The Times: Charity chief fights like a tiger to share ex-husband's £50m

Frances Gibb Legal Editor
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/asia/article3891100.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2013_10_09
Published at 12:01AM, October 10 2013

A couple who founded a charity that campaigns to save the endangered South China tiger are embroiled in a divorce battle over the £50 million worth of assets that fund their work.

The conservationist Li Quan told the High Court that her husband, Stuart Bray, an American banker, put the fortune acquired during their relationship into a trust fund.

Mr Bray says that the trust is there to pay for the charity that Ms Li set up, but she maintains that her husband has used it as a tax structure and aims to cheat her out of her share.

Save China’s Tigers (SCT) was founded in 2000 by Ms Li, a former executive with the fashion house Gucci. It has been backed by celebrities including the actor Jackie Chan and the former England rugby captain Lewis Moody.

Ms Li announced recently that the charity was being liquidated and that she was setting up a new charity independent of Mr Bray, called China Tiger Revival, which she intends to fund with money from a settlement.

Mr Justice Coleridge stated last week that he would make an order to freeze nearly all the assets in the Mauritius-based Chinese Tiger South Africa Trust and ruled that the trust should be joined as a party to the proceedings.

He said he suspected that Mr Bray had put structures in place “to keep the revenues of the Western world behind a smoke screen”. He added: “I do not say that in any critical sense. He has had the benefit of absolutely world-class advice when he set the structures up.”

Ms Li’s barrister, Richard Todd, QC, said that there was a “front door” and a “back door” to the trust, which would enable Mr Bray to get the money out at any time. “Mr Bray had £50 million worth of assets,” Mr Todd said. “All of that goes into the trust and he is, to all intents and purposes, left with nothing at all. It simply is not believable. Starting from that position, there is quite a heavy burden on him to say what is going on here.”

Mr Bray, who specialised in tax derivatives for Deutsche Bank in New York, says that he has experienced financial hardships and cannot access the money, stating that the assets of the Mauritius trust are neither his nor his wife’s but solely to benefit the tigers.

Ms Li has hired a top divorce lawyer. Ayesha Vardag, called “the diva of divorce”, who has represented clients such as the German heiress Katrin Radmacher and the Marchioness of Northampton, said that under English law Ms Li would normally be entitled to half of her husband’s assets.

“It is ironic that Li, who has dedicated her life to the welfare of tigers, finds herself having to fight like one of her feline friends in order to protect her own welfare,” Ms Vardag said. “With £50 million in issue, there should be enough to look after both the tigers and the people. Instead Li has been cut off from all support.”

-END-

Correction by Li Quan: I did not make announcement to liquidate Save China's Tiger (UK). I actually was surprised to find out that Stuart Bray was liquidating it without my knowledge in July 2012.

Message to My Friends & Supporters

Dear Friends/Supporters,

It has been a while since I last gave you an update. First of all, I would like to thank you all for supporting me and my effort to save the tigers as well as their habitat in China over the years.

There have been however some changes in the past year and I have moved on to a new organization to continue with my tiger and wildlife conservation work. The new charity is called China Tiger Revival.

It is based in Australia and UK, and comprises boards of reputable directors advised by accomplished scientific advisors. We endeavour to continue to raise awareness for the plight of the tigers, and in particular the South China tigers in China and around the world and support the conservation effort for both the tigers as well as other important cat species and their habitat.

I am very pleased to report that the successful re-wilding and breeding experiment that I initiated ten years ago is now considered a viable model to supplement wild tiger populations in other tiger range countries, as well as being applied to other big cat species such as the Jaguar. I am so honoured to have recently been invited to give talks about this successful experiment to various conservation institutions including the International Conservation Genetics course and the recent Wild10 Congress.

I would like to thank you all for your generous support and I hope you will continue to support tiger and wildlife conservation in general. It will be a great pity if we lose these charismatic species in our lifetime.

Best wishes,

TigerLi Quan

www.ChinaTigerRevival.org.uk

My Presentation on Tiger Rewilding & Reintroduction at Wild10 Congress

Ms. Li Quan, a founding director of CTR who initiated the world’s first Tiger Rewilding project in 2001, spoke on the "Role of Tiger Rewilding & Reintroduction in Supplementing Wild Tiger Populations" at the Wild 10 Congress in Salamanca, Spain on Oct 6 to an enthusiastic reception, drawing on her experience of more than ten years of successful South China Tiger rewilding and breeding. Her presentation can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDlTheRrqQ8&feature=share&list=PLSTWGvKfT7-1sLFiTMxG3d4ZoOdDhyWmC&index=67

The focus of the Wild 10 Congress is “Rewilding Europe”. Over 900 delegates, ranging from government representatives to wildlife and nature conservation organizations etc from over 50 countries around the world attended the congress. Ms. Quan’s experiment, though initially controversial, has now been accepted as a fully viable (and necessary) alternative to rebuilding wild tiger populations.  Rewilding is now being adopted by many conservation initiatives as a viable model to restore wildlife populations as well as their habitat.

For more details of Wild 10 Congress, please see:http://wild10.org/en/about

HRH The Prince of Wales Speech

For the Fundraising Dinner  Sponsored by Sir David Tang and co-hosted by Sir Stephen Fry at the China Tang in the Dorchester Hotel 

Oct 1^st 2013

I am very sorry not to be able to join you in personl this evening, but I just wanted to say that I am full of admiration for Sir David Tang’s efforts to help protect China’s remaining, and much threatened, tiger population.

Along with so many others, I have been deeply concerned b the evermore alarming threats posed to the world’s unique biological diversity through large scale poaching, the illegal wildlife trade, the increasing loss of natural habitats and, on top of all this, climate change. There are few more acute and poignant manifestations of our impact on the natural world than the loss in large numbers 0 and, perish the thought – the potential extinctionin our lifetimes of a number of the world’s most inconic, charismatic and beautiful species, among which the tigers of South China – as with the rhinos and elephants of Asia and Africa –have a particular place in our imaginations and our hearts. And yet, as a result of the now catastrophic demand by consumers-chiefly in Eat Asia- for elephant ivory, rhino horn and tiger parts, we are faced with the very real possibility of the disappearance of these species from the wild.

It seems to me that all humanity is diminished if we lose these remarkable species, and indeed that humanity is less than humanity without the rest of creation. I find it inconceivable that our children and grandchildren could live in a world bereft of these animals and these species.

It is to me, therefore, a source of hope that Sir David, Stephen and all of you have gathered together this eveing to learn more and to raise vital funds not only for critically important conservation efforts, but also, I can only pray, for raising awareness amongst consumers of the terrible damage being done to the natural world through the illegal wildlife trade. These efforts can play a hugely important role, too, in encouraging a change in the attitudes of peoples and societities. But I fear we have so little time left in which to do this which is why your support and generosity are of such crucial importance.

For more info: www.ChinaTigerRevival.org.uk

Sir David Tang Host Fundraiser in Aid of China Tiger Revival

 (London, 1 Oct) Entrepreneur and founder of the China Club and Shanghai Tang, Sir David Tang, hosted a private dinner tonight at his famed China Tang restaurant in the Dorchester Hotel in London in aid of a new UK animal charity China Tiger Revival (UK) and the Princes Charities Foundation (China).

Sir David Tang, Sir Stephen Fry & Li Quan

The exclusive dinner was sponsored by Sir David Tang and co-hosted by TV presenter Stephen Fry. Over sixty guests attended the private dinner to show support.

 “We must all fight against the cruelties of the trading of animal parts. We must also rescue certain beautiful animals such as the South China Tigers. All because we want to live in a more civilized and kinder world-and for our children to do so”, said Sir David Tang. “I am sponsoring the dinner to raise money in order to maximize the awareness and education on these two vital environmental issues.”

We were extremely honoured to receive a speech from The Prince of Wales who  kindly had it delivered during the dinner and the transcript of which can be found below this news.

Li Quan, a founding director of China Tiger Revival says, “I have been engaged in tiger conservation for fourteen years and I am very proud that the tiger rewilding and reintroduction model I set out to experiment over ten years ago has now been considered a viable option to supplement wild tiger populations. I am extremely grateful to Sir David Tang for his continued support for our work to encourage China in her endeavour to protect nature, biodiversity and save endangered wildlife. We are so honored to have Sir Stephen Fry’s endorsement for the work of our new charity”.

Ian Penman, Chairman of China Tiger Revival says, “I have been to China many times and nature protection is a big issue there. We want to engage and collaborate with China to protect as well as restore nature that has been compromised”.

China Tiger Revival is a group of charities based in UK and Australia.  The mission of the charity is to save tigers and other endangered species through awareness building and education, as well as restoring and protecting their habitat in China and elsewhere in the world.

We aim to support China’s effort to re-establish wild tiger populations and other endangered species in their historical range.

We emphasize the importance of co-existence between humans and wildlife and promote conservation in China so that  wildlife conservation becomes sustainable by engaging local communities who can benefit from tiger conservation long-term.

For more information on China Tiger Revival: http://www.chinatigerrevival.org.uk