The co-owner of the Chrysler Building is balking at his estranged wife’s demands for more than $50 million as part of a divorce settlement so that she can maintain a lavish lifestyle, according to a report.
Billionaire real estate mogul Michael Fuchs, 62, is currently at legal loggerheads with his estranged second wife, Alvina Collardeau-Fuchs, 47, who are in the process of ending their eight-year marriage.
Fuchs’s lawyers filed papers in London blasting his wife’s demands, saying they were based on “greed, not need,” according to Bloomberg News.
Collardeau-Fuchs said that the sum is in line with the prenuptial agreement that the couple signed before getting married.
She is demanding more than $50 million for herself in addition to $1.34 million in child support. The couple have two young children.
Fuchs’s side has accused Collardeau-Fuchs of inflating her child support demands which are really spousal support “in disguise.” Fuchs is countering with an offer of a payout of around $33 million.
Patrick Chamberlayne, the attorney representing Fuchs, said in court documents that Collardeau-Fuchs “wants to live like a billionaire, having signed an agreement that she will live like a mere multi-millionaire.”
“It is evidence of greed, not need,” Chamberlayne wrote in court documents cited by Bloomberg News.
The German-born Fuchs, who says he has a net worth of $1.1 billion, co-founded Manhattan-based RFR Holding LLC alongside Aby Rosen.
RFR’s real estate portfolio includes the Chrysler and Seagram buildings in Manhattan as well as commercial and residential properties in Miami, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and Stamford, Conn.
Earlier this year, the High Court in London ordered Fuchs to pay his estranged wife of two years more than $4.7 million every year until a judge decides how much she would receive in a final settlement.
Before their separation, Fuchs and his wife reportedly lived in a $40 million, five-bedroom home in London which boasts six floors and an indoor, underground swimming pool.
The couple also shared a villa in Antibes, France, as well as a penthouse in Miami.
Fuchs, an avid art collector who shies away from media attention, married the former journalist Collardeau-Fuchs in 2012 after divorcing his first wife, Hamptons socialite and designer Kris Fuchs.
The Paris-born Collardeau-Fuchs grew up in London and moved to New York to attend New York University.
She has reportedly worked for various media companies including French Vogue, NBC, CNN, and CBS.
Fuchs and Collardeau-Fuchs, who negotiated a pre-nuptial agreement before their wedding, spent much of their time in court this week haggling over credit card bills and a monthly allowance for Collardeau-Fuchs, who once spent a staggering $1 million on a four month stay in Dubai, according to court papers cited by The Real Deal earlier this year.
Additional reporting by Isabel Vincent
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
