A Saudi sheikh has been ordered to pay his estranged wife $270 million in a legal dispute spanning two decades and several continents, according to a report by the Associated Press.
The appeals ruling against Sheikh Mohammed Al Fassi was approved Tuesday by a Superior Court judge.
On New Year's Day 1980, Al Fassi's $2.4 million, 38-room Beverly Hills mansion was destroyed by an arson fire while neighbors -- outraged by the sheikh's lewdly painted Italian marble statues and plastic flowers -- stood by shouting, "Burn! Burn! Burn!"
Reports at that time alleged that the “infamous oil-rich sheikh” angered his neighbors when he painted the genitals of the statues.
Al Fassi and his wife, Dena, had four children together but separated three years later. She was awarded $81.5 million, as well as the burned-out home.
The wife's original claim, the largest alimony claim on record, was $3 billion. When the Belgian woman received the settlement of $81 million, she declared herself "very, very happy" -- if she could collect the money, according to reports.
With interest, the original award has since grown to $271 million, said AP.
Al Fassi fled the United States with the couple's children shortly after the initial judgment, according to court records. Aside from proceeds from the sale of the Beverly Hills property, his wife was unable to collect on the judgment, said her lawyer, Marvin Mitchelson.
Al Fassi, who now lives in Egypt with his grown children, has no known legal representative in the United States. An attempt to locate him was unsuccessful.
Mitchelson was quoted as saying that Tuesday's judgment meant his client could now pursue a settlement with the Saudi Arabian government, since Al Fassi is a member of the royal family and has no other assets in the United States – Albawaba.com
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