Billionaire Zygmunt Solorz is widening attempts to recover a fortune held in Liechtenstein that he claims he was tricked into handing over to his children, in a succession feud tearing apart one of Eastern Europe’s richest families.
Solorz, the media and telecoms baron behind Poland’s Polsat TV channel, asked a US federal court late last month to compel daughter Aleksandra Żak to hand over documents related to the battle. His lawyers believe it may help in the legal fight with his children in several European courts.
Solorz’s empire spans from power utility ZE PAK SA to media and telecommunication giant Cyfrowy Polsat SA. He has a net worth of $2.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The dispute began at a family gathering last year, when Solorz and his three children began succession discussions, according to the US filing. The billionaire initially agreed to transfer control of his two Liechtenstein-registered foundations — which effectively hold his business empire — to his three children, but then reversed the decision several days later.
The children have said that his fourth wife, Justyna Kulka, is preventing them from having contact with him as well as alleging she was behind Solorz’ change of heart.
The billionaire has two sons, Piotr Żak and Tobias Solorz, in addition to daughter Aleksandra. She lives in Los Angeles and has resided in the United States since at least 2019. As such, she’s not been involved in the day-to-day operations of her father’s empire, according to the filing.
A Liechtenstein court has already dismissed a lawsuit by Solorz attempting to block the succession of the foundation to the children. The billionaire is appealing that.
Representatives for Piotr and Tobias declined to comment. Martin Weinstein, a partner at law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP representing Alexandra Zak, said the US document disclosure procedures are related to the ongoing Liechtenstein proceedings and “do not alter the core structure of the dispute.” He said that he expects the case in Liechtenstein to be resolved shortly.
The children have said the ruling in the principality, similar to a judgment issued in Cyprus, helps them prevent Kulka from gaining control over the family’s assets amid the billionaire’s worsening state of health.
This summer Cyfrowy Polsat, the crown jewel of Solorz business empire, acting in line with the Liechtenstein court’s decision, dismissed the billionaire as its chief executive and later removed Kulka from the supervisory board. Separately, Warsaw prosecutors have started an investigation into Solorz’s succession.
Self-Made Riches
The feud is a painful transition for self-made Solorz, who like several of his compatriots born in communist-era Poland made his early fortune overseas. Born in Radom, 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Warsaw, Solorz set up his first business, a transport company, in Germany, where he ended up via former Yugoslavia and Austria when he was about 20 years old. At that time, Poland had mainly shut its borders with the West as people sought to flee the regime for a life in capitalist countries.
He came back to Poland in the late 1980s and started selling imported cars, electronics and clothes. The media business began with a purchase of the Kurier Polski newspaper and then fully took shape in 1992 when he founded Telewizja Polsat, the first Polish private network.
According to the petition filed to the Federal District Court of the Central District of California, Aleksandra Żak left Poland several years ago and owns or operates an animal shelter in the Los Angeles area. While she hasn’t been involved in the day-to-day operations of the businesses, she’s been in close communication with her brothers.
“It is beyond dispute that Ms. Żak possesses documents and information that are directly relevant to core issues in dispute in each of the foreign proceedings, all of which arise from and relate to efforts by Mr. Solorz’s children — including Ms. Żak— to gain control over the foundations,” according to the petition.
(Reporting by Alexander Sazonov and Maciej Martewicz. With assistance from Konrad Krasuski.)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Bloomberg news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
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