Alec Wildenstein
French-American billionaire (1940–2008)
- Entries
- 9
- On the record
- 3
- Stories
- 2
- Latest entry
- Jan 6, 2021
The record
Alec Wildenstein was born in Marseille in 1940 and died in February 2008, at 67, after a long illness. With his brother Guy he ran the family's racing stable, Ecurie Wildenstein, and Dayton Investments, and horses in the stable's colors won major races in France and Hong Kong between 2002 and 2005. His 1999 divorce from Jocelyn Wildenstein is the subject of the site's stories; the rest of his record was written after his death.
That record runs through French tax and criminal courts, in proceedings brought against his heirs rather than against him. According to the French legal review Lexbase, his heirs' estate declaration of February 23, 2009 omitted assets held in trusts, and a 2014 tax reassessment added 301 million euros net to the estate. A tribunal rejected the heirs' challenge to the reassessment, in a decision Lexbase described as not final.
In the related criminal case, heirs of Daniel and Alec Wildenstein, a notary, a lawyer, the trust protector and some trustees were tried for tax fraud, complicity and money laundering. The Paris criminal court acquitted all of them on January 12, 2017, and the Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal on the charge tied to Alec's estate. On January 6, 2021 the Cour de cassation quashed the appeal ruling and sent the case back to a differently composed Paris Court of Appeal.
Roles and honours on the record
Every entry, newest first
- Reported
Divorce settlement reported at roughly $2.5 billion for Jocelyn Wildenstein, per Fox News. Divorce settlement fights: Hamm's returned check, Irving's 'lie'
Stories in this file
Money · 💎 Most expensive divorces: Wildenstein's $2.5B tops our ranking
Four of the seven carry a dollar figure on record. The other three rank on what was filed, frozen or reported. 📌
Money · 💸 Divorce settlement fights: Hamm's returned check, Irving's 'lie'
Sue Ann Arnall sent back a ~$975M check, Amy Irving called her $100M figure 'a lie', Rybolovlev's accounts froze. Six fights over the money. 📌
The record, entry by entry
- 1940 Reported Alec Wildenstein was born in Marseille, BloodHorse reported in its report on his death. BloodHorse report
- 2002 Reported From 2002 to 2005, horses in the Wildenstein colors won major races, including Bright Sky in the Prix de Diane Hermes and Prix de l'Opéra, Aquarelliste in the Prix Ganay and Vallée Enchantée in the Hong Kong Vase. BloodHorse report
- 2004 Reported Kotkijet, which he co-owned with Jean-Pierre Dubois, won the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris. BloodHorse report
- 2008-02-17 Reported Wildenstein died in France, according to the Lexbase review of the case. BloodHorse reported that he died in Paris, aged 67, after a long illness. Lexbase, La lettre juridique no. 855
- 2009-02-23 Filed His heirs filed the estate declaration, which, according to Lexbase, omitted assets held in trusts. Lexbase, La lettre juridique no. 855
- 2014 Official A tax reassessment added 301 million euros net to the estate. A tribunal later rejected the heirs' challenge, in a decision Lexbase described as not final. Lexbase, La lettre juridique no. 855
- 2017-01-12 Ruled The Paris criminal court acquitted all defendants, including heirs of Daniel and Alec Wildenstein, of tax fraud, complicity and money laundering. The Court of Appeal later upheld the acquittal on the charge tied to Alec's estate. Lexbase, La lettre juridique no. 855
- 2021-01-06 Ruled The Cour de cassation (No. 18-84.570) quashed the Paris Court of Appeal ruling, holding that heirs had to declare trust-held assets at succession even before a 2011 law, and sent the case back to a differently composed Court of Appeal. Lexbase, La lettre juridique no. 855