Millionaire who lied about his huge wealth ordered to pay £12million

A multi-millionaire who threatened his ex-wife would ‘end up stacking shelves’ has been ordered to pay her £12.5million in their divorce, the Mail can reveal.

A judge ruled shipping port boss Andrew Williams, 57, lied about his vast wealth during his divorce from his wife Abigail and branded him ‘completely dishonest’.

Mr Williams, who runs a port business in Neath, South Wales, styled himself ‘Sir Andrew’ despite not having a knighthood, drove a blue Ferrari, and claimed Prince Albert of Monaco was his best friend, the court heard.

But when his wife of 28 years filed for divorce, the tycoon claimed he had lost more than £5.4million in a series of bad deals and frauds, and said bank statements showing his millions were faked.

A year earlier, he had transferred £6million out of Britain to his account in Monaco, when the marriage was already in trouble.

Meanwhile he posted a picture on Instagram of a new Rolls Royce Cullinan, worth around £750,000, saying: ‘It’s about time I treated myself.’

A High Court judge ruled Mr Williams had attempted to hide assets from his ex-wife, including sending money to ‘various third parties’.

He then claimed he had been defrauded, but the judge said he did not believe the successful businessman had fallen victim to such a series of frauds.

Mr Williams failed to turn up at a series of divorce hearings, and at one point Mrs Williams attempted to have him sent to prison for breaking court orders.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Moor said Mr Williams now accepted ‘that he had treated her badly and that he regretted it’.

He said Mr Williams had praised his ex-wife as ‘fantastic’ and said he ‘loves her to bits’.

During his evidence, Mr Williams was asked about an episode when he had threatened Mrs Williams, saying she ‘would end up stacking shelves in The Range’, a chain of home furnishing stores.

Mr Williams said he apologised to his ‘dear wife’, adding that it was ‘a bit of a wind-up’.

The judge said the incident was ‘disgraceful’, and said Mr Williams had told the court ‘a farrago of lies’.

He added: ‘I have found the Husband to be entirely dishonest and there is no doubt that he has done his best to ‘pull the wool’ over the court’s eyes.’

Before their separation in 2022, the couple, who have three grandchildren, were said to enjoy a ‘very high’ standard of living and never worried about money.

They lived in a large house on 120 acres of land near Cardiff, sent their children to private schools, and had a luxury beachfront holiday home in Marbella, Spain.

When they travelled to Monaco, they would take a helicopter from Nice Airport in France.

Mr Williams, a former labourer, had a collection of designer watches worth up to £2million, a Bentley convertible and a 47ft yacht.

He was said to be generous to his wife, who he met when she was 24 and working in her father’s pub, and gave her more than £10,000-a-month to spend.

She had a designer handbag collection worth around £25,000 and jewellery worth around £350,000.

During his evidence to the court, Mr Williams wore a £70,000 gold Rolex.

In his ruling, High Court judge Mr Justice Moor noted that Mr Williams’ evidence was ‘quite a performance’, but added: ‘I have, however, formed the very clear conclusion that I cannot rely on a word the Husband says.’

Mrs Williams, 59, told the court she was completely dependent on her husband for money as she stopped working to raise their two children, now both adults.

Even her jewellery was kept locked in a safe at the family’s home near Cardiff, and her husband refused to give her the key, she said.

She was forced to rely on loans to fund her legal case, while her husband lived in Monaco as a tax exile.

The judge said it was ‘almost impossible’ to assess the extent of Mr Williams’ wealth because his evidence was ‘peppered with untruths’, adding: ‘This is entirely the fault of the Husband himself.’

The judge ruled that Mr Williams and his assets were worth around £50million, that £25million should be treated as matrimonial assets, and that Mrs Williams was entitled to half.

He said: ‘I am entirely satisfied that the award of £12.5 million will more than cover her reasonable needs.’

Mrs Williams’ solicitor David Lister, from law firm Vardags, said the case had been ‘a crazy game of cat and mouse’.

He told the Mail: ‘The gloves had to come off and virtually every weapon in our legal arsenal deployed to make him face his obligations to the courts and to his family.’