Husband in High-Value Divorce Jailed for Six Months

A property dealer involved in a high-value divorce case has been given a six-month jail term after he repeatedly refused to comply with court orders that he provide details of his finances to his estranged wife.



Scot Young, 51, claims that he lost everything after the collapse of a property deal in 2006, at about the same time as he and his wife separated. Mrs Young claims that her ex-husband had been worth £400 million at that time and had hidden substantial amounts of money in offshore accounts and lives a life of luxury.



In 2009, Mr Young was ordered to pay his wife and their two children £27,500 per month, but has so far failed to comply, with the arrears now in the region of £1 million. He had already been given a six-month suspended jail sentence for contempt of court.



Mr Young, who represented himself, claimed to have done everything he could to prove that he was penniless and asked for a further 28 days so that he could appoint lawyers and attempt to produce the evidence requested. Lawyers for his ex-wife argued that he had repeatedly given the court the ‘run-around’ and there was evidence that the lifestyle he enjoyed was inconsistent with his claims.



Mr Justice Moor described Mr Young’s various explanations for not complying with court orders as ‘absurd’ and ‘next to useless’. There had been a ‘flagrant and deliberate contempt over a long period of time’ and this warranted the imposition of an immediate prison sentence.