Following a 17-day trial and 4 years of litigation, Mr Justice Robin Knowles CBEhanded down judgment today in Athena Capital Fund SICAV-FIS SCA and others v Secretariat of State of the Holy See [2025] EWHC 355 (Comm).  The Judge rejected the allegations of fraud, dishonesty and conspiracy made by the Vatican’s administrative arm, the Secretariat of State, and substantially granted 29 out of 31 declarations sought by the Claimants, Luxembourg-based Athena Capital Fund and WRM Capital Management Sarl, and Mr Mincione, the founder of the WRM group.

The judgment confirms the validity and lawfulness of the 2018 transaction for the sale and purchase of the former Harrods Depository Building located on London’s Sloane Avenue and, importantly, rejects the very serious allegations which were pursued by the Vatican against the Claimants, who were the sellers in the transaction. At paragraph 242 of the judgment, Mr Justice Robin Knowles CBE makes clear that, in addition to obtaining the great majority of the declarations sought, “The Claimants… have the benefit of a number of findings in this judgment, not the subject of the declarations sought, which reject very serious allegations levelled against them. Here I have been able to, and have taken the opportunity to, deal with particular allegations, including particular allegations of dishonesty and particular allegations of conspiracy. The Claimants are entitled to those findings in relation to those allegations.”

The only declarations the Court did not grant were those as to the Claimants’ good faith but on the narrow basis explained in paragraph 239 of the judgment that “the Claimants fell below the standards of communication with the State that could be described as good faith conduct”, in particular, in stating that the value of the building was £275m without further elaboration.

Despite this, at paragraph 223 of the judgment, the Court concluded that on the expert evidence before it, the value of £275m was in fact a supportable market value of the property at the time of the sale. The Court also rejected claims of misrepresentation as to the value of the property and the amount of consideration, and claims of dishonest assistance and conspiracy against the Vatican as between the Claimants and others. 

Tetyana Nesterchuk, together with Charles Samek KC and Bláthnaid Breslin of Littleton Chambers, instructed by a team at Withers LLP led by Global Head of Litigation, Peter Wood, represented the successful Claimants.

The full judgment can be found here.