Bugging the Ritz, Private Investigators and Billionaires at War
Family feud exposed over sale of Ritz Hotel in central London
The Ritz Hotel in central London. The sale of the five-star hotel to the brother-in-law of the ruler of Qatar is at the center of a family dispute.
Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
The secretive world of British billionaire twins Frederick and David Barclay started to unravel with a hidden camera, and a discrete taping system.
In a video released by Frederick this week, one of David’s sons, Alistair Barclay, is allegedly shown hiding a listening device in the conservatory of the Ritz Hotel to capture private discussions between Frederick and his daughter, Amanda, who were negotiating the sale of the historic hotel near Buckingham Palace. But Frederick was worried that someone had been listening to their conversations, and got hotel security to install a hidden camera that captured the footage.