INXS manager wins £1.2m court fight with ex-husband

A wealthy businesswoman has won a court fight against paying out £1.2m to her ex-husband after discovering her super-rich family had secretly "gifted" him £27.6m behind her back.

- RICHARD GITTINS

Maria-Christina Copinger-Symes, who managed rock superstars INXS, is part of the Australian Perez de la Sala dynasty, which made its £550m-plus fortune in shipping. She married James Copinger-Symes, 57, in 1998, while he was an army major, and the couple set up home with their four children in a £3m Chelsea home.

The couple split in 2022, with Ms Copinger-Symes agreeing on a court order under which she would pay her ex £1,192,533, leaving her with between £2.5m and £5m from the couple’s fortune.

She has now won a ruling overturning the order, after learning her super-rich estranged parents Bobby and Felicite Perez de la Sala have sided with her ex-husband, labelling her a “Judas” and secretly gifting him around £27.6m of family money, whilst at the same time cutting her out.

In a ruling at the Central Family Court, Judge Edward Hess ordered that the financial fallout of the divorce be reconsidered, with Ms Copinger-Symes now demanding her former husband pay about £14m of his new-found wealth.

“The financial remedies proceedings between the wife and the husband were conducted against the background of the wife’s very wealthy family having very negative feelings about her and very positive feelings about the husband ...This is very much an exception to the normal rule that ‘blood is thicker than water’,” the judge commented.