Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

“Well, I’m very famous now,” Astrid said self-mockingly as she handed him the
newspapers. It was the South China Morning Post, and on the front page, the headline
screamed:
MICHAEL TEO SEEKS RECORD $5 BILLION DIVORCE SETTLEMENT
FROM HEIRESS ASTRID LEONG
SINGAPORE—For the past two years, billionaire venture capitalist Michael Teo, 36, has been mired in
divorce proceedings with Singapore heiress Astrid Leong. What was supposed to be an amicable
divorce has taken a new twist, as Mr. Teo’s legal team is now demanding a $5 billion settlement in light of
recent developments.
Last week, pictures of Ms. Leong, 37, went viral on international gossip sites. The images purport to
show Ms. Leong being proposed to by Hong Kong tech tycoon Charles Wu, 37, at the Mehrangarh Fort
in Jodhpur, India. Surrounding them were 100 classical Indian dancers, 20 Sitar players, two elephants
and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who reportedly serenaded the couple with a Hindi version of
the Jason Mraz love ballad “I’m Yours.”
Mr. Teo is now accusing Ms. Leong of “intolerable cruelty and adultery” in his latest divorce filings. He
claims to have incontrovertible evidence that his wife has been having an affair with Mr. Wu “since as
early as 2010.” It is a sad ending to what was once a romantic Cinderella story in reverse: Mr. Teo, the
son of two schoolteachers, grew up in middle-income housing in Toa Payoh, met Ms. Teo, an heiress to
one of Asia’s largest fortunes, at the birthday party of one of his army friends. After a whirlwind courtship
and wedding, the ridiculously photogenic couple married in 2006.
It was a union that took many in Asia’s society circles by surprise. Ms. Leong is the only daughter of
Henry Leong, the president of S. K. Leong Holdings Pte Ltd, the secretive conglomerate said to be the
world’s leading supplier of palm oil. Before she married Mr. Teo, she had previously been engaged to
Charles Wu and also linked to a Muslim prince and several members of European nobility. Like her
family, Ms. Leong is an exceedingly private individual who has never granted an interview and has no
social media presence. The Heron Wealth Report has ranked the Leong family number three on a list of
Asia’s richest families, and estimates Ms. Leong’s personal fortune to be “in excess of $10 billion.”
Now, half of Ms. Leong’s fortune is at stake, along with custody of their seven-year-old son, Cassian.
“My client is a self-made-billionaire—this is not about the money,” claims Mr. Teo’s lawyer Jackson Lee
of the esteemed firm Gladwell and Malcolm. “This is about the principle of it all. Michael Teo, a loyal and
devoted husband, has been humiliated on the world stage. Imagine how you would feel if the woman you
were still married to was proposed to by another man, in such a public and disgustingly showy manner.”
Singapore legal experts feel that Mr. Teo’s legal maneuvers are unlikely to succeed, due to Ms.
Leong’s assets being tied up in the labyrinthine S. K. Leong Trusts. But this latest filing has already done
its damage. An insider to Singapore’s social scene comments, “The Leongs do not ever like being in the
news. This is a huge embarrassment for them.”
“Bloody hell,” Nick said, throwing the newspaper on the floor in disgust.
Astrid smiled at him wanly.
“How does the Post get away with publishing this? I’ve never read so much bullshit in
all my life.”
“You’re telling me. Self-made billionaire my ass.”
“And if you’re really worth ten billion, there’s this David Bowie limited-edition box set I
want for my birthday. It’s $89.95 on Amazon.”
Astrid laughed for a moment, and then shook her head. “All my life, I’ve done