While navigating your through a contested divorce in Pasadena, it is likely that you have experienced differences of opinion when it comes to financial matters and coughed at numbers that seem astronomical. However, it is highly unlikely that your divorce settlement has a $75 million dollar price tag. Yet that's exactly what the Aga Kahn Prince Karim is being asked to fork over in his divorce - and he is flatly refusing to pay.
Although the Aga Kahn, who is the spiritual leader to millions of the Ismaeli Muslim community, is estimated to be worth anywhere between $5 and $10 billion, he has filed a last-minute appeal in a French divorce court. His refusal to pay sets in motion an unprecedented review by the Cour de Cassation and could delay the divorce for up to seven years. Given the additional time and lengthy proceedings, the move shocked both legal experts and high society watchers alike.
Aga Kahn and his former pop star wife, Begum Inaara Aga Kahn, broke up nearly six years ago after rumors of his affair with an airline hostess surfaced in the European tabloids. This past September, a French court ordered the twice-married racehorse owner to fork over a $75 million dollar settlement, which seemed small compared to the estimated $500 million settlement Inaara was initially rumored to receive. The Aga Kahn was allegedly set to marry for a third time to Beatrice von der Schulenburg. The refusal to pay his current divorce settlement will undoubtedly delay that marriage. His current wife, formerly known as Gabriele zu Leiningen, will retain the title of Her Highness the Begum Aga Kahn. According to the Telegraph, "The Cour de Cassation must now decide whether the latest ruling was legally watertight, failing which it could order a new appeals trial, further dragging out the process."