A hedge-fund manager once known as the “Wizard of Oz” has denied causing damage to the former first lady of Iceland’s Knightsbridge flat, which she claims destroyed a collection of designer clothes and Chanel shoes.
The socialite and jewellery heiress Dorrit Moussaieff said her home in one of London’s wealthiest squares had been severely damaged by water from the flat above, owned by the Australian businessman Greg Coffey.
Moussaieff, 74, told MailOnline that she planned to take legal action against Coffey, who acquired his nickname before retiring aged 41 with an estimated £450 million fortune.
Correspondence seen by The Times shows that the leak in the basement flat in Cadogan Square, where a property recently sold for £12 million, was likely to have been caused by someone drilling through a heating pipe.
A letter sent from Aspect Property Management to Coffey in February said that a maintenance team had attended the flat when Moussaieff reported a leak. “Evidence would suggest someone drilled through the heating pipe within her flat. The break of the pipe was just below ceiling level in the basement flat. The water was spraying from the pipe and hit the ceiling of the affected room,” it said.
Advertisement
It continued: “Two members of staff from Aspect … attended site last Thursday and tried to explain on the phone to Dorrit Moussaieff that the ceiling was drying now that the leak had been fixed. The pipe was within her demise and had been fixed. I also explained this to her by email.”
The site manager concluded that there was no evidence of a leak from Coffey’s flat to the basement flat belonging to Moussaieff. She lives in a flat above Coffey’s and the basement flat is used for “storage”, according to the letter.
The building had experienced repeated flooding and was no longer insured for water damage, said Moussaieff. She shared photographs and videos of damage she said was from flooding. They show designer clothes with water stains and ruined luxury fabrics.
Items damaged included two pairs of Chanel heels worth up to £10,000 and designer clothes from labels including Oscar de la Renta, Prada and Dolce and Gabbana. A Chinese chest full of photographs and silk curtains had also been ruined.
The jewellery designer, who is married to the former president of Iceland, Olafur Grimsson,
said she could no longer stay at the property due to an allergy to mould caused by the flooding. “I never know when the next one is going to start. It has affected me horribly,” she said.
Advertisement
Coffey’s London flat is among several properties reportedly in his portfolio, which includes a 45-acre estate in Southampton, New York, bought for $105 million and the 12,000-acre Ardfin estate on the island of Jura in Scotland.
Coffey, 52, came out of retirement and heads Kirkoswald Capital. His spokesman said the leak in Moussaieff’s apartment had nothing to do with Coffey’s flat.
