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Bitter: Scot Young, pictured with Noelle Reno, accused his wife of trying to have him jailed out of 'malice'
When Scot Young returned my call on Tuesday, just before midnight on what was to be his last night of freedom, he sounded subdued. I could tell instantly that the buoyant bluster he had displayed earlier in the day, as we puffed endless cigarettes outside the High Court and ate lunch in a pub across the street, had evaporated.
At that time, he had seemed confident, nonchalantly assuring me that there was ‘no way I will go to jail’.
In fact, so sure was he that he wouldn’t be imprisoned that he added airily: ‘I think the judge is angry, but I think he’ll just give me a slap on the wrist.’
Now, a few hours later, he sounded downcast and defeated. Or perhaps he was just tired. He said: ‘I have been inundated with calls from well-wishers tonight. I’ve also been talking to my lawyers. I’m bloody exhausted. But I just hope justice will prevail.’
Scot, 51, and his wife Michell e are involved in a bitter divorce case and are wrangling over the whereabouts of Scot’s ‘missing’ £400?million fortune.
Scot, a one-time property magnate and former fixer for the super-rich, was right to be pessimistic during our late-night phone call.
Just before 11am the next day as he strode through the door of Court 41 after being summoned to hear the judge’s verdict, he whispered to me: ‘I have a bad feeling about this. I think he is going to send me down.’ Which was exactly what Mr Justice Moor did. He sentenced Scot to six months in Pentonville prison for ‘flagrant and deliberate’ contempt of court.
Scot had refused to reveal what had become of the fortune he claims disappeared virtually overnight when a Moscow property deal collapsed three years ago. It means that he now has the dubious honour of being one of the first men in Britain to go to jail for refusing to disclose his assets in a div orce case.
I first met Scot in 2010, a year after reporting restrictions were lifted on his and Michelle’s long-running divorce case. It quickly turned into a cause celebre.
Since then I have got to know them both well â€" they are determined and stubborn. They are embroiled in a financial divorce battle so bitter it is threatening to destroy them.
Michelle, with daughters Sasha, left and Scarlet, says her ex-husband was evasive about his past
Theirs is a story of two self-made people who met, married and made a fortune. But when the romance faded and they separated, Scot was ordered by the court to pay £27,500 a month in maintenance for Michelle and the couple’s daughters, Scarlet, 20, and Sasha, 18. He dug in his heels, claimed his fortune was gone and declared himself bankrupt, running up an unpaid maintenance bill of more than £1?million.
When Michelle forced legal proceedings, Scot was ordered to explain to the court where the money had gone and how he was funding his lifestyle. But last Tuesday morning he still gave no explanation and accused his wife of trying to have him jailed out of ‘malice’.
Dapper in a dark suit, he had been upbeat and affable as he and I stood outside the High Court while he lit yet another Marlboro Menthol. His ebullient mood was matched by his new, sleek frame.
‘I gave up alcohol two months ago,’ he told me. ‘I’ve lost more than a stone. I’ve not had a drink in ages and I’m getting up early every morning to do my exercise regime,’ he said, patting his flat stomach.
He certainly looked a man glowing with health and vitality. Remarkably like someone who had just returned from a winter sunshine holiday.
Happier times: Scot and Michelle pictured on their wedding day in March 1995
Except he hadn’t, of course, because he can’t leave the country. His passport had earlier been confiscated by the court to stop him fleeing to one of the tax havens in which he is alleged to have hidden his assets. Yet such was Scot’s confidence that he wasn’t going down that he talked about making an application to get his passport back.
He certainly was in a bullish, combative mood. He hinted that he had information about his wife that was so ‘explosive’ it might halt the latest bout of their legal battle, which has now been raging for six years.
‘If I do go to jail, then she’s going with me,’ he said emphatically as he ate a sandwich and sipped fizzy water in The George pub across the road from the court. ‘She’s the mother of my children and I don’t really want her to go to jail, but if I do, then so will she.’
Michelle had hired eight private detectives to follow him around the clock and had been recording his conversations. ‘What she’s doing is illegal. She’s been silly and it could land her in jail,’ he said. But when he repeated his claims in court, the judge told him they had no bearing on proceedings.
‘I don’t know why she is being so vindictive,’ he added, claiming Michelle’s behaviour had left him so stressed he had spent several days in rehab. ‘I’ve been on the back foot all the while and it has made me a shell of my old self.
Sun, sea and smiles: Scot and Michelle Young with daughters Sasha (front) and Scarlet on holiday in the Mediterranean in 2000
‘While she’s had unknown sources prepared to give her money to drag me into court, I can’t afford a lawyer. Do you think I want to be sitting in court on my own? I don’t have the money to pay for one. It’s David versus Goliath. Write that down,’ he commanded.
The following day, sitting impassively on the front bench awaiting the verdict, he looked woebegone. He paled when the six-month sentence was imposed, despite his plea for more time.
From the back of the court, Scot’s fiancee, model-turned-fashion designer Noelle Reno, 29, sighed and closed her eyes. Michelle, 48, look stunned.
It was a spectacular fall from grace for a man who made his fortune as a ‘fixer’ to Russian oligarchs such as Boris Berezovsky and was close friends with billionaire TopShop boss Sir Philip Green and Harold Tillman, head of high-street fashion chain Jaeger.
Scot lifted himself from working-class poverty in Dundee to lead a lavish lifestyle. He has owned some of the finest homes in England and during the 11 years he was happily married to Michelle (they were together for fours years beforehand) the couple travelled by private jet, spent holidays on yachts and were waited on by teams of servants.
Grand: Wood Perry House near Oxford, which boasts nine bedrooms. The couple sold it for £14million
Judgement day: Scot Young kisses fiancee Noelle Reno outside the High Court in London on the day he was sentenced
Scot once bought Michelle a Range Rover filled with couture dresses worth tens of thousands of pounds, and his 40th birthday present to her was £1?million ?of diamond jewellery. Of course, it has all been sold off long ago to pay her legal fees.
The couple met in London more than 20 years ago and Michelle says he was evasive about his past. He told her he was in property but didn’t elaborate on his background.
The couple first lived with her parents in Upminster, Essex, and Michelle â€" who worked as a fashion buyer â€" says her father helped Scot with his business career by introducing him to contacts.
It was the time of the property boom and the couple began buying houses to renovate and sell at vast profit.
They once owned Wood Perry House in Oxfordshire, which they sold for £14?million, and a prime property near Regent’s Park in London. Their daughters were sent to private school and the weekly shopping was delivered by Harrods.
The marriage began to flounder, however, and in 2005 Scot suggested they make a fresh start in a £3.5?million beachfront home in Miami. At about the same time, he says, his rise in the property world juddered to a halt after he negotiated a £2?billion deal for a retail development in Moscow.
He was away from home for several months when Michelle was called by his solicitor, who broke the news that he had lost all his money.
Little is known about the reasons for the collapse of his empire other than Scot claiming he was a victim of the recession.
Living the high life: The central London house that the former couple bought in 2002 for £2.75million
Over the years I’ve asked him several times where all his money has gone. Each time he would look me in the eyes and say: ‘Angella, I have no money. I promise you, it’s all gone. I want to get back to earning money so I can look after my family but the negative publicity of the many court cases have made it difficult.’
But Michelle insists Scot, who helped to find properties and buy cars for his contacts, had planned his exit from the marriage and used his powerful connections to help hide his wealth. In 2009, she revealed businessmen including Green, Tillman, Kevin Cash and Sir Tom Hunter had secretly contributed £1.2?million to support her and her two daughters after the couple separated.
She said she had not known any of them very well and believed the money belonged to her husband.
Now, after securing a major new backer, she has enough money to see the case through. She has gathered a stro ng team of lawyers, forensic accountants and corporate investigators who have already delivered significant results â€" and last week scored her first victory over the man she says is an arch-manipulator.
As he was led away in handcuffs, Scot looked ruefully at me. And yet there was a knowing twinkle in his eyes and a spark of the defiance. ‘This makes no sense,’ he muttered. ‘All this means is I’ll do my time and expunge the contempt order.’
It may yet prove to be a Pyrrhic victory for his wife.
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