Australia’s richest woman Rinehart bids to end family feud
Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart has offered to end a messy legal battle with two of her children for control of a multi-billion dollar family trust by appointing a co-trustee, reports said on Monday.
Two of Rinehart’s four children - John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart - are embroiled in a court case against their mother to have her removed as trustee of the trust which was established by their grandfather.
Gina Rinehart’s barrister David Russell told the Supreme Court on Monday that the mining mogul had written a letter to the two children in hopes of ending the long-running litigation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said.
Russell said the open letter states that “the first defendant would be willing to appoint a co-trustee” to the family trust.
This case is motivated entirely by greed
New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Patricia Bergin said the offer was a “very big step” by Rinehart, whom business magazine BRW estimated in May to be worth $22.02 billion (US$19.5 billion).