Rackspace co-founder, one-time billionaire Graham Weston and wife ending 26-year marriage
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Rackspace Technology Inc. co-founder Graham Weston and his wife have each filed divorce papers to end their 26-year marriage.
The split has gotten combative, with allegations that Graham Weston sexually assaulted his wife and had several extramarital affairs with women in London — including one who may have tried to blackmail him. Elizabeth Weston is accused of recording her husband and hiring a private investigator to track him for a year and a half.
The case has the potential to be one of the biggest divorces in the San Antonio area in recent years. Graham Weston, 56, made a brief appearance on Forbes magazine’s annual billionaires list in 2013 before dropping off.
The divorce case centers on whether the wealth Graham Weston has amassed over his career is his own or community property that belongs to them both. He apparently intends to argue he has placed the vast majority of assets accumulated during the marriage in a trust that he controls.
The couple does not have a prenuptial agreement, according to one of Elizabeth Weston’s lawyers.
Both live in New Braunfels.
Graham Weston disputed his wife’s allegations, calling them “false and purely retaliatory.”
“She first asserted these fabricated accusations after I requested a divorce in the summer of 2019,” he said in an email Tuesday. “She quickly recanted, apologized, and — at her request — we reconciled. I am appalled that she and attorney Jason Davis revived these false claims during (a December court) hearing … in an apparent attempt to gain an advantage in the divorce she filed.”
Murray Fogler, a Houston lawyer representing Elizabeth Weston, declined to comment.
Graham Weston’s family has made fortunes in fashion and food, at one point owning Grandma’s Cookies, with a large-scale bakery not far from Rackspace’s Windcrest headquarters. Frito Lay bought Grandma’s in 1979.
Graham Weston graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station in 1986, around the time the savings and loan crisis sent real estate prices plunging. The Weston family bought the property at 112 E. Pecan St., christening it the Weston Centre.
Since making his fortune at Rackspace — Apollo Global Management acquired the cloud-computing company in 2016 — Graham Weston has become a major downtown developer. His firm, Weston Urban, has snapped up more than 20 acres of real estate in the urban core.
Its holdings include the $142 million Frost Tower, completed in 2019, and the Rand Building — home to the co-working space Geekdom that he co-founded. Weston Urban also is planning a 351-unit apartment tower with retail space at 305 Soledad St.
Graham Weston has spearheaded various community endeavors, as well. He co-founded nonprofit Community Labs late last summer to conduct coronavirus testing and promotes entrepreneurship and education through his 80|20 Foundation.
Elizabeth Weston, 59, said in court she has exercised control over various family entities, including at least one that owns more than 200 acres in New Braunfels. She’s also managed a company called Equis Equine LLC that has owned horses.
Graham and Elizabeth Weston wed on New Year’s Eve in 1994. The couple have three sons, all adults, whom Elizabeth home schooled.
Court records show Graham Weston filed for divorce on Oct. 19 in Comal County District Court, but dropped the action just 25 hours later.
On Oct. 26, Elizabeth Weston petitioned for divorce. Both cases used the couple’s initials rather than names to hide their identities. Graham Weston filed a counterpetition Dec. 23. They each used boilerplate language — “discord or conflict of personalities ” — as their reason for ending the marriage.
During the December court hearing, Graham Weston blamed the divorce in part on his wife tape-recording him. Asked how he knew, he said he had “gotten clues of that … so that confirmed my suspicion,” according to a court transcript of the proceeding held before Judge Dib Waldrip.
Graham Weston added he found out Elizabeth Weston had been working with San Antonio attorney Jason Davis to have “an investigator on me for 18 months.”
“So to me, that just shows that I had had enough,” Graham Weston said. “I just — I had been lured back into the marriage in bad faith.”
Elizabeth Weston took the stand after her husband, testifying that in June 2019 she had met with Davis, her longtime counsel, to discuss “sexual abuse that Graham Weston has done to me.” She and her lawyer talked about “anticipated litigation.”
The court hearing covered Graham Weston’s motion to disqualify Davis as Elizabeth Weston’s attorney in the divorce case because of alleged conflicts of interest.
Davis was called as a witness during the hearing. He addressed the litigation contemplated against Graham Weston, saying it would relate to going to New Braunfels police to “seek protection and possible prosecution” relating to “sexual assaultive behavior.”
Comal County court records show no criminal cases against Graham Weston.
Davis was then asked if going to the police was part of a scheme to enhance Elizabeth Weston’s divorce position.
“That’s ridiculous, sir,” Davis replied. “There’s doctors’ records — contemporaneous records that would corroborate that.”
Elizabeth Weston did not want a divorce, he said, adding, “She wanted him to turn away from his deviant ways that were harming her family and himself.”
Davis referred to “communications by Graham to Elizabeth admitting meeting with multiple women in London, infidelity. … There was messages from Graham to Elizabeth admitting that he had become a potential target of extortion or threats from one of the seven or eight women that he contacted in London.”
John Denton, owner of New Braunfels information technology firm Decipher I.T., subsequently testified that he was hired by Davis in June 2019. Denton said Elizabeth Weston told him that a woman was going to contact her.
“And I think … she was concerned about, maybe something that Graham might have done with another woman named Charlotte,” Denton said. “I don’t remember her last name, but there was a woman named Charlotte that was going to reach out to her and provide either some pictures or some documentation of something.”
William Ford, one of Graham Weston’s lawyers, later told the judge that Elizabeth Weston “may not have any of this information she’s alleging” that started with the investigation of Graham Weston in the summer of 2019.
Graham Weston’s lawyers moved to disqualify Davis on the grounds the lawyer previously represented the businessman and currently represents Weston entities in litigation, one of his attorneys argued.
“It is particularly troubling that notwithstanding the long history of legal representation, Davis failed to disclose to G.M.W. that Davis was investigating G.M.W.’s conduct on behalf of E.W.,” an attorney for Graham Weston said in a letter to the judge.
Graham Weston said he has paid Davis more than $2 million in legal fees over the years and acknowledged feeling a sense of “betrayal.”
Davis has access to Graham Weston’s confidential information, including the value of his assets and property held in trust for him, Weston’s attorney said.
Fogler, who represents Elizabeth Weston, countered there was no basis for the “severe remedy of disqualification.” None of the legal services Davis provided is “substantially related to this divorce,” Fogler said in a letter to the judge. He added Graham Weston “expressly authorized Davis to share any information” with Elizabeth Weston.
Waldrip, the judge, granted the motion to disqualify Davis without explanation. Elizabeth Weston’s counsel now want the judge to clarify his order and stay the divorce case while they appeal to a higher court. Davis did not respond to a request for comment.
“Granting a stay will not cause G.M.W. any harm,” her motion states. “As he purports to control most of the property and wealth from the marital estate, he suffers no hardship from delay in deciding on a division.”
Waldrip is slated to take up the requests Wednesday.
Chicago family law attorney charged with more sex crimes
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AP
CHICAGO (AP) — A prominent Chicago family law attorney who was charged last summer with sexually assaulting a colleague has been charged with doing the same thing to two other women, including a client who says he told her that if he didn’t have sex with him, she’d lose custody of her children.
Prosecutors outlined the new charges against David Pasulka, 61, during a court hearing on Wednesday that ended with Judge Susana Ortiz setting his new bail amount at $100,000 on charges of sexual assault, aggravated sex assault and criminal sexual abuse.
Disbarred: Texas Attorney Faked Court Orders, Took $327K From Clients
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