What could be the next record-breaking divorce settlement might have gotten more expensive, as the estimated amount of oilman Harold Hamm's fortune set to be divided has topped $17 billion, according to an analysis presented as evidence in their divorce trial. Hamm's personal wealth was previously estimated to be $11.3 billion by Forbes in 2013 The analysis of Kenneth Button, an expert witness hired by Hamm's wife Sue Ann, was laid out in court testimony and in a document provided to Reuters by Oklahoma County Judge Howard Haralson. It is one of the first pieces of financial testimony to be released from the trial, which has been conducted mostly in secrecy.
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Harold Hamm, 68, accrued a fortune worth $17 billion according to the estimate of analyst hired by his wife Sue Ann, 56
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Record for biggest divorce settlement is $4.5 billion from divorce between Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev and wife Elena earlier this year
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Hamm's personal wealth was previously estimated to be $11.3 billion by Forbes
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Harold Hamm's company produces 700,000 barrels of oil a day, 10 per cent of the American output
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Sue Ann has accused her husband of having an affair
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By 2007, Sue Ann had begun gathering electronic surveillance of her husband, with one bill totaling $9,866.09
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Hamm's lawyers want those recordings to prove they had stopped living as husband and wife before the 2012 divorce filing
Unusually for a divorce case, @placeholder has barred the public from the courtroom on most days and sealed most of the evidence.
@placeholder also has three children from a marriage that ended in divorce in 1987.
It is now worth around $27 billion.Sue @placeholder's legal team contends that this growth resulted largely from the active leadership and astute decision-making of Harold.