JP Morgan Trust Company Jersey Fired By Prominent Saudi Family

Tom Burroughes

5 December 2008

The Saudi Arabian Alhamrani family have sacked their trustee, JP Morgan Trust Company Jersey, after alleging the firm and other parties were at fault for shortcomings including gross negligence and conflicts of interest.

The company, part of US banking giant JP Morgan, is not the only defendant in a civil trial in Jersey that started on 17 November. Other defendants include local trust firm Russa Management, and Sheikh Abdullah Ali M Alhamrani, who is a younger brother of the head of the plaintiffs, Sheikh Mohamed Ali M Alhamrani.

JP Morgan Trust Company Jersey has been replaced by the UK wealth firm Ansbacher as the trustee, according to a statement from the family.

The case is expected to be the longest and costliest in the history of Jersey, the statement said. To date, claims, plus interest, amount to $120 million.

The action centres around two trusts that were created in 1998 to hold most of the family’s foreign investments, the financial size of which was not disclosed. The family run an industrial group of firms in Saudi Arabia.

The law firm Bedell Cristin are acting for the family. JP Morgan Trust Company Jersey and Sheikh Abdullah Ali M Alhamrani deny these complaints.