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Friends of a tycoon locked in a bitter £400 million divorce battle hit back at claims he wanted to evict his family from their home.
Michelle Young has called for her husband Scot to be jailed after he told the High Court he has lost his property fortune and is penniless.
Mrs Young, 45, is seeking £48,000 a month in maintenance and faces eviction from the Regent's Park townhouse where she lives with the couple's daughters because, she says, he has stopped paying the £10,000-a-month rent.
A hearing at Central London county court tomorrow will determine whether she, Scarlet, 17, and Sasha, 14, will be forced to leave their home. Her daughters' £36,000-a-year school fees are also in dispute and are two terms overdue.
The couple married at a Chelsea register office in 1995. They later moved to Florida before Mrs Young returned to Britain in 2006 with the children.
Mrs Young believes her husband was worth £400 million at the time of the separation and told the High Court last month not to believe his claims that he has lost all his money and is being pursued by creditors.
However, sources close to Mr Young, described as a “fixer” for the rich and powerful, have attacked his estranged wife and claimed she has brought the eviction on herself by refusing to sign a tenancy agreement.
A close friend of the tycoon said the owners of the property, a New York couple, are “furious” at how Mrs Young has presented the events. They claim she has tried to embarrass her husband and gain leverage in the divorce case.
Mrs Young and her daughters moved into the house in 2006. Mr Young is understood to have paid the annual rent in advance each year and had paid up until July this year. The friend has claimed the landlords have applied for an eviction order because Mrs Young has refused to sign a new tenancy agreement and not because of non-payment of rent.
He said: “It is absurd of her to say that Scot wants to see his daughters on the street. He has done absolutely everything he can to stop this from happening, but the tenancy is in her name.
“Scot desperately wants to prove his innocence and start rebuilding his career, not least so he can provide for his daughters.” The friend accused Mrs Young of attacking her husband to try to force him to settle out of court.
He added: “She has been through five different lawyers and employed forensic accountants, but none of them has found any evidence that Scot is lying. The truth is he's broke.”
Mr Young faces six months in prison if he fails to provide full disclosure of his finances when the High Court divorce case resumes on 13 November.
Young v Young
Scot Young, 47, is one of Britain's most succuessful property tycoons. At the height of his fortune, he bought multi-million-pound mansions on both sides of the Atlantic. He also owned a fleet of expensive cars, attended A-list parties film and knew world leaders such as former US president Bill Clinton.
Before splitting up, the family lived in a £19 million home in Egham, Surrey, which he sold to billionaire Russian dissident Boris Berezovsky.
Mr Young also owned a £4.5 million house in Miami and a series of properties in Mayfair and Knightsbridge worth at least £32 million.
They included two houses in Eaton Square, Belgravia, worth £24 million which he planned to knock into one to create the “finest residence in London”.
Michelle Young, 45, a former model, who met her husband when he was still building up his property empire. She enjoyed the high life, travelling in private jets and being attended on by servants.
Now reduced to shopping in Morrisons, the glamorous mother-of-two was accustomed to getting her groceries delivered by Harrods to the couple's palladian mansion set in 200 acres.
She has also spoken of having three luxury cars at her disposal at all times and using a Hummer just to take her dogs to the vet.
Once, her husband bought her a Range Rover filled with tens of thousands of pounds worth of couture dresses by designer Maria Grachvogel. For her 40th birthday, he lavished her with £1 million worth of Graff diamond jewellery.
She was reported to have been devastated by the death of three of her four pet chihuahuas recently.
