This is 58 year old Sue Ann Hamm. For 26 years she was married to Harold Hamm.
This guy.
During this time Harold has ran an oil company called Continental Resources and become filthy rich. So when he and Sue Ann divorced, his multi-billion fortune was up for grabs, due to the fact that there was no pre-nuptial agreement. As I reported a couple of days ago in IN THE NEWS a judge had ruled that Harold give Sue Ann cash and assets worth around $995.5 million.
And as I said at the time: “he’s still worth $14 billion. So he won’t be clipping coupons anytime soon. But still…damn. That’s a lotta money to give away.”
It honestly seemed fair enough to me. The original article speculated that Harold could still challenge the ruling, but if he had I would have said he was just being greedy. Just pay and go on with your life. But, instead, it’s been revealed today that SHE is appealing the ruling, because she wants even more money!
Seriously?!?
Sue Ann Hamm, the ex-wife of Oklahoma oil magnate Harold Hamm who was awarded cash and assets worth more than $1 billion in the couple’s divorce this week, plans to appeal the judgment on grounds that it grossly undervalues the marital wealth she is entitled to.
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“Entitled”, my ass. This is just greed, pure and simple. Reading this just feels especially annoying to me because it’s payday. So I wake up and check my account online to see my direct deposit has gone through, then I started going through my monthly bills and paying them, and by the time I’m done over half my paycheck is gone, and that’s before I’ve even gotten dressed. Yet this woman gets almost a billion dollars, more than enough to let her live in luxury for the rest of her natural life, and she’s still complaining?!? Good grief.
I will say this, I don’t know for sure but I’m willing to bet this is mostly the work of her legal team. I bet they’re the ones who are pressing her to keep fighting and try to get more. The longer this drags out, no matter how it ends, they’ll still get paid. And both articles mention how this court case and the uncertainty of its outcome has negatively affected the stock of the company, because Harold is the majority shareholder. So I think that’s what the lawyers are figuring they can use as leverage, they want to pressure him to give up more to save the company. Greedy pigs.
Okay, the bottom line is this a couple of super-rich people fighting over obscene amounts of wealth, so it’s not like it affects my life in anyway. Still, this is the kind of thing that can make you cynical about marriage.
UPDATE JANUARY 7, 2015: I noticed all the sudden that this post jumped back to the top of my “most viewed” list today. I wondered why the new interest, and I found this new report:
(Reuters) – Harold Hamm, the chief executive of oil driller Continental Resources who is embroiled in a bitter divorce, offered to pay his former wife $974.8 million, but she rejected a hand-written check, lawyers for both sides said on Tuesday.
Hamm’s offer would have paid his ex-wife, Sue Ann Arnall, immediately the full cash value of what he owes based on a November divorce ruling by an Oklahoma County judge.
The lawyers said Arnall did not want to accept the check for fear of hurting her appeal of that decision.
Michael Burrage, Hamm’s lawyer, said in an email that Arnall could still cash the check if she wants to, and Hamm had borrowed funds to ensure there would be enough cash in his account to cover it.
Hamm’s offer to pay his ex-wife should stop the interest of more than $93,000 per day that has accrued on the award since November, his lawyer said.
One of Arnall’s lawyers, Ron Barber, said that she has no plan to cash the check since accepting Hamm’s payment could hurt her appeal. Arnall and Hamm both appeared in Oklahoma court on Tuesday, in part seeking to clarify how much of the November award to Sue Ann should be made available to her pending appeals in the case.
Oklahoma County Judge Howard Haralson did not offer a dollar amount. Hamm’s lawyers said that Arnall could file an application for temporary relief or borrow money to fund her appeal and living costs if necessary.
Both Arnall, who was formerly Sue Ann Hamm and resumed using her birth name after the divorce, and Hamm have appealed the November divorce judgment. Appeals are set to be heard by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, Reuters reported earlier.
“We are seeking clarification of the court’s November 10 order at today’s hearing and can not accept any payments, pending such clarification, without jeopardizing Ms Arnall’s rights on appeal,” Barber said in an email
Arnall, a former Continental executive who was married to Hamm for 26 years, contends that her award of around $1 billion in cash and assets was inadequate and allowed Hamm to keep the lion’s share of a fortune her lawyers valued as high as $18 billion.
Hamm had already paid his former wife more than $20 million during the divorce proceedings.
Hamm’s appeal contends that the $1 billion award was too steep. Hamm has lost billions tied to the value of his 68 percent stake in Continental in recent months, which his legal team blames on the sharp fall in oil prices.
Yep, like I said, this is just greed. She’s back to using her maiden name, but still wants as much of HIS money as she can get. And did you catch the part about her considering borrowing money “to fund her appeal and living costs”? And he’s already paid her $20 million! But that’s not enough to live on?!? This just absurd man.
iBLOGalot 
Ms. Hamm deserves jack shit unless she helped amass and build that wealth from HIS oil company. If she worked to make the oil company profitable, then by all means allow her to get paid. If she laid on her ass being a “wife”, which is a lot different when your hubby is a billionaire, she should get $1 million and a bus ticket to “get the hell oughta my life.”
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Well, it says she did work at the company as an executive for many years, which is how they met in the first place. And while I do understand your sentiments, the reason why I had no problem with the original ruling is because I understand that this is what marriage ultimately is: a business. When you get married, legally speaking, you’re considered equal partners, period. So when you get married, this is the sort of thing you need to consider. I remember years ago, I was participating on a message board when BET founder Bob Johnson and his wife got divorced, they had also been married for over 20 years without a pre-nup, and he had to give her around $400 million (he still had $700 million left, but this is why he’s no longer on the Forbes billionaire list). Most of the women on the forum were supporting that, saying she “earned” it, while the guys were all upset, saying it wasn’t fair. But I said to them, guys, this is what marriage is. This is what happens. There was a young married guy on the forum who was trying to be actor, and I told him that if he blows up and becomes the next box office star, and then gets divorced, his wife could end up getting half of all his earnings. If you don’t like, either don’t get married or make sure you get an iron-clad pre-nup beforehand.
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She’s a gold digger and he should have moved his money offshore. 🙂
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I too, think her legal team is definitely behind the appeal. They obviously get a percentage and the more she can get the more they can get.
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Legally speaking, aren’t the martial assets acquired during the marriage supposed to be divided 50/50. If their net worth increased more than $2 billion during their 26 year marriage, she’d be entitled to more than the sub-billion dollar settlement.
And if there’s one thing rich people know, it’s how much money they’re legally entitled to. A bit iffy on how much they owe as witnessed by Donald Trump, but very keen on getting every last penny that’s owed to them 🙂
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It depends on the laws of the state, but I guess that is the point that her lawyers are arguing.
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