Steven Kay QC
9 Bedford Row
London WClR 4AZ
England
0044 207 489 2727
www.9bedfordrow.co.uk
Mr. Francis Seilern
Industrie & Finanzkontor Etabl.
Herrengasse 21, Postfach 339
LI 9490 Vaduz
Liechtenstein
22 October 2018
Dear Mr Seilern,
I am writing to you concerning the disposal of the wealth and estate of your aunt Philippa Seilern who died unmarried and without issue on 17 January 2018 in Lagos, Portugal.
Philippa inherited about CHF 10m from her uncle Antoine in 1978 and was advised by your father to invest her fortune in a Liechtenstein Stiftung/Foundation created and managed by Industrie und Finanzkontor (I&F) an entity of which you are a managing director. Research shows that Philippa' s wealth has been managed by various trusts and companies in which you have had business interests along with Peter your brother, including Seilern Investment Management Ltd so that you controlled the entities that managed her investments and held her assets.
The valuable properties in which Philippa resided in Monaco (49 Avenue Hector Otto) and Lagos (Casa Das Andorhinas Calicas) are held in trusts (Gasenza, Portimo) that were also controlled by you within the Foundation under the I&F structure. A company Rakuira Ltd sits within the Portimo trust and nominally owns the Lagos property. Since the death of Philippa, Mr Marc Peter Zahn has been replacing you and Eric Blochlinger within the financial structures of the Foundation.
In her lifetime Philippa received an income from the Foundation for her support and needs. However, when she died, whilst her personal effects and the small amount of cash in her accounts within her Monaco will were disposed of, her wealth that was held in the Foundation including her
residences, have been held within that entity and other members of her staff and family who may have rights against her estate have been kept ignorant of her financial arrangements. This is because the Foundation is an entity in which you and your brother have an interest and have benefitted from after her death in circumstances where you and those who managed her affairs were conflicted as her financial advisors.
Your uncle is concerned that Philippa' s wealth has been taken in circumstances contrary to her free wishes and she may have been wrongfully advised and influenced by those acting on behalf of the management of the Foundation. As yet there has been no reassurance that has not been the case and it is a reasonable inference in the circumstances that the truth is being concealed. Philippa was close to her housekeepers and confidantes Eden Nylem and Alice Brito and there has been scant provision made for their futures and they have not even received funds from the estate as Philippa had promised in their lives.
In the circumstances to avoid what could be a damaging public dispute I invite you to provide the necessary information to show that Philippa' s wealth has not been wrongfully taken. I am prepared to assist in this matter either in the form of a meeting or by the receipt of the explanatory documentation.
I remain available to discuss this matter at any time. Your uncle has declared that he does not wish to participate personally in any clarification or discussion regarding the future redistribution of assets controlled in any way by you, your brother and I&F. He is willing to pass this off as a mistake of judgment. Conversely, he will not abandon this matter until Philippa' s estate is disposed of as was originally intended.
Yours,
Steven Kay QC