The head of the Sandals Resorts empire is allegedly delaying payouts of millions of dollars his late father left for nine people because he’s waiting for them to “die,” a source told The Post.
Billionaire Gordon “Butch” Stewart, 79, a father of eight, died of cancer on Jan. 4, 2021, in Miami, Florida.
Now, son Adam Stewart — executive chairman of Sandals Resorts International — is delaying payouts of between $2.5 million to $20 million each to the remaining beneficiaries, as he is “waiting for the [seven others] to die,” a source close to the family said.
A years-long feud between bickering families in Jamaica and the U.S. will soon play out inside a Bahamian courtroom over his estate, where also at stake will be control over the $4.5 billion chain of Caribbean beach resorts, according to the filings with the Bahamian Supreme Court.
Stewart’s May 15, 2020, will name nine individuals — including trusted Sandals staffers he was close to.
Two of the beneficiaries have died since Stewart’s death: first wife Hamilton, to whom he left $15 million, died in mid-January, and Roger Seivright, a longtime Sandals employee who’d been left $10 million, died on May 19, 2023.
But Stewart updated his final wishes eight months later on Jan. 3, 2021, giving his widow, Cheryl Hammersmith-Stewart, and their children the largest stake in the company, she claims in legal filings.
Adam, 43, is challenging the legitimacy of Hammersmith-Stewart’s claims.
Eight received half of their payments in April 2023, and the seven surviving beneficiaries were set to receive the other half this April 17.
Instead, they received emails clarifying the second payments should be made no later than April 24, 2025.
Many of the remaining seven are elderly, including Stewart’s 82-year-old sister, Pat Hawryluk, who was diagnosed with dementia. “Who doesn’t look after their aunt?” wondered the source.
“[Adam] certainly wants to delay those payments or avoid payment altogether,” the source said, adding the seven surviving beneficiaries have openly supported Hammersmith-Stewart’s legal claims.
“This is his way of expressing his unhappiness with them [for backing Stewart’s widow],” the source said. “He’s punishing these people for that.”
Adam, who apparently owns multiple Jamaican homes, is “bitter” his mother was the only one of Stewart’s wives to be “left the total of zero” in the will, which has driven his “vindictiveness,” according to sources working with one of the seven remaining beneficiaries.
“He’s not respecting what his father wanted,” a source said of Adam, who owns a private jet and drives around Kingston, Jamaica, in luxury cars with six-figure price tags.
Her brother had left her $20 million in his will, hoping she could live out her final days in comfort, sources said.
Hammersmith-Stewart sued one of the two trusts established to distribute Stewart’s assets.
Adam sits on the advisory board of one of the trusts, sources said.
A win in court for Cheryl would prevent Adam from shaping the company’s future, reports the Jamaica Gleaner, who reviewed the Bahamian court filings.
An attorney representing one of the non-familial beneficiaries told The Post he is preparing to sue Adam over the delayed payments.
Adam and his attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
A court date has not been scheduled yet for the Bahamian case.
