From a $1.3m Zetland unit to one of Sydney’s most expensive homes: Estranged wife wins $95m mansion

For the past five years, John Changjin Li has lived at one of the most expensive residences in Australia, set on the Point Piper waterfront and with one of the few private tennis courts on Sydney Harbour. But as of Monday, he no longer owns it.

The NSW Supreme Court has revoked the Chinese goldmining businessman’s hold on the $95 million property and reinstated his estranged wife Maria Meihong Yang on corporate records as the ultimate owner of landmark residence Edgewater.

But Maria’s victory to claim sole ownership of the $95 million property might be short-lived, given that a third party is seeking almost half of it.

Legal financing company MHN Asset Management is suing Maria for 45 per cent of her share of the waterfront residence, claiming she agreed to sign it over in exchange for funding her fight to reclaim the property.

The tussle over Edgewater centres on its holding company, Point Piper One Pty Ltd, which was the subject of recent orders by Justice David Hammerschlag, who reinstated Maria as the owner of its 100 shares, and cancelled an unauthorised and complex share structure that diluted her share interest in John’s favour.

The updated Australian Securities and Investments Commission register on Monday showed that John and his 23-year-old daughter Rose Zhirou Li remain directors, and the company’s registered office remains John’s Point Piper home address, set on Australia’s most expensive street, Wolseley Road.

The orders were issued as part of an ongoing legal stoush between Maria and MHN, one of half a dozen legal proceedings making its way through various courts that have unveiled the complex marital arrangements behind John’s property empire.

Further souring Maria’s win is the fact that the property could end up costing its owner more than its $95 million purchase price of six years ago. There are seven mortgages on title to a slew of private creditors, and a potential land tax bill of almost $26 million owed to Revenue NSW.

John’s woes are not limited to his Sydney address. He and his former wife, Athena Changren Cheng, own a gold mine in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan region that has been sealed by the authorities since 2021.

Athena, too, is facing complications in China, despite her prominence as chair of mining, real estate and biotechnology conglomerate Jinluan International Group. Soon after she moved to Australia in 2019, she was listed as a dishonest debtor by the Chinese authorities and slugged with consumption restriction orders aimed at limiting any high-value spending to enforce a debt recovery.

The imbroglio over Edgew