A billionaire who settled one of the UK’s most expensive divorces in 2014 was ordered to fork over an additional $360 million grant to his ex-wife’s charity this week.
Hedge funder Sir Christopher Hohn had been duking it out in British court with his ex, Jamie Cooper, since they split over whether a charity the couple co-founded — the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation — had to pay a $360 million grant to Cooper’s new charity, Big Win Philanthropy.
The Supreme Court explained of the case that, “Governance issues emerged when their marriage broke down. The parties agreed that Ms. Cooper should resign as a member and trustee of CIFF, and that CIFF should make a grant of $360 million to Big Win Philanthropy, a new charity founded by Ms. Cooper.”
An epic legal battle ensued, including two appeals. At issue was whether the court could rule on how the sole non-conflicted board member of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation must vote on giving Cooper’s charity the grant.
Hohn is reportedly worth $5 billion and is one of the UK’s biggest charitable donors.
Matthew Dontzin and David Fleissig, of New York firm Dontzin Nagy & Fleissig, led the team that repped Cooper throughout the dispute. Dontzin told Page Six in a statement: “The truth of her claim could not be denied no matter how many legal obstacles they tried to throw at her. This is a well-deserved and long overdue victory for Ms. Cooper.”
Hohn’s charity reportedly said in a statement that the ruling would have “no significant impact” on its work. Both charities help children in developing countries.
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