Latest news with #McKillen
Business Mayor
18-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Paddy McKillen's billion-pound legal battle over Claridge's hotel reaches ‘high noon'
A three-person arbitration panel convened privately in London this week to try to resolve a dispute over Claridge's hotel that forms the centrepiece of one of the most acrimonious, and potentially lucrative, legal battles of the past decade. On one side is Paddy McKillen, the wealthy Irish property developer who owns a whiskey distillery with U2 star Bono. On the other, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, the billionaire former prime minister of Qatar known as HBJ. McKillen claims he is owed up to £1 billion (€1.2 billion) for his work at three of the world's most glamorous hotels – Claridge's, the Connaught and the Berkeley – all located in rarefied central London postcodes. McKillen, 70, and HBJ, 66, were once close allies, spending time together on yachts and in swanky hotels. But this week's arbitration is unfolding amid a bitter legal battle, spanning at least a dozen claims and disputes in Europe and the US, between the former friends and their associates. Three arbitrators – one chosen by each side, and a third chosen by the other two, according to those familiar with the terms – will now decide who emerges claiming victory. [ Irish businessman Paddy McKillen claims he is victim of 'smear campaign' by Qatari royal family ] While sources said it may take as long as two months for a decision to be reached, a resolution to a dispute that began three years ago may now be in sight. 'It's high noon,' said one person close to the process. Claridge's – the 169-year-old luxury Mayfair hotel that was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth II – is the crown jewel in a multibillion-pound portfolio of high end London properties owned by Qatar and wealthy members of its ruling family. Belfast-born McKillen, who went into property in the 1980s after a stint working in his family's exhaust repair business, first invested in Claridge's in 2004. His investment came under threat in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, when the Barclay brothers tried to seize control of Claridge's, the Connaught and the Berkeley, now known collectively as the Maybourne Hotel Group. McKillen secured Qatari backing to help resolve his legal battle with the Barclays, former owners of the Telegraph newspaper. The 2015 rescue saw HBJ and the former Qatari emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani (HBK), take full control of Maybourne in a £1.3 billion deal that resolved McKillen's legal case, wiped out his debts and reduced his equity in the hotels to zero. The Qataris subsequently agreed to an unconventional deal that McKillen hoped would allow him to share in the future upside of the hotels. Under the terms of the seven-year contract, McKillen's business, Hume Street Management Consultants (HSMC), would refurbish, manage and extend the hotels. The deal granted McKillen 36 per cent of any subsequent increase in valuation across the three hotels, minus the costs of the work. But his involvement in the hotels – due to end in December 2022 – was cut short in April of that year, when McKillen was unexpectedly told by the Qataris he would no longer be working for them. The size of McKillen's unpaid earnings from this arrangement sit at the heart of the dispute playing out this week in London. McKillen argues that the extensive refurbishment work at Claridge's – which included adding an opulent underground spa and a £60,000-per-night penthouse suite, replete with 75 Damien Hirst artworks – has helped substantially boost Claridge's value. The developer argues that those improvements, allied to a buoyant luxury hotel market post-Covid, means his payout should be in the hundreds of millions. However, sources close to the Qataris claim the significant costs of work at the hotels means McKillen is owed substantially less than he claims. Even so, those close to the Qataris acknowledge McKillen is still owed something. One person with knowledge of the dispute said that given the baseline value of £1.3 billion, and about £600 million-£700 million in costs, any valuation above £2 billion would mean McKillen is entitled to 36 per cent of the upside thereafter. Estimates being talked about by advisers have varied between less than £3 billion to over £5 billion, according to one person with knowledge of the situation, which would equate to a payout of more than £1 billion at the top end. There have been attempts at mediation, according to one person with knowledge of the situation, with the most recent taking place in autumn 2023, after McKillen withdrew an attempt to extend the claim over a number of newer luxury hotels in the US and France, leaving the focus on the original three sites in London that had been the portfolio over the seven-year period. Read More McDonald's shares the love of a McDelivery In the meantime, the two sides appear to have been waging commercial lawfare. Claims and counterclaims have been filed across multiple countries, relating to developments owned by HBJ, or his associates and companies connected with them, on which McKillen claims refurbishment or development work. People familiar with the Qataris' position claim McKillen thought he could 'embarrass' them into striking a deal by filing lawsuits that generated headlines and scrutiny of the complex ownership structures that often lie behind property acquisitions. They point to some of the victories secured so far in courts over McKillen. McKillen's side argues the Qataris have been equally aggressive in their attempts to get him to back down from the Claridge's dispute. Representatives for McKillen and the Qatari owners of Claridge's declined to comment on the confidential arbitration process. In a statement, a spokesperson for McKillen said: 'It is right that he has taken, and will continue to take, all necessary steps to enforce his rights. As Mr McKillen has made clear over the four-year period since his departure from the Maybourne Hotel Group, he will not be deterred by any attempted campaign to cause damage to his business interests or smear his reputation.' The Financial Times has identified a dozen legal clashes between the two sides – mainly in the UK, France or the US – often seeking money for work that McKillen and his companies say has been carried out for the Qataris and associated groups. Work for which McKillen claims he has not been paid. Other cases have been started by the Qataris, which claim McKillen used Maybourne contractors, paid for by Maybourne, to undertake work at his hotel in France last July. McKillen denies the allegations. The cases involve luxury properties, including hotels on the French Riviera and in Paris and Bel-Air, California, and homes in Manhattan and London. McKillen is claiming tens of millions of pounds of unpaid fees. Read More Banker bonuses return to a bailed out bank In March, a high court judge in the UK prevented McKillen's HSMC from serving a £3.7 million claim outside England, in a dispute over fees for work at Forbes House, a grade II listed mansion in Belgravia, bought by HBJ in 2016. HSMC has appealed against the ruling and is seeking renewed permission to serve proceedings. McKillen has started new proceedings in his own name. Separately, McKillen was convicted this year of verbally assaulting a female bailiff in his apartment on the Place Vendôme, a grand public square in Paris. The bailiff had entered his property with a locksmith in a dispute over mortgage repayments to a Qatar-owned private wealth manager. McKillen is appealing against the decision. He denies any violence or wrongdoing, has filed an ethics complaint before the Paris disciplinary chamber of bailiffs, and his lawyers have in the past described the case as 'part of a more general smear campaign' against him. Most recently, in April, McKillen filed a lawsuit in a California district court alleging that HBK and HBJ, as well as several of their business associates and related companies, sought to defraud him. He alleges they did not pay for his firm's work at a number of properties which are already the focus of other cases, using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Qatar has denied the claims. 'Paddy McKillen and associated parties have orchestrated claims across multiple jurisdictions, all of which are either ongoing or have been struck out by the courts. We will continue to contest these claims and prove the assertions and allegations to be unsubstantiated and entirely false,' said a spokesperson for Maybourne. The latest case under the RICO act adds to a long and costly list of lawsuits. However, the hundreds of millions of pounds at stake in the Claridge's arbitration is the real prize for both sides. The sight of expensive tabs being quietly settled is a familiar one in the hotel's luxurious bars and restaurants. With the panel of arbitration in London totting up how much the Qataris owe McKillen, the owners of Claridge's will soon find out just how large their own bill will be. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
Belfast Telegraph
05-05-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Lawyers for Belfast-born businessman cite example of World Cup workers in Qatar pay dispute
Belfast-born tycoon is using America's Rico Act to bring a case against the Qatari royals who, he says, owe him millions, writes Sean Pollock Paddy McKillen's lawyers have accused members of the Qatari royal family of exploiting his services in a luxury hotel empire expansion, citing 'striking similarities' to other practices by the Qataris, including claims that migrant construction workers were not paid during the World Cup. The court complaint filed by McKillen's lawyers in the Central District of California was put forward under America's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (Rico) Act. Under this kind of case, McKillen's legal team must establish a pattern of alleged racketeering activity, meaning they must provide previous examples they claim show such actions – such as allegations that companies linked to the Qataris failed to pay workers in the past.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
An Irish hotelier, Qatari royals and a federal lawsuit involving a Beverly Hills hotel
As Irish hotelier Patrick McKillen tells it, he met the former emir of Qatar on a yacht in Doha to discuss a business opportunity in California, more than 8,000 miles away. McKillen and Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani were discussing the purchase of a Beverly Hills hotel, which McKillen said he committed to managing and redeveloping. Now that hotel — the Maybourne Beverly Hills — is at the center of a civil racketeering complaint filed in the Central District of California on Tuesday, in which McKillen accuses Qatari royals of orchestrating "a global scheme" to defraud him and his company of hundreds of millions of dollars for work completed on several luxury properties. In the lawsuit, McKillen, who reportedly co-owns a whiskey distillery with U2 frontman Bono, said he and his team 'undertook a massive redevelopment effort' on the Beverly Hills hotel — where rooms go for more than $1,000 a night — over a two-year period, but were not paid millions of dollars allegedly owed for the work done. McKillen, a citizen of Ireland and the United Kingdom, brought the complaint against senior members of the royal family, including Hamad bin Khalifa; and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former prime minister known as 'HBJ'; as well as the family's agents, representatives and controlled businesses. In the complaint, which encompasses claims already being litigated in courts around the world, McKillen alleges that the schemes against him and his company, Hume Street Management Consultants Limited, "are part of a years' long pattern of illegal racketeering orchestrated by the Qatari royals and are in line with a history of illicit, lawless actions." McKillen's lawyers declined to comment. 'This is the latest of many vacuous claims made by Paddy McKillen and associated parties across multiple jurisdictions, all of which are either on-going or have been struck out by the courts," the Qatari-owned Maybourne Hotel Group said in a statement. "As with the other claims, we will contest this latest claim and prove the allegations to be entirely false.' The federal lawsuit filed in Los Angeles is the latest action taken by McKillen in his long-running legal dispute with the Qatari royal family, a conflict that has made headlines around the world. He has filed actions in the U.S., France and the United Kingdom. The Maybourne Beverly Hills is also the subject of a breach of contract lawsuit that was filed by McKillen's company in Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2022. That court denied a motion by the company that owns the hotel to force McKillen's company into arbitration. The decision is under appeal. "It appears that Mr. McKillen would prefer to litigate in the press rather than continue the actions he initiated in the United States, UK, and France and await their outcome," Jason D. Russell, who is representing Hamad bin Jassim in California actions, said in an email. "Our client remains confident that these claims, like the myriad others he has filed, will be found to lack merit in a court or by an arbitrator." Earlier this year, the High Court in London set aside McKillen's company's permission to serve a claim on Hamad bin Jassim outside of the jurisdiction, finding it had failed to show a real prospect of success, according to court documents. The claim, for around £3.6 million (about $4.8 million), was tied the development of a private home in London for Hamad bin Jassim. The company's appeal was refused earlier this month, according to British court records. McKillen was also convicted in Paris earlier this year of being physically and verbally aggressive to a bailiff who was in his apartment in the city because of the alleged nonpayment of a loan to the Luxembourg-based Quintet Private Bank. McKillen's lawyers told the Irish Times that their client 'vigorously denies any violence or any wrongdoing' against the bailiff and claimed the allegations against him were 'false." McKillen, who was reportedly fined €10,000 (about $11,377) over the incident, has appealed the conviction. By the time the Qatari royal family approached McKillen about the California hotel in 2019, he said he had been working on projects with them for years. According to the federal complaint filed in California, in 2004, McKillen acquired shares in a group of luxury hotels that came to be known as the Maybourne Hotel Group. Despite later selling his shares in the group to a company owned by Hamad bin Jassim, McKillen said he continued to manage and redevelop the Maybourne Hotel Group and its hotels at the direction of the royals. Hamad bin Khalifa later acquired an interest in the Maybourne Hotel Group, according to the complaint. McKillen said he and his company had been tasked with the management and redevelopment of the refurbishment of a Manhattan mansion owned by Hamad bin Jassim in 2018; the construction and development of a new Parisian hotel on the site of the historic Îlot Saint-Germain building in 2019; and the management and redevelopment of the newly branded Maybourne Beverly Hills hotel in 2019. McKillen alleges that for each of those projects, the Qatari royals told him he would be compensated through fees for services performed, but that at some point, 'the Qatari Royals decided, in secret, that they would not, in fact, be compensating Mr. McKillen or HSMC.' McKillen alleged in the complaint that he and his company were strung along 'under false representations' that they would be paid. The complaint detailed the October 2019 meeting on a yacht in Doha, Qatar, between McKillen and Hamad bin Khalifa to discuss the opportunity for the royal family to acquire the California hotel, then known as the Montage Beverly Hills. McKillen said he presented a vision for the hotel to Hamad bin Khalifa and 'gave his commitment to manage and strategically redevelop' it. A holding company owned by Hamad bin Khalifa purchased the hotel later that year, according to the complaint. In the complaint, McKillen said a representative of the family confirmed that he and his company would be compensated with fees paid for work performed on the hotel. During the next two years, McKillen said he and his team transitioned the hotel to the Maybourne brand and led the hotel's development and management. In July 2021, according to the complaint, McKillen submitted a fee proposal to an advisor to the Al Thani family, stating that his company was owed $6 million in project management fees on an annual basis, to be paid quarterly, from January 2020 to January 2025. That proposal was 'met with stonewalling by the Qatari Royals,' the complaint alleges. After months passed with no payment, McKillen said, he wrote a letter to Hamad bin Khalifa and Hamad bin Jassim telling them about the refusal to pay him fees owed and stating that he could no longer work on the project. McKillen later sent an additional invoice for $12 million in project management fees for work performed in California in 2020 and 2021, according to the complaint. He alleges that none of those fees had been paid. The Qatari royals are facing a separate legal battle over the Maybourne Riviera, after French authorities sued them for allegedly breaching planning and environmental regulations and illegally building on land exposed to 'seismic risks," according to an Irish Times article. The newspaper reported that, at a recent hearing, a representative for the Al Thani family blamed McKillen. McKillen told that news outlet that the alleged breaches occurred two years after he was fired from the project in April 2022. 'The damage was done after we left," he told the outlet. "The French state isn't suing me, it's suing the Qataris.' Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
25-04-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Irish hotelier sues Qatari royals over alleged fraud in Beverly Hills deal
As Irish hotelier Patrick McKillen tells it, he met the former emir of Qatar on a yacht in Doha to discuss a business opportunity in California, more than 8,000 miles away. McKillen and Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani were discussing the purchase of a Beverly Hills hotel, which McKillen said he committed to managing and redeveloping. Now that hotel — the Maybourne Beverly Hills — is at the center of a civil racketeering complaint filed in the Central District of California on Tuesday, in which McKillen accuses Qatari royals of orchestrating 'a global scheme' to defraud him and his company of hundreds of millions of dollars for work completed on several luxury properties. In the lawsuit, McKillen, who reportedly co-owns a whiskey distillery with U2 frontman Bono, said he and his team 'undertook a massive redevelopment effort' on the Beverly Hills hotel — where rooms go for more than $1,000 a night — over a two-year period, but were not paid millions of dollars allegedly owed for the work done. McKillen, a citizen of Ireland and the United Kingdom, brought the complaint against senior members of the royal family, including Hamad bin Khalifa; and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former prime minister known as 'HBJ'; as well as the family's agents, representatives and controlled businesses. In the complaint, which encompasses claims already being litigated in courts around the world, McKillen alleges that the schemes against him and his company, Hume Street Management Consultants Limited, 'are part of a years' long pattern of illegal racketeering orchestrated by the Qatari royals and are in line with a history of illicit, lawless actions.' McKillen's lawyers declined to comment. 'This is the latest of many vacuous claims made by Paddy McKillen and associated parties across multiple jurisdictions, all of which are either on-going or have been struck out by the courts,' the Qatari-owned Maybourne Hotel Group said in a statement. 'As with the other claims, we will contest this latest claim and prove the allegations to be entirely false.' The federal lawsuit filed in Los Angeles is the latest action taken by McKillen in his long-running legal dispute with the Qatari royal family, a conflict that has made headlines around the world. He has filed actions in the U.S., France and the United Kingdom. The Maybourne Beverly Hills is also the subject of a breach of contract lawsuit that was filed by McKillen's company in Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2022. That court denied a motion by the company that owns the hotel to force McKillen's company into arbitration. The decision is under appeal. 'It appears that Mr. McKillen would prefer to litigate in the press rather than continue the actions he initiated in the United States, UK, and France and await their outcome,' Jason D. Russell, who is representing Hamad bin Jassim in California actions, said in an email. 'Our client remains confident that these claims, like the myriad others he has filed, will be found to lack merit in a court or by an arbitrator.' Earlier this year, the High Court in London set aside McKillen's company's permission to serve a claim on Hamad bin Jassim outside of the jurisdiction, finding it had failed to show a real prospect of success, according to court documents. The claim, for around £3.6 million (about $4.8 million), was tied the development of a private home in London for Hamad bin Jassim. The company's appeal was refused earlier this month, according to British court records. McKillen was also convicted in Paris earlier this year of being physically and verbally aggressive to a bailiff who was in his apartment in the city because of the alleged nonpayment of a loan to the Luxembourg-based Quintet Private Bank. McKillen's lawyers told the Irish Times that their client 'vigorously denies any violence or any wrongdoing' against the bailiff and claimed the allegations against him were 'false.' McKillen, who was reportedly fined €10,000 (about $11,377) over the incident, has appealed the conviction. By the time the Qatari royal family approached McKillen about the California hotel in 2019, he said he had been working on projects with them for years. According to the federal complaint filed in California, in 2004, McKillen acquired shares in a group of luxury hotels that came to be known as the Maybourne Hotel Group. Despite later selling his shares in the group to a company owned by Hamad bin Jassim, McKillen said he continued to manage and redevelop the Maybourne Hotel Group and its hotels at the direction of the royals. Hamad bin Khalifa later acquired an interest in the Maybourne Hotel Group, according to the complaint. McKillen said he and his company had been tasked with the management and redevelopment of the refurbishment of a Manhattan mansion owned by Hamad bin Jassim in 2018; the construction and development of a new Parisian hotel on the site of the historic Îlot Saint-Germain building in 2019; and the management and redevelopment of the newly branded Maybourne Beverly Hills hotel in 2019. McKillen alleges that for each of those projects, the Qatari royals told him he would be compensated through fees for services performed, but that at some point, 'the Qatari Royals decided, in secret, that they would not, in fact, be compensating Mr. McKillen or HSMC.' McKillen alleged in the complaint that he and his company were strung along 'under false representations' that they would be paid. The complaint detailed the October 2019 meeting on a yacht in Doha, Qatar, between McKillen and Hamad bin Khalifa to discuss the opportunity for the royal family to acquire the California hotel, then known as the Montage Beverly Hills. McKillen said he presented a vision for the hotel to Hamad bin Khalifa and 'gave his commitment to manage and strategically redevelop' it. A holding company owned by Hamad bin Khalifa purchased the hotel later that year, according to the complaint. In the complaint, McKillen said a representative of the family confirmed that he and his company would be compensated with fees paid for work performed on the hotel. During the next two years, McKillen said he and his team transitioned the hotel to the Maybourne brand and led the hotel's development and management. In July 2021, according to the complaint, McKillen submitted a fee proposal to an advisor to the Al Thani family, stating that his company was owed $6 million in project management fees on an annual basis, to be paid quarterly, from January 2020 to January 2025. That proposal was 'met with stonewalling by the Qatari Royals,' the complaint alleges. After months passed with no payment, McKillen said, he wrote a letter to Hamad bin Khalifa and Hamad bin Jassim telling them about the refusal to pay him fees owed and stating that he could no longer work on the project. McKillen later sent an additional invoice for $12 million in project management fees for work performed in California in 2020 and 2021, according to the complaint. He alleges that none of those fees had been paid. The Qatari royals are facing a separate legal battle over the Maybourne Riviera, after French authorities sued them for allegedly breaching planning and environmental regulations and illegally building on land exposed to 'seismic risks,' according to an Irish Times article. The newspaper reported that, at a recent hearing, a representative for the Al Thani family blamed McKillen. McKillen told that news outlet that the alleged breaches occurred two years after he was fired from the project in April 2022. 'The damage was done after we left,' he told the outlet. 'The French state isn't suing me, it's suing the Qataris.'
