The billionaire Tchenguiz brothers have been ordered by a judge to return confidential documents seized from their brother-in-law in a feud over their sister Lisa’s divorce.

The High Court ruling yesterday was the latest twist in a long-running dispute between Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz and their brother-in-law and former business partner Vivian Imerman.

Robert Tchenguiz told the High Court he took the documents because he believed that Mr Imerman, the former owner of the Whyte and Mackay whisky business, would try to hide his £500 million fortune from Lisa Imerman, who has filed for divorce.

Mr Imerman told the court he would give full disclosure of his finances to the divorce courts.
Mr Justice Eady left the allegations about hiding assets to the family court, which will hear the divorce case in October. The judge also said it would be up to that court to decide whether the documents seized by Mr Tchenguiz would be admissible as evidence.

The brothers, who intend to appeal against the ruling, were ordered to pay Mr Imerman’s legal fees, believed to amount to more than £1 million.

A spokesman for the Tchenguiz brothers said: “We are delighted that the option is there for Lisa to use this information in the divorce court.”

Mr Imerman said: “I am hugely disappointed that a long business partnership and friendship has come to this.”

Robert Tchenguiz, who lost £1 billion of his personal fortune in just one day when the credit crunch struck last September, ordered his IT staff to hack into Mr Imerman’s computer files in February. The order followed a row between Mrs Imerman and her husband in February over a £250,000 bullet-proof Rolls-Royce Phantom. Mrs Imerman, who had filed for divorce two months earlier, booked the car into a garage to be serviced. Mr Imerman, in whose name the car was registered, sent his chauffeur to seize the car and bring it to him.

When Mrs Imerman found out the car had been taken she telephoned Robert Tchenguiz and he and Vincent decided to take direct action against Mr Imerman, who shared their offices in Curzon Street, Soho.

The Tchenguiz brothers and their IT staff went through files on Mr Imerman’s password-protected computer and downloaded documents setting out his personal finances and family trusts on to two memory sticks.

Source: Times Online