Texan tycoon Preston Haskell must pay his ex-wife Alesia Vladimirovna £50,000 in court battle or be jailed next time he comes to the UK

A foreign businessman who was embroiled in a fight over money with his ex-wife in London has been told by a High Court judge that he must pay her what he owes this month to avoid arrest on his return to England.

In May 2021, a judge ruled that Preston Haskell IV’s failure to pay £50,000 to former model Alesia Vladimirovna Haskell, who lives in London, was in breach of a court order.

Mr Justice Moor concluded, following a hearing in Family Division of the High Court, that Mr Haskell was in contempt of court and imposed a six-week prison sentence.

A lawyer representing Mr Haskell, who lives abroad, on Monday told another judge that his client was willing to pay the £50,000 and wanted to travel to England to see his children

Texan millionaire Preston Haskell (left with model Petra Nemcova at a charity ball in New York in 2010) has been told he must pay his ex wife Alesia Vladimirovna Haskell (right) £50,000 after becoming embroiled in a contempt of court row 

But Adam Tear told Mr Justice Cohen said Mr Haskell, 56, feared arrest and imprisonment on arrival.

Mr Justice Cohen said Mr Haskell must pay the £50,000 within seven days if he wanted to avoid arrest and imprisonment.

He said if the money was paid by January 24, he would relax orders requiring Mr Haskell to be apprehended on arrival in England.

The judge also said Mr Haskell must notify Ms Haskell, 41, of the dates of any visit and hand his passport to a lawyer while in Britain.

Another judge had ruled on the pair’s fight over money in February 2020.

Mr Justice Mostyn had said Mr Haskell tried to impose a ‘syndrome of control’ over Ms Haskell.

He concluded that Ms Haskell, who comes from Belarus, needed around £5 million and ordered Mr Haskell to hand over that amount in instalments.

Mr Haskell’s ex-wife is pictured posing in an Instagram post at the mogul’s villa in Cape Town

Haskell and his ex-wife enjoyed a luxury lifestyle during their 13-year marriage where they enjoyed membership of the exclusive 5 Hertford Street club (pictured)

Haskell has assets and business interested around the world including a South African winery and a ‘magnificent’ £6.5million villa in Cape Town (pictured), and a villa in Johannesburg

Ms Haskell says Mr Haskell has failed to pay a first instalment of £50,000, as ordered.

Mr Justice Mostyn said the marriage had been blighted by Mr Haskell’s ‘serial infidelity and abuse of cocaine and alcohol’.

Mr Haskell had told Mr Justice Mostyn that he was ‘not a man of poverty’ but ‘a man suffering liquidity and cash-flow problems’ during a period of transition in his business activities.

Judges have heard how the Haskells had lived together for more than a decade and have three children.

They have heard that Mr Haskell’s American father was ‘exceptionally wealthy’.

Mr Haskell had renounced his United States citizenship and become a citizen of St Kitts and Nevis, and Sweden.