Lew’s interest in the shares in the villa the day before Larpin settled on the property.

Margin Call gathers the target of Lew’s vengeance are the vendors, the Nargolwalas. But could the Larpins be colourful collateral?

With the cast of characters in this Thai boxing rumble, anything seems possible.