Astor Heir Fight

Anthony D. Marshall, the son of the late-actress Brooke Astor, is set to be in court tomorrow appealing his 2009 conviction. In 2009, he was found guilty of fraud and of stealing $60 million from his mother. His co-defendant, Attorney Francis X. Morrissey Jr., is also appealing his case. His attorney was convicted because he helped Marshall with all of the estate planning aspects of his plan. He was convicted of fraud and conspiracy. On one of those counts, Morrissey was accused of forging Astor’s signature.

Since his conviction, friends close to Marshall have reported that he and his wife were devastated by the whole ordeal. In particular, one of his friends since boarding school, Sam Peabody, told the New York Post that they were not doing well. Marshall believes that he was wrongfully convicted by the jury, and that the other members of the jury pressured the last hold out on the jury to convict him. Marshall also claims that this mother was in her right mind when she bequeathed him additional millions, claiming that he did nothing wrong when he asked his mother for his inheritance a few years early.

See Brooke Astor Heir Fights Jail Rap (NY), New York Post, Estate of Denial, Dec. 14, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.