DC Comics Widow Allegedly Defrauded By Workers

An elderly widow of the DC Comics publisher who brought Superman to news stands, was taken advantage of when she was convinced to leave large sums of cash from her $50 million estate to two real-life Lex Luthors. 

The son of the late widow, Shirley Liebowitz, accused her lawyers Dennis Drebsky and her business manager Ronald Krause of inserting themselves into his mom’s will and isolating her from him and other family members.  “The story that is unfolding is clearly one of elder abuse, fraud and undue influences,” the son’s lawyer, Jason Blasberg, wrote recently in a court filing. 

Liebowitz died at 96 on April 24, 2013, but during the last 12 years of her life, Krause and Drebsky drafted 28 wills for her. In later versions, her son’s bequest drastically dropped while the lawyer and business manager’s inheritances ballooned, according to Blasberg’s filing.

However, in court filings responding to the accusations, Drebsky and Krause said they were not villains and denied that they conspired to influence Liebowitz’s decisions about her will.  Krause added that he never interfered with Liebowitz’s will or finances, noting that her decisions about inheritances changed with her mood swings.  Liebowitz “used her money in general, and her will in particular, as both a punishment and a reward,” Krause wrote. “If the wind blew the wrong direction on a given day, she would reduce your bequest. Conversely, if you jumped through hoops to satisfy her demands, she would reward you.”

See James Fanelli, Widow of DC Comics Co-Founder Was Conned By Workers, Son Says, DNA Info, Jan. 5, 2015.