Victoria's Secret boss Les Wexner suing Bonhams after being sold stolen 1954 Ferrari 375-Plus for £11m

In dispute: The 1954 Ferrari 375-Plus
Bonhams
Paul Cheston20 October 2015

The billionaire owner of Victoria’s Secret is suing auction house Bonhams for selling him an £11 million Ferrari when its ownership was in dispute.

The 1954 Ferrari 375-Plus became the most expensive road-legal car in England when it was bought by US tycoon Les Wexner for £10.9 million last year.

But it emerged the ownership of the car has been in dispute since 1997, when a previous owner laid claim to it more than a decade after it was stolen.

Bonhams believed the row was settled but Mr Wexner, 78, is demanding a refund and damages after being sold the car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

First, however, London’s High Court has to decide who the car belongs to.

Built in 1954, it was bought by Karl Kleve, of Ohio, for $2,500 in 1958.

In the late 80s it was stolen and ended up in Belgium.

There, it was sold in a good-faith purchase by L’Exception Automobile to ex-racer Jack Swaters and his business partner Phillipe Lancksweert.

Mr Swaters and Mr Lancksweert paid Mr Kleve $650,000 through his lawyer in a settlement in 1999, two years after he claimed he was the rightful owner.

But before his death in 2003 Mr Kleve said his lawyer did not have the authority to reach the settlement.

His daughter claims she is the owner.

Yesterday Joseph Ford, who claims to own a percentage of the car bought from Mr Kleve’s daughter, told the High Court that documents submitted on behalf of Mr Swaters and Mr Lancksweert had “cut corners” by not establishing whether Mr Kleve’s lawyer had the power to make the settlement.

In 2013 Bonhams brought the parties together and signed an agreement designed to “extinguish all claims and counterclaims”.

Mr Wexner believes he was sold the car fraudulently or recklessly.

The auction house is opposing the claim.

The hearing continues.

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