Brooke Astor's Son & Lawyer are Found Guilty in $60M Estate Fraud Case
For a while it looked like a battling jury might not reach a verdict in a high-profile trial over actions by Brooke Astor’s son and an attorney that allegedly siphoned some $60 million from the legendary socialite’s nearly $200 million estate.
But her 85-year-old son and a 66-year-old lawyer were found guilty today of taking advantage of the now-deceased heiress in her declining years and are likely to get prison time when they are sentenced, according to the New York Daily News.
Anthony Marshall, who was his mother’s heir but apparently wanted even more than she intended to give him, was convicted on one of two first-degree grand larceny charges, for paying himself an unauthorized $1 million, according to the New York Times. Prosecutors argued that Astor, who was more than 100 years old at the time and suffering from dementia, lacked the mental acuity to consent to this and other changes in her estate planning.
Attorney Francis Morrissey Jr. was convicted of forging Astor’s signature.
Astor died in 2007 at age 105.
Additional coverage:
Associated Press: “Jury finds Astor’s son guilty of looting estate”
Bloomberg: “Astor’s Son Is Convicted of Defrauding His Mother “
