Over the course of four days in November 2024 the High Court heard the application brought by Diane Culligan, a significant figure in women’s football, against her ex-husband Anthony Culligan to determine how their substantial financial assets should be divided between them following their divorce.
The parties married in February 1992 and were together for 40 years, and upon their divorce had net assets worth £27mn to be apportioned between them. There was no dispute between them that the £27mn should, in broad terms, be equally divided.
One of the key questions for the court was how best to achieve that through a redistribution of the assets held. Diane had argued that she should retain the former matrimonial home, whereas Anthony’s position had been that the house should be sold, and the net proceeds of sale divided between them.
Assets in the marital pot
The bulk of the parties’ wealth derived from Anthony purchasing just over 1,000 bitcoin at a total cost of £10,000 in 2012. By 2017, the value of that bitcoin holding had increased to £20mn.
During the marriage the bitcoin had been sold off to fund several projects and the business interests of both parties. In particular, it was used to provide financial support for Anthony’s company, SETL Limited, while also providing financial support for Diane’s company, ELSA.
ELSA had been incorporated in April 2019 and one month later purchased London City Lionesses, the rebranded Millwall FC women’s side. Diane had played a key role in removing the women’s side from the umbrella of the men’s club, which was in keeping with her long-held interest in and commitment to women’s football.
Over the course of four years between 2019 and 2023 the parties invested a total of £3.3mn into ELSA from the sale of bitcoin. In May 2023 the decision was made that the parties could not continue to fund ELSA, and it was acquired by YMK Holdings LLC. Significantly, part of the sale and purchase agreement between YMK and ELSA provided for Diane to be paid an annual consultancy fee of £750,000 for four years, totalling £3mn (£1.6mn net).
Meanwhile, Anthony’s company SETL Limited had received £2.7mn from the sale of bitcoin between April 2019 and September 2022 but consistently recorded a net operating loss between 2020 and 2022.
In January 2022 Colendi, a financial services platform, expressed an interest in acquiring SETL Limited and in September 2022 Colendi SETL Ltd was established, which ultimately would come to hold Anthony’s shares in Colendi in trust for him.
In January 2023 Colendi acquired the entire share capital in SETL Ltd by way of a share swap. The terms of the articles of association of Colendi remained intact following the share swap, with the upshot being that the shares held by the trust on behalf of Anthony could only be transferred with the permission of the founder of Colendi or upon completion of a pre-emption process.
