Billionaire's Ex Finally Cashes Nearly $1B Check

Could signal end of battle between Harold Hamm, Sue Ann Arnall
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 9, 2015 6:52 AM CST
Billionaire's Ex Finally Cashes Nearly $1B Check
Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm and then-wife Sue Ann Hamm attend the TIME 100 gala at the Frederick P. Rose Hall on April 24, 2012, in New York.   (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

Is the epic divorce battle between oil magnate Harold Hamm and his ex-wife, Sue Ann Arnall, finally over? Hamm offered Arnall a check for $974,790,317.77 on Monday, but Arnall initially rejected the payout because she believed she was owed a larger divorce settlement. But yesterday, Hamm's lawyer said Arnall had deposited the check, Reuters reports. The check amounts to the entirety of what Hamm still owed Arnall under a November ruling, in which she was awarded around $1 billion in cash and other assets from the marital estate, while he was allowed to keep his 68% stake in Continental Resources. Arnall had planned to appeal the ruling, but Hamm's lawyer says he believes that will no longer happen now that she's deposited the check.

"We feel this is the end of the case from her perspective. It means she's done and should dismiss her appeal," the lawyer says. A source familiar with Arnall's case also confirmed the deposit, but Arnall could not be reached and it's not clear whether she still plans to appeal. Hamm's shares in Continental had been worth as much as $19 billion during last year's divorce trial, and though he owned the company before getting married, Arnall argued her ex was wrongly allowed to keep more than 90% of what they accrued during their 26-year marriage. But Hamm's shares are worth billions less now after a drop in oil prices. (More Harold Hamm stories.)

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