The heir to the digger company JCB has failed in an attempt to take control of a business run by his former best friend after a bitter US courtroom battle that included lurid allegations about personal conduct – and even revealed an apparent attempt to buy Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch.
Jo Bamford, a grandson of the JCB founder, sued Joseph Manheim last year in Delaware, claiming that his former friend had “surreptitiously” taken control of a company they set up to help wealthy, mainly Chinese, investors get residence in the US. Bamford, 44, a self-styled “green entrepreneur”, claimed Manheim secretly siphoned millions of dollars from the business and Bamford sought damages of $13.8m (£11.3m).
Bamford is the son of Anthony Bamford, the billionaire peer and chairman of JCB – and a major donor to the prime minister, Boris Johnson. Lord Bamford’s Daylesford estate reportedly hosted Johnson’s wedding party on Saturday.
The Guardian last year reported on the legal case, which shone a light on one of Britain’s wealthiest families, revealing how Bamford admitted to using a company email account to order cannabis and send unspecified “inappropriate, explicit photographs”.
The case also appears to reveal how Jo Bamford structured his relationship with the business in order to minimise his tax bill in Britain. The court said: “Bamford was interested in holding his interest through an entity rather than personally, which he believed would help minimise his taxes in the United Kingdom.”
The Delaware court’s memorandum opinion – a 125-page judgment dated 24 June this year – has found that Manheim must repay $2.4m plus interest to the company for “excess management fees” and some expenses found to be “not entirely fair”, and that he breached his responsibilities as a director of the company.
However, the court denied Bamford’s request to pass control of the company to him and his fellow plaintiff, according to the judgment. According to the filing, Bamford failed to prove Manheim was guilty of fraud or negligent misrepresentation but all of the main parties were criticised by the court.
Bamford’s lawyers said he has filed a motion asking the court to increase the amount Manheim must pay.
The judgment is likely to raise further questions over the conduct of Bamford, whose family wealth and connections have helped him become a big player in the green economy, particularly around hydrogen. In 2019 he rescued the Northern Ireland bus-maker Wrightbus with plans for it to build buses fuelled by hydrogen from Ryze, his distribution company, and he has started a fund that aims to raise £1bn to invest in hydrogen projects.
The court found that Bamford, as well as the other key witnesses, had his “credibility impeached successfully on various points”.
Lawyers for Bamford said that all steps taken by him in relation to his tax liabilities were appropriate and consistent with US tax law.
The trial gave a rare insight into the world of the super-rich. Bamford was described as a collector of classic Ferraris, and rare pheasants, and he admitted ordering cannabis using a work email. In the case, Bamford successfully challenged some of Manheim’s expenses, including visits to a strip club called Delilah’s Den, charges related to a ski holiday injury, and fees paid to a director who the court found acted as a “stooge” for Manheim.
The trial also revealed a previously unreported plan by Bamford to buy the Neverland ranch once owned by Michael Jackson, who died in 2009. The purported plan for Bamford to buy the 1092-hectare (2,700 acres) site was discussed in 2013, the court papers show.
During cross-examination, Bamford’s lawyer asked Manheim about “Project Peter Pan”. Manheim responded by asking whether she was referring to the “buying the Michael Jackson ranch thing”. Emails referred to in the trial suggest that Bamford got to the stage of assessing non-disclosure agreements related to a potential sale. It is unclear how far Bamford progressed with a potential purchase, and his lawyers did not respond to questions about it.
The case centred on Delaware Valley Regional Center (DVRC), a company set up in 2012 to provide US green cards to wealthy foreign investors.
The programme was structured as genuine infrastructure investment, building roads in Pennsylvania, but the investment returns were meagre: expert testimony cited in court suggested that annual returns after fees were a negative 1.41%, meaning investors lost money. However, it appears the true benefit of the controversial programme was to grant investors access to coveted “green cards”, which confer residence rights in the US.
In exchange for $500,000 apiece, which was invested in local road and public transport projects, plus a fee to DVRC, wealthy foreigners could apply for fast-track visas to live and work in the US.
The four-day trial in June 2021 detailed how a once-close friendship deteriorated. The two men socialised and holidayed together and were godfathers to each other’s children. The court found that Bamford was “strapped for cash following disagreements with his father” in late 2017, and so looked to DVRC to pay out dividends.
Tensions between Bamford and his father, Lord Bamford, started when the father refused to start planning for the son to take over at the head of JCB, the court documents suggest. The manufacturer of diggers and other construction machinery is one of Britain’s biggest private companies, and the Bamfords have used their estimated £4.3bn fortune to exert political influence. JCB and Lord Bamford were among the biggest donors to Boris Johnson and the Brexit campaigns, and Jo Bamford has personally lobbied Johnson for pro-hydrogen government policy.
Bamford asked the court to terminate Manheim’s control over the company, but the court denied the request. “The plaintiffs have come nowhere close to proving facts that would support such an extraordinary remedy,” the judge wrote.
DVRC operated under the EB-5 programme, which allowed wealthy foreigners to effectively buy the right to live and work in the US. EB-5 is now suspended for new applicants after criticism from senators that – though legal – it presented a national security risk.
Through his lawyers, Bamford has previously defended his involvement in the EB-5 scheme as an entirely lawful business.
Bamford’s lawyers declined to comment on the record.
Manheim said: “I am tremendously proud of DVRC’s accomplishments over the past 10 years enabling and supporting projects that created tens of thousands of jobs and vastly improved south-eastern Pennsylvania’s rails and roads.
“I regret, and am still perplexed, that Mr Bamford pursued four years of fruitless litigation, causing the expenditure of millions and millions of dollars in legal fees, in an effort to increase his profits and seize control of the company.
“I am very grateful, and not surprised, that the court has rejected the majority of Bamford’s claims and his attempt to take control of the company. All of us at the DVRC are excited to move forward and continue to serve the interests of our investors and stakeholders.”
Bruce E Jameson, a lawyer representing Manheim at Prickett, Jones & Elliott, said: “We are pleased that the court, after evaluation of the full record, rejected plaintiffs’ claims that they were defrauded, and denied their request to be put in control of DVRC.
“While we respectfully disagree with the court’s award of some damages, we are gratified that the court rejected the majority of plaintiffs’ damages claims.”
