A legal battle that was initiated by Athina Onassis over her investment in a Dutch company co-owned by her former advisor Jan Tops, has gone to mediation, according to reports.
The news come days after it emerged that the heiress of the late Greek magnate Aristotle Onassis made a surprise exit from the board of directors at the Casino Group, in a move that the French press saw as a stepback from the country’s business elite.
Athina Onassis takes former advisor to Corporate Court
Athina Onassis and Jan Tops, both of them horse enthusiasts, have known each other from the equestrian world.
The corporate dispute in the Netherlands, which was first publicized in the Dutch press in January, has seen Onassis confront her former advisor Tops over a number of issues arising from her multi-million investment in his company JT Sports – an organiser of horse jumping competitions.
Onassis previously also had her own former lawyer taken to Disciplinary Board on accusations of conflict of interest when the lawyer became employed in a leadership role by Tops after the two parties’ dispute had broken out, Dutch media said in early 2026.
The heiress appears to have invested 63 million euro to own a quarter of Tops’ company since 2022. The Qatari state fund and Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky are the other two co-owners who came aboard as Tops bought back his shares in the company that year, following the culmination of another years-long legal battle he had undergone with his previous business partner.
Onassis’ side questions business partner’s extravagant travel bill
As the company made no profit since 2022 and her investment lost value, Onassis tried to sell her shares. However, a candidate investor she found “withdrew due to lack of insight into the company’s performance,” which led the businesswoman to take the case to court with the accusation of “withheld information.”
Onassis has also questioned Tops’ 300,000 euro per year travel bill as a company consultant, which was initially brought in as a maximum limit to his travel allowance but was eventually switched to a fixed fee, regardless of actual travel costs, her side told the court, the Dutch news website Horses reports.
In the hearing last week, the two parties agreed to the judge’s proposal of going to mediation, and asked the Business Chamber of Amsterdam to propose suitable mediators. If settlement efforts fail, a judge could request the examination of witnesses from the company’s Advisory Board.
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