Wright billion-dollar ‘fraud’ claim headed for High Court

The black sheep of a WA oligarch is taking his “fraudster” siblings to the High Court. The fight stems from a 1987 agreement

Julian Wright at the Supreme Court in Perth. He is one of the heirs to the Wright Prospecting fortune and is fighting his siblings in court.

The black sheep of one of Western Australia’s iron ore oligarchs is trying to take his case against his “fraudster” siblings to the High Court in an effort to reclaim a share of the family’s ­multibillion-dollar fortune.

Julian Wright, who sold his share of Wright Prospecting and his father Peter Wright’s estate to his sister Angela Bennett and his late brother Michael Wright for a tiny sliver of its current value, has lodged an application to the High Court arguing that the state’s Court of Appeal made a series of errors when it upheld an earlier Supreme Court ruling.

The WA Supreme Court had previously found that while ­Julian had been defrauded out of his interests in the family iron ore empire, he was not entitled to any compensation, given both the time taken to bring the claim and the terms of a 2008 settlement deed in which his children received tens of millions of dollars in exchange for extinguishing any current or future claims to a stake in Wright Prospecting.

His appeal was dismissed earlier this year.

Billionaire Angela Bennett with Terri Ann McLarty. Supplied.

The application to the High Court is particularly critical of the findings handed down by Court of Appeal president Justice Michael Buss, accusing him of failing to engage with Julian’s submissions and including “many errors” in his reasons.

The application also argues that the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal had failed to identify how and when Julian had learned of the fraud against him. The timing of that moment is important in determining whether Julian’s claim should be barred under the statute of limitations, with Julian’s team arguing that he fully learned of the scale of the fraud only after he launched the legal claim in 2017.

The fight stems from a 1987 agreement in which ­Michael and Angela bought ­Julian’s Wright Prospecting shares and his entitlements to his father’s estate. Julian accepted only a nominal amount for his share of the estate after being provided documents showing that his father’s estate was insolvent.

According to Julian’s application, the pair knew the statements were false by the time they executed the agreement to buy Julian’s interests.

Documents since unearthed have shown that Michael and Angela were aware around that time that their ­father’s estate was entitled to one-quarter of the iron ore royalties stemming from the mining ventures built up by him and his business partner Lang Hancock, which would have made Julian’s interest in the estate far more valuable.

The other quarter shares of the royalties went to Wright Prospecting, Mr Hancock and Hancock Prospecting.

Lawyers for Angela and ­Michael’s children, Leonie ­Baldock and Alexandra Burt, have consistently argued that any claim against them was extinguished under the 2008 deed.

Julian’s application argues that the clauses under the deed prohibiting any future claim should not stand, given he was unaware of the fraud against him at that time.

Angela’sBennett’s share of the Wright fortune has delivered her a net wealth of $4.54bn, according to The Australian’s The List of the nation’s richest people. Ms Baldock and Ms Burt are estimated to be worth about $3.21bn combined.