Socialite Annabelle Bond in HK$4m row for child support

A socialite famed for her mountaineering exploits is entangled in a legal tussle between her billionaire ex-fiancé and a wealthy new lover over what is thought to be the biggest child-support order issued in Hong Kong.

Annabelle Bond's ex-fiancé, Warren Lichtenstein - the father of her five-year-old daughter - is suing her current lover over the maintenance order totalling nearly HK$4 million a year.

That is the sum the US-based hedge fund manager was ordered by a Hong Kong court to pay to 43-year-old Bond, daughter of former HSBC chairman John Bond. She lives with their daughter in a rented house on The Peak.

According to a writ filed in New York against Bond's lover last week, the court ordered Lichtenstein to pay HK$200,000 a month in rent and another HK$121,667 a month in living expenses for the child.

On top of the rent and living expenses, according to the writ, the 47-year-old billionaire who heads the Steel Partners hedge fund is also required to pay for "school, tutoring, medical, travel and other substantial expenses".

Now Lichtenstein is challenging the award in a US writ seeking at least US$200,000 in damages from Bond's wealthy lover, Andrew Cader, who he claims is bankrolling the mother of his daughter and has given her "many millions of dollars in cash and gifts".

Bond attracted worldwide publicity for her mountain-climbing exploits. She set a record in 2005 for being the fastest woman to climb the world's seven highest peaks.