One of Britain’s leading female tech bosses is this weekend embroiled in an extraordinary row with her ex-husband, himself a leading businessman.
Sara Murray, 56, the founder of Confused.com, has claimed that a lawsuit brought against her is being bankrolled behind the scenes by Michael Jackson, whom she split from in 2009.
Murray sold the comparison website to Admiral in 2003 and received an OBE in 2012.
In a bitter legal spat she now claims Jackson, a former chairman of software giant Sage, is funding a lawsuit against her, brought by five former shareholders in her current company Big Technologies.
Legal spat: Sara Murray has claimed that a lawsuit brought against her is being bankrolled behind the scenes by Michael Jackson, whom she split from in 2009
The firm, which provides the Buddi electronic tagging system to the prison service among others, was founded by Murray in 2005 – 13 years later she led a management buyout for £12.3 million.
In 2021, its shares were listed on the AIM market in a blockbuster float where it was valued at £577 million. Its value is less than half that today.
Five of the early investors are suing the firm, alleging Murray rigged the 2018 buyout vote. They say this led to them being frozen out of the 2021 listing, depriving them of big profits.
Now, in a dramatic twist in the case, Big Technologies has alleged the five ‘have been funded and/or encouraged and/or assisted’ by Jackson.
In filings submitted to the High Court, Big Technologies, which is one of two defendants in the case, said it had been informed that Jackson ‘brought together a number of stakeholders with a view to orchestrating and offering to fund action against Big Technologies, Buddi and Ms Murray’.
They also allege the five and Jackson have ‘sought to publicise’ the row ‘for the purposes of putting pressure’ on Murray and the business.
In a response filed this month, the five denied they were funded by Jackson and said: ‘There is no reasonable basis for the defendants’ allegation, and it is without foundation.’
The mudslinging will overshadow Big Technologies’ annual meeting on Wednesday, which promises to be a tense affair. Murray was sacked as chief executive in March, when the board said she had used offshore firms to extract money from the firm. She denies the allegations and says she did not ‘own or control any’ of the offshore companies.
Jackson said: ‘There is no truth in the allegation I have been orchestrating and funding the claim by former shareholders against Big Technologies and Buddi. It has changed the substance of its defence three times constantly abandoning previously strongly held positions.’
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This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .