Vancouver Canucks owners are being sued by a member of the Aquilini family
The billionaire family that owns the Vancouver Canucks are embroiled in a legal battle, and both the plaintiff and defendants share the same name: Aquilini.
Matteo Aquilini, the son of Paolo Aquilini, is taking his uncles and grandfather to BC Supreme Court. He claims that Luigi Aquilini and his sons, Canucks chairman and governor Francesco Aquilini and Canucks alternate governor Roberto Aquilini, tried to cut Paolo’s lineage out of the family trust.
The defendant and plaintiffs share the same name.
The lawsuit, which was dated Sept. 17 and first reported on by Dustin Godfrey of Courthouse News Service, claims this was done in retaliation to an alleged sexual assault involving two minors — a member of Paolo’s family and a member of Roberto’s. The lawsuit says Paolo was made aware of the sexual assault, which allegedly happened numerous times during the unnamed person’s childhood, in January 2020.
“After becoming aware of the serious allegations, Roberto, rather than expressing concern or compassion, did not acknowledge them,” the lawsuit claims. “His reaction conveyed a calculated avoidance, devoid of empathy. Instead, Roberto, supported by Luigi and Francesco, decided to retaliate against Paolo.”
We learned earlier this year that Paolo is no longer part of the Canucks ownership group. He had been listed as an alternate governor on the Canucks’ official website as recently as April.
The family trust was created in 1995 by Luigi and his wife Elisa.
“Its express purpose was to benefit their children and grandchildren, which includes the plaintiff, Matteo Aquilini,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit claims that Elisa, who died in 2015, was asked to sign “critically important documents” when she was “gravely ill” while in hospital.
“After Elisa passed away, Luigi and his sons Francesco and Roberto wrongfully exercised their control to weaponize the terms of the [trust] and to disinherit the plaintiff and his siblings. This started with Luigi, Francesco and Roberto excluding Paolo from the business in February of 2020. Later, they engaged in a concerted and covert scheme to exclude the plaintiff from all manner of distributions and benefits from the [trust]. They did this in contravention of the [trust’s] stated purpose and original guiding principles,” the lawsuit claims.
“Under a veil of secrecy, Francesco and Roberto were purportedly appointed as beneficiaries
of the [trust]. This was a direct contravention of the original trust structure of the [trust] and Francesco and Roberto’s prior renunciations of interest in the AIG shares held by the Elisa Trust. Luigi, Francesco, and Roberto acted out of self-interest to exclude Paolo’s lineage from the trust property contrary to Elisa’s and Luigi’s express intentions.”
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