Whatever happened in court there certainly was fire from the smoke. I recall reading reports of staff who had been detailed to 'hi-jack' VS pax upon arrival at the terminal and suggest that they travel with BA. There were many other things, one of which was that rumours were spread about the financial stability of VS. These got into the papers and were reported.
One time when my girlfriend and I were about to travel on VS (early '90s) her father said, "You'd better not book with them - the paper says that they are going broke." It may be said that many airlines have these rumours almost constantly, but VS was able to trace them back.
However, in the spirit of fairness, I sit to be corrected.