Tycoon faces jail over missing millions

A secretive tycoon at the centre of a £400 million divorce battle has been warned he faces jail if he cannot prove his claim that he is broke.

Scot Young, a "fixer" to Russian oligarchs and British billionaires, was told he could be imprisoned for contempt of court if he fails to tell a High Court judge where his fortune has gone.

His wife Michelle is seeking maintenance and up to half his assets, previously estimated at £400 million, after their 14-year marriage broke down in 2006.

Mr Justice Charles ordered that Young's passport be seized to stop him fleeing the country. "There is a real risk that he will leave the jurisdiction and not be seen again," the judge told a hearing at the High Court.

Mr Young, who says he is penniless, now faces proceedings to commit him to jail within days unless he can account for his missing millions.

Details of the case can be reported for the first time after the judge made a special order last week, following a law change lifting the veil of secrecy over family proceedings two months ago.

Before their separation the Youngs lived in a succession of mansions, including a house on the Wentworth Park estate near Egham, Surrey, which he sold for £19 million to his friend Boris Berezovsky, a Russian oligarch.

Mr Young, 47, is also close friends with Topshop owner Sir Philip Green and the billionaire entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter, who has helped pay the school fees for Mr Young's daughters, and the £100,000 rent on Michelle's Regent's Park home, according to the Sunday Times.

One millionaire acquaintance told the paper: "Scot's a fixer. He helps wealthy people. If someone needs a house, he'll get them a house. If they need a nice car, he'll get them a car.

"His main business was peddling expensive properties. He would live in them and then sell them on. He sometimes turned up in Boris's office with plans of the latest house he was selling."

Another friend said of the Youngs' lavish lifestyle: "They only ever flew by private jet and at any one time they had £3m worth of cars parked in the driveway."

Mr Young claims his money has all gone. At last week's hearing, however, the judge said Mrs Young wife did not accept that her husband had lost his fortune.

Mr Justice Charles said he was trying to find out how much the entrepreneur was now worth. "There is a £400m starting figure. I expect some documentation to show where it has all gone. There isn't any at the moment," he said.