Marie Bosarge, wife of Texan billionaire Wilbur 'Ed' Bosarge, claims that the businessman is concealing more than a dozen properties and a laundry-list of assets, including a French-style chateau, a London apartment and three yachts. She believes that he is hiding them through the use of trusts and limited liability companies so that she cannot receive a fair share in their contentious divorce. Bosarge, 80, left his wife of 30 years in 2013 for a Russian socialite in her 20's before filing for divorce in 2017.
In court filings, the 66-year-old Marie argues that her husband has secreted away many of the assets in trusts in South Dakota, known for its lenient tax and privacy laws. Bosarge's attorneys claim that Marie does not have sufficient evidence that the trusts include any communal property. The two parties have given different estimates of the worth of assets held in trust, with Marie's attorneys citing a figure of $2 billion and Ed claiming in a deposition that there were approximately $800 million worth of assets. Ed's legal team also says that he has no control of the assets in trust, and that the community estate is worth only $12 million.
The couple married in 1989, a full decade before Ed launched his high-frequency trading firm, now considered one of the world's premier companies of its kind. Over the years, Bosarge has acquired an impressive portfolio of homes, boats, art, and antiques, including a mummy in a sarcophagus. Marie said that Ed purchased the assets through trusts and limited liability companies, which he allegedly said was for tax purposes and for her protection.
See Billionaire's Wife Accuses Him of Hiding Assets Through Trusts, Daily Mail, April 10, 2020; see also Candace Taylor, A High-Stakes Divorce Illustrates How the Rich Play Real-Estate Tug of War, Wall Street Journal, April 9, 2020.
This article originally appeared on Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog.
