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Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle - Family - Nairaland

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Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by Nobody: 5:49pm On Jun 13, 2013

The ex-English wife of a Nigerian oil tycoon, Michael Prest, yesterday won a lengthy court battle in Britain for properties he owned worth millions of pounds, in a Supreme Court ruling with significant implications for divorcing couples.

Lawyers for Prest had claimed the properties were not his to hand over because they were legally owned by companies in his Petrodel group. But seven judges at the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, ruled unanimously in favour of his English wife Yasmin, who he married in 1993 and divorced in 2011.

They found the disputed properties were held on trust for Michael Prest and he was “beneficially entitled” to them, and as such they were eligible to be transferred to his ex-wife. Mr Prest was not in court to hear the judgement being delivered over the £17.5m divorce settlement.

The United Kigdom’s Supreme Court judgement marks the latest round of a lengthy legal cash dispute between the couple over Prest’s fortune. In October, the Court of Appeal ruled that a High Court judge had earlier wrongly ordered Mr Prest to transfer properties, worth millions of pounds and held in the names of companies he controlled, to Mrs Prest.

She then asked the Supreme Court, the highest court in the UK to assess the case, where seven judges yesterday unanimously allowed Mrs Prest’s appeal.

Prest, founder of Nigerian energy company Petrodel Resources, claimed to be worth about £48m.But Mrs Prest said he was worth much more than than that: “tens if not hundreds of millions” of pounds.

Mrs Prest said after the decision: “I’m delighted and relieved that the Supreme Court has ruled as it did. “I’m grateful to the judges for the care and thought they gave the case. It is more a case of satisfaction and relief than celebration. None of this would have been necessary if Michael had been sensible and played fair.”

Judges heard the couple in their early 50s married in 1993, spent most of their time in London, had properties in Nigeria and the Caribbean and lived to a “very high standard”.

Lawyers said the new ruling could have significant implications for divorcing couples.

The challenge concerned the position of a number of companies belonging to the Petrodel Group which are “wholly owned and controlled” by Mr Prest. One of the companies is the legal owner of five residential properties in the UK and another is the legal owner of two more.

The question the Supreme Court had to tackle was whether the court had power to order the transfer of the seven properties to Mrs Prest, given that they legally belonged to his companies, not him. Allowing Mrs Prest’s appeal, the court declared that the seven disputed properties vested in the companies were ones that Mr Prest was “entitled, either in possession or in reversion”.

One of the judges, Lord Jonathan Sumpton, said it was not possible to give “general guidance” following the ruling, saying the issue of whether company assets were beneficially owned by their controller was a “fact-specific issue”.

But family law experts said the ruling was highly significant. “It means that business people cannot deliberately ‘hide’ their assets in businesses and corporate structures to protect them in future in the event of a divorce,” said Alison Hawes, a specialist family lawyer at Irwin Mitchell.

Marilyn Stowe, senior partner of Stowe family law, said the ruling was a “victory for common sense” and the judges had found an “ingenious way” around existing company and family law.

Michael Hutchinson, a partner at law firm Mayer Brown, said experts would be poring over the “extraordinary” judgement for some time to try to understand its limits. “The Supreme Court has handed down a landmark decision in which, for the first time since at least the end of the 19th century, it has accepted a general exception to the rule against ‘piercing the corporate veil’,” he said.
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by Nobody: 7:54pm On Jun 13, 2013
SAGAMITE, come hear good news o, BWAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!
too bad Sagamite is no longer here, he would have cried his eyes out on this one. now all the fools who where saying that she would never get the money can go rest in peace.

here is the heavy fail of the day: she wanted $21Million (£13.5Million), the husband refused and went to appeal the judgment, but now has to pay £17,5Million ($26.5Million).....so trying to outsmart his wife, he lost $5Millions to her. PRICELESS!!!!

3 Likes

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by JohnnyPalmer: 8:01pm On Jun 13, 2013
The battle has bin ova a year naw, d fact is most divorce settlements always favour d woman, btw, why would he marry an oyinbo woman, dey are only afta d cash, if na naija gal naw, she go walk away for free, infact na she go dey beg you.

Jst joking oo, b4 una start 2 dey launch una attacks!
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by Nobody: 8:08pm On Jun 13, 2013
^^^i know its been a long battle, it has also been a long debate on NL..... check the thread here https://www.nairaland.com/878081/nigerian-billionaire-battles-british-wife

the greedy husband is supposedly worth £1 billion, and he should have paid that lady the pittance she was asking for (0.2% of his supposed fortune) ..... and be done with it!
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by untainted: 8:54pm On Jun 13, 2013
JohnnyPalmer: The battle has bin ova a year naw, d fact is most divorce settlements always favour d woman, btw, why would he marry an oyinbo woman, dey are only afta d cash, if na naija gal naw, she go walk away for free, infact na she go dey beg you.

Jst joking oo, b4 una start 2 dey launch una attacks!

Did you ask about her contribution to his wealth?
1993-2003 =20 years
How would you feel if you spend all your productive life with
someone and at 50 you are kicked to the kerb?
By the way, even in Nigeria depending on the specifics of a divorce case, if the
husband has plenty, let the wife take an equitable share.

1 Like

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by Nobody: 11:55pm On Jun 13, 2013
MRbrownJAY: ^^^i know its been a long battle, it has also been a long debate on NL..... check the thread here https://www.nairaland.com/878081/nigerian-billionaire-battles-british-wife

the greedy husband is supposedly worth £1 billion, and he should have paid that lady the pittance she was asking for (0.2% of his supposed fortune) ..... and be done with it!

I'm not sure he's worth that amount. He's worth should be around £400-600 million. Notwithstanding, he should have settled the greedy wife when he had the chance to, he should have known that family courts always favor the women 98 percent of the time.
He's now wasted his time and his money
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by Nobody: 12:04am On Jun 14, 2013
untainted:

Did you ask about her contribution to his wealth?
1993-2003 =20 years
How would you feel if you spend all your productive life with
someone and at 50 you are kicked to the kerb?
By the way, even in Nigeria depending on the specifics of a divorce case, if the
husband has plenty, let the wife take an equitable share.


So she deserves 17 million pounds because she lived with him for twenty years? Would she make that amount of money if they weren't married?

2 Likes

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by donchris999: 6:10am On Jun 14, 2013
Look at this one. Cant you leave nairaland and go and make your own millions. SMH... Your here spewing trash, instead of you to go and make your own millions and a woman from nowhere comes to take it from you because of a stupid law. It is easy to type rubbish on nairaland when your a lazy poor man. Try be a hardworking man and you will understand what it means to just give out millions when you made it from just 13thousand dollars your dad gave you just because of gold-diggers like you who have refused to work. MBJ leave nairaland and go work for your own millions and dash it out. Lazy internet warlords who are just opportuned to get a laptop. Lazy things..... Mtcheeeew
MRbrownJAY: ^^^i know its been a long battle, it has also been a long debate on NL..... check the thread here https://www.nairaland.com/878081/nigerian-billionaire-battles-british-wife

the greedy husband is supposedly worth £1 billion, and he should have paid that lady the pittance she was asking for (0.2% of his supposed fortune) ..... and be done with it!
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by chiozor: 7:52am On Jun 14, 2013
shocked shocked shocked speechless
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by biolabee(m): 8:02am On Jun 14, 2013
He should have settled the woman since....
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by untainted: 1:05pm On Jun 14, 2013
J12:

So she deserves 17 million pounds because she lived with him for twenty years? Would she make that amount of money if they weren't married?

Well, I really don't know how much he is worth but going by your estimates (£400-600 million) and having started with
£13,000, again, depending on how much he had when they met, I think she contributed in other ways as he (they) moved up
financially.
Again, depending on the specifics (unless she cheated) of this case, I think £17 million out of 600 is not too much for 20 years and the kids she gave him.
Talking about making that amount on her own, you never know what strings she pulled for him (them) to get the £400-600 million. (Just saying)

2 Likes

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by MMotimo: 5:17pm On Jun 14, 2013
@ Topic. . . . . OUCH!!!!
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by Nobody: 5:32pm On Jun 14, 2013
double post
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by Nobody: 5:32pm On Jun 14, 2013
MRbrownJAY: SAGAMITE, come hear good news o, BWAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!
too bad Sagamite is no longer here, he would have cried his eyes out on this one. now all the fools who where saying that she would never get the money can go rest in peace.

here is the heavy fail of the day: she wanted $21Million (£13.5Million), the husband refused and went to appeal the judgment, but now has to pay £17,5Million ($26.5Million).....so trying to outsmart his wife, he lost $5Millions to her. PRICELESS!!!!

Lol! Sagamite would really be in pain at this one.

1 Like

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by baby124: 5:35pm On Jun 14, 2013
How is she going to go and drag the properties/companies in Warri, based on a UK ruling? She better hold tight to the ones in UK, before she disappears in ND. She herself knows shes fooling herself on that. But nice judgement grin
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by dayokanu(m): 5:36pm On Jun 14, 2013
MRbrownJAY: ^^^i know its been a long battle, it has also been a long debate on NL..... check the thread here https://www.nairaland.com/878081/nigerian-billionaire-battles-british-wife

the greedy husband is supposedly worth £1 billion, and he should have paid that lady the pittance she was asking for (0.2% of his supposed fortune) ..... and be done with it!

The fact the it was ruled against him doesnt make it right

Why should the man give him part of his wealth? Did she contribute in any way to him making the money?

What has she done or what effort has she put in her life to deserve 17m?

Messi is worth lets say 20m because he has the talents and puts effort, Same with Madonna, Same with Oprah

So tell us how she deserves to have 17m now

1 Like

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by baby124: 5:37pm On Jun 14, 2013
dayokanu:

The fact the it was ruled against him doesnt make it right

Why should the man give him part of his wealth? Did she contribute in any way to him making the money?

What has she done or what effort has she put in her life to deserve 17m?

They started together, when either wasnt significantly wealthy. She has all his kids. He should have settled with her.

1 Like

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by dayokanu(m): 5:41pm On Jun 14, 2013
baby_123:

They started together, when either wasnt significantly wealthy. She has all his kids. He should have settled with her.

Based on what? Assuming the man is a succesful Lawyer he became succesful as a result of his own effort and skills.

Did they run a joint business or a family business? What was her contribution to the success of the business?

So having the kids contributed to the wealth?

That the law says it doesnt make it right

I bet some law somewhere would flog or even behead a woman who opens her hair Does it make it right?

1 Like

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by tpia5: 5:43pm On Jun 14, 2013
Ka ma fa oro gun, the british own nigeria, so where else is the money supposed to go.

If they didnt build refineries and find a use for the oil, no be inside ground e go still dey?
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by baby124: 5:44pm On Jun 14, 2013
dayokanu:

Based on what? Assuming the man is a succesful Lawyer he became succesful as a result of his own effort and skills

So having the kids contributed to the wealth?

That the law says it doesnt make it right

I bet some law somewhere would flog or even behead a woman who opens her hair Does it make it right?

Dayo, fact is, they started as two regular people. She is entitled to this. If it was just one bimbo that got married to him when he was loaded. Spent 3years and divorced, then i see your point. However, these two started with nothing. Granted he got a loan from his father, which he could have easily squandered without sound investment decisions. Which i am sure she must have been a part of. She also has his 4kids. Not beans now. Who knows what caused their divorce. You know how some men can be when they jam billions. SMH.

3 Likes

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by dayokanu(m): 5:51pm On Jun 14, 2013
baby_123:

Dayo, fact is, they started as two regular people. She is entitled to this. If it was just one bimbo that got married to him when he was loaded. Spent 3years and divorced, then i see your point. However, these two started with nothing. Granted he got a loan from his father, which he could have easily squandered without sound investment decisions. Which i am sure she must have been a part of. She also has his 4kids. Not beans now. Who knows what caused their divorce. You know how some men can be when they jam billions. SMH.

You make money as a result of your skills and effort you put

How is she entitled to this especially if the owner of the money doesnt want to give you

That you are Dangotes son doesnt even give you the right to his wealth if he doesnt want to give you

What has she done or what effort has she put into making the money that makes her entitled to it apart from the law that says so

1 Like

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by biolabee(m): 6:32pm On Jun 14, 2013
Finally!was waiting for DK to spice up the thread...

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by horny4u(f): 6:48pm On Jun 14, 2013
I am so happy....

20 years of being there....even if she was his secretary her pension will be close to this ....looking at what he is worth talk less of his wife and mother of his kids.

Ideas make money and spouses tap ideas all the time

More over she is used to a certain life style

I hate divorces though.

1 Like

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by dayokanu(m): 6:52pm On Jun 14, 2013
horny4u: I am so happy....
20 years of being there....even if she was his secretary her pension will be close to this ....looking at what he is worth talk less of his wife and mother of his kids.

Ideas make money and spouses tap ideas all the time

More over she is used to a certain life style

I hate divorces though.

Does Dangotes son have a right to demand money from the father because he was brought up all his life in one particular lifestyle and cant live without it?

Let her calculate the amount of pension a secretary or someone with her qualification makes and she should be paid that Plus whatever the guy deems as bonus out of his free will
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by Nobody: 7:29pm On Jun 14, 2013
donchris999: Look at this one. Cant you leave nairaland and go and make your own millions. SMH... Your here spewing trash, instead of you to go and make your own millions and a woman from nowhere comes to take it from you because of a stupid law. It is easy to type rubbish on nairaland when your a lazy poor man. Try be a hardworking man and you will understand what it means to just give out millions when you made it from just 13thousand dollars your dad gave you just because of gold-diggers like you who have refused to work. MBJ leave nairaland and go work for your own millions and dash it out. Lazy internet warlords who are just opportuned to get a laptop. Lazy things..... Mtcheeeew

unfortunate people like you will always fail in life because you only look as far as your own aaaassss...... and talk about nonsense you have no clue about. you look at this issue, then see this amount that you FULLY WELL KNOW you will/can never earn (even if you lived to be 500yrs old), and then simply say that is too much for his wife to get........ not using what you have between your ears to understand that it is not about the amount but about a share of what she helped this man build (or in some cases, it is simply THE LAW). dismissing her contribution to his life, simply because she wasnt in the board meetings with him, is not only primitive but also very archaic! i guess in your part of the jungle, your partner is only swinging from trees, hollering for your attention while not contributing an ounce to the betterment of your life, lol!

whether he made millions or TRILLIONS sef, the facts remains that THE LAW says the wife deserves her fair share. you can go bust a vein all you want, the LAW will remain the same.

2 Likes

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by baby124: 7:33pm On Jun 14, 2013
dayokanu:

You make money as a result of your skills and effort you put

How is she entitled to this especially if the owner of the money doesnt want to give you

That you are Dangotes son doesnt even give you the right to his wealth if he doesnt want to give you

What has she done or what effort has she put into making the money that makes her entitled to it apart from the law that says so

Understood, however, most women do this to preserve something for their kids. Who knows how smart the next woman will be, who most likely will get the guy's favor and keep everything for her own kids. Everyone is working in their own interest here. Some men are known to abandon their kids when the mother crosses them. So she has to fight for what she can. The warri properties is a pipe dream though. The fact also is that this guy grossly underestimated his wealth. So really this lady is getting what he wants her to get anyway. It is a win-win for both of them. This guy can probably dash her the 17m pounds without blinking. Let us think about the undisclosed wealth from naija he probably has for a sec.
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by Nobody: 7:55pm On Jun 14, 2013
ileobatojo: Lol! Sagamite would really be in pain at this one.

believe me, this is not a good week for Saga? he must be feeling sick as we speak. havent you read about that other oil baron billionaire called Harold Hamm (net worth $11 Billions), who is now divorcing his wife who he has married without a prenup.......and who will supposedly be the biggest ever divorce settlement in the history of mankind. the man will have to pay his wife twice as much as what R. Murdoch paid his ex wife.

link: http://news.yahoo.com/special-report-lack-prenup-imperils-oil-billionaires-fortune-100200497.html
Sagamite, pele o!

dayokanu:
The fact the it was ruled against him doesnt make it right

probably not, but it makes it RIGHT for his wife to leave with part of the "family fortune".....instead of having this man decide of giving her nothing.

Why should the man give him part of his wealth? Did she contribute in any way to him making the money?

come on bro, do you want us to go there again?! really?!
ok here is the important point: this man needed this woman in his life, thats why he married her (if she wasnt needed then he wouldnt have married her and stayed with her for so long). her contribution to this family made this man feel much better about himself, made this man get up in the morning and be "BETTER/STRONGER/WISER" or whatever. she brought peace in his life by making sure that anything else in their family was taking care of BY HER, he only had to focus/worry about his work. but hey, if any foolish man out there believe that his wife contribution to his life is ZERO, then he better divorce that woman right away because bachelor life is much more rewarding!

What has she done or what effort has she put in her life to deserve 17m?

look at it a different way.......when he got married to her he had some money and he can keep that, but EVERYTHING THE FAMILY GENERATED DURING THEIR MARRIAGE should be shared equally. this is simply fair to all parties. she didnt ask for any more than 0.2% of the family wealth.

Messi is worth lets say 20m because he has the talents and puts effort, Same with Madonna, Same with Oprah So tell us how she deserves to have 17m now

Talent?! what has that got to do with anything? you live in a country where there are LAWS in place, if you do not believe in these laws, then you certainly shouldnt get married. most people with any amount of wealth will be smart enough to have a prenup if they want to get married. if someone decide that its best to let the LAW decide in such matter, then so be it! i couldnt care less about talent or what not, as i dont know what she did to this man at night that made him get up in the morning and get the drive to earn even more money.

why do you think Oprah hasnt married Stedman yet after so many yrs together?! smart lady, lol!

1 Like

Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by dayokanu(m): 8:00pm On Jun 14, 2013
^^ The only thing you said was that its the LAW in place.

If thats it then we dont need to argue when some women are going to be beheaded for not covering their head since its the Law.

At a time marrying from a different race was also a crime
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by Nobody: 8:15pm On Jun 14, 2013
^^^^bro, if you have any problem with THE LAW in whatever country on this green earth then either dont go there, or dont break THE LAW while being there, et voila....but if you go there then you should know that there is a certain LAW in place and this is what will be used to prosecute/judge you.
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by Bawss1(m): 8:25pm On Jun 14, 2013
It is ridiculous for anyone to think that being married to a rich person automatically entitles you to the person's wealth especially after a divorce occurs, however given the prevalent nature of laziness that abounds these days it doesn't surprise me. The laws are no help in matters like this; they are already skewed to perpuate this sense of unjust entitlement. Let's all not be fooled, this is justs a cash grab by the woman in this story. She was lucky to have talented lawyers to exploit this situation and unfortunately that's all that mattered. She did not, in the real sense, deserve that money; any talk that it is her contribution in the marriage is just hogwash.
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by Nobody: 9:11pm On Jun 14, 2013
^^^lol, here is a clear example of another lost soul who would marry a woman that contributes NOTHING to his life....or better yet, anything she "may" contribute would have a price tag (set by HIM of course).
Re: Nigerian Oil Tycoon Loses £17.5m Divorce Battle by chiozor: 9:37pm On Jun 14, 2013
I can't believe all these contribution wit no one specifically saying what the woman contribution was to rip the man off!

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