Billionaire's Ex Is Gonna Need at Least a Million Smackeroos a Month

Welcome back to Lifestyles of the Rich and At Each Other’s Throats. Previously, a billionaire oilman’s ex returned a $975 million lump-sum settlement delivered in the form of a personal check (before changing her mind because take the money and run, girl). Now another billionaire and his ex are fighting over whether she needs a cool milli a month in child support.

That’s according to the New York Post, reporting on the split between Anne Dias Griffin and her hedge-fund husband, Ken Griffin. Their divorce proceedings have been public and nasty; most recently, his side filed an itemized list of what they say she says are her ongoing expenses, as part of determining child support. (Basically, they’re arguing she couldn’t get him to pay for this stuff any other way so she’s characterizing everything as childcare expenses.) Line items include $300,000 for a private jet.

Well, now she’s responded, and actually, she’s pretty sure she’s letting him off easily:

In what is one of the financial industry’s most bitter divorce battles in years, Dias lambasted the mogul’s “personal attacks” on her lavish spending — and then quickly pointed out in court papers that he makes $68.5 million a month after taxes. That works out to $2.2 million a day, or $92,000 a hour.

Under Illinois guidelines, the minimum child support would be 32 percent of his net income — or $20 million a month.

Dias is only asking for 2 percent.

“Illinois law requires that he support the children in the standard of living that he established for them during the parents’ marriage,” say her new filings. Which frankly doesn’t seem so crazy? Anyway, a public yelling match over money seems downright chill compared to this anecdote from Chicago Business (via Dealbreaker):

During their argument, the documents say, Ken Griffin “inadvertently removed a bedpost from the bed, which resulted in a moment of levity ending the argument.” After putting back the bedpost, the filing continues, the two “slept in the very same bed together that night and for years thereafter.” Dias Griffin’s attorneys have described the incident in more acrimonious terms, saying in previous filings that Ken Griffin “became angry and violent, and intimidated her by pulling one of the bed posts off its socket in their bedroom and throwing it violently down towards her.” Ken Griffin’s attorneys called her allegations “completely false and intended to tarnish Ken’s reputation.”

At any rate, it sounds like they should maybe add a line item for their kids’ therapy costs.