Phones4u High Court hearing | Daily Mail Online

Nathalie Dauriac, 39, (pictured outside court today) was ‘gushing’ when she met John Caudwell, 65, who founded mobile phone firm Phones4u, Mr Justice Marcus Smith was told

A French financial expert has told a judge that the Phones4u founder asked her not to have children when they were setting up a business together eight years ago.

Nathalie Dauriac, 39, told Mr Justice Marcus Smith that she did not agree to John Caudwell’s ‘condition’. But she said she agreed not to have children until the new business was ‘firmly established’.

She said she now had children aged five and three.  

Ms Dauriac and Mr Caudwell, 65, are embroiled in a money battle at a High Court trial in London.

She says he orchestrated an ‘elaborate conspiracy’ against her after they set up a wealth management company.

Ms Dauriac says Mr Caudwell launched an ‘unfair’ expenses investigation when she was chief executive at Signia Wealth Management.

Elsewhere in court she boasted she could get Mr Caudwell to ‘agree to things’ by ‘becoming emotional and crying’, a High Court judge has heard.

Nathalie Dauriac, 39, was ‘gushing’ when she met Mr Caudwell, who founded mobile phone firm Phones4u, Mr Justice Marcus Smith was told.

A former colleague said Ms Dauriac would ‘transform’ in Mr Caudwell’s presence.

David Hayes said Mr Caudwell treated Ms Dauriac ‘like a daughter’. 

Ms Dauriac says Mr Caudwell launched an ‘unfair’ expenses investigation when she was chief executive at Signia Wealth Management.

She has complained of constructive dismissal and not getting what she was due.

Ms Dauriac says she lost shares worth more than £10 million and wants compensation.

Signia bosses say Ms Dauriac wrongfully claimed around £30,000 expenses.

They say her approach to expenses claims was brazen and she was guilty of gross misconduct.

All sides dispute allegations made against them. 

Ms Dauriac told Mr Justice Marcus Smith that a bug had been put under her car and emails had been hacked.

She said she could not prove who was responsible. 

Ms Dauriac says she lost shares worth more than £10 million and wants compensation

Ms Dauriac says she lost shares worth more than £10 million and wants compensation

Mr Hayes told the judge in a written witness statement how he had worked at Signia with Ms Dauriac.

‘Nathalie’s relationship was strong but I found her behaviour with him embarrassing,’ said Mr Hayes.

‘Whenever she met John in my presence she would transform into a completely different character gushing emotional comments like ‘I love you John’.’

Mr Hayes added: ‘(Mr Caudwell) seemed to trust her implicitly and treated her in many respects like a daughter.’

A former colleague said Ms Dauriac would 'transform' in Mr Caudwell's presence

A former colleague said Ms Dauriac would 'transform' in Mr Caudwell's presence

A former colleague said Ms Dauriac would ‘transform’ in Mr Caudwell’s presence

He went on: ‘Nathalie occasionally boasted to me that she could also get John to agree to things in an informal setting and on a one-to-one basis by becoming emotional and crying.’ 

Mr Hayes said one Signia boss had spoken of Ms Dauriac ‘taking the pi*s’ with the company’s expenses.

He also said Ms Dauriac generally ‘did not like it’ when people resigned and added: ‘I knew that she had said things about some previous leavers that she must have known were untrue, including claiming that they were taking drugs or using the office at weekends or evenings for sex.’  

The trial continues. 

 

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