A dramatic phone call in which bankrupt business tycoon Scot Young offers his ex-wife up to £30 million to settle one of the longest, most costly and toxic divorce battles in Britain, will be made public for the first time this week in a BBC documentary.
Viewers will hear a frantic Mr Young desperately plead with his former wife, Michelle, to drop her investigation into his finances – five weeks before he mysteriously fell 60ft from the fourth-floor window of a luxury £3 million penthouse in London.
In the programme to be shown on BBC Two on January 17, Mrs Young says that her ex, a multimillionaire property developer with ties to Russian oligarchs, offered to pay the sum despite having claimed to have lost his multi-million pound fortune.
The Mail on Sunday exclusively revealed last September that the disgraced businessman, who was in a relationship with reality star Noelle Reno at the time, had made the offer during an emotionally charged final phone call, in which he warned he was a ‘dead man’ if she continued to dig into his numerous deals.
Mr Young who was in a relationship with American model Noelle Reno in 2009, a star of the Ladies Of London reality TV show, at the time of his death, had been involved with some of the wealthiest men in the world. He also had connections in the shady criminal underworld.
Listen to the phone call here:
Property developer Scot Young was at the centre of one of Britain’s most notorious divorce cases, which culminated in him being jailed for refusing to reveal how much money he was worth to his ex-wife Michelle
After the couple split Mr Young began started a relationship with American model Noelle Reno in 2009, one of the stars of the Ladies Of London reality TV show
Now viewers can hear for themselves some of that final conversation between the warring couple in Millionaires’ Ex-Wives Club.
Gaining exclusive access to the hidden world of divorces among the super-rich, an intimate documentary follows ex-wives who went into battle with their exes, spending millions of pounds and years of their lives in the process.
Scot, 52, begins by admitting that he had behaved badly and was the cause of their bitter strife.
He says: ‘I f***ed it up in the end completely, I put my hands up, and I actually apologise to you. You were a very good wife, you used to run me a bath, make me tea, you were always there for me, et cetera, et cetera.’
Michelle Young lived a lavish lifestyle with ex-husband Scot Young before that ended in 2001 when it was claimed that Scot had lost his entire fortune overnight
He then went on to make his astonishing offer saying: ‘If I had £20 million tomorrow would you be happy – yes or no?’
Mrs Young, 52, asks if the money was coming from hidden offshore assets or being plucked out of thin air.
He replies: ‘I will get cracking on a couple of ventures, okay.’
Following further heated exchanges he increases his offer to £25 million, then to £30 million ‘plus 50 per cent of any asset you find…how can you ask for any more than that?’
But when his ex-wife threatens to bring in the authorities Scot responds aggressively, telling her: ‘You’re going to end up with sweet f*** all. Okay, Michelle, on that basis it’s a waste of time. I’ve tried to be nice. I would sign up for 30 million quid to get rid of this, okay.’
Mrs Young, who accused him of hiding assets of more than £400 million in offshore accounts, says she still owes about £17million in legal fees despite being awarded £26 million by the High Court.
‘I’ve never received a penny,’ she tells the programme.
She did, however, receive £300,000 from a long forgotten life insurance policy on her ex-husband.
Scot died after being impaled on railings after falling 60ft from the fourth-floor window of a luxury £3 million penthouse in Montagu Square, central London in December 2014.
Whether he was pushed or jumped is still an open question. A coroner’s inquest ruled out suicide due to a lack of evidence, but Mrs Young has since claimed that he was killed by members of the Russian Mafia.
TRANSCRIPT OF SCOT YOUNG’S FINAL CALL TO MICHELLE YOUNG
Scot and Michelle’s final phone call is aired in BBC Two’s Millionaires’ Ex-Wives Club, this would be the last time they spoke before his death five weeks later
Scot: ‘Listen, I f***ed it up in the end completely, I put my hands up, and I actually apologise to you. You were a very good wife, you used to run me a bath, make me tea, you were always there for me, et cetera, et cetera.
‘Michelle. The judge, has awarded you twenty million…’
Michelle: ‘Yeah but can I just stop you there? It’s called fraud and misrepresentation…’
Scot: ‘If I had £20 million tomorrow would you be happy – yes or no?’
Michelle: ‘How would you… Where would this money come, offshore? Where would this money be magicked from?’
Scot: ‘I will get cracking on a couple of ventures ok?’
Michelle: ‘Scot can I ask you what happened? Why didn’t you answer the questions in the court?
CCTV footage of Scot Young in 2012, he tried to make a deal with Michelle during a frantic phone call but she refused
‘Why didn’t you? [Scot interrupts] No, hold on. No, I am entitled for a wife in a very long marriage that worked equally as hard… equality.’
Scot: ‘I’m using twenty… Ok let’s say twenty-five ‘cos’ it’s a nice round number. Ok?
Michelle: ‘Oh no, I don’t want twenty-five, I’m not having a round number of twenty-five. It’s about thirty million…’
Scot: ‘Do you want to do a f****** deal or do you not want to do a f****** deal?’
Michelle: ‘Do you think this is fair what you’re offering me?’
Scot: ‘If you get thirty million plus fifty per cent of any asset you find… How can you ask for any more than that?’
Michelle: ‘After billions of pounds being hidden and I’ve got the evidence.’
Scot: ‘You won’t listen…
Michelle: ‘No it’s disgraceful. But I tell you what the other option is to press criminal charges and bring the HMRC in.’
Scot: ‘Ok you’re going to end up with sweet f*** all. Ok Michelle on that basis it’s a waste of time.
‘I’ve tried to be nice, I’ve signed up for thirty million quid to get rid of this. So you think about it and never threaten me again please. Ok bye.’
While going through his divorce Mr Young began dating the reality TV star in 2009. Despite claiming he was in debt he still lived a lavish lifestyle with Ms Reno
TIMELINE: MARRIAGE, DIVORCE AND DEATH OF A TYCOON
Scot and Michelle Young on their wedding day in 1995, they split in 2006 after 11 years together before entering a bitter divorce battle over his fortune
Michelle and Scot Young, who had two children together, split in 2006 after 11 years together.
It was claimed that the Scottish property developer had lost his entire fortune, which his then wife believed to be £2bn, overnight in a big Russian property deal.
Mrs Young claimed that her husband had hidden assets of more than £400m in offshore accounts.
Their divorce battle was extremely high-profile and lasted eight years, as Mr Young refused to reveal how much he was worth to his wife, insisting he was penniless and in £30m of debt.
Michelle Young believed her ex-husband was hiding a £400m fortune in offshore accounts
After clocking up 65 court hearings and 13 sets of lawyers, the courts found in Mrs Young’s favour, ordering him to pay £26million.
Mr Young was jailed for six months for contempt of court in 2013 for refusing to disclose details of his complicated finances.
He started a relationship with American model Ms Reno in 2009, one of the stars of the Ladies Of London reality TV show, which aired on US channel Bravo.
Mr Young died after being impaled on railings after falling 60ft from the fourth-floor window of a luxury £3 million penthouse in Montagu Square, central London in December 2014.
In 2014, the MailOnline reported that Mr Young may have been murdered by Russian gangsters who stashed his fortune offshore but then refused to give back control of his money.
The claim was made by reclusive tycoon Valery Morozov, who fled for Britain after exposing corruption in Russia, who claimed the sting means police and secret services in Moscow are paying ‘close attention’ to Mr Young’s death.
In 2015, a coroner ruled Mr Young’s death could not be ruled as suicide due to insufficient evidence.
Mrs Young, who now lives in a rented basement flat, is bankrupt and in £17million worth of debt due to legal fees and is yet to see a penny of the £26million she was awarded by the court.
The couple had two children and lived a lavish lifestyle together, but the end came in 2001, when it was claimed that Scot had not only lost his entire fortune overnight in a big Russian property deal, but also had a breakdown. It was, says Michelle, a ruse concocted to defraud her of marital assets.
Despite London being called the divorce capital and viewed as a Mecca for the very wealthy, she says women are invariably cheated by the legal system, which favours the person who can afford the most expensive legal team.
To date, she has clocked up 65 court hearings and 13 sets of lawyers in her battle. With £17m of debts from high interest litigation loans and legal fees, Michelle has been declared bankrupt and lives in a rented basement flat in central London.
But 11 years on, she insists that she has not given up with her fight for justice.
Michelle and Scot had been married 11 years and shared two children together. They split and their divorce battle was one of the most costly and toxic divorces in Britain
Mrs Young was awarded £20million by the court after a lengthy eight-year divorce battle, but she claims she has yet to see a penny of it and is in £17million worth of debt
Produced by Lynn Alleway (Camila’s Kids Company: The Inside Story and Hotel India), the film explores some of the private battles involved in high net worth divorce cases – where the Mayfair homes, the Bentleys and yachts have to be split and hundreds of millions of pounds are at stake.
With divorce law in England and Wales now dictating that the assets have to be split 50-50 as a starting point, increasingly couples are battling it out in court.
The film meets divorce lawyers on such cases, revealing that at the very heart of these stories is an intense battle fuelled by emotion.
It is a fight in which the real winners are the high priced legal teams.
Millionaires’ Ex-Wives Club airs on BBC Two, Wednesday 17 January at 9pm
TYCOON EARNED £2BN AND LOST IT IN MYSTERIOUS MOSCOW DEAL
Scot Young rose to prominence as a property developer in the 1990s and 2000s
Scot Young always described himself as a property developer who grew fabulously rich on the back of the building boom of the 1990s and 2000s.
By 2006, he had accumulated a £60 million property portfolio, including a £21 million nine-bedroom mansion in Oxfordshire, a string of properties in London’s exclusive Eaton Square, and a £6 million mansion in Miami Beach.
Once one of Britain’s wealthiest property developers, Mr Young claimed at court that he was penniless after a large Moscow real estate deal collapsed.
He had mysteriously risen to huge success from being an underprivileged youth on a tenement block in a run-down part of Dundee.
He left school with few qualifications but rode off the back of the property boom of the late 1980s, and was given a hand on the property ladder by ex-wife Michelle Young’s father after they met in 1988.
His wife said he was always ‘secretive’ about the deals he was doing and there were claims he was linked to players in the Russian underworld.
Mr Young then apparently lost his immense wealth in a huge property development project in Russia called Project Moscow.
Boris Berezovsky, who died in mysterious circumstances last year, was known to be an investor in the scheme. He also died penniless.
In one hearing during their marathon divorce battle her legal team compared his story with the plot of the 1980s comedy movie Brewster’s Millions, in which a failing baseball player is told he will inherit $300million if he can spend 30 million of it in 30 days, and have nothing to show for it.
Despite huge debts, his life was funded by some of his creditors, to whom he owed millions.