The son of Brooke Astor, the legendary New York society matriarch, was convicted on Thursday of stealing from her as she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease in the twilight of her life.Barring an appeal, the jury’s verdict means that Mrs. Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall, an 85-year-old war veteran who fought at Iwo Jima, can be sentenced to anywhere from 1 to 25 years behind bars.
Mr. Marshall was found guilty of 14 of the 16 counts against him, including one of two first-degree grand larceny charges, the most serious he faced. Jurors convicted him of giving himself an unauthorized raise of about $1 million for managing his mother’s finances. Prosecutors contended that Mrs. Astor’s Alzheimer’s had advanced so far that there was no way she could have consented to this raise and other financial decisions that benefited Mr. Marshall.
A second defendant in the case, Francis X. Morrissey Jr., a lawyer who did estate planning for Mrs. Astor, was convicted of forgery charges.
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Brooke Astor's Son Found Guilty in Scheme to Defraud Her
I am going to take a very unpopular opinion here.
ReplyDeleteWhat Anthony Marshall did was wrong, for sure. But, what he did was no different than bad guardians do when they eat up entire estates while confining their wards to nursing homes against their will.
It's the same/same.
What an awful way to remember Brooke Astor. Instead of her accomplishements and her life, she will be remembered for this.
ReplyDeleteVery sad.
StandUp, you're basically right. What Marshall did (if he did) is not any different than professional guardians do all the time and get away with it.
ReplyDeleteHe'll appeal of course and maybe it will drag on long enough to keep him out of jail.
ReplyDeleteMarshall took a real bar-b-q-ing. I wonder what Brooke Astor would think of her son's conviction.
ReplyDeleteThe prosecution's 'evidence' consisted of servants' tales, piously recited.
ReplyDeleteMa Astor's portfolio was on the skids when Tony Marshall assumed its management and grew it the 200 mil he supposedly 'plundered'.
The real plunderers? The Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others, which long ago marked Ma Astor's money - and Tony's inheritance - as its own.
The book "Rogues' Gallery" tells the tale about these estate racketeers.
Marshall was set up by old rockefelon, heinz alfred, and Mrs. DeLaurenta who descends from a long line of international money men.
Her daddy inspired Ian Fleming's character, Goldfinger.
The Elites saw this money as better off in their claws than ours and they used Judicial Terrorism to deprive him of his liberty and inheritance in order to grab it.
This sets a dire precedent, as now anyone who inherits from parents can be convicted on false evidence of 'inheriting' by a jury of jealous nincompoops.
Say what you want about the jury, they proved that you can in fact indict the proverbial ham sandwich.
Phillip Marshall, Tony's son, made tellingly cold comments in which he blamed Tony's wife. This is textbook Estate Griftspeak - blame the wife of the rightful heir and slander her.
Phillip teaches at Roger Williams College in Rhode Island, where ex-Judge Frank J. Williams holds considerable influence.
Am forwarding info on Williams' latest crooked escapades to this site.
Speaking of Phillip - don't call him Phil - every time I see his photo and read his remarks no amount of air freshener and open windows can clear the reek of misogyny from the room.
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasota Key, Florida
09 October, 2009
20/20 is doing a story about the case this evening. Will 20/20 use this case to address the need for reliable protocols and other legal reforms?
ReplyDeleteVery good point about the charities.
ReplyDeleteAlways ask, "who benefits?"
The same thing happened to Ruth Lilly. The charities complained they weren't getting their usual share of the pie and a big flap happened a few years ago.
Make no mistake, the charities had no concern or regard for Ruth Lilly herself - they just wanted their BIG slice of pie.
The question still was:
ReplyDeleteWas Brooke Astor "of sound mind and memory" when "she" changed her will?
It wasn't just Anthony. His lawyer helped him!