Passport billionaire fighting to reclaim funds from Pilatus Bank
Christopher Chandler files case against shuttered bank and its administrators
A billionaire Maltese passport buyer has launched a legal battle to reclaim funds trapped at the shuttered Pilatus Bank.
New Zealand-born Christopher Chandler is the founder of Dubai-based investment firm Legatum Capital and also founded the UK-based think tank Prosperity Institute, which was formerly known as the Legatum Institute.
Chandler filed a lawsuit against Pilatus and its administrators, PwC, and the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), in a bid to recoup €33,000 in deposits and funds held in a bond fund.
The billionaire accused Pilatus and PwC of failing in their duties to act in the best interests of a depositor, in breach of requirements under banking legislation. Chandler petitioned the civil court to order Pilatus and PwC to immediately liquidate the money due to him, together with interest.
Depositor funds have effectively been frozen since March 2018, when the bank’s owner, Ali Sadr, was removed by the MFSA after being charged with money laundering in the United States.
Chandler said he had provided Pilatus with all the necessary due diligence documents in relation to his funds. The lawsuit details how attempts to get PwC to close his accounts and return his money were turned down in 2024.
PwC rejected Chandler’s claim for the funds, arguing that a March 2018 MFSA directive freezing all client funds at Pilatus was still in place. “To date, MFSA has issued no new directives for the liquidation and settlement of any bank accounts of the bank,” PwC’s lawyers said.
PwC further detailed how the bank was subject to “extensive money-laundering investigations” by the authorities, including the police and the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU). These investigations culminated in “serious money-laundering charges” filed against the bank, PwC said.
Pilatus was also slapped with a record fine of just under €5 million by the FIAU. Attempts to appeal the FIAU fine were shot down last year, with a court saying Pilatus failed to abide by its basic obligations as a financial institution by allowing huge transactions to be processed without scrutiny.
The court said Pilatus had lost every control over its business operations, which can be said to have been dictated by the exigencies of the clients it was dependent upon.
Lawyers Keith Borg and Analise Magri are representing Chandler.
Correction April 15, 2026: A previous version misstated the name of Chandler's firm.