Dispute: Marcus Margulies, 79, is accused by brother Stephen of hiding his share of the fortune
(Picture: Handout)The multimillionaire tycoon behind Sekonda watches is being sued by his younger brother over an allegation that he hid at least £1.5 million from their late father’s fortune.
Marcus Margulies, 79, is accused of using “lies and deception” to cheat financier brother Stephen out of money left behind when their father, Alexander, died in 1991.
The brothers were embroiled in a series of court clashes after their father’s death, which Stephen’s lawyers say were caused “mainly as a result of Marcus’s attempts to disentitle Stephen”.
Marcus, whose company Time Products UK Ltd sells luxury Swiss watches and owns brands including Sekonda, is now being sued again by his brother who believes he now has proof he was cheated out of his inheritance money.
Their father made Marcus the sole beneficiary of his estate in a 1982 will, when Stephen had shunned the family business and gone to live in Peru.
However, Stephen claims money in a Swiss bank account — at least £1.5 million and possibly millions more — was earmarked for him before the falling out, they started to repair the relationship before his death, and he believes his father never changed his wishes.
In 1993, Stephen successfully sued Marcus over their mother’s estate, with a judge ruling her money should be shared equally between the brothers and their sister Judith Sacerdoti.
Further legal battles ensued, and Stephen lost a claim to prove that Marcus was holding a third of their father’s wealth for him on trust.
Reigniting the feud in the High Court, lawyers for Stephen have now alleged his siblings received “substantial sums of money” in 1976 from their father, but he did not receive his £1.5 million share due to concerns about his “lifestyle and general attitude to life”.
Stephen claimed his share of the money was put into Marcus’s control to hold in trust for him whilst their father was ill in his final years.
He accuses Marcus of having hidden the money in a secret offshore trust called Dulwich Inc, and is suing him in a bid to force him to reveal the value of the money in the Swiss account, what happened to it and to pay it or its current value to him.
Marcus’s defence to the legal action is not yet available from the court, and his representatives declined to comment on the case.
