{"id":155787,"date":"2025-09-20T03:39:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T03:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/155787\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T03:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T03:39:08","slug":"family-lawsuit-involving-aquilini-ownership-casts-a-shadow-over-the-vancouver-canucks-ahead-of-the-nhl-season-nhl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/155787\/","title":{"rendered":"Family lawsuit involving Aquilini ownership casts a shadow over the Vancouver Canucks ahead of the NHL season | NHL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FamilyVancouver Canucks, Aquilini family at Rogers Arena (Credit: Getty Images) The Vancouver Canucks are heading into the 2025\u201326 NHL season, but a family legal<\/a> dispute is drawing attention away from hockey. Matteo Aquilini, grandson of Luigi and Elisa Aquilini, has filed a lawsuit. He claimed he was disinherited from the family trust and excluded from the family business. The case names key figures, including Canucks chairman Francesco Aquilini and uncle Roberto Aquilini.<\/p>\n

Aquilini family feud shakes Vancouver Canucks<\/p>\n

Matteo Aquilini, the son of former co-owner Paolo Aquilini, alleges that his grandfather, Luigi, and uncles, Roberto and Francesco, acted to remove his family from control and inheritance. The lawsuit claims this was in retaliation after Paolo raised historical sexual assault allegations against another family member.The dispute centers on the Luigi and Elisa Aquilini Legacy Trust. Matteo states that it was reorganized in 2015, while Elisa Aquilini was seriously ill, allowing Luigi, Francesco, and Roberto to appoint themselves as beneficiaries. Matteo argues this reorganization violated the terms of a 1995 trust that had aimed to prevent Luigi from controlling the family assets.According to the legal filing, the family\u2019s wealth and business interests, including the Canucks and Rogers Arena, are valued in the billions. Matteo seeks restoration of his family\u2019s share of the trust and legal damages for breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty, conspiracy, and unjust enrichment.<\/p>\n

Matteo Aquilini challenges trust restructuring<\/p>\n

The lawsuit details how the 2015 restructuring concentrated power with Luigi, Francesco, and Roberto. Matteo claims they acted deliberately to push Paolo\u2019s family out of the business after the sexual assault allegations came to light in 2020. The filing says the defendants conspired to disinherit Paolo\u2019s lineage entirely from the family\u2019s holdings.The dispute also includes workplace concerns. Matteo\u2019s brother, Christian Aquilini, who has autism, filed a complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal after alleging harassment and discrimination while working for the Vancouver Canucks Limited Partnership. Christian reportedly stopped working due to emotional distress linked to threats from his uncles.<\/p>\n

Impact of Aquilini lawsuit on NHL season<\/p>\n

The lawsuit arrives at a sensitive time for the Vancouver Canucks. Training camp is underway, and the 2025\u201326 season is about to begin. But uncertainty about who owns the team and public family fights could hurt the team’s focus and morale.As chairman and governor, Francesco Aquilini is still a key player in the group. The lawsuit has already gotten a lot of media attention, even though the court case is still going on. And may continue to cast a shadow over the team\u2019s operations and public image.Also Read: NHL star Connor McDavid\u2019s wife, Lauren Kyle, opens her cottage retreat<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vancouver Canucks, Aquilini family at Rogers Arena (Credit: Getty Images) The Vancouver Canucks are heading into the 2025\u201326…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[58950,103880,64,63,18672,103883,103884,23020,103886,103882,575,103885,85,103881],"class_list":["post-155787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-2025-26-nhl-season","tag-aquilini-family-lawsuit","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-connor-mcdavid","tag-family-business-dispute","tag-francesco-aquilini","tag-legal","tag-luigi-and-elisa-aquilini-legacy-trust","tag-matteo-aquilini","tag-nhl","tag-roberto-aquilini","tag-sports","tag-vancouver-canucks-ownership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}