JUL. 2003
FOUNDING OF THE BASTILLE TRUST
Against the will of Lord Luis Bacardi (who at that time already had a trust called Lucogamba Trust in the jurisdiction of Guernsey) and despite his increasing illness, his lawyers set up the BASTILLE TRUST in the Principality of Liechtenstein. The BASTILLE TRUST is also supplied by the Lucogamba Trust with the two companies holding the shares of Bacardi LTD. The handwritten letter from Lord Luis Bacardi to his lawyer E.W. clearly expresses his rejection of a trust structure. AAA
JUL. 2004
ATTEMPT TO STEAL THE BACARDI LTD SHARES
Following the first complaints of Lord Luis Bacardi concerning the establishment of the BASTILLE TRUST, the other trustees, E.W. and L.M., attempted to steal the shares held at the Pictet Bank in Geneva safe. Only the bank’s prior refusal and then Lord Luis Bacardi’s appeal to the Geneva Court averted the theft of the Bacardi LTD shares.
NOV. 2004
ATTEMPT TO HIJACK THE TRUST
To provoke the Trust’s nullity, he resigned from the position of family trustee. The other trustees appointed his adversary F.B. to the position. When the legal battle began, Lord Luis Bacardi died and Lady Monika Bacardi had to carry on.
JUN. 2007
APPEAL COURT OGH CONFIRMS COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
The Court of first instance ordered the removal of FB and the other trustees on the 27.10.2006 The Decision was appealed by the latter with the object of keeping the Trust and their positions in the Trust alive. The Court of Appeal (OGH) confirmed the decision on 20.06.2007. In a last desperate move, L.M. submitted an individual constitutional appeal to the Supreme Court of Liechtenstein to lift the decision.
SEP. 2008
LIECHTENSTEIN SUPREME COURT
F.B. and the other trustees were removed from the trust by decision of the Supreme Court.
JUN. 2009
DECISION OF THE PRINCELY REGIONAL COURT
Upon application and request of Dr. Bernhard Lorenz – filed on behalf of Monika Bacardi who at the time trusted on Dr. Lorenz, Dr. Wohlmacher and R.S. – the Princely Regional Court appointed Lady Monika Bacardi together with her lawyer Dr. Bernhard Lorenz, Dr. Friedrich Wohlmacher and R.S. (who have acted until that time as supervisory trustees appointed by the Princely Court since December 2004 within the legal proceedings aimed to remove F.B., E.W. and L.M.) as members of the Board of Trustees of the “BASTILLE TRUST”. The Court emphasized the special role of Lady Monika Bacardi as family representative for the protection of her daughter’s interests. Furthermore, it mentions explicitly the dislike of Maria Luisa Bacardi displayed by F.B. and the rest of the Bacardi family.
DEC. 2009
HIDDEN ACTIVITIES
New suspicions suggest that the professional trustees appointed in 2009 have also been acting against the will of Lord Luis Bacardi for the last 10 years, to the detriment of the two beneficiaries (the widow and daughter).
JAN.2015 – JAN.2019
MISLEADING AND OBSTRUCTION OF THE INVESTIGATION OF THE MONACO JUVENILE JUDGE
From 2015 to 2019, Dr. Bernhard Lorenz and Dr. Friedrich Wohlmacher, with the help and support of two Monaco law firms, misled and obstructed the investigation by the Monaco Juvenile Judge into the fate of the large inheritance left by Lord Luis Bacardi, which was not mentioned and included in the annual reports due to the Juvenile Court. In the reports and communications to the Monaco Juvenile Court, Dr. Bernhard Lorenz and Dr. Friedrich Wohlmacher argued that the Monaco Juvenile Court was not competent to investigate the BASTILLE TRUST and its trustees because the estate was managed by a trust and trustees under the control of a foreign court, namely the Liechtenstein Court. This argument was clearly inaccurate and misleading because no Liechtenstein Court exercised control over the trusts and its trustees. Until a few months ago, this control was the responsibility of the Chamber of Trustees and then, following the numerous scandals involving the trustees of the Principality, of the FMA (Financial Market Authority).
MAY. 2019
TDECEPTION OF LADY MONIKA BACARDI CONCERNING THE QUALIFICATION OF THE BASTILLE TRUST AS A FINANCIAL ENTITY
In May 2019, Dr. Bernhard Lorenz and Dr. Friedrich Wohlmacher wrote two e-mails to Lady Monika Bacardi that Bank Vontobel (one of the custodian banks of the accumulated dividends not paid to Maria Luisa Bacardi on her coming of age) had requested that the Bastille Trust be qualified as a Financial Entity for the purposes of the AEOI, FATCA and CRS tax information exchange. This was later denied in writing by Bank Vontobel itself, stating that the qualification as a Financial Entity was an autonomous choice of the trustees. Obviously, this self-qualification entailed the implementation at the expense of the BASTILLE TRUST of a complex and risky reporting system and excluded the professional intermediation of the banks in the exchange of tax information (who knows why). It should be noted that the qualification of a trust as a Financial Entity, which exists only in the Principality of Liechtenstein, has been repealed for legal entities that have joined the Principality of Liechtenstein with effect from the beginning of 2022, following several complaints by Lextray and Dr. Bruno Capone (leader of the team assisting Lady Monika Bacardi).
SEP. 2019
ATTEMPT TO DECANT THE TRUST
Despite the daugther coming of age, the professional trustees considered setting up another trust structure to avoid or delay the payment of accumulated dividends. In an E-Mail exchange to a third party, they claimed that Maria Luisa Bacardi could not “take fully informed” decisions, despite her legal maturity.
NOV. 2019
OBSTRUCTED PARTICIPATION
Non-admission of Monika Bacardi’s proxi-holders (her legal team) to the trustees meeting in which – against Lady Monika and Maria Luisa Bacardi’s wishes and requests – the renewal of R.S.’s and Dr. Friedrich Wohlmacher’s appointment as trustees was scheduled on the agenda by Dr. Bernhard Lorenz.
DEC. 2019
RECONFIRMATION OF DR. FRIEDRICH WOHLMACHER AND R.S. AS TRUSTESS BY THE COURT
On the appeal and on the sole allegations of Lady Monika Bacardi’s former lawyer, Dr. Bernhard Lorenz, and without even hearing Lady Monika Bacardi (inaudita altera parte), the Regional Court of the Principality of Liechtenstein reappointed Dr. Friedrich Wohlmacher and R.S. to the office of trustee for an indefinite period of time and opened the procedure for the revocation of Lady Monika Bacardi’s family trusteeship, which is in progress.
DEC. 2019
SUSPICION IS CONFIRMED
Recent developments support the allegations: Under the pretext of tax concerns, Maria Luisa Bacardi was refused payment of accumulated dividends near her 18th birthday. It is proven that for years the voting rights of the shares at the Shareholder Meeting of Bacardi LTD. were exercised against the will of Lord Luis Bacardi and in favor of F.B. As Lady Monika Bacardi starts to prevent the misuse of the share voting rights (ergo that the Trust share votes do not go to F.B.), the professional trustees set a plan in motion to remove Lady Monika Bacardi from the companies holding the Bacardi LTD. shares.
JAN.2020
APPLICATION TO THE CHAMBER OF TRUSTEES
In January 2020 Lady Monika Bacardi and her daughter Maria Luisa applied to the Liechtenstein Chamber of Trustees upon the art. 18 of the Rules of Conduct of the Trustees and on June 2020 an Arbitration Committee was appointed. As of today no disciplinary measures have been taken against Dr. Bernhard Lorenz, Dr. Friedrich Wohlmacher and R.S. and no replacement has been resolved.
JAN.2020
APPLICATION BEFORE THE CHAMBER OF LAWYERS
In February 2020, Lady Monika Bacardi and her daughter Maria Luisa applied to the Liechtenstein Chamber of Lawyers against Dr. Bernhard Lorenz’s conduct, attitude and conflict of interest in his dual role as Lady Monika Bacardi’s lawyer from 2004 to 2019 and leading trustee of the Bastille Trust 2009 (duly appointed by the Court on request of Lady Monika Bacardi). To date no disciplinary proceedings has been initiated against Dr. Bernhard Lorenz.
JUN. 2020
ANOTHER OBSTRUCTED PARTICIPATION
In June 2020, Lady Monika Bacardi’s proxi-holders (legal team) were actively prevented from attending the meeting of the Board of the Trustees. At the entrance to the trustees meeting to be held at the office of Dr. Bernhard Lorenz, the proxy-holders were turned away by three bodies guards. The goal of the trustees was to remove Monika Bacardi from her office as co-director of the consolidated subsidiaries, Rantex and Arateo, which hold Bacardi Ltd shares and vote again a few days later in favour of F.B. and his governance members at the Bacardi Ltd shareholders meeting.
JUN. 2020
RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST LADY MONIKA BACARDI AND HER DAUGHTER MARIA LUISA
Lady Monika Bacardi and her daughter Maria Luisa, as consequence of some interviews released to some news-papers concerning Bastille Trust and their abuse suffered in Liechtenstein (comments released as well by Dr. Bernhard Lorenz, Dr. Friedrich Wohlmacher and R.S.), were subject of restraining order issued by the Regional Court of the Principality of Liechtenstein on the simple application and allegations of Dr. Bernhard Lorenz Dr. Friedrich Wohlmacher and R.S.. Lady Monika and Maria Luisa Bacardi did not have the opportunity to respond at all in court (inaudita altera parte).
DEC. 2021
INTERIM INJUNCTION AGAINST LADY MONIKA BACARDI WILL OCCUPY SUPREME COURT
In December 2021, the preliminary injunction questionably was re-confirmed by the court of first instance and will now soon be before the Liechtenstein Supreme Court.
JAN. 2022
RECONFIRMATION OF DR. FRIEDRICH WOHLMACHER AND REMOVAL OF LADY MONIKA BACARDI AS FAMILY TRUSTEE
The Liechtenstein court of first instance confirmed the extension of Dr. Wohlmacher as trustee of the Bastille Trust and in the same breath removes Lady Monika Bacardi. Both decisions are contested and appealed.
JAN. 2022
SUSPICION OF JUDICIAL DISQUALIFICATION ON THE PART OF THE JUDGE – APPLICATION FOR DISMISSAL
The Liechtenstein judge is suspected of recusal. Without knowledge of the legal representation of Lady Monika Bacardi, he granted a “private audience” to the lawyer of Dr. Bernhard Lorenz. An obscure procedure – even for Liechtenstein.
FEB. 2022
LIECHTENSTEIN PUBLIC PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE INVESTIGATES
In the course of the current investigations of the respective national public prosecutor’s offices, Dr. Lorenz’s lawyers submitted a criminal complaint against the legal team of Lady Monika Bacardi.
