In the latest development in the divorce between billionaire Ken Griffin and estranged wife, Griffin is adamant about no longer supporting Anne Dias Griffin.
Claims to Marital Property
The Chicago hedge-fund manager is challenging his wife, Anne Dias Griffin’s claims to his private planes, real estate, and credit cards, and arguing that she has $50 million in personal wealth herself. “Anne’s petition is nothing more than a plea for this Court to require Ken to fund her affluent lifestyle, notwithstanding her own substantial wealth, and notwithstanding the premarital agreement in which she knowingly and voluntarily waived any right to spousal support or maintenance from Ken,” states Ken Griffin’s filing.
The recently filed 23-page motion also moves to dismiss Dias Griffin’s recently filed request for a temporary restraining order to keep her estranged husband out of her house.
Divorce, Property Division, and Restraining Orders
One central issue in the divorce revolves around three floors of a building on Chicago’s North Michigan Avenue where the couple and their two children reside. Dias Griffin claims she and the children reside on the 66th, 67th and 68th floors and that her estranged husband cannot enter the residence without prior consent. When Griffin entered the residence for various reasons such as changing security systems and removing furniture and art following their divorce filing, Dias Griffin filed for a temporary restraining order to restrict his access.
Griffin’s recent filing asserts the apartment on the 66th floor of the building, that he purchased late in 2012, “after he and Anne separated [emphasis in the filing],” is his residence alone, and that Dias Griffin owns the upper floors. This was the couple’s shared marital residence. Griffin defends his right to have entered the residence to remove his property as well as terminate some household staff.
Ken No Longer Footing the Bill
The filing also focuses on Dias Griffin’s ability to maintain her own lifestyle on her own. “Most importantly,” the filing asserts, “Anne cannot support her claim that she has a clearly ascertainable right to have Ken fund purchases of couture clothing, helicopter rides, private air travel, and whatever lifestyle she chooses based on Ken’s ‘total financial resources.'” Griffin adds: “Anne also suggests that she is entitled to use of Ken’s two private aircraft,” but that private air travel “certainly is not a ‘right,’ and its deprivation does not constitute irreparable injury.”
In previously filed documents Dias Griffin has claimed there is no question Griffin, with his estimated net worth being $5.5 billion, is able to fund her expenses as well as the children’s.
Source: CNBC, Citadel founder’s divorce battle over property gets uglier, October 22, 2014