Interior designer who featured in Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire will walk away with £60MILLION after splitting from Indian multi-millionaire businessman
- Simrin and Bhanu Choudhrie fought over tens of millions at High Court hearings
- Mrs Choudhrie had wanted a lump sum of £100m but this was reduced by judge
- 41-year-old was represented by top divorce lawyer Baroness Fiona Shackleton
An interior designer who featured in the Channel 4 show The Secret Millionaire should walk away with a lump sum of £60million following the breakdown of her marriage to a wealthy businessman, a High Court judge ruled today.
Simrin Choudhrie and her multi-millionaire private equity firm boss husband Bhanu Choudhrie had fought over tens of millions of pounds at hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London.
The 41-year-old, who was represented by Britain’s top divorce lawyer, the so-called ‘Steel Magnolia’ Fiona Shackleton, had wanted a lump sum of £100million, but this was reduced by 40 percent in a ruling by Mr Justice Cohen.
Simrin Choudhrie and her multi-millionaire private equity firm boss husband Bhanu Choudhrie (they are seen together on the left) had fought over tens of millions of pounds at hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London. Mrs Choudhrie is seen arriving at the High Court for an earlier hearing with Baroness Fiona Shackleton
Mr Choudhrie is the founder of Westminster-based global private equity firm C&C Alpha Group and hails from one of the wealthiest families in India with a rumoured net worth of £1.6billion.
He was represented by solicitor Ayesha Vardag, who is famed for her 2010 Supreme Court victory that strengthened the status of prenuptial agreements in English law, plus barristers Richard Todd QC, Nicholas Yates QC and Ben Wooldridge.
Mrs Choudhrie team was led by Baroness Shackleton plus barristers Stewart Leech QC, Daniel Bentham and Amy Kisser.
Journalists were allowed to attend hearings but the judge placed strict limits on what could be revealed in media reports. He said the pair could be named, and the approximate size of Mrs Choudhrie’s lump sum reported.
Mrs Choudhrie appeared on Secret Millionaire in 2011, where she posed as a penniless pregnant woman to give £100,000 to a centre for vulnerable people in Sheffield
Mrs Choudhrie appeared on Secret Millionaire in 2011, where she posed as a penniless pregnant woman to give £100,000 to a centre for vulnerable people in Sheffield.
Her former husband is the son of Sudhir Choudrie, 69 – who has donated more than £1.5 million to the Lib Dems since 2004.
The couple shared a £20million, six-storey Belgravia home, which they extended in 2015 by adding a two-storey basement including a cinema, pool and spa complex – all accessed by a lift.
Neighbours of the grade II-listed property complained the plans were ‘grotesque’ and would lead to lorries charging up and down the street as they carried out the work.
The couple shared a £20million, six-storey Belgravia home, (pictured) which they extended in 2015 by adding a two-storey basement including a cinema, pool and spa complex – all accessed by a lift.