The wife of green energy entrepreneur Dale Vince has been awarded more than £40m by a High Court judge following their divorce.
However, Mr Vince said his ex-wife came away from their divorce with £12m less than he offered her four years ago.
The pair disputed how their money should be split at a hearing in December.
Lawyers for Ms Vince told the court her ex-husband was giving away their matrimonial assets, of which she should be entitled to half, including £5,460,000 in donations to the Labour Party between April 2022 and May 2024.
Ecotricity founder Mr Vince said the increase in donations and other spending came from his businesses gaining value and had “nothing at all to do with” the legal battle.
Read more from Sky News:
TikTok to be banned in the US from Sunday
Donald Trump’s swearing-in moved indoors
FTSE 100 closes on record high
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
In his 20-page ruling on Friday, Mr Justice Cusworth said the donations “can be seen to have been timed to precede the recent general election” and were made at a time when Mr Vince’s company’s “coffers had been filled up”.
He said: “It was therefore both foreseeable and hardly inexplicable that the company should choose to make a specific large donation at that time. I am satisfied that the husband’s motivation in endorsing that transaction was political, and not related to these proceedings.”
After the judge’s decision on Friday, Mr Vince said the judgment was a “total vindication of my approach to this case from the very beginning.”
“Along with her legal team, [my ex-wife] has wasted years of time, not just our own – that of the court, and some £6m in fees.”
Follow our channel and never miss an update
Ms Vince’s lawyer, Sarah Jane Lenihan, partner at Dawson Cornwell, said her client “happily pays tribute to Mr Vince’s many talents, which have been and will be of great value to the community and to the country”.
She said: “It is only right that Ms Vince has received an award which reflects her extensive contributions throughout the marriage, which the judge acknowledged, during which Mr Vince built the majority of his fortune.”
Mr Justice Cusworth said Mr Vince could pay Ms Vince in three tranches, of £13.94m, £14.49m and £15.08m, including interest – totalling £43.51m.
