Sovereign Trust (Guernsey) Limited is facing a courtroom showdown against a group of pilots who claim the firm has mismanaged their money.
The former airline pilots, all previously based in Dubai, have lodged papers with Guernsey’s Royal Court alleging a breach of duty, gross negligence, wilful neglect, and a failure to manage assets with prudence and care against Sovereign.
It’s understood that many of the group suffer from serious, life-limiting conditions, and Express was told that three plaintiffs have died since work started on the case.
The lawsuit revolves around the pilots’ financial investments in a Loss of Income Protection Scheme which was inherited by Sovereign Trust (Guernsey) Limited.
When the fund was inherited by Sovereign, the plaintiffs say it had more than 1,800 members and was worth more than USD $4.9 million.
The applicants’ case claims that the retirement age for benefits was raised from 60 to 65, but members’ contributions weren’t increased.
The plaintiffs also allege that a decade-old report advised increasing the contributions to ensure the Trust was fully funded by 2020.
However, that did not happen with the pilots claiming that a former Trustee who was Managing Director of Sovereign Trust (Guernsey) Limited during this period, ignored the advice.
The court case will decide if Sovereign ignored this advice, expanded liabilities, and left contributions unchanged, undermining the Trust’s sustainability.
The pilots claim they were never told their Trust was vulnerable, until June 2019, when Sovereign admitted financial difficulties in a letter to members.
They say that the Trust was sold and contributions halted that year, with all disability benefit payments stopped on 1 February 2020.
The pilots say this left them without the financial safety net they had paid into during their careers.
The case will be heard by Guernsey’s Royal Court commencing 30 September.
Express approached Sovereign for a comment, but had not received a reply at the time of publication.