Vi-Jon Stock Plan Suit Tied to Hand Sanitizer Demand Advances

Employees of personal care product maker Vi-Jon on Tuesday advanced the bulk of their lawsuit claiming former shareholders capitalized on the pandemic-related surge in demand for hand sanitizer to offload their stock to workers at an inflated price.

Judge Mary M. Rowland declined to dismiss claims against GreatBanc Trust Co., which served as the trustee for Vi-Jon’s employee stock ownership plan and is accused of signing off on the $398 million stock sale that workers say was unfair. GreatBanc argued the employees hadn’t shown how they were harmed by the deal, but Rowland disagreed.

The workers alleged that the stock ...