Sheik Ordered to Pay Wife $270 Million

A colorful, high-living Saudi sheik was ordered to pay his estranged wife $270 million in a legal dispute spanning two decades and several continents.

The appeals ruling against Sheik Mohammed Al Fassi was approved Tuesday by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.

On New Year’s Day 1980, Al Fassi’s $2.4-million, 38-room Beverly Hills mansion was destroyed by an arson fire while neighbors, outraged by the sheik’s lewdly painted Italian marble statues and plastic flowers, stood by shouting, “Burn! Burn! Burn!”

Al Fassi and his wife, Dena, who had four children together, separated three years later. She was awarded $81.5 million, as well as the destroyed home.

With interest, the original award has since grown to $271 million.

Al Fassi fled the United States with their children shortly after the initial judgment, according to court records. Aside from proceeds from the sale of the Beverly Hills property, his wife was unable to collect on the judgment, said her lawyer, Marvin Mitchelson.

Al Fassi, who now lives in Egypt with his grown children, has no known legal representative in the United States. An attempt to locate him was unsuccessful.

Mitchelson said Tuesday’s judgment means his client can now pursue a settlement with the Saudi Arabian government, since Al Fassi is a member of the royal family and has no other assets in the United States.

Since 1988, the mother has seen her children only six times in various countries under tightly controlled conditions, according to court documents.

Mitchelson said Al Fassi married two more wives while legally separated from the children’s mother, who now lives in Italy. They never divorced.