The jury awarded Zaman and Derbyshire $21 million in back wages and damages and allowed the couple to walk away not only with their money but also with their reputations intact. Few people took notice of the place until 1926, when oil was discovered there. suspicion. Once the funding stopped, A.D.C. [27], In November 2010, pictures of statues the Prince had made of him and his fiance, Micha Raines, having sex were leaked. Jefri Bolkiah was born in Brunei Town, Brunei on November 6, 1954.. On Popular Bio, Jefri Bolkiah is one of the successful Royalty. Ivana Marie Zelnkov escaped from behind the Iron Curtain to storm New York City and help create the twisted miracle of Donald Trump. If Jefri was going to blame Derbyshire and Zaman for mismanagement, which now they say they both felt likely, they would need proof that Jefri had approved the documents concerning the deals they had orchestrated on his behalf, all of which bore his signature or Prince Bahars. Aston Martin: Power, Beauty and Soul. and the sultans ongoing campaign to crush him. I thought there was no time to lose, Jefri wrote of sending Derbyshire, Zaman, and Jay Maggistro to the New York Palace. Upon the couples divorce, the tiara returned to the Queens possession. While he determined that the hotel was in good financial order, he found that at least $10 million worth of Jefris supposedly frozen properties in California had been sold. (Stewarts response: The state of the cars wasnt due to lack of air-conditioning but to a lack of necessary maintenance. As to the contents of the palaces, they were legally Prince Jefris to take.). to provide assistance in connection with the investigation of the withdrawal of assets from the B.I.A. Jefri simultaneously ran his own conglomerate, the Amedeo Development Corporation (A.D.C., named for the artist Amedeo Modigliani, whose work he collects), which built roads, bridges, office blocks, power stations, and hotels at home and overseas. A hotel video of Zaman rolling out two boxes at four A.M. was shown at the trial. [22] However, Prince Jefri claimed assurances were made to him by the Sultan with regards to keeping certain properties to maintain his lifestyle, which BIA denied. Derbyshire, Zaman, and Richard Chalk agree on Jefris situation at the time of his initial meeting with the couple. [1] 159K followers. In his testimony, he gave only the briefest answers. According to his Wikipedia page, his current net worth is $1.5 billion. Most people believed that the sultan was running the show, and that Jefri had been forced to testify as punishment for dragging his family through years of embarrassment. He bought mansions around the world, 1700 luxury cars, 17 aircraft, hoards of jewellery and a fleet of yachts - including a 60m superyacht he called Tits. . BMW - 209 cars. Another schoolfriend, Angelique Bolger, the niece of former PM Jim, last saw Kelly in the lift of the Heritage Hotel in Auckland in January - on an advertisement for the hotel bar. It was an intricate game that involved moving billions of dollars among individuals, accounts, and companies around the worlda game that, Jefris attorney Geoffrey Stewart insists, Zaman and Derbyshire would come to orchestrate. There were insufficient monies to fund the commitments entered into by A.D.C. His elder brother is the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah. 2023 Cond Nast. Prince Jefri doesn't want jurors to see pics .. "British Lawyers Represented by Baker & Hostetler LLP Prevail in Legal Battle With the Sultan of Brunei and Prince Jefri Bolkiah", "British couple win legal dispute with Sultan of Brunei's playboy brother", "Brunei prince loses embarrassing lawsuit against financial advisers", "Senarai Penuh Penerima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan Pingat Persekutuan Tahun 1989", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jefri_Bolkiah,_Prince_of_Brunei&oldid=1141596846, Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Pengiran Digadong Sahibul Mal Pengiran Muda Haji Jefri Bolkiah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien, YAM Pengiran Anak Abdul Halim Ar- Rahman Bolkiah, 17. After finishing school, she left New Plymouth to pursue double degrees in drama and music at the University of Auckland. There is a lot, he answered when asked how many companies were in his name. Landing at midnight, Zaman went straight to the Palace and collected her belongings, even though hotel officials had called her to say she couldnt remove anything from her office unless Jefris London attorney was present. The plaintiff, Prince Jefri Bolkiah, Bruneis notorious royal playboy, who has probably gone through more cash than any other human being on earth, tried to convince the jury that he was extremely nave when it came to financial matters. I want to say it was more like $100,000 a month. But now, she adds, concerned that Jefri would attempt to asset-strip the hotel before the B.I.A. or himself, I felt his request had to be carried through. When the transfers didnt occur fast enough, extreme measures were taken. continued to press their case against Jefri in every court they could, and soon they would have contempt charges against him in England, meaning that he could be jailed if he set foot there. [10] The case was raised in a US court, but it was later dropped, because Jefri was held to have diplomatic immunity. ), In the New York court, Derbyshire testified on Jefris plan to sell the hotels. (Raines could not be reached for comment.) One of the perks of hobnobbing with the rich and famous was to live in a royal palace on Champs Elysees. Published on January 25, 2023 03:47 PM. Professional lawyers that I appointed.. (A Los Angeles lawyer who represented Jefris real-estate interests declined to comment. His zodiac sign is Scorpio. Prince Jefri's son1) HE Prince Haji 'Abdu'l Hakim (born 1973), 2) HE . [2] Prince Jefri was the finance minister of his oil-rich country from 1986 to 1998. Its not about lifestyle, its not about sex. [38] The case is estimated to have cost Brunei US$60 million to litigate despite the value of the court case being US$7 million[40] and Prince Jefri being a key witness for the State of Brunei, which has repeatedly taken him to court,[41] challenging his compliance with court orders and questioning his veracity. (According to Stewart, Hes a proud man, and he was reduced later on to borrowing a lot from old friends. The first thing that met you was this rock-crystal waterfall, 30 to After Jefri came under siege by the sultan, he made Raines his aide-de-camp: she acted as his spokesperson, especially with women. I think its fair to say that, between 2004 and probably August 2008, there were still instances where suddenly we would become aware of blatant breaches by Prince Jefri of the freezing order, where an asset had obviously been sold, says B.I.A. In June 2005, Derbyshire and Zaman flew to Brunei to oversee the packing of the personal possessions Jefri had left behind in his two palaces and in his childrens palacesthe structures had about 1,000 rooms each. Faiq Bolkiah and his family adhere to the Islamic religion. (In 2006, the case was decided against Jefri and in favor of the B.I.A.). He just wanted new representation. In London alone, the Manoukians charged, he kept 40 prostitutes at the Dorchester hotel and spent $34 million for the former Playboy Club at 45 Park Lanemore than four times the market price, according to the brothersso that he could house more hookers and secretly indulge his passion for gambling. In July 1996, Prince Jefri engaged KPMG to provide litigation services in a personal matter and They discovered that the managing director and a former director had filed a temporary restraining order in a New York court against Jefri to prevent him from asset-stripping the hotel, Derbyshire wrote in an affidavit. After swearing to comply fully with the agreement, Jefri left the country. According to Derbyshire, Jefri felt he had to strike back, hard, by cashing in his biggest assets, the New York Palace and Hotel Bel-Air. The eldest son of Sultan . But when he wanted to ask me a question, he prompted Micha, and Micha would ask me the question., At the first meeting with Mr. Derbyshire and Ms. Zaman at St. Johns Lodge, Jay [Maggistro] and I explained the difficulties I was having with the B.I.A., with Joe Hage [Jefris previous attorney] and The New York Palace Hotel, Jefri wrote in an affidavit. I was effectively a conduit of information between the different lawyers in all the different jurisdictions around the world, he testified in New York, adding that because this information frequently had to do with the princes frozen and hidden assets, it was necessary to deal with those lawyers in person. Meanwhile, Islamic fundamentalists were jockeying for power. When I talk, nobody else does! He interrupted witness after witness if they attempted to elaborate after a mere yes or no, shouting, Thats the answer! In the end, what had been expected to be a trial of shocking revelations devolved into a dry procedural, its 22 witnesses reduced mostly to short answers. X. Dari kelima istrinya tersebut, Jefri disebut memiliki 18 anak. This wasnt necessarily a bad strategy, because soon it seemed that only a simpleton would not have noticed the blatant chicanery he was accusing these attorneys of committing. They got married in 1995 and got divorced in 2002. It was agreed that one of them should open an account at UBS Zurich to receive the $575 million, the sale proceeds, but [the banker] wasnt confident that UBS wouldnt treat those funds as being captured by the Brunei freezing order, Derbyshire testified. She's the daughter of billionaire Prince Jefri Bolkiah, brother of the current Sultan of Brunei . He is the 29th and current Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan of Brunei, as well as the Prime . Jefri lamented that he had no means of protest, for he was a wazir, the highest officer in a Muslim government, a pillar of support for the Sultan, as he wrote in his affidavit. Aside from posting her ~*extra*~ lifestyle (she is royal, after all), her Instagram grid is the perfect resource for posing ideas. Y.M Puan Salma binti Abdullah, ne Claire Kelly (k.2003-c.) Anakanda: YAM Pengiran Muda Abdul Hakeem YAM Pengiran Muda Haji Bahar My duty as a subject and a Wazir was to obey any commands of His Majesty Accordingly, when His Majesty indicated in 1998 that he wished assets under my control to be transferred to the Plaintiffs [the B.I.A.] So you can never be satisfied that this is right. It dawned on me that I had worked for the Prince for over two years for very substantially less than I had been promised, while Prince Jefri was telling me he had no money to pay me and yet all along he had been sitting on an illicit fortune.. already had, Chalk wrote. Jefri Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III (born 6 November 1954), is a member of the Brunei Royal Family. The defense lawyers also claimed that Jefri had stiffed Zaman and Derbyshire for millions in salaries and travel expenses, then fired them when they finally refused to comply with his increasing illegal demands. Objectively, you can say theres been a history of concealing assets. The popular Faiq is among the Southeast Asian athletes who are in the country to compete in the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games). According to the Derbyshires attorney, distributions from the Palace to Argent International, one of the princes companies, began flowing again, overseen by John Segreti. Hes 55 or so. Schoolfriends contacted by the Herald on Sunday were "not at all surprised" Kelly married into royalty. The day the couple left for New York, they and Maggistro signed a letter that would later be repeatedly shown in the New York courtroom. The next day the hairdresser picked up the couple in a convertible Bentley Jefri had given him and drove them to St. Johns Lodge, in the Inner Circle of Regents Park, which, next to Buckingham Palace, is the grandest residence in London. They snapped up real estate like Monopoly pieceshundreds of far-flung properties, a collection of five-star hotels (the Dorchester, in London, the Htel Plaza Athne, in Paris, the New York Palace, and Hotel Bel-Air and the Beverly Hills Hotel, in Los Angeles), and an array of international companies (including Asprey, the London jeweler to the Queen, for which Jefri paid about $385 million in 1995, despite the fact that that was twice Aspreys estimated market value or that Bruneis royal family constituted a healthy portion of its business). Nearly a decade ago, the Taranaki woman, now in her mid-30s, packed her bags for the bright lights of Paris and later married playboy Prince Jefri Bolkiah, a Brunei royal with a penchant for fast cars and flash houses. The $45,000 a month she testified she received surely paled compared with the gifts Jefri and the sultan were known to bestow. Since then the Sultan's advisers have started legal proceedings to evict Prince Jefri and Kelly from their London home. He claimed that one of his previous attorneys had taken out the mortgage and sold the properties without his consent. Hotel security showed up and asked them to leave the premises. The sultans biggest extravagance turned out to be his love for his youngest brother, Jefri, his constant companion in hedonism. He found it in 1997, when a former Miss USA named Shannon Marketic sued Jefri and the sultan for $10 million, claiming that she and six other young women had been hired for $127,000 each to travel to Brunei for professional appearances, supposedly involving intellectual conversations with visiting dignitaries, but instead were forced to serve as sex slaves. Her passport was seized, she claimed, and she was made to undergo testing for sexually transmitted diseases and to report to all-night parties where women of many nationalities, for fees spiraling up to $1 million, danced, sang karaoke, and warred for the attention of Prince Jefri in a massive disco-cum-sports-complex he had installed in his home, called Assurur Palace. Ad Choices. Its a lawyers dream, but not good for the system, one attorney told me, adding that the legal fees on the case were then up to $100 million. Half-filipina Karraminah Clarisse del Rosario, or KC to friends, is the one of the daughters of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, brother of the current Sultan of Brunei, and Filipina Evangeline del Rosario. And they wanted a written opinion from me. (Stewart says the UBS Zurich account had been disclosed to the B.I.A., and the B.I.A. Insofar as Jefris argument that he was entitled to deal with these assets as his own, he was correct. On October 23, the B.I.A. Unleashed from obscurity and unable to tell friends from sycophants, the sultan, then 41, quickly gravitated to the gambling clubs of London and began transforming men into moguls: bankrolling the early exploits of the Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, allegedly financing the purchase of Harrods department store, in London, for the Egyptian entrepreneur Mohamed Al Fayed. Prince Jefri Bolkiah, 53, of Brunei - married to New Zealander Claire Kelly - lives with her and their two young sons in St John's Lodge, a London mansion in Regent's Park. N.F.L. Puan Salma binti Abdullah ne Claire Kelly fifth wife (en) dbp:succession: dbr:Ministry_of_Finance_and_Economy_(Brunei) dbp:successor: dbr:Hassanal_Bolkiah; dbp . could fully take over. He was also accused by his brother of embezzling $15 billion from the Brunei Investment Agency which resulted in a protracted legal battle that played out in the UK courts. When they partied, they indulged in just about everything forbidden in a Muslim country. Jefri Bolkiah disebut memiliki 5 orang istri, 2 diantaranya telah bercerai. "She has been kept very secret," said Wayne Tempero, one of Prince Jefri's New Zealand-based bodyguards. His elder brother is the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah. By signing up you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. He met the prince after answering the phone in his North London salon near closing time one day. Every one of the cars was a Bentley, Ferrari, or Rolls-Royce, says Derbyshire. I just thought, This is the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard. [citation needed] He has been married 6 times and divorced 4 wives [7] and has nineteen children. The Zobel family is known for being quite low-key, so peeking inside the usually private world of the clan through Instagram is an experience. [19] The Sultan was, at one time, the richest man in the world. He may have an innocent demeanour, but his father Jefri Bolkiah was known as the playboy of the Brunei royal family. Hes a prince in a dictatorship, used to getting his own way. Three years later he made him minister of finance. They were joined by two bankers from UBS Zurich. As Prince Bahar grew, he and his hairdresser forged an unbreakable friendship, says Derbyshire. . Les Princes Al-Muhtadee Billah Bolkiah et Jefri Bolkiah, deux des fils du Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah pendant la celebration des 25 annees de regne du. obtained from the Brunei court transfer orders for the remainder of Jefris major assets, including the New York Palace. (Stewart denies that Jefri declared the eviction notice an act of war.) Nearly a decade ago, the Taranaki woman, now in . Family: Spouse/Ex-: Azrinaz Mazhar Hakim (m. 2005-2010), Isteri Mariam (m. 1982-2003), Pengiran Anak Saleha (m. 1965) father: Omar Ali Saifuddien III. . Le prince Jefri Bolkiah en tenue de polo, Sultanat de Brunei Darussalam. Quick Facts. Lamborghini - 21 cars. would claim was squirreled away in bank accounts and shell companies registered in remote tax havens. In his affidavit, Prince Jefri maintained that it showed Zaman tricking her way into the New York Palace, retrieving the boxes of prohibited material. According to Zaman and Derbyshire, the big, burly princes are true heirs to Jefris life of extravagance. Born on 6 November 1954 in Malaysia, Jefri Bolkiah, Prince of Brunei started his career as royal . Prince Bahar eventually authorized the payment. However, Richard Chalk, the B.I.A. Prince Jefri Bolkiah, 53, of Brunei - married to New Zealander Claire Kelly - lives with her and their two young sons in St. John's Lodge, a London mansion in Regent's Park. The prince gave the apartment to them rent-free for the first five years, they say. wasnt just insolventit was, the investigators claimed, more than $590 million in debt. The prince, now 64, i I mean, thats basically what Tom and Faith were doing for him. Insofar as were able to tell, Richard Chalk replied when I asked him if his client, the B.I.A., was sure that Prince Jefri didnt have another billion somewhere. They were livid with me and told me that unless I acted in accordance with their instructions, I would not only lose my job, but they would ruin me by destroying my reputation so that I would never work again, she wrote in an affidavit. His elder brother is Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah. Caught in a feud between the prince and the sultan, they ended up in a court battle over $23 million. The sale would be a breach of the Brunei freezing order, which Derbyshire says he explicitly explained to Jefri, thinking that the deal would be off. [2] Prince Jefri was the finance minister of his oil-rich country from 1986 to 1997. His elder brother is the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah. He had no access to money himself. Anything that could be salvaged Prince Jefri instructed be moved to [another] location in Brunei, says Derbyshire. entire inventories of stores such as Armani and Versace, buying 100 Pangiran, 9. 75-year-old the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah was born on July 15, 1946, the son of Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III. Nevertheless, they smiled, laughed, shook their heads at things they didnt agree with, and seemed ready and eager to get on the stand and tell their story. [citation needed] By the 2000s, due to his legal issues (see below) he was forced to sell many of his assets and be exiled from Brunei,[6] although as of September 2009 he appears to have been allowed to return to Brunei and has been seen in public with the Royal Family. At one point, he was said to be spending 35m a month on cars, watches, erotic white . I realized I may not have been told the whole truth about certain things by Ms. Zaman and Mr. Derbyshire, Jefri claimed in an affidavit. In this respect, Prince Jefri had incurred the enmity of another of his brothers, Prince Mohamed, whose views are cast in a much more conservative and religious mold. Watching his brothers from the wings, Mohamed, who had only one wife and flew commercial, waited for his chance to stop the party.