JCB heir fails to take control of US company at centre of legal row with ex-best friend

Exclusive: Court ruling comes after trial revealed tax arrangements and apparent effort to buy Neverland

The heir to the digger company JCB has failed in an attempt to take control of a business run by his former best friend after a bitter US courtroom battle that included lurid allegations about personal conduct - and even revealed an apparent attempt to buy Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch.

Jo Bamford, a grandson of the JCB founder, sued Joseph Manheim last year in Delaware, claiming that his former friend had surreptitiously" taken control of a company they set up to help wealthy, mainly Chinese, investors get residence in the US. Bamford, 44, a self-styled green entrepreneur", claimed Manheim secretly siphoned millions of dollars from the business and Bamford sought damages of $13.8m (11.3m).