Fraudulent Trusts & Dishonest Trustees

We acted for Virtue Trustees (Switzerland) AG a market leading Swiss Fiduciary practice in the case of Invest Bank P.S.C. -v- El Husseini & Ors [2024] EWHC 2976 (Comm). Our client was the trustee of a BVI trust set up as part of our client’s long-term estate planning for a wealthy UAE businessman to provide tax efficient ways for his children to inherit his properties. This particular trust was set up to hold one valuable London property for the businessman’s wife and some of his children. The claim against Virtue Trustees was brought on the basis that a UAE bank claimed that the trust had been set up as a sham to conceal the businessman’s assets and hide them from the bank. It was contended that Virtue Trustees had entered into a transaction at an undervalue when the property was settled into the trust and then subsequently sold for £8.25m. The claim in total against all the parties, the businessman, all members of his family and our client was over £19m. The Judge held that the Claimant failed to prove any of its claims against the Defendants and all claims against Virtue Trustees were dismissed, which was the only party that succeeded with an order for its costs to be paid on the indemnity basis. This was a very successful outcome for our client. This is now the leading case on claims against trustees made under s.423 of the Insolvency Act 1986.