(Upwork) - A Russian businessman who was an ally of President Putin and successfully sued for libel over claims that he attempted to have a rival murdered had “extreme wealth” despite pleading poverty during his divorce.
Vladimir Sloutsker, a former Russian senator, had “a lifestyle consistent with extreme wealth” despite representing himself, claiming that he could not afford to instruct lawyers, Mr Justice Garrido ruled in the High Court in London.
In the judgment, which was published on Monday, the judge said that before Sloutsker’s death in September from cancer, he had declared poverty to the court, claiming to be in “severe financial hardship” after having assets stolen in Russia.
It included Sloutsker trying to “hide” his interest in land in Moscow, worth £150 million, while the family home in London was a “very grand” 2,790 sq m, nine-bedroom house with a heated indoor pool, massage and cinema rooms, wine cellar, gym and a four-car garage.
The judge said that “at a minimum”, Sloutsker had £17 million in the family home, £4 million in a Swiss bank account, a home in Moscow worth £22.5 million, a development site in the Russian capital worth £150 million, £17 million of investments in private equity in the US and £4 million in art.
He detailed how the family spent hundreds of thousands on travel, including a €400,000 (£350,000) summer holiday to Tuscany and spending $100,000 (£76,000) on a family trip to Dubai.
The judge ordered that the parties could be named despite divorce proceedings often being anonymous.
Ten years ago, Sloutsker was awarded £110,000 in damages for defamation after a Russian blogger claimed that he had taken out a contract for the murder of a rival in Russia.
Sloutsker was married twice. His first marriage ended in divorce in 2009. In his second divorce, the court determined that Sloutsker’s wealth extended to the nine-bedroom home in London. However, when divorce proceedings were started by his second wife, Alona, Sloutsker “promptly turned off” his finances.
The judge said that Sloutsker “stopped paying the mortgage and failed to comply with orders for financial disclosure and for support of his wife and their young children. He effectively tried to absolve himself of all responsibility for them.” He ruled in August that the businessman must hand his former wife £25 million as a divorce payout.
Lawyers for his ex-wife said they would attempt to track down his assets worldwide to enforce the divorce order.
The businessman’s only UK asset was a mansion in Hampstead in north London, which was valued at £50 million. However, it is understood that in the current market the property could sell for £30 million, leaving about £2 million after the mortgage is settled.
After the judge allowed the parties to be named, David Allison, a lawyer at the firm Family Law in Partnership, which represented the former wife, said that normally “we try to keep family matters away from the public domain wherever possible, but this case required the full force of the law”.
Allison added: “It is not possible, nor should it be possible, for a person to absolve themselves of all responsibilities towards their family simply because they have divorced.”
He described Sloutsker as “obstructive” during divorce proceedings, behaviour that “continued after trial until his death … neither he nor his estate has paid a penny to his former wife and prior to his death he disappeared, cutting off all contact with his young children”.
By Jonathan Ames - Legal Editor
