The grandson of swindled New York philanthropist Brooke Astor still
hopes to help “stamp” out elder abuse — with a fundraising US postage
stamp.
Twelve years after he outed his own father for neglecting and
stealing from the multi-millionaire Astor, Philip Marshall has joined
with other elder abuse activists and two New York legislators to urge an
“Elder Abuse” postage stamp.
“Those two words should never be paired together,” Marshall said of
elder abuse, a cause he now devotes himself to full time. “But they are.
One in 10 seniors is victim of elder abuse, which has many forms,”
including neglect and financial exploitation, he said.
The grandson mustered support from Astor’s A-list of powerful pals,
including David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger and Annette de la Renta,
and successfully had his father removed as Astor’s legal guardian — and prosecuted for grand larceny.
“I think the sad circumstance surrounding my grandmother informed a
timely cause in elder justice, and increased awareness nationwide about
elder abuse,” he told The Post.
Fundraising stamps must be approved by Congress, and have previously
been issued to raise federal funding and awareness for Alzheimer’s and
breast cancer.
The “Stamp out Elder Abuse Act of 2018” was introduced in both the
House and Senate this week; among its bipartisan House sponsors were
Reps. Peter King (R-Long Island) and Carolyn Maloney (D-Brooklyn).
“The EJC is proud to have worked closely on this legislation with the
sponsors and advocates, including Philip C. Marshall, founder of Beyond Brooke, a cause-based campaign named to honor Philip’s late grandmother,” said the group’s national coordinator, Bob Blancato.
Under the bill, proceeds from the stamp would fund elder abuse
efforts at the federal Administration on Aging and the Department of
Justice.
Philip C. Marshall went to court to protect his
wealthy socialite grandmother from being financially exploited by her
own son. His crusade continues today.
Philip C. Marshall, grandson of Brooke Astor and founder of Beyond Brooke. Courtesy Financial Advisor Magazine, Alec Marshall
The 2009 trial of Anthony Marshall, son of
New York philanthropist Brooke Astor, brought nationwide attention to
the issue of elder abuse. Marshall was found guilty of stealing millions
of dollars from his mother and, along with a lawyer, fraudulently
changing her will. Astor’s grandson Philip C. Marshall filed a
guardianship petition in 2006 seeking to protect his grandmother—and
today, years after the deaths of his father and grandmother, he
continues to campaign against the financial exploitation of seniors. In
this edited conversation, Marshall speaks with Senior Editor Eleanor
Laise about how seniors and their loved ones can recognize and combat
abuse.
Based on your experience, what are the key elder-abuse red flags that family members and friends should watch for?
Isolation of seniors is one of the biggest red flags. If a senior is
isolated, that sets the stage for potential perpetrators to come in. Old
friends vanishing, new friends—in quotes—showing up. This is what
happened with my grandmother. New lawyer, new accountant, new best
friend. All should signal possible warning signs.
In your case, combating the abuse meant testifying against
your father. What’s your advice to people who suspect their close
relatives are the perpetrators?
My inbox and my voice mail are full of people who are desperately
trying to figure out what to do. Yes, there’s a huge angst about
addressing abuse with a family member you’ve had a lifetime relationship
with. But the angst is really among people who say, ‘I’ve gone to law
enforcement and Adult Protective Services, and they say this is a family
affair or a civil matter.’
Very typically elder abuse is criminal and needs to be treated as
such. That’s one of the things that came out of my grandmother’s case:
It wasn’t just a battle of the bluebloods—it was criminal.
You have founded an organization, Beyond Brooke,
which seeks to provide elder-abuse education and empower seniors. What
do you tell seniors about how to protect themselves against financial
abuse?
It’s back to engaging in relationships and making sure you’ve got
people in your life who will watch your back. It sometimes takes just
one person or three or five people in your life who are checking in—and
cultivating those relationships.
Seniors are often encouraged to designate a power of
attorney to carry out their wishes if they become incapacitated. Yet
this can also open the door to elder abuse. What’s your advice on
designating a power of attorney?
I filed for guardianship because my father had power of attorney for
his mother, which he was using as a weapon and a shield. I would say
have two agents, for starters. It’s a check and balance system. And one
could be a professional. If folks happen to have a trust or two, make
sure there’s a professional fiduciary as a trustee, so you’ve got this
check and balance.
There’s so much power of attorney abuse. And as a reminder, power
of attorney abuse is criminal. People are being told it’s a civil
issue, and that’s not true.
Your grandmother was abused while she was suffering from
Alzheimer’s disease. What should be done to protect people with dementia
from elder abuse?
That’s where folks in the financial industry and in health care need
to talk. When someone has mild cognitive impairment, they’re potentially
still able to do financial [tasks] and have testamentary capacity. But
there’s this huge grey zone between mild cognitive impairment and
advanced Alzheimer’s. It’s really difficult to figure out when to act.
There are three things we usually don’t like talking about: health,
wealth and death. And perpetrators know this is to their advantage. So
we have to throw these right on the table. Generally speaking, people
are relieved when their families talk about these critical issues.
Brooke Astor, the New York philanthropist, socialite and writer, wanted
to leave her family fortune to charity as her legacy. She did that. But
she has also touched the lives of many elderly people through the work
of her grandson, Philip Marshall.
Marshall is using his experience in protecting his grandmother from
abuse to help lead a crusade to protect all older people from financial
exploitation, abuse and neglect. To do that, Marshall first had to
confront his own father, Anthony Marshall, Brooke Astor’s son.
Thanks to Philip, who prompted one of the most well-known court cases
involving elder financial abuse in U.S. history, Brooke Astor will go
down not only as a patron of the arts and a philanthropist, but as a
lead player in the fight for elder justice. That fight, which began on a
very personal level, now has Marshall spearheading a movement more
national in scope as he fights to protect vulnerable elderly people. And
he says financial advisors and institutions like banks have a crucial
and lead role to play in that fight.
Patrick T. Harker, president and chief executive officer of the Federal
Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, says financial exploitation of older
Americans affects families, society and the overall economy. As the
population ages and more retirees rely on their own personal savings and
investments, elder fraud has the potential of becoming a full-blown
national crisis.
Part of the problem with tackling elder financial abuse is that the
size of the problem is not even known, Harker says. Also, many questions
remain about how the brain ages and who is susceptible to cognitive
decline. Estimates of the cost of financial abuse range from $3 billion a
year to $36 billion, he says, and even those figures don’t take the
social costs into account.
One of the major causes of cognitive decline is Alzheimer’s disease.
Approximately 5 million Americans have the disease today, a figure that
is expected to rise to 14 million by 2050, according to Patricia Boyle, a
researcher at the Rush University Medical Center. Financial
decision-making is often one of the first areas impacted by cognitive
decline, she says.
Cognitive decline and elder financial exploitation and abuse are also
issues that have to be addressed by financial regulators and the
financial industry, as well as the medical, social and legal industries.
Philip Marshall, who is now 64 and lives in South Dartmouth, Mass.,
will relate his grandmother’s story to almost anyone if he thinks it
will help the cause, and he recently told the story to Financial Advisor
magazine.
He has been at it long enough that he talks in sound bites, but he is
never glib. This is serious to him and to a growing number of other
people. (Click to Continue)
Bankers need to help monitor and curtail fraud and exploitation.
Brooke Astor, famous victim. Photographer: Robin Platzer/Getty Images
In 2006, Philip Marshall had to make a critical decision: turn in his
father for exploiting Philip’s grandmother, or do nothing. Philip's
decision to act revealed to the world what remains perhaps the world's
highest profile case of elder abuse. Ultimately, Anthony Marshall was
convicted of defrauding his mother, the philanthropist Brooke Astor.
While
the million-dollar sums involved in the Astor case were unusual, elder
financial abuse unfortunately is not. Greater data sharing among
financial institutions, along with specific safeguards against financial
fraud, could root out this kind of exploitation of our most vulnerable
citizens.
As
Americans live longer, more and more will experience cognitive
impairment great enough to put them at risk of financial abuse. Consider
that by 2030, 20 percent of the population will be at least 65 years
old. About 12 percent of people have mild cognitive impairment or
dementia by the time they're 70 to 74, and among those 85 and older, 64
percent do.
People with MCI face two big risks from the people involved
in their lives: financial exploitation and outright fraud. Exploitation
includes cashing someone’s checks without permission, forging
signatures, or improperly using the authority of conservatorship,
guardianship or power of attorney. Fraud involves efforts to deceive
someone with promises of goods, services or financial benefits that may
not even exist. Estimates of the extent of such abuse in the U.S. vary
widely — from $3 billion to $36 billion a year — but whatever the
present total, the problem stands to grow unless steps are taken.
Banks
and other financial institutions can help prevent financial crime
against elders at all levels of wealth and income, starting by raising
awareness of the problem within their own walls. They should encourage
their customers to plan for potential diminished capacity by designating
one or more trusted emergency contacts, securing a power of attorney
for finances, and consulting a financial manager. Financial institutions
can provide read-only access to deposit accounts to enable people's
trusted contacts or financial managers to monitor activity and detect
anything improper. Banks should also make a habit of reporting
suspicious activity to the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
And they should help local adult protective services and law enforcement
investigate and prosecute those responsible for wrongdoing.
Institutions
may be understandably reluctant to put holds on suspicious electronic
transfers and deposits, because they are legally bound to expedite those
processes. What's more, federal and state privacy laws may discourage
them from sharing with other institutions information about potentially
suspicious activity.
Yet there is no real need for hesitation.
When elder financial fraud or exploitation is suspected, banks and other
institutions are free to share a customer’s personal information with
federal, state and local investigators and still be compliant with
privacy laws, according to guidelines issued by banking and securities
regulators in 2013. Around that same time, a check box for elder
financial exploitation was added to a federal financial crimes reporting
system that links financial institutions with investigators. (The
Philadelphia Fed recently established the Consumer Finance Institute,
which will continue to investigate elder financial abuse.)
However,
clarifying regulations are still needed to encourage and facilitate
information sharing between the banks themselves. Lawmakers in Congress
and state legislatures should give financial institutions specific
permission to delay transactions and report suspicious activity to other
institutions. They should also require that all instances of financial
fraud and abuse be reported to a national database. This would help the
federal government measure the extent and severity of elder financial
abuse in the U.S. -- and thus strengthen the urgent nationwide effort to
end it.
