Millionaire Sekonda watch tycoon sued by brother over claims he was cheated out of family fortune

A multi-millionaire watch tycoon has been accused of hoarding family money following a 20-year investigation by his younger brother, legal documents filed to the High Court show.

Marcus Margulies, 79, who owns Sekonda, Britain's biggest-selling watch brand, allegedly used "lies and deception" to cheat his younger brother, Stephen Margulies, out of at least £1.5 million their father Alexander Margulies had intended to give to him.

The brothers have been locked in a bitter legal dispute since their father - who set up the family watch empire after coming to England as a Polish immigrant in 1931 - died 30 years ago, leaving behind "substantial wealth".

His death sparked a series of furious court clashes between the brothers over his money, which lawyers for Stephen Margulies have said were caused "mainly as a result of Marcus's attempts to disentitle Stephen".

Marcus Margulies - who was worth £135 million according to 2018's Times Rich List - is now being sued again by his brother, who claims that after a 20-year worldwide investigation, he can now prove that Marcus Margulies hid money that his father wanted to go to him after his death.

In documents lodged in the High Court in February, lawyers for Stephen Margulies, a financier, said that the brothers had a series of court fights with each other over their parents' money after their deaths. 

Marcus Margulies, whose company Time Products (UK) sells luxury Swiss watches, was the sole beneficiary of his father’s estate under a will he made in 1982.

Stephen Margulies says his siblings "received substantial sums of money" – at least £1.5 million each and possibly much more – in 1976 from the Swiss account. 

At the time, his father had been worried about him having so much money due to "concerns" about his "lifestyle and general attitude to life", his lawyers said in the court filings.

"Stephen infers (that he)...did not receive such a gift in 1976 because of Alexander's concern about Stephen's ability at that time to handle his wealth," said his lawyers, adding that his father had "disapproved" of him having moved to Peru.

Claims of 'lies' and 'concealment'

His lawyers have also claimed that he and his father made up after he left South America and that by 1988, three years before he died, their relationship was again "warm".

He accuses Marcus Margulies of having hidden the money in a secret offshore trust called Dulwich Inc. He is suing him to force him to reveal the value of the money in the Swiss account, what happened to it and to pay it or its current value to him.

He accuses his brother of "lies, concealment of documents, deception of the court, and abuse of (power)".

"Though Marcus was made Alexander's sole residual beneficiary under his will of 1982, it was not Alexander's intention for this to have the practical effect of cutting Stephen out from his share of the Swiss monies," his lawyers have said.

By 1988, Stephen Margulies' relationship with his father had been mended, with his brother telling him in a letter: "Let bygones be bygones … let's start afresh."

Over the last 20 years, Stephen Margulies has gone to “very great lengths” to try to uncover the Swiss accounts, his lawyers said. 

The investigations involved multiple trips to the British Virgin Islands, Mexico, US, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the UK which were "complex, costly and necessarily very time-consuming in circumstances where Marcus denied any knowledge of Dulwich Inc”.

Marcus Margulies’ defence to the action was not available from the court at the time of writing. His representatives were approached for comment.