The Claws Are Out in Chinese Tiger Charity Divorce Settlement Dispute

Former banker, William Bray, and ex-wife, Li Quan, have made the headlines this week over disputes regarding the charity they set up to save the endangered Chinese Tiger. It was the love of animals that brought them together, but ironically, what eventually tore them apart, as they separated due to “disagreements over the future policy and precise presentation of the (tiger) project”.

Miss Quan claims that Mr Bray invested £25 million into the South African-based project and insists that this should be counted as marital property. On the contrary, however, Mr Bray claims that his entire fortune, less just over £1 million, went into the project and believes that it should not be divided as part of the divorce.

Last October, High Court Judge Sir Paul Coleridge stated that he could see “no evidence of past, present or future benefit to either the wife or the husband”, but now Lord Justice Briggs and Lady Justice King have granted Miss Quan permission to appeal this finding. Her QC Richard Todd claims Mr Bray has “spirited away tens of millions of pounds and left the wife bereft’.

Mr Bray has chosen to represent himself and told the Appeal Court judges that “this is a dispute over the running of a charity, not a family dispute”. He also claimed that Miss Quan was “seeking to destroy” the charity work they had done for the Chinese Tigers, although outside Court she denied any such allegation. The judges will now decide whether the case will have a full Appeal Court hearing or whether it will be considered further by the High Court.

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