$450,000 vacation? Billionaire divorce reveals big spending
The divorce of billionaire hedgie Ken Griffin just keeps on providing revelations about the couple's spending.
Last month, we learned that the family spent $1 million per month in expenses related to their three kids. The filings didn't break down the spending much, saying that it included $300,000 a month for intercontinental private-jet travel, $160,000 a month for vacation rentals and $60,000 a month for office space and professional staff.
Now, new court documents give more details on the $1 million a month. According to filings late Friday, Griffin argued that his ex-wife, Anne Dias, is claiming expenses as child support even though the expenses are for her "lifestyle."
Among the expenses: $6,800 a month for groceries, $7,200 a month for restaurant meals, $8,000 a month for gifts and $2,000 a month for stationery. Griffin also claims his wife has sought $450,000 for a 10-day vacation in St. Bart's during the children's winter break.
Dias' lawyers don't dispute the expenses per se. But they argue that under Illinois law, Griffin is required to fund the children's lifestyle as it was during their parents' marriage. And they say the expenses are simply an accounting of all the couple's child-related expenses while they were married.
Dias is seeking to nullify the couple's prenup and claims Griffin is failing to pay adequate child support for their three kids, who are all under age 10.
"Ken Griffin, one of the wealthiest men in the world, continues to lie with impunity and to brutally and shamelessly attack the mother of his children in an effort to avoid his financial responsibilities to his family," said a spokeswoman for Dias. "Anne is saddened that he is using his enormous resources in an attempt to destroy her when it would be so easy for him to support his children as he always did during the marriage."
Griffin said he is paying "virtually every expense" related to the children, including their four nannies. He said he has even paid expenses that are solely for Dias' benefit, including a private chef, multiple house cleaners and a house manager/personal assistant. He said that while he declined to fund the $450,000 vacation, he said he gave her $45,000 for the winter vacation.
Griffin said Dias is trying to fund her "opulent lifestyle" by saying her personal expenses should be part of child support.
Damn – from another high networth divorce:
“… The divorce of the oil billionaire Harold G. Hamm from Sue Ann Arnall has gained attention largely for its outsize dollar amounts. Mr. Hamm, the chief executive and founder of Continental Resources, who was worth more than $18 billion at one point, wrote his ex-wife a check last month for $974,790,317.77 to settle their split. She's appealing to get more; he's appealing to pay less …”
cnbc.com