(DailyMail.com) - Lawyers for the scorned wife of hedge fund mogul John Paulson have hit back at his claims she is 'greedy' – and said his alleged siphoning of funds into secret trusts is the 'ultimate example of spousal abuse'.
- Paulson filed for divorce from his wife in 2021 after 21 years of marriage and building up a vast real estate portfolio
- His wife, Jenny, filed a lawsuit claiming he had 'siphoned' funds into a secret trust over several years
- Lawyers for the mom-of-two say her husband is the 'greedy' one amid the ongoing court battle
Billionaire Paulson filed for divorce from his soon-to-be ex-wife Jenny, 52, in 2021, which led to her claiming he had moved at least $1billion into secret trusts, according to legal filings seen by DailyMail.com.
The 67-year-old's legal team said in documents she is acting out of 'greed,' and if the trusts are split as she demands, the assets would incur 'huge' sums of taxation – resulting in their two daughters Giselle, 18, and Danielle, 20, receiving a 'diluted' inheritance.
But Jenny's lawyers have hit back, telling DailyMail.com he should 'know about being greedy' after filing a new claim accusing her husband of a 'sham purchase' of a luxury penthouse in Puerto Rico to 'improperly enrich himself' by $10million at the expense of the trusts.
'Imagine the nerve of a guy who we allege spends years secretly stealing assets from his wife that are part of the marital estate before a divorce proceeding,' said Robert Cohen, attorney for Jenny, of Cohen Clair Lans Greifer & Simpson LLP.
'Then he secretly takes funds out of the Trust he secretly set up for his personal purposes to buy a $20 million condo. But he purchased it for only $5 million and apparently hasn't closed on the sale yet.
'And then he accuses her publicly of being 'greedy.' It's fair to say: That's what's called 'chutzpah'.'
Legal documents filed on September 21 state Paulson bought the apartment at the St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort in 2020 for an artificially low price of $5.6 million from a 2009 family trust, which owned the property.
According to court documents, the penthouse is worth $15million, which her legal team claims allowed him to remove $10million from the trust he wasn't entitled to.
A source close to the divorce proceedings told DailyMail.com: 'These factual issues will be decided in the numerous lawsuits pending against Mr. Paulson for his alleged fraud and related misconduct.'
James T. Smith, Partner at Blank Rome, refuted the claims against Paulson, saying: 'These allegations are completely absurd, because Mrs. Paulson is not a beneficiary of the trust. These fictitious claims are just another attempt to deflect attention from her effort to strip her children of their inheritance.
'The condo was not purchased at a discount. At the time of purchase in February 2020, the condo was the highest price paid for any condo in the resort and at a premium to 2 other condos sold around the same time.'
The amended complaint was prompted by a separate lawsuit filed against Paulson in Puerto Rico in September, by his former business partner Fahad Ghaffar, according to Jenny's legal team.
Ghaffar, 42, sued the billionaire for $50million over claims he lied about a fraudulent $17milion luxury car dealership investment.
Paulson denies the allegations and has since filed to dismiss the case, as well as lodging a legal bid of his own – demanding $189m in damages, alleging Ghaffar spent millions of dollars of company cash on personal expenses.
He is also accused of 'blindsiding' Jenny by filing for divorce in 2021 after shacking up with fitness influencer Alina de Almeida, 34.
Mr Cohen added: 'Mr. Paulson in the media accused his wife of being greedy. I believe he should know about being greedy.
'The ultimate truth here is that he steals from his wife and makes accusations against her for being greedy. And it really seems to be the ultimate example of spousal abuse.
'And we see no statement by him of any shame in what he has done. It seems he has none in this conduct towards his wife.'
Lawyers for the billionaire have refuted the claims, calling them 'absurd', and again accused her of trying to 'strip' money from her daughter's inheritance.
An attorney advising Jenny also claims that she has 'disappeared' from the Paulson Family Foundation, after there was no mention of her in a release announcing a $27million donation to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
They added: 'Mr. Paulson, in his gift to Hebrew University from the Paulson Family Foundation, paid for a press release about his gift mentioning his own name, but deleted Jenny, who in prior donations from the Foundation was mentioned.
'He is acting as if there has been a verdict and he is entitled to 'disappear' his still-wife Jenny, who has a right to an equitable distribution of marital assets.'
'Mrs. Paulson has long been a part of the Family's charitable gifting – the Foundation's past press releases referencing Mrs. Paulson speak for themselves.
'As does the fact Mr. Paulson recently and unilaterally deleted Mrs. Paulson's name from a press release about a "Family" Foundation donation to Jerusalem University.'
Smith, attorney for Paulson, rebuffed the claims, saying: 'She is neither an officer nor director of the Foundation and has never expressed an interest in any of the organizations the Foundation supports.'
Paulson and Romanian-born Jenny attempted an out-of-court settlement, but a bitter war erupted after she turned down an undisclosed offer, prompting lawyers for Paulson to brand the mother of his children 'greedy.'
He has since filed again in Suffolk County, Long Island, close to his large Southampton mansion, with the couple battling it out over their $200million real estate portfolio.
In an initial filing hitting back at Jenny's claims that he squirreled away assets into three special trusts states that she is trying to 'justify stripping her children of their inheritance'.
Their daughters Giselle and Danielle, 19 and 21, are the 'primary beneficiaries' of the trusts, with lawyers claiming that by suing her husband over the $1billion estate Jenny would be taking funds away from them if her claim is upheld.
Court documents said: 'She has been further exposed as a parent who seeks to deprive her children of trusts created for their benefit to which they are undisputed beneficiaries - and to which Mr. Paulson has no claim - solely to increase her share of equitable distribution in the Divorce Action.'
It added that she is trying to justify the legal action by saying she will 'provide for the children's financial security', adding that she would cause 'tremendous tax implications thereby significantly reducing the children's inheritance.'
The couple did not sign a prenuptial agreement before tying the knot, which could make any ruling on their billions one of the largest in the states to play out publicly.
James Smith, a partner at BlankRome, representing Paulson told DailyMail.com: 'Mrs. Paulson seeks to strip her children of their inheritance. This selfish money grab has no basis under New York Law.'
But sources close to Jenny say that she and the two girls are 'like one person', and her lawyers previously denied that she is trying to take any money from them.
It is also claimed that there are concerns that the girls will have their portion of the trusts 'diluted', if Paulson has any more children with his new lover.
Jenny claims that the trusts have improperly 'served to evade Mr. Paulson's lawful obligation in the event of divorce.'
Two of the three trusts contain language that benefits 'Paulson's legal wife,' meaning that Jenny will be deprived of the assets upon divorce, court papers show.
Paulson's lawyers say she knew about the trusts because they are named in nearly two decades of joint tax returns which she herself signed.
Paulson reportedly 'wants to marry' his girlfriend and has moved her into his luxury apartment on New York's Fifth Avenue.
It comes after a state appeals court rejected Paulson's motion to have oral arguments to dismiss his wife's claims closed to the public.
Paulson and Jenny first met in the late 1990s when she delivered lunch to his offices. He then hired the Romanian national as his assistant.
A 2009 book about the hedge fund trader called The Greatest Trade Ever quoted him as saying Jenny was 'a breath of fresh air'.
John and Jenny Paulson have a massive collection of luxury real-estate that the couple amassed in their two-decade-long marriage.
They paid $14.7 million for a neo-Georgian townhouse in Manhattan. The home is a 28,513 square feet, six-story, and 51-foot-wide limestone.
They also have an estate in Southampton, New York, called Old Tress, which was obtained for an eye-popping $41 million in 2008, and a luxury 95-acre property called the Hala Ranch in Aspen worth $49 million.
The ranch was built in 1991 and was originally purchased by Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar bin Sultan for $135 million. The estate has been ranked by Forbes magazine as the most expensive home in the United States.
Paulson became a celebrity in the world of finance when in 2007 he made an unprecedented bet against the then-booming housing market, predicting that the subprime loan bubble would burst.
When Paulson's forecast came to pass, he and his investors walked away from the financial calamity $20 billion richer. Paulson's hedge funds managed $38 billion at their height in 2011, which shrank to $8 billion by the end of 2019.
On the heels of the heavy losses, Paulson converted his hedge fund into a family investment firm in 2020.
He graduated from NYU and received his MBA from Harvard Business School. In 1994, he founded his own hedge fund called Paulson & Co.
He spent his 30s as a hotshot bachelor, living in a loft in SoHo in downtown Manhattan, rubbing elbows with celebrities and models.
By EMMA JAMES | SENIOR REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM October 17, 2023
