A former owner of the women's football club has won a dividing court with her Bitcoin Millionaire ex-spouse over their £ 7 million family home.
Diane Culligan, 63, and financier ex Anthony, 62, lived a lush lifestyle that was financed by his Bitcoin -Fortuin after he changed a crypto portion of £ 10,000 into £ 20 million.
They shared a £ 7 million house with seven bathrooms with seven bathrooms and a home cinema, in Primrose Hill, Noord-Londen, and plow a fortune to build a rental portfolio of a rental properties.
Mrs. Culligan also founded women's championship football side London City Lionesses after it broke off Millwall FC – until she sold the team to an American businesswoman after the players begged her to find or sell investments.
The Culligans divided themselves into bitter circumstances in 2020, where Mrs. Culligan blamed her ex for the end of the marriage without explanation.
Crypto millionaire Mr. Culligan, on the other hand – whose company, setl, the club had sponsored – blamed 'tensions' around a £ 2.1 million renovation of their house and the 'exaggerated' and 'irrational' behavior of his wife and 'irrational' behavior for the split.
The former couple agreed that their Fortuin of £ 27.3 million had to be distributed equally – “one of the few sensible concessions” they had been “able” to make – but went to High Court after they disagreed about how exactly the fortune should be distributed.
Mrs. Culligan wanted to stay in their former house, while Mr. Culligan wanted it to be sold to offer more liquid cash for the couple to split.
Diane Culligan was chairman of the London City Lionesses after they broke away from Millwall FC
Her husband Anthony is now a computer programmer who became a cryptocurrency entrepreneur who turned a Bitcoin investment of £ 10,000 into £ 20 million
Judge Mr. Justice MacDonald has now ruled on the issue in her favor, so that she can stay in the house.
He gave an order to hand the couple about £ 13.7 million in assets each, with Mrs. Culligan getting the house and got her ex the buy-to-lasting and retaining most of his business interests.
The court heard the couple each other in 1982 and started living together in 1985 before he married while he lived in Japan in 1992, with three children.
They bought their house in Primrose Hill, one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the capital, the following year.
They started a renovation of the house in 2018 and eventually cost £ 2.1 million, the Mr. Culligan claimed to led to the demolition of their marriage.
He also called her 'pretentious approach', and said that she had physically prevented him from leaving when he tried to walk away.
However, Mrs. Culligan blamed him for the split and claimed that he “had run away the marriage without explanation,” of which she claimed she needed her counseling.
The wealth of the family derived from a payment that Mr Culligan received after a business dispute, which was plowed into a lucrative buy-to-let portfolio, heard the court.
He later also earned a fortune after he bought a £ 10,000 wallet from Bitcoin in 2012, which in 2017 rose to a value of around £ 20 million.
He used the cryptocurrency to finance their business interests and 'livelihood', as well as the renovation of Primrose Hill House and the acquisition of American property.
It was around this time that Mrs. Culligan played a key role in unraveling the Millwall lady team of the men's team, Hen Rebranding as London City Lionesses and herself.
In 2019, the couple founded a company, with Mrs. Culligan as the only shareholder, who was used to buy the Lionesses, where her husband became director.
However, the club was subsequently sold in 2023, with Mrs. Culligan – who, according to the judge, describes itself as a 'pioneer' in women's football – to continue as £ 750,000 a year consultant for four years.
At the time of the sale to Michele Kang – who is also the owner of the National Women's Football League side Washington Spirit and a majority stake in Lyon – she said she was “happy with the reins handing over.”
But the lion ribbons had a hard time with no permanent manager. All 20 players have co-signed an e-mail sent by the then Captain Harley Bennett, who encouraged Mrs. Culligan to find new investments or a buyer.
Mrs. Culligan sold the London City Lionesses in 2023 after players sent her an e -mail who begged her to find new investment or a new owner
The club is now owned by the American sports entrepreneur and businesswoman Michele Kang
Mrs. Culligan presented a divorce in 2022 and the case went for Mr. Justice MacDonald in November, when he was asked to distribute the assets of the parties.
In a judgment, he said that the former couple agreed that neither of them should get more than half a part of their fortune, but did not agree on how it should be split.
Mrs. Culligan wanted to keep the parental home where she lives, while Mr. Culligan wanted it sold, pointing to an approaching tax assessment in the US that must be paid before he can buy his own house.
The judge said: 'The starting point is that it is accepted by both parties in this case that there will be a broad equal distribution of the assets.
“This is one of the few sensible concessions that the parties can make between these long -term procedures between them and is clearly suitable.”
Although the 40-year-old marriage had been one of the 'equals' in which both had contributed, the judge said, the Culligans were not 'impressive witnesses' in court.
Her decision to take £ 3 million from club sales as annual £ 750,000 payments for four years after the sale of the lion ribbons was 'postponed' and had been an attempt to 'hide assets as future income,' he said.
And he took a moment to wonder how Mrs. Culligan as a new single woman needed a house with nine bedrooms and seven bathrooms, even with at least one, if not two of their adult children who live with her.
“Against this, I accept that the woman has an emotional bond with the former marital house to a extent that was not clear in proof of the husband,” added Mr. Justice MacDonald.
“Within that latter context, I am convinced that an honest distribution of the assets can be achieved without the need to sell the former marital house.”
In addition to retaining their rental homes, Mr Culligan also receives a payment of £ 750,000 from his ex. Mrs. Culligan will also share some of the 'Illiquide', more risky assets in the name of 'fairness', so that he can afford to buy a new house.
The Lionesses continue to play in the Women's Championship -with former Paris Saint -Germain manager Jocelyn Prêcheur appointed for the team in Leiden last July under the ownership of Kang.
