Brooke Astor's Son Sentenced

Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, 85, was sentenced to one to three years in prison.  He was convicted earlier this year of 13 felonies and one misdemeanor.  Marshall's former attorney, Francis Morrissey was also convicted on five counts including forgery and scheming to defraud Astor.  CNN reports

During the trial, Marshall was portrayed as a cold, calculating man who spent the last years of his socialite and megaphilanthropist mother's life stealing her fortune to line his pockets

"These defendants, two morally depraved individuals, preyed on a physically and mentally ill 101-year-old woman to steal millions of dollars -- dollars that she had intended to go to help the lives of ordinary New Yorkers," Seidemann said, echoing his closing argument to the jury.

The sentence came after a six-month trial that featured as witnesses a "Who's Who" of New York's social elite, including Henry Kissinger, Graydon Carter, Barbara Walters, Vartan Gregorian and Annette de la Renta.
 

 

Does the Estate Planning Attorney Owe a Duty to Beneficiaries?

Adam F. Steisand, Esq. of Loeb & Loeb LLP gave a presentation at the ACTEC Annual Meeting in Rancho Mirage, California, March 2009, entitled "To Tell the Truth (T&E Lawyers' Edition):  Will My Real Client Please Stand Up.  A pdf of his excellent presentation is posted on the Loeb & Loeb website:  click here.

He discusses the question of whether or not an attorney owes a duty to non-client beneficiaries as well as whom the attorney represents when he or she represents a fiduciary, what are the ethical duties when representing a husband and wife, and what duty is owed to a client with diminished capacity.

Liliane Bettencourt

Liliane Bettencourt is the heiress to the L'Oreal cosmetics fortune.  Forbes estimates her net worth at $13.4 billion and lists her as the richest woman in Europe.

Her daughter, Francoise Bettentcourt-Meyers fied a criminal complaint in December 2007 against Francois-Marie Banier, a photographer, for exploiting the frail Mrs. Bettencourt and influencing her to give him gifts valued at 1 .3 billion in euros plus life insurance policies and artwork.  Read more at the New York TImes .

Now daughter Francoise has asked that her mother be put under judicial supervision.  The case against Banier will come to court next week. The charge is what the French call "abus de faiblesse" -- the exploitation of physical or psychological weakness for personal gain.