Lawyer being sued by Saudi princess says £31m court case 'destroyed' his life
An ex-partner at one of Britain's top law firms being sued for £31 million by a Saudi princess says his life, wealth and health have been "destroyed" by the case.
Ex "magic circle" law firm partner Ronald Gibbs has been reduced to working "cash in hand" as a boat captain due to a protracted court war with Saudi royals over his management of a $25m investment fund for Princess Deema Bint Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud since 2011. The money was earmarked for a property purchase in Paris, but when she changed her mind it was instead sunk into assets all over the world, including a £17m 40-metre superyacht, London properties and a 3.3m euro apartment in Montenegro.
The princess and her brother HRH Prince Khaled Bin Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud later complained that Mr Gibbs failed to return the princess' millions after being first asked to do so in 2013. And now the case has finally reached the High Court, as the princess sues Mr Gibbs for about £31m, representing her initial investment and profits she says she should have made.
But representing himself, Mr Gibbs, 66, told Mr Justice Calver he has been left financially ruined by three years of legal wrangling and reduced to facing the princess' team of top lawyers by himself with nothing more than a "small laptop and a £50 printer."
Claiming he is now reliant on "cash handouts" as a boat captain, the formerly high-flying lawyer said: "This has destroyed my life and my health. Every asset I have got has massive debts against it. Most firms of accountants have refused to act for me or my companies. You can't get blood out of a stone. There is no point asking me to pay funds I don't have. I can't get loans. My credit is effectively zero. If I didn't have an old age pension I would have struggled to pay the Tube fare today. My small laptop is basically all I have."
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The house in King's Road, Richmond, bought by Ronald Gibbs in 2012 (Champion News)
Gibbs now works "cash in hand" as a boat captain (Champion News)The court heard that until 2006 Mr Gibbs was an asset finance lawyer who rose to become a partner at Linklaters, one of the prestigious top five "magic circle" London commercial legal firms. In 2011, after quitting the firm, he agreed to help the princess invest a $25m investment pot handed to her by her father, former Saudi defence minister Sultan bin Abdulaziz, on his death.
The money was invested in a swish apartment at the Regent Hotel in Porto, Montenegro, superyacht company Silver Arrows Marine Limited and a £17m customised 40-metre Sunseeker 131 superyacht, named Elysium after the abode of the blessed dead, a fictional realm of ideal happiness from Greek mythology.
The company, whose past projects have included collaborating with Mercedes Benz on a unique yacht based on the lines of one of their cars, is controlled by experienced yachtsman Mr Gibbs, who has also taken the helm of Elysium.
Simon Atrill KC, for the princess, said Mr Gibbs had in 2018 signed an agreement that he would liquidate the investment portfolio by selling the assets, but failed to do so. After summary judgment was entered against him for breach of that agreement in April last year, he was ordered to pay about £2m in interim damages to the princess.
He did not pay and in December, ahead of this week's trial, a judge ordered that a five-bedroom house Mr Gibbs owned in King's Road, Richmond-upon-Thames - valued online at around £4m - must be sold and the proceeds used to pay off the princess.
Regent Hotel in swish Porto Montenegro (Internet Unknown)The judge, Master John Linwood, found that Mr Gibbs and his ex-wife Sandra Gibbs had "colluded in an attempt to mislead the court" by producing a fake deed of trust in a bid to prove that most of the value of the house was owned by Mrs Gibbs and their children. As the full High Court trial began, the princess' barrister said she is suing for return of her original investment, as well as gains her financial advisors could have made with it since 2018, totalling around £31 million.
"She seeks the long-awaited return of her money that was transferred to the defendant, a former Linklaters partner in 2011 - plus further compensation reflecting the loss of use of that money," Mr Atrill said. "He has never paid a penny of what he owes, all while spending millions on his superyacht and yacht-building business, maintaining his multi-national property empire, and making significant sales of assets, generating millions of pounds that he directed elsewhere than to the claimant."
The case revolves around the 2018 settlement agreement, under which Mr Gibbs is obliged to begin liquidating the assets which represent the princess' money and return the cash to her - and which Mr Atrill said he is in breach of.
"This should be a straightforward case," he told the judge. "Mr Gibbs' failure to sell the assets or return the funds is, among other things, a straightforward breach of the settlement agreement."
Although Mr Gibbs was debarred from defending the claim because of non-disclosure of evidence and failure to pay the sums ordered in interim damages, Mr Atrill said he had previously put forward arguments that could amount to defences.
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Mr Gibbs had claimed the settlement agreement allowed him to "continue to manage the portfolio" and liquidate it over time and that he had "no liability" to ensure the princess gets back at least her original investment, said the barrister.
But Mr Atrill said the arguments were "wrong" and added: "Mr Gibbs held the assets in question on trust for the claimant and was required to liquidate those assets and transfer the net proceeds to her nominated account, but in breach of trust failed to do that.
"His application of the cash and liquidated proceeds in any other way than by way of transfer to her nominated account was also a breach of trust." The trial continues.
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