Woman fined $50,000 for trying to hide husband’s millions from ex-wife
A woman has been fined $50,000 and given a suspended jail sentence after she tried to hide her husband’s millions.
Josephine Aapa Smith hid the money out of spite towards her husband’s ex-wife, Joanne Young, but was caught out on Facebook.
Josephine was found guilty of contempt of the Supreme Court for putting up her Harbourside penthouse she shared with husband, hotelier Leslie Young, as security for a $5.8 million bank loan.
The deal was done despite a court order freeing any dealings on the Pyrmont apartment because Mr Young had been ordered to pay Joanne $3 million and weekly maintenance after throwing her out of the Wiley Park Hotel they co-owned and having her two dogs put down.
Josephine told the Supreme Court that she had gone through an acrimonious break-up from Mr Young before using their apartment as collateral for the loan in February 2015.
Justice Stephen Rothman did not believe her claims after being shown Facebook photographs of the happy couple at Lewisham’s Louis Hotel in October 2016.
“The breakdown of her relationship with Mr Young ... either did not occur at the time or was not acrimonious,” Justice Rothman said. “I do not accept that [they] had severed their relationship at the time or very soon after.”
The $5.8 million bank loan was made to a company controlled by Josephine.
“The overwhelming inference is that the entire scheme was designed to thwart [Ms Young’s] attempt to obtain from Mr Young the damages the court had awarded,” the judge said.
“It is clear [Ms Smith] was motivated in part by financial gain and probably as matter of malice towards Ms Young.”
Justice Rothman found that Josephine had deliberately hidden the deal from the court and her former best friend, Joanne.
“I consider the contempt of court a serious one and to be categorised as both civil and criminal,” he said.
The judge suspended Josephine’s six-month jail sentence for six months after she entered into a good behaviour bond.
In 1992, Joanne and Mr Young married and she separated from him in 1999 when he began living with Josephine.
Joanne is yet to receive any money awarded to her by the courts.