At first glance it may be hard to imagine what lessons the case of late philanthropist Brooke Astor holds for everyday Americans. It’s not as if many of us have a $200 million fortune stashed under our mattresses, at risk of being stolen.

Equally improbable is the other person at the center of the case: Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall (left), a former U.S. ambassador and Broadway producer, who was accused — and just days ago, convicted — of looting his late mother’s fortune.

But if there was any doubt about the case’s relevance, the Probate Lawyer Blog dispels it. Money quote:

[The Brooke Astor case] marks an important victory in the battle against elder abuse.  The National Center on Elder Abuse reports that between one and five million elderly Americans have been the victim of financial exploitation each and every year.  Exact figures are hard to track because so many instances of abuse go unreported.

That’s why high profile cases like this one are important.  People who prey on the elderly and seek what seems like an unguarded pot of gold need to understand that they can be punished.  If Marshall had avoided jail time, then it wouldn’t have sent a strong message to the other would-be abusers out there.

QUESTION…

What can elder Americans do to protect themselves against financial exploitation?

Share your comments here.

With the New Year approaching, it is important for all of us to stop and reflect on the past twelve months. This last year has been an exciting time for Elder Financial Protection Network, EFPN, and we are growing every day. And with the conviction of Anthony Marshall (the son of philanthropist Brooke Astor), the growing crime of elder financial abuse is getting more coverage in the national press than ever before. The stage is set for EFPN to be a national leader in the fight against elder financial abuse in the new decade.

As EFPN enters its 10^th year of helping seniors to protect themselves from financial abuse, we could not be more proud of our accomplishments or more committed to the work that lies ahead.  Our great success is largely due to the dedication and support of our partners to whom we are so grateful.

We cannot do this important work without your continued support! Please click here to donate $10 to EFPN today – one for each year of service to our precious elders.  After all, ‘’Tis the season!

Anthony D. Marshall, who was convicted of siphoning millions from his mother, Brooke Astor, was sentenced Monday to one to three years in prison.

Justice A. Kirke Bartley Jr. said Mr. Marshall, who is 85, must report to prison on Jan. 19.

The sentence was for the most serious of 14 counts on which Mr. Marshall was convicted: first-degree grand larceny, for giving himself a retroactive lump-sum raise of about $1 million for managing his mother’s finances. Justice Bartley also sentenced Mr. Marshall to one year on each of the 13 other charges he was convicted of, to run at the same time as the longer sentence.

If Mr. Marshall has a good record in prison, he is likely to serve roughly eight months behind bars. He showed no response as Justice Bartley read the sentence, although his wife, Charlene, was heard to sob from her seat in the courtroom.

Full Article and Source:
Brooke Astor’s Son Sentenced to Prison

See Also:
Tony Marshall Sentencing Today

If come Monday, Judge A. Kirke Bartley Jr. decides to sentence Tony Marshall, Brooke Astor’s son, to prison for stealing from his mother, by law the 85 year old Marshall will have at least one year — and as many as 25 years — in the solitude of a jail cell (or hospital ward if his health is as precarious as his lawyer says it is) to contemplate where things went so wrong.

The People vs. Anthony Marshall and Francis Morrissey is a textbook case in how not to defraud your incredibly rich, famous and beloved mother’s estate if you don’t want to get caught.

Full Article and Source:
The People vs. Anthony Marshall and Francis Morrissey: The Butler Gives Notice

An Associated Press story in The Patriot-News, “Case highlights elder abuse,” (Oct. 18) discussed how aging and wealthy New York socialite Brooke Astor was exploited by her son, Anthony Marshall.

In October, Marshall was convicted of defrauding his mother and stealing millions of dollars from her $200 million fortune as she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. This case is a reminder that seniors are at risk for exploitation and abuse and might be vulnerable to the very people in whom they place their trust.

This risk is not limited to wealthy socialites. The physical, emotional and financial abuse of our elders is a state and national concern.

With two million residents over age 65, Pennsylvania ranks third in the country in senior population. We need our seniors, and we must exert attention and vigilance to protect this highly valued generation.

How can we prevent elder abuse? Fortunately, many resources provide protection for our older loved ones besides relatives, friends and neighbors serving as the eyes and ears on the front line of defense.

Full Article and Source:
Elder Abuse is not Limited to Rich Like Brooke Astor

“Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights!” Explores High-Profile Cases & Offers Expert Advice

The highly publicized estate battles of several deceased celebrities have cast a bright spotlight on the importance of having the proper estate planning. Although mega-rich celebrities seem to be affected overwhelmingly by these brutal family squabbles, the new book

“Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights!” is designed to help every family, regardless of income level, avoid the financial pitfalls that drained bank accounts and created huge family rifts for the dozens of superstars profiled in the book.

“Trial & Heirs” uses real stories to help readers steer clear of the same celebrity “estate errors” as they plan for their own “heirs.” The stories cover well known legal fights over famous fortunes: including the recent battles over Michael Jackson’s estate, along with other celebrities like Ted Kennedy; Anna Nicole Smith; Brooke Astor; Heath Ledger, Ray Charles; Princess Di; Jimi Hendrix; Frank Sinatra; Martin Luther King Jr.; and Rosa Parks… as well as many others that most people aren’t even aware of.  The book gives readers a front row seat in the courtroom while the authors replay the “tabloid drama”, point out what went wrong in these riveting cases, and teach readers how to avoid similar errors.

“Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights!” was written by co-authors Andrew Mayoras and Danielle Mayoras, legacy expert attorneys with strong reputations and extensive experience in estate planning, probate, elder law, and litigation. The husband and wife team are two of the co-founders of The Center for Elder Law, The Center for Special Needs Planning, and The Center for Probate Litigation.

“Here we have common problems that could easily be avoided,” says co-author Andrew Mayoras, a probate litigator who writes the popular Probate Lawyer Blog.  “We want to teach people about the importance of proper legacy planning, because these fights don’t just happen to the rich and famous,” he says.  Andrew says because his job is battling in the trenches of probate court, he sees first-hand the devastation caused by poor planning.  “If by writing this book we help keep families from feuding in court, then we’ve accomplished our mission.”

Co-author Danielle Mayoras agrees. “As an estate planner and educator, the most frequent question I’m asked is:  ‘How do I get my parents to talk about these issues?’  This book is the answer,” says co-author Danielle Mayoras, a professional speaker, attorney, and credentialed professional gerontologist. “Our goal was to take a difficult topic that no one wants to talk about and make it fun and entertaining with the use of famous stories.”  Danielle says they want to spark people into action to protect their families and legacies through the proper estate planning.

The book will soon be released from Wise Circle Books and is listed at $19.95.  It is already getting rave reviews from many who have seen advance copies, including: Hollywood producers Karen Baldwin and Ken Wales, national radio talk show host Danny Fontana, famed Hollywood publicist Michael Levine and more.

For more information and to read a free preview of “Trial & Heirs:  Famous Fortune Fights!” visit TrialAndHeirs.com.

To schedule an interview with Andrew and Danielle Mayoras, please contact Toni Burge at prmedia.contact@gmail.com or Todd Brabender at todd@spreadthenewspr.com.

“Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights!” Explores High-Profile Cases & Offers Expert Advice

The highly publicized estate battles of several deceased celebrities have cast a bright spotlight on the importance of having the proper estate planning. Although mega-rich celebrities seem to be affected overwhelmingly by these brutal family squabbles, the new book

“Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights!” is designed to help every family, regardless of income level, avoid the financial pitfalls that drained bank accounts and created huge family rifts for the dozens of superstars profiled in the book.

“Trial & Heirs” uses real stories to help readers steer clear of the same celebrity “estate errors” as they plan for their own “heirs.” The stories cover well known legal fights over famous fortunes: including the recent battles over Michael Jackson’s estate, along with other celebrities like Ted Kennedy; Anna Nicole Smith; Brooke Astor; Heath Ledger, Ray Charles; Princess Di; Jimi Hendrix; Frank Sinatra; Martin Luther King Jr.; and Rosa Parks… as well as many others that most people aren’t even aware of.  The book gives readers a front row seat in the courtroom while the authors replay the “tabloid drama”, point out what went wrong in these riveting cases, and teach readers how to avoid similar errors.

“Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights!” was written by co-authors Andrew Mayoras and Danielle Mayoras, legacy expert attorneys with strong reputations and extensive experience in estate planning, probate, elder law, and litigation. The husband and wife team are two of the co-founders of The Center for Elder Law, The Center for Special Needs Planning, and The Center for Probate Litigation.

“Here we have common problems that could easily be avoided,” says co-author Andrew Mayoras, a probate litigator who writes the popular Probate Lawyer Blog.  “We want to teach people about the importance of proper legacy planning, because these fights don’t just happen to the rich and famous,” he says.  Andrew says because his job is battling in the trenches of probate court, he sees first-hand the devastation caused by poor planning.  “If by writing this book we help keep families from feuding in court, then we’ve accomplished our mission.”

Co-author Danielle Mayoras agrees. “As an estate planner and educator, the most frequent question I’m asked is:  ‘How do I get my parents to talk about these issues?’  This book is the answer,” says co-author Danielle Mayoras, a professional speaker, attorney, and credentialed professional gerontologist. “Our goal was to take a difficult topic that no one wants to talk about and make it fun and entertaining with the use of famous stories.”  Danielle says they want to spark people into action to protect their families and legacies through the proper estate planning.

The book will soon be released from Wise Circle Books and is listed at $19.95.  It is already getting rave reviews from many who have seen advance copies, including: Hollywood producers Karen Baldwin and Ken Wales, national radio talk show host Danny Fontana, famed Hollywood publicist Michael Levine and more.

For more information and to read a free preview of “Trial & Heirs:  Famous Fortune Fights!” visit TrialAndHeirs.com.

To schedule an interview with Andrew and Danielle Mayoras, please contact Toni Burge at prmedia.contact@gmail.com or Todd Brabender at todd@spreadthenewspr.com.

To senior citizens’ advocates, Brooke Astor is a Park Avenue poster child for an insidious kind of financial crime.

They kept close tabs as the late philanthropist’s son and a lawyer were tried on charges of exploiting her mental decline to raid her nearly $200 million fortune. An article on the AARP’s news Web site called it “the most infamous case of financial elder abuse in recent memory.”

Advocates and legal experts saw last week’s convictions as a high-wattage signal that such cases, often seen as difficult to prosecute, can succeed — even if few others spur a five-month-long big money trial with boldface names.

“To lose this kind of case would have sent a very discouraging signal” to prosecutors pursuing elder abuse cases, said Thomas L. Hafemeister, a University of Virginia law professor who specializes in financial exploitation of the elderly.

There have been plenty of prominent court fights over claims that elderly millionaires were manipulated into parting with money.

J. Seward Johnson Sr.’s children accused his third wife — and former chambermaid — of browbeating the dying drug company heir into leaving her nearly all his $500 million fortune; the 16-week trial in 1986 ended with a settlement giving the children and an oceanographic institute about $160 million. Former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith’s inheritance tussle with her oil-tycoon husband’s son reached all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court but continues years after both she and the son died.

But these and many other fortune feuds played out in civil courts — not in criminal cases carrying the prospect of prison time, which Astor’s 85-year-old son now faces.

Full Article and Source:
Advocates: NCY Astor Case a Win on Financial Abuse

Opinion piece published in The Hill, © 2009 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

By Jenefer Duane, October 15, 2009

The conviction of 85-year-old Anthony Marshall for bilking millions from his philanthropist mother Brooke Astor gives a glimpse of a tragedy national in scope: elder abuse and neglect, which affects an estimated 5 million elderly people annually. In nearly 90 percent of all abuse cases, the perpetrator is a family member, two-thirds of whom are spouses or adult children.

But most financial elder abuse cases don’t have the tabloid drama of the rich and famous. It goes on quietly in towns and cities throughout the country where adult children tire of caring for sick parents, or caregivers resent or feel entitled to the relative wealth of the elder whom they bathe and feed. Elder financial abuse straddles all socioeconomic classes at a cost of $2.6 billion to our nation’s seniors annually — with family, friends, neighbors and caregivers as the perpetrators in 55 percent of cases. Read the full article about why we need the Elder Justice Act.

Get the facts:  Elder Abuse Fact Sheet produced by National Council on Aging (NCOA) and WITNESS, an international human rights organization that uses video to affect change, supporting the 573-member Elder Justice Coalition to urge Congress to pass the bill this year.

During the long months of testimony in the Astor trial, as the courtroom emptied of spectators and the headlines shrunk, prosecutors and other professionals involved in elder abuse cases were still paying close attention. In fact, some were biting their fingernails, especially as the jury’s deliberations grew heated and stretched to 12 days.

“I’ve been very worried about it,” confessed Lori Stiegel, senior attorney at the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging. If the prosecutors, including the head of the Manhattan District Attorney’s pioneering elder abuse unit, had failed to win a conviction, she said, “it could have been perceived as reinforcing the notion that these cases are just too difficult to bring and that juries will have trouble understanding the issues.”

Financial exploitation robs the elderly of an estimated $2.6 billion (PDF) each year, according to a study published earlier this year by the Metlife Mature Market Institute, Virginia Tech and the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse. Like all forms of elder abuse and neglect, the crime is believed to be substantially underreported.

And it’s particularly tough to prosecute. When adult protective services caseworkers suspect financial abuse and approach prosecutors, “they routinely get rebuffed,” Mr. Hafemeister said. “The prosecutors say they’re too difficult to try.”

“The percentage of these cases that occur within families is very high, about 90 percent,” said Joy Solomon, a former prosecutor, now director of the first shelter for elder abuse victims at the Hebrew Home in the Bronx. “You may have a victim who doesn’t want to involve the criminal justice system” in what’s seen as a family problem.

The Astor verdict, Ms. Solomon continued, is “a win for those of us in the criminal justice world trying to support prosecutions of these cases.”

Full Article and Source:
Abuse Experts Heartened by Astor Verdict

See Also:
Astor’s Son Found Guilty

The spectacle of the Brooke Astor trial owed much of its public fascination to celebrity and circumstance — a son accused of greedily exploiting his aging mother, a beloved philanthropist who had dedicated much of her life to charity.

Yet the conviction of Mrs. Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall, on charges that he stole from her has done little to resolve the uncertain fate of the $180 million estate at the heart of the discord. So even as Mr. Marshall awaits sentencing and a possible appeal, another legal showdown looms.

As the public watched the criminal trial unfold over the last five months, a small army of lawyers, including those for a dozen charities, read the tea leaves for some sense of how they could alter the jockeying over the Astor fortune. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library, the two main beneficiaries of Mrs. Astor’s largess, even sent observers to the trial.

The expected contest — which could be sidestepped by a settlement — is in Westchester County Surrogate’s Court, and centers on whether Mrs. Astor’s assets should be distributed according to her most recent will, from 2002, or an earlier version, which directed more money to charity.

Full Article and Source:
Despite Verdict, Fate of Astor Fortune is Uncertain

See Also:
Astor’s Son Found Guilty

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.

Full Article and Source:
Brooke Astor’s Son Found Guilty in Scheme to Defraud Her

The son of the late U.S. philanthropist Brooke Astor used his mother’s dementia to enrich himself at the expense of her favorite charities, prosecutors said on Friday in the high-society trial.

Anthony Marshall, Astor’s 85-year-old son, was charged in 2007 with grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and falsifying business reports tied to his handling of his mother’s fortune, estimated to be worth hundreds of millions.

She died from pneumonia in August 2007 at the age of 105.

“It’s just a never-ending history of lie after lie after lie by Mr. Marshall to get more of his mother’s money,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann told the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan in closing arguments.

Full Article and Source:
Son Kept NY Socialite Astor in Squalor: Prosecutors

See also:
Winding Down of the Astor Trial

Brooke Astor’s son stole millions of dollars and artwork from his philanthropist mother in the last years of her life to enrich himself and his wife, a prosecutor told jurors at the end of a four-month trial.

Anthony Marshall, 85, is accused of taking advantage of his mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, partly by trying to obtain millions of dollars she intended for charities. Lawyer Francis Morrissey is also on trial on charges he forged Astor’s name on an amendment to her will. Astor died in 2007 at age 105.

The “disturbing” evidence showed “how a son, an only son, could stoop so low as to steal from his own mother in the sunset years of her life in order to line his own pockets and the pockets of his wife,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann told the jury in New York State court today.

Full Article and Source:
Astor’s Son Stole Artwork, Millions, Prosecutor Says

See also:
Brooke Astor’s Lasting Legacy

Remember the Astor trial? The ongoing case raised questions about whether noted philanthropist Brooke Astor, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, understood what she was doing when she changed her will in 2004, diverting millions that had long been promised to charities to her son, Anthony Marshall. Allegations also arose that her son and a co-defendant — charged with conspiracy, fraud, larceny and forgery — manipulated a confused centenarian into parting with her treasured $10 million painting.

The trial has lasted 18 weeks, twice as long as the judge originally estimated, but closing arguments finally began in a downtown Manhattan courtroom today. They’re expected to continue through Wednesday.

Headlines heralded the trial’s start last spring. Spectators, eager to see celebrity witnesses like Barbara Walters and Henry Kissinger and intrigued by the backstage glimpses into the life of a New York icon, crowded the courtroom.

Those of us who pay attention to issues affecting older Americans were fascinated, too, as alleged financial exploitation of the elderly — an abuse that also plays out among ordinary families in ordinary towns — got a national spotlight.

Then came a parade of more than 70 prosecution witnesses: Mrs. Astor’s famous friends, her doctor, home nurses and aides, housekeepers and maids, lawyers and handwriting experts, her two grandsons testifying against their father.

Summer arrived and ebbed, jurors were seen dozing or rolling their eyes, the courtroom grew emptier. We paid more attention to health care reform dramas, Iran’s election and Jaycee Dugard than to the question of what Brooke Astor, who died in 2007 at 105, truly wanted to do with her $180 million estate, and her lucidity or lack thereof.

But the issues the trial raises still matter. All forms of elder abuse are substantially underreported, experts say, and financial abuse — less apt to leave visible scars — is particularly difficult to investigate and prosecute.

Caregivers often worry that strangers may scam their elderly relatives, when family members themselves appear the more common culprits. And uncertainty about whether an old person is legally competent, and competent to do what, will surely intensify as lives lengthen and dementia rates climb.Mrs. Astor devoted her attention, and her fortune, to many causes; preventing elder abuse was never one of them. Maybe it will inadvertently benefit, nonetheless.

Full Article and Source:
Brooke Astor’s Lasting Legacy

See also:
Marshall Falls at Trial

Astor Died Early

The trial of Anthony (“Tony”) Marshall, son of the philanthropist Brooke Astor, drags on.  Jury selection began at the end of March  but when I popped by the courthouse yesterday, the state was still proceeding with its case!  Tony (who is 85 and fell down and bonked his head in the men’s room causing a day’s respite from the trial in July), is charged with defrauding his mother out of millions.

I feel sorry for the jurors, who have sat in the sub-zero courtroom for all these weeks.  Although there were some celebrity witnesses (including Barbara Walters and Henry Kissinger), there were weeks of rather dry testimony from attorneys, medical professionals and employees of Mrs. Astor.  Imagine the cost of this trial! Does it make sense to spend  such a disproportionate percentage of our tax revenue on this case?

It has gotten to the boring point that the New York Times (perhaps feeling the dearth of newsworthy new testimony) ran an article about two devoted “court-watchers” who have attended the trial daily http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/nyregion/25buffs.html?em

One of the court- watchers claimed she would be done with the Marshall trial as soon as the Gotti trial begins.

If you want to learn more about the issues in the trial, the Vanity Fair article  about Brooke and her estate is fantastic reading!

http://www.vanityfair.com/style/features/2008/10/astor200810