Prince Andrew embroiled in High Court case after 'receiving £1m from Turkish fraudster'

1 April 2022, 10:11

Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson are embroiled in a High Court legal battle after receiving more than £1 million through an alleged Turkish fraudster, it has been claimed.

The Duke of York and his ex-wife Sarah have been named in a ruling on a High Court case featuring elderly Turkish woman, Nebahat Isbilen, who is in her 70s, and Turkish businessman Selman Turk, who is based in London.

The 62-year-old, as well as his former wife Sarah, are alleged to have received payments on the orders of Selman Turk.

Deputy High Court judge David Halpern was told that "substantial sums" had been paid to them, reportedly in the region of £1million.

Mrs Isbilen, a Turkish millionaire, had needed assistance moving her assets out of Turkey after her husband was imprisoned in 2015 there owing to his "political affiliations", the judge had been told.

The money given to the Queen’s second son is understood to have included £750,000 from Isbilen, who claims to have been tricked by Mr Turk and told that she was paying for help in getting a new passport to escape political persecution.

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Mr Turk, a businessman and former banker, had agreed to help Mrs Isbilen move her assets out of reach of the Turkish authorities.

Mrs Isbilen has alleged that Mr Turk "breached fiduciary obligations he owed to her" and "advances claims in deceit".

She is pursuing Mr Turk and multiple businesses associated with him in the High Court for an estimated £40 million, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Turk is fighting the case.

The litigation is ongoing and has been heard at the High Court in London. A number of preliminary rulings have been published.

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Judge Halpern said a lawyer representing Mrs Isbilen had told him, in an affidavit, that information had emerged to show evidence given by Mr Turk was "misleading".

He said solicitor Jonathan Tickner had told him how evidence showed that "money was used for purposes unconnected with Mrs Isbilen, e.g., substantial sums were paid to Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and to Sarah, Duchess of York".

Judge Halpern said barrister Dan McCourt Fritz, who represents Mrs Isbilen, had told him that the "total sums which his client claims were misappropriated" amounted to some 50 million US dollars (about £38 million).

"Mr Turk has provided explanations for approximately two thirds of these sums, most of which have been allegedly spent on professional or other fees or lost in bad investments," the judge added, in his ruling.

"No explanation at all has been given for the remaining one third."

It comes weeks after the disgraced duke settled a civil sex claim made against him in the US for a reported £7 million, with the Queen stripping her son of all of his military titles and Royal patronages.

On Tuesday, the day of the Duke of Edinburgh's memorial service, there was speculation over the Queen's support for her son, who walked the 95-year-old monarch down the aisle.

It's claimed senior royals were "dismayed" after Prince Andrew took a prominent role at the memorial.