The Barclay brothers brawled on a luxury yacht over the control of their U.K. business empire, a London court was told, on the first day of a hearing where Frederick Barclay faces jail for failing to pay a penny to his ex-wife in their divorce.
The relationship between the highly secretive twins, whose investments put them among Britain’s most rich and powerful, deteriorated to such an extent that the two came to blows, Hiroko Barclay, Frederick’s ex-wife, said in court Monday. She’s attempting to have the 87 year-old Frederick sent to prison over the non-payment of a
“They were punching each other,” Hiroko said of Frederick and David Barclay.
“Frederick says he cannot pay. He says he has no money. I do not believe him. It is not that he cannot pay, but that he will not pay,” she said.
The divorce suit and Hiroko’s attempt to enforce the award offer a rare public glimpse into the 2014 fallout between the twins, who previously lived together in a castle in the Channel Islands known for its tax-haven status. Frederick agreed to hand control of the family’s businesses to David’s side of the family, something he called “the greatest mistake I’ve ever made.” David died last year.
Last year, Judge Jonathan Cohen
Frederick “is highly motivated to comply with the orders because of his abject fear of prison,” his lawyer said Monday.
The tycoon is the principal beneficiary of a trust that receives funds from loan notes worth £545 million, lawyers for Hiroko said.
She accused the tycoon of trying “to string things out” and hide “behind a web of complex structures,” until either she or Frederick died.
Frederick Barclay has been embroiled in multiple legal fights and separately settled a suit with his nephews, after they bugged his conversations at London’s Ritz Hotel, which the family previously owned.
