Harold Hamm's ex cashes the big check after all
Elisabeth Butler Cordova | @typingelbow
CNBC.com
Cha-ching! That's the sound of a massive check hitting Sue Ann Arnall's bank account.
She has just cashed a personal check for $974.8 million, written by one Harold Hamm, her billionaire ex-husband and chief executive of oil driller Continental Resources, Michael Burrage, Hamm's attorney, told CNBC.
"We have been advised by Morgan Stanley that Ms. Arnall deposited the check this afternoon," Burrage said.
It's unclear whether the check's cashing will end the bitter divorce proceedings, but it likely that accepting the benefits of the settlement will end the appeal process.
Arnall's legal team had previously rejected Hamm's offer to pay the full cash value of what he owes, based on a November divorce ruling. Both Arnall, who was formerly Sue Ann Hamm and resumed using her birth name after the divorce, and Hamm had appealed the November divorce judgment.
Arnall, a former Continental executive who was married to Hamm for 26 years, contends that her award of around $1 billion in cash and assets was inadequate and allowed Hamm to keep the lion's share of a fortune her lawyers valued as high as $18 billion.
Hamm had already paid his former wife more than $20 million during the divorce proceedings.
Hamm's appeal contends that the $1 billion award was too steep. Hamm has lost billions tied to the value of his 68 percent stake in Continental in recent months, which his legal team blames on the sharp fall in oil prices.
—Reuters contributed.
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