Australian fashion designer Cristina Nitopi has been awarded millions from her late businessman father’s fortune in a court battle with her brother.
Last year, Ms Nitopi’s brother Giuseppe won a court bid to have her return $1.2m to the family trust over which he has control.
At the time, the court found Ms Nitopi “unconscientiously” took advantage of her father Tony during his later years when he was affected by dementia.
Ms Nitopi appealed the decision and on Friday the Supreme Court ruled that Mr Nitopi repay the bulk of the amount to the fashionista having been unable to uphold the assertions made about her motives.
A panel of judges concluded the evidence that Ms Nitopi applied “moral pressure” on her father to give her the money was not sufficient.
Ms Nitopi gave up a career as a counsellor to launch her own fashion label at New York Fashion Week in 2007. She has credited her Italian heritage and mother’s sense of style with fuelling her passion for fashion.
Her father was a successful businessman, who made his fortune in hardware wholesaling and property development.
At the time of his death in 2014, he left an estate totalling around $21m.
According to court documents, between July 2009 and June 2010, Ms Nitopi’s father made six payments to her totalling more than $1.2m.
The initial ruling found that Tony Nitopi lacked sufficient memory to recall previous requests from his daughter for money as well as the sufficient degree of independence to decide whether to honour the requests.
With calculated interest on the payments, Ms Nitopi was initially ordered to pay $2.2m to the family estate.
On appeal, the court amended the amount Ms Nitopi owed to $202,000 plus interest accrued since 2010.
Giuseppe Nitopi was also ordered to pay his sister’s legal fees for the cost of the appeal.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrGWcp51jrrZ7y6Kdnqukrrmme8WaqqGhn6N8pbHSop6nnaKofKLB0q2pmqSZlrtussCsn6KnnmKxpr%2FIoKWeql2stq%2B%2FjJymrqqkYq6xvMSao2anppq%2FbrjArZxmnpGptaa%2B0macrKyRqbJwusSwqmarpKS%2FunuYa5lpmWBusqSAxW2ZnW9kbLKkssBxmZqbYmyFpYLAag%3D%3D