One of the world's richest men has been left 'humiliated' as he was forced to pay his ex-wife a whopping $1billion in a divorce settlement after she left him for a woman. Billionaire hedge fund manager Israel 'Izzy' Englander, 74 has reportedly agreed to give his ex-spouse Caryl an upwards of $1billion to quietly settle a scandalous divorce that shocked the high society of Manhattan, New York, the Mirror reports.
The Millennium Management co-funder watched his 69-year-old ex wife, who he shares three adult children with, walk out on him after over 40 years of marriage and file a startling civil law suit. The astonishing lawsuit claimed that the billionaire investor 'became enraged' when Caryl 'fell in love' with art dealer Dominique Lévy, who is co-founder of prestigious international art gallery Lévy Gorvy.
Caryl's lawsuit contained several shocking allegations against her New York-born ex husband which were claimed by both Caryl and Lévy. The New York Post's Page Six says the two new found lovers accused Mr Englander of 'terrorising' them in a failed attempt to 'bilk' Caryl out of billions in the divorce by forcing her to sign a postnuptial agreement in the year 2020.
It's reported that the filing made on February 9 was later withdrawn a week later and now the divorce has been settled privately outside of a courtroom. Caryl’s lawyer Peter E Bronstein, of law firm Rottenstreich, Lieberman, Farley LLP, told Page Six: "Caryl is happy to have settled their issues privately and amicably.
"The agreement does not allow either party to discuss the terms." The lawsuit states that the couple's long term marriage allegedly fell apart in 2016 after Mr Englander's 'repeated unfaithfulness to Caryl'.
Caryl and Ms Lévy made the claim in the civil lawsuit, filed to the New York Supreme Court, and stated: "She fell in love with another woman, Dominique." It went on to allege that Mr Englander had 'set out to terrorise the two women to force a break in their relationship, believing he could intimidate Caryl into ‘waking up’ and coming back to him."
It added: "As he openly confessed to numerous people in Dominique’s professional circle, Israel vowed to 'destroy' Dominique and her business." The lawsuit also claimed that Mr Englander hired someone to follow and photograph the two women and had their phones and email hacked in what the suit described as a 'years-long campaign of duress'.
It also alleged that Mr Englander had 'outed' Caryl to their kids without her permission and 'disclosed Caryl's relationship with Dominique, whom he labelled a 'viper''. This apparently went on while the family were celebrating the Jewish High Holidays together in September 2017.
The lawsuit stated that Mr Englander 'blamed Dominique for destroying their family' and said that his 'campaign' of terror on Caryl meant she was 'barely eating or sleeping'. This led her to agree to a 2020 postnuptial agreement 'under duress, thus forfeiting billions of dollars of joint marital property that she and Israel had built together over more than 40 years of marriage'.
The filing claimed Mr Englander got "more than 95% of the value of their marital assets, and near total control over the few assets and funds available to Caryl." A source told Page Six: “He scared the living hell out of Caryl and he scared the life out of her girlfriend.
"Dominique’s art business was almost destroyed, he tried to cut out most of her clients, and he threatened he could kill her in business because he’s so powerful.” Another source said how the situation had left Mr Englander feeling mortified which was worsened by New York Society gossiping about the fact that Caryl had dumped him for a woman.
The huge divorce settlement is said to include a part of the divorced couple's gigantic property and art collections. Bloomberg reported how the parents had paid a then-record $71.3 million for an apartment at swanky 740 Park Ave., which is reportedly one of New York's landmark buildings for heavyweight brokers.
The 18-room apartment was to be used for family members visiting them while the the ex-couple already additionally owned another one in the building. They also own several properties across the world that are worth millions and were previously named one of the top 200 art collectors in the world.
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