Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson and his former wife Jenny Paulson have reached a settlement in their long-running divorce and fraud litigation, ending a legal battle that had dragged on for nearly five years over one of Wall Street’s largest personal fortunes.
The couple filed court notices in Manhattan and Suffolk County, New York, agreeing to dismiss a 2022 fraud lawsuit Jenny had filed accusing her former husband of concealing billions of dollars in assets, as well as resolving the underlying divorce case.
In a joint statement issued through their attorneys, both sides confirmed the resolution. “Jenny Paulson and John Paulson have come to the decision to amicably settle their divorce and trust-related litigations,” said Jenny’s lawyer Robert S. Cohen and John’s attorney Marilyn Chinitz. The statement added that neither party nor family members would comment further, describing it as a private matter.
The settlement closes a dispute that became one of the most closely watched divorce cases in US financial circles. Jenny had rejected multiple settlement proposals over the years, including an offer reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars in cash, which she described in a 2022 email as “disrespectful, shameful and humiliating.” She had argued she deserved an equal share of the fortune accumulated over more than two decades of marriage, during which no prenuptial agreement had been signed.
John’s legal team had argued the proposed offers were generous by legal standards and that complex trusts set up for the couple’s daughters had been established years earlier for the children’s benefit, not to shield assets from the divorce proceedings.
A source familiar with the matter said serious settlement discussions accelerated earlier this year following encouragement from the judge overseeing the case, and that the agreement reached was fair to all parties.
Paulson built his fortune by betting against the US housing market ahead of the 2008 financial crisis, earning an estimated $15 billion for his funds and cementing his reputation as one of the most successful hedge fund managers of his generation. His net worth has been estimated at around $4.7 billion. He is now engaged to Alina de Almeida, with the couple reported to have welcomed a child last year.
