The father accused of siphoning a fortune from his oil company
JOHNNY KIDD, the 72-year-old playboy and the head of the family, was once a champion showjumper before turning his hand to polo and a range of business ventures.
Such is his dashing reputation that he is said to have been the inspiration behind Jilly Cooper’s rakish character Rupert Campbell-Black in her bestselling novel, Riders.
But he helped diminish the family fortune following a toxic affair with Canadian-born Cindy Swenson, a stuntwoman nearly half his age, which ended his 32year marriage to Wendy.
Now he is under the spotlight once again after accusations that he ‘knowingly, willingly and intentionally’ assisted in a £5.2 million fraud. The allegations relate to his time as board chairman of American oil exploration firm NordAq Energy and are outlined in court papers obtained by The Mail on Sunday.
The case, brought by NordAq, claims, for example, that he made ‘support payments’ to his children Jack and Jodie, and made an investment in a stud farm using money that was not his. During a six-year period from 2009 to 2015, Johnny is said to have received generous bonus payments, plus $263,000 (£211,000) for his family and friends.
His detractors claim he received an additional £6,000 for ‘personal tour fees’ in Taiwan, £12,907 for a ‘golf outing’ for his daughter, and more than £160,000 on flights for friends and family, including Jodie’s five-year-old son, Indio. The documents further allege that $50,000 (£40,000) was paid to Jodie, $45,000 (£36,000) to Jack, and $60,000 (£48,000) to Lord Beaverbrook, one of Johnny’s cousins.
The document even claims money was used to fund Yarico, a short-lived West End musical about a 17th Century slave in the Caribbean, produced by Johnny and Jodie.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by any of the recipients.
Johnny has not filed a defence to the Alaskan courts and it may well be that the claims against him are disproven. Although he has not volunteered one, there could yet be an innocent explanation for the payments.