Sir Ben Ainslie has accused Sir Jim Ratcliffe of threatening to “burn your house down” unless he handed over his team’s assets and intellectual property, according to High Court documents. The alleged threat was made by Ineos Sport executives Jean-Claude Blanc and Rob Nevin in Ainslie’s Barcelona office in October 2024, hours before a crucial America’s Cup race.
The filing states that Nevin said: “We have a phrase at Ineos: ‘scorched earth’. It means that if you don’t give Jim what he wants, he will burn your house down.” Ainslie claims he tried to defuse the situation by reminding Nevin of the imminent race, but Nevin reiterated the threat, adding that the only time Ratcliffe had backed down was in a dispute with China.
The allegations form part of Ainslie’s defence against a High Court claim by Ineos, which seeks to force his Athena Racing team to hand over a £180 million racing yacht built for the America’s Cup. Ineos argues it provided approximately £174 million in funding and is entitled to the assets under contract, which Athena has wrongfully refused to transfer.
Ainslie’s defence also alleges “false imprisonment” after he and colleagues were locked inside their Northamptonshire offices following the split, and that Ineos breached a non-compete clause by announcing plans to challenge for the next America’s Cup with Mercedes F1. The filing claims Ineos applied “undue commercial pressure” with “hostile negotiating tactics”.
The documents state that Ineos “must have been aware that it would distract Sir Ben from his preparation to the detriment of the Defendant [Athena], and to the detriment of the prospects of the America’s Cup being won”. The allegations are contained in a section titled “The Claimant does not come to equity with clean hands.”
