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Billionaire's wife gets £230m after husband said ‘you'll have to work at Tesco'
A billionaire's wife has won £230 million in her divorce after he threatened that she would have to work at Tesco.
The wife, whose name was not revealed, was awarded the third-largest divorce settlement in English history after the Family Court found her husband's coercive behaviour eroded his wife's free will.
Justice Cobb found that the husband 'deployed a number of scare tactics' to rattle his former partner.
The judgment found he told his wife that if she adhered to a postnuptial agreement they signed in 2021, she would bankrupt the family, and she would end up 'working on the tills at Tesco'.
The wife, who was diagnosed with anxiety and depression following their separation, said she felt 'cornered' and 'trapped' by his behaviour, the judgment read.
Justice Cobb also found that the husband ostracised his wife from her lawyer, as he 'sought to drive a wedge between them for his own advantage'.
In reaching a decision, Justice Cobb said: 'I am satisfied, from all that I have read and heard, that the wife was ultimately placed in a position of obvious disadvantage.
'I am further satisfied that the husband sought to frighten the wife by telling her that he would 'explode' the trusts and that consequently the family would become bankrupt.'
The judgment said the pair had come from relatively modest financial backgrounds.
The wife said her family was 'very poor' and the judgment heard that the pair began married life with 'zero... absolutely nothing'.
The now-separated couple, who have three children educated at day and boarding schools in England, became wealthy after the entrepreneurial husband floated his company.
'Rich beyond our wildest dreams'
In 2012, the husband founded a technology company, which led to an estimated wealth of £1.5 billion, which the wife described as being 'rich beyond our wildest dreams'.
Six years later, the couple decided to relocate to the UK, due to security fears in their own country and to provide their children with an English education.
The judgment revealed that by 2020, the couple's marriage was bound by the country they had left, known as 'Country A'.
This meant that all the assets acquired during their marriage were owned equally and subject to equal division on divorce.
In the summer of 2022, the marriage ended, and the couple separated before the wife issued an application for divorce on Sept 2.
At that time, it is estimated they had amassed a wealth of £2.3 billion.
'A landmark judgment'
Claire Gordon, the Farrer and Co partner who represented the wife, said: 'In this landmark judgment, the Family Court has recognised the strain that a build-up of persistent and attritional conduct places on relationships, and that this can ultimately erode a person's free will.
'There does not need to be a 'blow up' event or an interaction for there to be improper pressure or control – the effects of such conduct are insidious.
'It was a privilege to support our client in this case, which we expect to have wider implications for others in a similar situation.'
