NEW YORK – George Economou, the billionaire shipping magnate is being sued by his ex-girlfriend for $240 million, according to the New York Post. Angela Ismailos, a filmmaker, began dating Economou in 1994. He moved into her $1.8 million Park Avenue apartment, while he “was a struggling ship owner with five old vessels co-owned by a bank,” and Ismailos claims she was “instrumental” in Economou’s rise to billionaire status over the next twenty years, the Manhattan Supreme Court suit says, as reported in the Post. The couple never married and split in 2015.
The court papers state that Economou signed agreements with Ismailos in 2012 for a 50 percent stake in assets, as the Post reported, but allegedly after the end of their relationship, Economou refused to pay. In 2016, Economou pressured Ismailos to give up her rights to the settlement in exchange for a $200,000 payment to save her Park Avenue home from foreclosure. That deal Ismailos said should be void as it was “signed under duress,” as the Post reported.
Economou and his representatives could not be reached for comment.
The billionaire was born in Athens where his father owned a small paper-products company. Economou moved to the United States to study at MIT where he earned two master’s degrees, one in naval architecture and marine engineering, and the other in shipping and shipbuilding management. The National Herald recently reported on Economou and his company DryShips which is based in Athens, but flies the flag of the Marshall Islands. The company specializes in carrying bulk cargo including coal, iron ore, and grains.
Ismailos is a Greek-born director, actor, and writer whose documentary, Great Directors, features interviews and archival footage of ten renowned, living, film directors of independent cinema including Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Todd Haynes, Richard Linklater, Ken Loach, David Lynch, John Sayles, and Agnes Varda. Ismailos studied law and has a master’s degree in political science. A classically trained actor and opera singer, she began directing plays at a young age. Her film, Interlude City of a Dead Woman, was released this year in Greece.
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