A London judge has found German financier Lars Windhorst in contempt of court after he failed to attend a hearing in his ongoing dispute over debt with entities connected to a Monaco-based ship tycoon. Judge David Foxton ruled on Friday that Windhorst was aware that his absence violated court rules, expressing his disappointment with Windhorst's "misplaced view" of prioritizing seeking potential investors over complying with the court's orders.
Windhorst's lawyers argued that he missed the December hearing because he was meeting with a "very wealthy contact in Dubai" to secure funds for settling the debt. However, their efforts were unsuccessful. The claimants, Heritage Travel and Tourism Ltd, represented by Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio, requested that Windhorst be given a suspended prison sentence for his non-compliance, but the court decided against this option. Instead, Windhorst is scheduled to appear at a hearing in two weeks, where he will be questioned about his assets as detailed in the documents.
In an unusual turn of events, Windhorst exhibited remorse for his absence from the December hearing by being present in court, which the judge noted as a rarity in similar cases. The dispute centers around Windhorst's failure to make repayments as agreed upon in a debt settlement resulting from transactions involving shares of his companies, which provided short-term loans to him and his affiliated entities. Windhorst argued that the settlement had put him in a disadvantageous position, a claim that was rejected by the court in 2021.
Heritage had invested in Windhorst's company, La Perla, along with H2O Asset Management, a fund that had at one point held billions of bonds issued by companies associated with the German financier.
Windhorst's legal team, as well as representatives of Heritage, declined to comment on the recent hearing. The dispute is expected to continue in the coming weeks as the court delves deeper into Windhorst's assets and financial obligations.