Attorney denies forgery allegations in Butch Stewart estate dispute

Trevor Patterson, longtime personal attorney for late hotel mogul Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, has denied allegations that he forged documents to add beneficiaries to a trust initially limited to Adam Stewart and one of his sisters.

“I reject this claim entirely. At all times, I have acted consistently with Stewart’s (Butch’s) wishes. I have not distorted or departed from those wishes and have nothing to gain by doing so,” Patterson, one of four executors of Butch’s estate, said in a December 3 statement.

The allegation, detailed in Adam Stewart’s affidavit, supports his application in the Jamaican Supreme Court to remove Patterson and Cheryl Hammersmith-Stewart, Butch’s common-law widow, as executors. Adam’s siblings, Jaime Stewart McConnell and Brian Jardim, are co-applicants.

Adam contends that with two executors – Elizabeth ‘Betty-Joe’ Desnoes and Martin Veira - seeking to step down, Patterson and Hammersmith-Stewart face “extremely serious conflicts of interest” that prevent them from acting fairly and independently. He claims that Patterson’s conflicts are “even more serious and wide-ranging” due to multiple advisory roles linked to the estate.

According to Adam, United Kingdom (UK)-based digital forensic expert Dr Nicholas Sharples provided “overwhelming evidence” that Patterson allegedly forged a document to deceive the trustee of a trust so that other persons, including Hammersmith-Stewart, could be added as beneficiaries. He and Jaime were the initial beneficiaries. That trust, based in the island of Guernsey, is distinct from the two Bahamian trusts, one of which holds the Sandals hotel business that Adam now leads.

The November 20 claim followed a November 14 application by the executors seeking the court’s approval to audit the Adam Stewart-led ATL Group, which is part of Butch’s estate.

In his statement, Patterson said he would not usually comment publicly on client matters but felt compelled to defend his professional integrity against “serious and false accusations”. He stated that he had not been served with the claim and said the contested document was a draft amendment received from a director of one of Butch’s Bahamian trusts in 2019. He said Butch was moving to sell the Sandals business but rejected the document after changing his mind.

in keeping with wishes

Adam, in his affidavit, said he was “aware” that his father considered adding himself as a beneficiary and that a draft document was prepared in 2019. However, he said his father “never took the matter any further”.

After Butch’s death in 2021, Patterson said he reviewed the draft, amended it to include additional beneficiaries per Stewart’s wishes, and forwarded it to the Guernsey trustee as instructed by the executors.

“The draft unsigned document said and did nothing that was not in keeping with the well-documented wishes of Stewart (Butch),” he said. “The forensic examination revealed nothing that was not known before and was only designed to discredit me.”

Meanwhile, Desnoes and Veira cited their age – 74 at the time – and the “contentious” nature of the estate’s administration among reasons for their April application to be released. They gave the assurance that their departure would not hinder the estate’s management, stating that Patterson and Hammersmith-Stewart are “able and willing” to fulfil their duties.

The executors got permission from the court to start distributing assets in October 2023 but claim progress has stalled due to an inability to account for all assets, including the ATL Group.

Since Butch’s passing in January 2021, a bitter family feud has ensued over his will and control of the Sandals empire in Jamaican and Bahamian courts.

The conflict pits the Jamaican family of Adam, Jaime, and Brian against Hammersmith-Stewart and her three US-based children with Butch. Robert ‘Bobby’ Stewart, a member of the Jamaican family, has sided with the US family.

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