Aquilini financial information to be kept confidential during divorce case

Canucks owner successfully applied to seal details over concern for children, businesses

A B. C. Supreme Court judge issued an order Friday to keep confidential the financial documents in the divorce proceedings of Vancouver Canucks co- owner Francesco Aquilini and his estranged wife Taliah.

Aquilini applied to seal the details of the court file, arguing they could damage his business interests and his family’s privacy rights.

Lawyers for Taliah Aquilini, who had filed for the divorce, were expected to make submissions on the application Friday, but both parties reached a deal beforehand.

The order, by B. C. Supreme Court Justice Nathan Smith, states either party in the proceedings can designate as confidential any document that they produce or disclose and consider in their commercial interests.

It also ordered neither side will file affidavits relating to their four children.

However, the order suggests either party may be able to dispute whether a document should be classified as confidential, and can apply to access or disclose any sealed documents.

“The Aquilinis are pleased with this resolution of their privacy concerns, which are grounded in them wanting to protect the children as well as the privacy and commercial interests of the family as a whole,” said George Macintosh, who represents Francesco Aquilini.

The order comes after a B. C. Supreme Court judge in June had granted Aquilini an interim sealing order of the file to protect confidential financial information about his business interests.

Aquilini had argued that if the information was made public there was a real risk of substantial harm to the four children of his marriage with Taliah Aquilini and a daughter from a previous relationship.

He also claimed the divorce proceedings require a valuation of his interest in corporations, partnerships and trusts that are owned and controlled by his family.

In 2007, The Vancouver Sun estimated the Aquilini family’s business holdings, which include the Canucks, were worth $ 5 billion.

The couple married in 1994 and separated in January 2011, citing irreconcilable differences.