The former owner of the Ritz, Sir Frederick Barclay, has been told he could face prison after failing to pay a £50m divorce bill.
The property and media tycoon, estimated to be worth £6bn as recently as May, faces the possibility of a jail term at the age of 87. A high court judge ruled that he must stand trial for the non-payment of part of a £100m divorce settlement which was due last June.
Barclay, who still owns half of the private island of Brecqhou and whose family sold the Ritz Hotel for an estimated £800m in 2020, is now “terrified” of being sent to prison.
The court heard that Barclay, who started life as a painter and decorator alongside his brother, cannot access his fortune, which is held in a complex series of trusts.
In the high court hearing, it was stated that Barclay said that he had no control over the complex trust structure. “I haven’t got anything,” he said.
Scot Young, another property boss, is one of the few men to be committed to prison for contempt of court resulting from the non-payment of a divorce order. He was jailed for for six months in 2013.
