A High Court judge today cautioned Sir Frederick Barclay that “the debt will not go away,” adding that the billionaire should be “ashamed” for leaving his ex-wife destitute as their legal dispute over a £100 million divorce settlement proceeded.
Following the dissolution of his 34-year marriage, The Daily Telegraph tycoon, 87, was facing punishment for contempt of court after failing to pay Lady Hiroko Barclay, 79, approximately £250,000 in legal fees and maintenance.
Previously, Lady Barclay had requested that Sir Frederick be imprisoned on the grounds that he had disobeyed court orders to pay her more than £100 million by failing to pay her two lump payments of £50 million.
However, Sir Frederick was exonerated last month when Sir Jonathan Cohen said he was not in contempt for failing to pay the enormous amounts because Lady Barclay had not shown he had the financial wherewithal to do so.
However, the court did decide that he was in contempt for failing to pay the £245,000 he owed for maintenance and legal costs since he had the money to do so.
Stewart Leech QC, who represents Lady Barclay, said at a hearing on Thursday that although the £245,000 debt had been paid, “Sir Frederick remains substantially in default, and there still isn’t a strategy for payment of the £100m.”
Sir Jonathan said that he would postpone for three months his judgement on whether to punish Sir Frederick, which may include prison time.
The Barclay brothers, a pair of identical twins, were prominent businesspeople in the UK. They have financial ties to The Ritz hotel in London and Telegraph Media Group. Age 86, Sir David passed away in January of last year.
‘It should be a matter of shame for Sir Frederick and his nephews that Lady Barclay is left with almost no financial means for the future,’ the court said today.
“Do Sir Frederick and the nephews really anticipate and want to see her go without receiving even a cent of her award?”
“I find it extraordinary that every family member is willing to dig deep into their pockets to keep Sir Frederick out of jail but will do nothing to help Lady Barclay, who has been the biggest victim in this, especially now that I have determined that she is entitled—and I emphasise entitled—to the award I made, which will be paid out of Sir Frederick’s share of the fortune he and his brother amassed.
The debt won’t go away, therefore I anticipate Sir Frederick to personally work with his nephews to find a solution.
If the matter was left in the hands of attorneys, Sir Jonathan said, “I would not be impressed.”
He continued, “There have to be meetings and continuous genuine attempts to be made to find a path through this.”
Sir Frederick was requested to get a five-week jail term with a suspended sentence at the brief hearing at the High Court in London, according to Mr. Leech.
He said the court, “The trend is that Sir Frederick just ignores these directives until his feet are pushed to the fire.”
However, Charles Howard QC representing Sir Frederick claimed that no injunction was necessary since the businessman had “purged his disdain” with a loan from Amanda, a daughter of Sir Frederick and Lady Barclay.
The court was also informed that further legal fees and up to six months’ worth of maintenance payments were in controversy.
According to Mr. Howard, “Amanda has made it obvious that she is not going to contribute any more money” and “My client has no money.”
It happened when Lady Hiroko said that her former husband and Sir David, his twin brother, got into a fight at sea over ownership of their respective enterprises.
She said that Sir Frederick fought with his identical twin on a boat in her testimony during their end-of-July divorce hearing in London.
The Barclay brothers were among the most well-known businesspeople in the UK. They have financial ties to The Ritz hotel in London and Telegraph Media Group. Age 86, Sir David passed away in January of last year.
According to Lady Hiroko, Sir Frederick and his brother David spent £2.3 million for the freehold of Brecqhou, one of the Channel Islands, in 1993.
She also said that her ex-husband and his brother once got into a fight while they were both away from home about how their companies were being conducted.
She informed the court, “There was a brawl on a boat on the trip, and they were hitting each other.”
It is unknown whether the claimed brawl took place on board the Leander G superyacht, which the brothers are said to have purchased in or around 2016.
She also said that Sir Frederick had the money to pay but was planning to “stretch things out” until “one of us dies,” according to Sir Jonathan Cohen, who started preside over a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London on Monday.
Sir Frederick contests her assertions.
Sir Frederick had “the wherewithal to pay,” according to Lady Barclay, who added: “For him to say otherwise is untrue.”
In a written witness statement, she said that Sir Jonathan “has no regard for me or the court.”
His only goal is to drag things out while hiding behind a web of intricate arrangements, which were originally created to avoid paying taxes, so that our daughter Amanda may take care of all of his financial requirements until one of us passes away.
Additionally, the family has ties to Monaco and the Channel Islands.
After seeing their financial dispute, Sir Jonathan decided that Sir Frederick should pay Lady Barclay payments totaling £100 million.
The judge criticised Sir Frederick, calling his conduct “reprehensible.”
He said that the businessman had disobeyed rules when he sold a luxurious boat and “used the equity for his personal purposes.”
According to the court, Lady Barclay sought £120 million, but Sir Frederick’s offer may have left her with nothing.
While Sir Frederick claimed to have been kicked out of a “palatial” central London home because he couldn’t pay the mortgage, according to Lady Barclay’s witness statement, he had continued to live there for a number of months “seemingly undisturbed, with access to his ballroom and purpose-built oxygen chamber and attended by his housekeeper, security guard, and driver.”
Sir Frederick has been evicted, according to his attorneys.
Lady Barclay reacted to Frederick’s inability to pay the divorce settlement money by saying, “Frederick claims he cannot pay. He claims he is cashless.
I don’t think he’s real. He is not unable to pay; rather, he is unwilling to do so. He’s never had any desire to do it.
He has no regard for me or the Court, she continued. His only goal is to drag things out while hiding behind a web of intricate arrangements, which were originally created to avoid paying taxes, so that our daughter Amanda may take care of all of his financial requirements until one of us passes away.
If Frederick passes away before I receive my first lump sum, my monthly maintenance will end, she continued. After a relationship/marriage of nearly fifty years, where our standard of living was beyond extravagant, I will be left practically penniless and almost certainly homeless.
Additionally, Lady Barclay states that Sir Frederick’s daughter Amanda has taken on the role of his “de facto banker” and is in control of all financial and commercial concerns that he professes to be ignorant of.