Saturday, 23 July 2016

Saudi billionaire dies two weeks after his supermodel ex-wife was awarded £75m in divorce settlement

A former supermodel Ms Christina Estrada who dragged her former husband, billionaire Sheikh Walid Juffali to court demanding £196 million from the businessman to meet her 'reasonable needs' - which included two luxury houses, a huge clothes budget and five cars has been informed that her husband has passed away.

Her ex-husband, billionaire Sheikh Walid Juffali passed away in Zurich on Wednesday following a lengthy battle with cancer.

Dr Juffali, was chairman and heir of EA Juffali and Brothers, one of Saudi Arabia's most successful companies.

Ms Estrada met the businessman in 2000 and got married soon after, then they had a daughter together. However the marriage ran into difficulty after Dr Juffali's decision in 2012 to marry a 25-year-old Lebanese model, who is now the mother of his two youngest children, while still married to Ms Estrada. The sheikh divorced Ms Estrada in Saudi Arabia in 2014 under Islamic law without her knowledge.

Earlier this month Ms Estrada, took the 61-year-old to the High Court where her fight for a share of his fortune became one of the highest-stakes divorce battles of its kind.
Ms Estrada claimed her 'needs' included £1million for clothes, £40,000 for fur coats, £109,000 for haute couture dresses and £21,000 for shoes every year.

She also said she needed enough from her ex-husband to afford a luxury home in London worth about £60million, a £4.4 million house in the country at Henley, as well as £495,000 for five cars - three in London and two in the US.

She told family judge Mrs Justice Roberts: ‘I am Christina Estrada.
'I was a top international model. I have lived this life. This is what I am accustomed to.’ Her lawyers estimated her ex-husband was worth £8billion.

Rather than the £196 million she demanded for her husband's lawyers offered £75million but rejected the offer which, added to her own assets, would have given her some £37million to live on.

Ms Estrada, who is in St tropez, has reportedly been informed of her husband's death this week and was said by friends to be 'devastated' at the news.

However the court hearing was brought forward due to his worsening health. High Court Family Division judge Mrs Justice Roberts had ordered Dr Juffali to pay Ms Estrada the lump sum by 4pm on Friday, July 29, however this could now be subject to a delay while his affairs are put in order. Dr Juffali's death will not affect the settlement. It is now legally binding and he will have to still pay her the money.

She was ultimately awarded a £53million cash settlement at London's High Court - with lawyers saying the payout is worth £75million when assets she has already been given are taken into account.

Her lawyers said the award she received was 'by more than £50million the largest needs award ever made by an English court'.

But Dr Juffali had said in a written statement before he died said in his statement that he had left the vast majority of his wealth to his three oldest children, including his daughter with Ms Estrada, now a teenager, who cannot be identified.