Independent trustee ruled out in Rinehart mining family dispute
US$4 billion at stake as heiress Gina Rinehart's children tried to replace her as fund manager
An Australian judge has ruled against naming an independent trustee to a US$4 billion fund that is at the centre of a bitter family feud between mining billionaire Gina Rinehart and her children.
The decision came after a lawyer for Rinehart's firm said the children, who proposed the idea, were on a "kamikaze mission" that could destroy her iron ore company.
John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart's attempt to replace their mother as trust manager with a non-family member could jeopardise an agreement with Rio Tinto Group on operations of the Hope Downs mine in Western Australia, said David Studdy, a lawyer for the billionaire's Hancock Prospecting.
"It would be imprudent to appoint a non-lineal trustee," Justice Paul Brereton said at the conclusion of a four-day trial in Sydney to determine the replacement for Gina Rinehart in a two-year-old lawsuit.
Gina Rinehart inherited iron ore and coal assets from her father Lang Hancock and built them into a US$18.4 billion fortune, making her the 41st richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Lang Hancock set up the trust to benefit his grandchildren, with their mother as trustee.