Two-timing tycoon told to pay ex-wife final millions

The wife of a tycoon who led an extraordinary double life has had the last laugh in a Cape Town courtroom - to the tune of R7-million.

Brian Myerson - who met Ingrid, his wife of 26 years, when they were at university in Johannesburg - was ordered to pay her R188-million in the High Court of Justice in London in March 2008.

Ingrid, 55, sued for divorce after discovering Brian had kept a mistress around the corner from their R120-million Hampstead home for a decade and had a son by her.

Brian, 57, handed over all but R7-million and now the High Court in Cape Town has discounted his pleas of poverty and ordered him to come up with the cash.

Ingrid's new husband, Simon Sterling, with whom she shares a R21-million bungalow in Clifton, had several meetings with Brian in an attempt to extract the money.

When he failed, Ingrid went to court, and Judge Patrick Gamble ordered Brian to pay the outstanding amount, plus interest and Ingrid's legal costs.

Ingrid's lawyer, Rael Gootkin, told the Sunday Times this week: "Our client was left with no alternative but to institute action for the amounts owing."

Brian's double life began to unravel when Ingrid - with whom he had two sons and a daughter - discovered papers in his briefcase in 2004 that revealed that he had fathered a son with his mistress.

In an interview with the London Evening Standard in 2009, Brian was unrepentant, saying: "I look upon myself as having been a good husband to Ingrid. Like many men, I've had a number of extramarital affairs. I never told Ingrid about [my mistress], but I was an extremely good and caring husband, providing Ingrid with a wonderful lifestyle."

"Mistress hour" was 5pm to 7pm.

"I would leave my family home in Hampstead and visit [my mistress] on my way to work in the City, and again on my way home."

Holidays at Brian's R26-million Plettenberg Bay house were also taken in tandem, he told the Evening Standard from his Swiss office.

mini_story_image_vleft1

"Every year, for two weeks in April and six weeks in December and January, I would go with [my family] to our beach-house. [My mistress] would come too, and I would put her up nearby.

"I bought an estate with polo fields and stables. My wife had no interest in horses, but [my mistress] and I, we love them, so I would spend most of my time with her."

The UK court awarded Ingrid £11-million of Brian's £25.8-million estate. Brian kept shares worth £14-million in his company, Principle Capital Holdings.

Ingrid married Sterling in 2010, and the high court heard that three years later he persuaded Brian to sign an acknowledgment of debt, undertaking to pay the money within two weeks. Ingrid took the matter to court when nothing came of it.

Brian, who lives in a rented home in the Atlantic Seaboard suburb of Fresnaye, told the court he signed the document under "enormous pressure".

A number of his fund management company's investments were due to mature only in five to 10 years.

In the meantime he was not receiving dividends, only a monthly salary - a far cry from his earlier lifestyle of private jets and helicopters.

"Given the volatile nature of my business activities over the past years, the understanding between [Ingrid] and me has always been that I would pay the sum owing when I was in a position to do so," he said in an affidavit. "I have been frank with [her] and her new husband, Mr Simon Sterling, with whom I met on various occasions ... over the years."

Brian's lawyer, Ian Stoloff, said on Friday: "My client has today made an offer to meet with Mrs Sterling's attorney on a 'without-prejudice' basis in an endeavour to settle this matter amicably. Pending a response to our client's offer, our client is keeping his options open regarding an appeal."

nombembep@sundaytimes.co.za