Their businesses have been accused of tax avoidance, by placing assets under ownership of companies registered abroad and controlled through trusts.

[1] In 1955, David married Zoe Newton, who had trained as a ballet dancer, at St John the Baptist Church, Holland Road, Kensington.

However, in November 1960 the business folded when Frederick and Douglas[clarification needed] were made bankrupt at the High Court after their landlord seized the shop because they were in breach of the terms of the lease.

Meanwhile, David was registered as a director of Hillgate Estate Agents in 1962, with his wife Zoe as a co-director (she had given up her modelling career to concentrate on her young sons, Aidan, Howard and Duncan).

[5] Between 1968 and 1974, the twins received increasingly large loans from the Crown Agents, a government agency designed to help the colonies and developing countries do business in Britain.

However, he was told he faced a potential jail sentence after a judge found him in contempt of court for failing to pay his ex-wife £245,000 in legal fees and monthly maintenance costs.

The Ellerman deal helped the Barclays develop the strategy of buying companies, breaking them up and profiting from the real estate.

However, moments after signing the sale document, Scott was handed a letter (by the Barclays' lawyer) demanding his immediate resignation on grounds that he had been indiscreet about the offer.

[18] Two years after the brothers' acquisition of Littlewoods Ltd., HM Revenue and Customs repaid the company VAT that it had charged in breach of EU law.

[citation needed] In 1995, they bought The Scotsman newspaper, and in 1996 appointed former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil to oversee their publishing interests.

As part of a February 2004 judgment, an American judge, Leo Strine, accused the Barclay brothers of being "less than fully candid", adding they had "remained silent while Lord Black misled the Hollinger Inc. International board", remarks that incurred the brothers' wrath, with David branding the criticisms "grossly unfair".

[citation needed] In February 2015, Peter Oborne, the Chief Political Correspondent resigned from the newspaper in protest at its editorial direction.

Jason Seiken was made editor-in-chief and chief content officer of Telegraph Media Group in October 2013, but announced his departure after 18 months in April 2015.

[31] In October 2019, it was announced that the brothers were seeking to sell the Telegraph Group amid speculation that their business interests were in some difficulty.

[32] On 7 June 2023, after a bitter row over nearly £1bn of unpaid debts, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, amongst others, were put up for sale by AlixPartners, who had been appointed by Bank of Scotland as official receiver to seize the shares owned by the Barclay family in the holding company that ultimately controlled the national newspapers and The Spectator magazine.

[34] The Guardian has stated that the brothers are tax exiles, and although they reside, at least some of the time, in Monaco (giving Avenue de Grande Bretagne, Monte Carlo as their address) they operate their businesses from an office in the United Kingdom.

Their mock-Gothic castle on Brecqhou, designed by Quinlan Terry, features 100-foot (30 m) granite walls, battlements, two swimming pools and a helicopter pad.

In the mid-1990s, the brothers petitioned the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, challenging Sark's inheritance law, which mandated their island be left to David's oldest son.

In 2008 (partially due to legal activity by the Barclay brothers),[38] Sark dismantled its 443-year-old feudal system of government on the premise that this was necessary to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.

[39] After the 2008 election, the brothers claimed that the presence of two unelected figures on Sark's government – the seigneur and the seneschal, the local judge – was unjustifiable.

[40] Their challenge was dismissed, but the Barclays said they would continue to fight, taking their case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

On 28 March 2012, BBC Radio 4 dedicated part of its Today programme to analysis of the Barclay brothers' role in Sark.

[42] On 25 February 2020, the High Court in London was told that Frederick and his daughter Amanda were secretly recorded for several months after David's sons Alistair, Aidan and Howard bugged the Ritz Hotel conservatory.