Forensic Accountants Needed To Unravel Complex Finance – 25 November 2013

Lawyers acting for the ex-wife of former tycoon Scot Young have had to engage the services of an experienced forensic accountant as the best means of proving that he actually does have the money to pay the settlement she is seeking.  Mr Young, who was jailed earlier this year for “flagrant and deliberate” contempt of court after repeatedly failing to disclose the mysterious disappearance of his extraordinary wealth, is now in the High Court disputing the claim for £300m sought by Michelle Young, which she says he actually offered her four years ago.  

Having gone bankrupt in 2010, Mr Young is saying that the offer was ‘flippant’ at the time but, according to expert investigative accountants, he made income or gains in excess of £40m in a seven-year period, and only lost £3m, which means he could not possibly have become insolvent. They are extrapolating this to infer that he is also lying about other assets.  The accountants added that, having scrutinised the records Mr Young was forced to disclose under court orders, several of his offshore vehicles, including a property holding company called Condor Corporate Services, were used by him in the years following his alleged financial meltdown in 2006.

During that time, the investigators found, £75.5 million was paid into various accounts owned by Mr Young, although they could not find any entry of these funds on bank statements provided by the businessman. They also uncovered £15 million in cheques written by him to his creditors in early 2006,  The case is continuing but it is clear that the financial ‘shenanigans’, as Mrs Young’s counsel called them are so complex that only experienced forensic accountants will be able to unravel them and get to the heart of the matter.

Author: Roger Isaacs, 25 November 2013

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