JCB heir fails to take control of US company at centre of legal row with ex-best friend

theguardian.com:

The heir to the digger company JCB has failed in an attempt to take control of a business run by his former best friend after a bitter US courtroom battle that included lurid allegations about personal conduct – and even revealed an apparent attempt to buy Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch.

Jo Bamford, a grandson of the JCB founder, sued Joseph Manheim last year in Delaware, claiming that his former friend had “surreptitiously” taken control of a company they set up to help wealthy, mainly Chinese, investors get residence in the US. Bamford, 44, a self-styled “green entrepreneur”, claimed Manheim secretly siphoned millions of dollars from the business and Bamford sought damages of $13.8m (£11.3m).

Bamford is the son of Anthony Bamford, the billionaire peer and chairman of JCB – and a major donor to the prime minister, Boris Johnson. Lord Bamford’s Daylesford estate reportedly hosted Johnson’s wedding party on Saturday.

The Guardian last year reported on the legal case, which shone a light on one of Britain’s wealthiest families, revealing how Bamford admitted to using a company email account to order cannabis and send unspecified “inappropriate, explicit photographs”.

The case also appears to reveal how Jo Bamford structured his relationship with the business in order to minimise his tax bill in Britain. The court said: “Bamford was interested in holding his interest through an entity rather than personally, which he believed would help minimise his taxes in the United Kingdom.”

The Delaware court’s memorandum opinion – a 125-page judgment dated 24 June this year – has found that Manheim must repay $2.4m plus interest to the company for “excess management fees” and some expenses found to be “not entirely fair”, and that he