Tycoon who funded divorce with multi-million-pound property fraud after wife left him for Cesc Fabregas wins £4.5million confiscation appeal

A tycoon who paid for his divorce with a massive property fraud after his wife left him for Cesc Fabregas has won his appeal against a £4.

A tycoon who paid for his divorce with a massive property fraud after his wife left him for Cesc Fabregas has won his appeal against a £4.5m confiscation order.

Elie Taktouk, 50, married Lebanese model Daniella Semaan, in 1998 but they split 13 years later when she left him for the former Arsenal and Chelsea footballer.

Taktouk had lost his former family home in Belgravia to Miss Semaan, 49, and Fabregas after failing to block the £5.5m sale of the flat to the footballer at the Court of Appeal.

The Grade-II listed property, just yards from Buckingham Palace, had been put up for sale in 2013 so Taktouk could provide cash in the divorce settlement with his former wife.

Taktouk’s father Youssef died in 2022, triggering an investigation into whether he inherited anything that could be subject to confiscation.

Judge Alexander Milne KC made a confiscation ruling in the sum of £4.5m at Southwark Crown Court in November 2023.

Judge Milne had also made a compensation order for £3.2m which formed part of the overall amount.

He ordered Taktouk should serve eight years in jail consecutive to his seven year sentence for fraud if the money was not paid in default.

Elie Taktouk, 50, married Lebanese model Daniella Semaan, in 1998 but they split 13 years later when she left him for the former Arsenal and Chelsea footballer Cesc Fabregas

Elie Taktouk, 50, married Lebanese model Daniella Semaan, in 1998 but they split 13 years later when she left him for the former Arsenal and Chelsea footballer Cesc Fabregas 

Lebanese model Daniella Semaan pictured with her husband Cesc Fabregas who she married after her divorce from tycoon Elie Taktouk

Lebanese model Daniella Semaan pictured with her husband Cesc Fabregas who she married after her divorce from tycoon Elie Taktouk

Daniella Semaan gives her husband Cesc Fabregas a kiss on the lips during a family holiday in Switzerland

Daniella Semaan gives her husband Cesc Fabregas a kiss on the lips during a family holiday in Switzerland

During the confiscation hearing Taktouk accepted his father was a wealthy man, but said: ‘Any detail I knew about his wealth was based on what I understood, what I saw, what I assumed.’

Youssef Taktouk was one of the richest men in Ibadan, Nigeria, where he lived for much of his life.

Elie and his brother Dr Wassim Taktouk were shareholders in his father’s company Wasseli, the court heard.

‘I cannot comment on a company I had no control over, no power over, Elie had said.

‘My father gave me and my brother a ten per cent share each when we were younger, in 1992, I think when I was still a teenager.

‘I don’t have any details of his wealth.’

He had told the hearing his father was worth £187m.

Elie, a director of JMT Property Ltd, was convicted by a jury of eleven charges of fraud after property developer Adrian Noël and his father Frank launched a private prosecution against him.

Daniella Semaan pictured outside High Court after hearing in 2015 divorce battle with ex Elie Taktouk

Daniella Semaan pictured outside High Court after hearing in 2015 divorce battle with ex Elie Taktouk

The charges related to the renovation of a £7m Grade-II listed apartment in Ennismore Gardens, Knightsbridge.

He was jailed for seven years in his absence in 2021 after he tried to kill himself in a hotel on the eve of his sentencing.

The Noëls made an initial investment which helped to buy the property and then made ten additional investments at Elie’s request for works to be done while he was project manager.

Instead of using their investments to help pay for a jacuzzi and other renovations Taktouk used the cash to fund his extravagant lifestyle.

He failed to keep up with payments due to the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, and the Noëls lost just under £2.5m after their property was seized.

Taktouk also faked invoices for a building firm for work that was never done, and tried to shift the blame for the fake invoices onto company boss Joseph Farah.

Mr Farah’s reputation was ruined by the affair, and lost his income due to lack of work.

Case papers revealed the Noëls lost the whole of their investment which totalled £2,490,546.69.

Court documents showed Taktouk used more than £200,000 of the funds to pay legal fees from his divorce from Ms Semaan.

He also spent more than £20,000 of expensive private school fees for his children; a £28,000 Porsche; a £21,000 a month property in Kensington; Georgio Armani clothes; shopping sprees in Harrods and splurging out on high-value furniture.

Taktouk, formerly of Cadogan Square, Chelsea, first took his case to the Court of Appeal in 2022 after his legal team claimed his convictions were ‘unsafe’ and that sentence was too long.

But three judges found Taktouk must complete his prison sentence.

He returned to the Court of Appeal to challenge the confiscation ruling on a number of grounds

Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Saini and Judge Anthony Leonard granted Taktouk leave to appeal on the grounds the court ‘should receive fresh evidence from the appellant’s brother, Dr Wassim Taktouk, who is the executor of the estate of their late father.

Lord Justice Edis said: ’This is said to show that the judge’s finding that the appellant had an interest in family-owned assets which he had not been truthful about was wrong.’

But he added in his ruling today: ‘The judge conducted these proceedings with great skill and fairness and delivered, as we have said, an exemplary ruling.

‘The outcome of the appeal, although it quashes his order, involves no criticism of him at all.

‘He made findings about the credibility of the appellant which were judicially arrived at, and appropriately expressed.

‘They have not been challenged on this appeal. His decision constitutes the starting point for the fresh proceedings and he has not manifested any bias against the appellant.

‘We see no reason why he should not hear the fresh proceedings and every reason why he should do so.’

The Taktouk family boasts a variety of business interests in Nigeria and Lebanon in transport, flour mills, insurance, and property.