John Paulson condo purchase scrutinized as bitter billionaire divorce rages

The wife of billionaire John Paulson is accusing him of keeping $10 million hidden from her in a Puerto Rican condo. 

In one of the ugliest real estate divorces in recent memory, Jenica Paulson filed an updated complaint in state court in Manhattan on Wednesday, accusing John of improperly enriching himself through the condo purchase, according to Bloomberg. The complaint is the latest salvo in a divorce that led Jenica to file a lawsuit in July, seeking at least $1 billion in damages.

In 2020, John agreed to buy an apartment at the St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort in Puerto Rico for $5.6 million from a 2009 family trust, according to the complaint; John holds a stake in the resort. Today, however, that penthouse is worth $15 million, meaning John effectively took $10 million from a trust — of which the couple’s children are primary beneficiaries — and gave it to himself, the complaint alleges.

Furthermore, Jenica alleges John has failed to make payments on the Puerto Rico penthouse while racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in outstanding “hospitality charges.” John’s lawyer disputed the complaint, saying that all required payments have been made and there are no hospitality charges because John hasn’t closed on the apartment.

Jenica filed the updated complaint one day before the two sides were set to argue on John’s motion to throw out the lawsuit, a court date that has since been postponed. Jenica’s complaint came about after a separate lawsuit was filed against John by a longtime business partner in Puerto Rico.

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John Paulson is a billionaire hedge funder, making his fortune by betting against subprime mortgage bonds before the Great Recession. His net worth is $5.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Among the assets up for grabs in the contentious divorce are hundreds of millions worth of real estate. John filed for divorce in September 2021, but the couple doesn’t have a prenup, sparking a fight over a $110 million Palm Beach mansion, a $49 million ranch in Aspen, a $41 million home on Lake Agawan in Southampton and a $14.7 million townhouse on the Upper East Side.

— Holden Walter-Warner