Divorce attorneys in Pasadena could have given Simon Cowell some free advice: Stay away from people who want you to get involved in their divorce. American Idol sourpuss and X Factor head honcho Simon Cowell launched a legal defensive this week after “scandalous allegations” surfaced that he is involved in helping a tycoon friend hide 2 billion pounds from his estranged wife.

The bombshell allegation rocked England in the middle of a four-day hearing. Michelle Young, a former model, is accusing her husband Scot of using wealthy friends and associates like Cowell to hide his multi-million-pound assets. The judge in the case so far isn’t buying Michelle Young’s claims. In his preliminary view of the case, he said there was “not a scrap of evidence” against Cowell. Nevertheless, the court is taking the allegations very seriously. Mrs. Young is claiming she and her daughters are destitute. In addition to Cowell, the 47-year-old former model named tycoon Sir Phillip Green, restaurateur Richard Caring and Boris Berezovsky as associates who helped Mr. Young conceal his fortune. Mr. Young says he lost his fortune due to a series of failed property deals. He called his wife a “fantasist” and says he cannot pay additional support.

For his part, Cowell sent in Britain’s top gun defamation lawyers who refuted Mrs. Young’s allegations as “completely without foundation.” Attorney Matthew Nicklin appeared for Cowell at the hearing and said, “'As a result of the privilege attaching to reports of court proceedings and the immunity Mrs. Young enjoys for what she says as a witness in the witness box, Mr. Cowell has absolutely no redress against the republication of her allegations. They are scandalous. I am here today to make it clear that Mr. Cowell categorically refutes the claims made against him by Mrs. Young.”