Scot Young jailed for contempt

Property tycoon Scot Young, who has been at the centre of an on-going divorce battle with his wife Michelle for six years, has been jailed for six months for contempt of court. Mr Justice Moor sentenced Young to two counts of contempt after losing patience with his refusal to account for his ‘lost’ £400 million fortune. Mr Young’s suspended committal to prison, crystallised in the present sentencing, was obtained for Mrs Young by Vardags.

One of the reasons for the custodial sentence was Mr Justice Moore’s belief that Mr Young would refuse to pay a fine. He said: “I consider both the contempts are serious. They are so serious that a fine – which would be useless as I am satisfied you would not pay – cannot be justified.”Scot Young made his fortune as a ‘fixer’ for British and Russian billionaires, and counted Sir Philip Green and the late Boris Berezovsky as friends. He claims that he lost his entire fortune after a Moscow property deal fell through, though he has consistently failed to provide any documentation to prove this.

Michelle Young, who has two daughters with her estranged husband, insists that he has up to £2 billion squirreled away in off-shore accounts. Edward Fitzgerald, QC, acting for Mrs Young, told the court that Scot had given “absolutely no explanation” as to where his money had vanished. What’s more, his current lifestyle hinted at “considerable wealth”, as he was always “going from party to party with champagne glass in his hand.” Outside court, Mrs Young had this to say: “It has been a very long, rough ride. I hope I can make a stand for other families who have been left in such dire circumstances after long marriages. We were married 12 years. We were together for 18 years … Why should I just walk away? This money was made during our time together.”