At the conclusion of Britain’s longest-running and most bitter divorce battle, Mr Justice Moor ruled that property and telecoms magnate Scot Young is actually worth £45m and is “hiding the truth” from his wife Michelle Young.
Despite this, 49 year old fashion buyer Michelle Young, who sought £300m from her husband, stated that the judgment was “disgraceful”, continuing to claim that Scot Young is “worth billions” and vowed to appeal the decision.
Michelle and Scot Young
Court judgment
In his judgment at the end of the proceedings, which took some 7 years to conclude, Mr Justice Moor determined that almost all of the debts that led Scot Young to be made bankrupt in 2010 were not now in existence. The Judge decided that he believed that Scot Young had stolen £20m in share certificates from his former lawyer in 2006, and had also received other payments totalling another £20m which he had never revealed to the Court.
The Judge also said that the evidence Michelle Young had exposed “supports the conclusion that he is not a penniless man of straw with huge debts”. The Judge said that he believed the “wads of cash” being provided to the tycoon by his friends “came from his own hidden resources, in part held for him by third parties”.
He also concluded that Scot Young still owned properties, albeit held in the names of other people.
In early 2013, Scot Young was jailed for six months after being found in contempt of Court for failing to provide full financial disclosure to his wife. Mr Justice Moor said:
“Overall, there is no doubt that the husband has not given full and frank disclosure,” adding that “the central question as to how he lost his money remains unanswered”.
The Judge made clear his frustration at trying to calculate what Scot Young was worth “due to the significant number of lies told by the husband to so many people over such a long period of time.”
That said, he also determined that Michelle Young was also at fault, concluding:
“She sees conspiracy everywhere.”
He criticised the fact that she had made a number of “extremely serious allegations” against a variety of well-known businessmen, including Simon Cowell and the billionaire Topshop entrepreneur Sir Philip Green – none of which could be substantiated. Later he added:
“I have to be highly critical of the way in which the case has been conducted at various times by both parties. In many respects, this is about as bad an example of how not to litigate as any I have ever encountered.”
The Judge also articulated his amazement that the legal case had cost Michelle Young £6.5m, although he said that Scot Young should pay £5m towards that figure as his failure to provide “full disclosure” had been the cause of the significant delays.
Outside Court, Michelle Young was forthright in her vow to continue her fight. She said:
“My husband has been allowed to make a mockery of the justice system for seven years, lying and cheating at every turn… He has repeatedly failed to disclose how he lost his money which has led Scot Justice Moor to draw the inevitable conclusion: he has hidden a fortune”.
Scot Young declined to comment but it seems that, particularly insofar as Michelle Young is concerned, there may be more of the saga to come, irrespective of the cost.
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