WILLEMSTAD - Princess Camilla Crociani of Italy is personally liable for damage suffered by the French banking group BNP in a conflict involving more than $ 100 million. The court of Curaçao recently ruled that. Camilla says she will appeal the ruling.
"Horrible race"
BNP has been conducting legal proceedings against the wealthy Italian Crociani family for years, until last year co-owner of a company that provides IT services for the aviation and defense sector. Profits from this flowed through Dutch private limited companies towards a family trust. Ten years ago, without the knowledge of Crociani's sister, properties were taken from this trust, which was managed by BNP and mother Edoarda Crociani. She and BNP have previously been sentenced to pay back the assets. The bank did that, but since then it wants to recover the damage from companies owned by the Crociani family.
According to the Crocianis, it was precisely the bank that wanted to change trust structures in order to generate more income and run less risk. In an interview with the Dutch Financial Newspaper, Camilla described this as an "evil trick" in a "horrible race."
Old masters
According to the court in Willemstad, this argument is 'not relevant', because BNP must be compensated anyway. For the first time, it has now been determined that in addition to her mother, Princess Camilla is jointly and severally liable. The recently pronounced verdict states that she acted unlawfully by assisting in transactions of paintings by old masters such as Van Gogh and Picasso.
From 2015 mother Crociani sold ten works of art to companies of her daughter, on the assumption of BNP for a price that is more than 50% below the appraisal value. According to the judge, Camilla must have known that BNP's options for redress are frustrated. She denies this and explains the low price because the paintings are in 'poor condition'.
"Very important" verdict
In a damage assessment procedure, it must be determined how much BNP can claim from Camilla. In principle, that is not the same amount as the mega claim which, partly due to legal costs, increases daily.
The princess points out that BNP still has to demonstrate a 'causal link' between her actions and damage suffered, and that she will argue on appeal that there is a legitimate reason for the transactions. In addition, it has not been demonstrated that she has "unjustifiably enriched" herself.
BNP lawyer Willemieke Princée speaks of a 'very important' ruling, also because it has now been established that there has been an unlawful act as a group. That means that "others" who consciously assist Mother Crociani with hiding property can be held liable, writes Princée.
United Trust
A party that has controlled the Crociani family’s assets for decades is United Trust (UT), the trust office of Curaçao businessman Gregory Elias. According to BNP, UT plays a 'central role' in 'the wider management' of the Crociani companies.
In 2018, BNP required documentation from the trust office by attaching evidence. In this way, BNP wants to see where the assets are. There is still litigation about this. An American judge also ruled that a UT-managed trust on the British island of Anguilla "actively cooperates" with mother Crociani. There are several paintings in the trust.
BNP does not want to comment on whether the bank will ever hold UT itself liable. Roderik van Hees, lawyer at UT, emphasizes that there are no liability proceedings against his client. He added that a possible case is 'hopeless', all the more so because the judge in Curaçao considers reproaches about the restructuring of companies 'highly speculative'.