Writer Questions Allegations Surrounding Tom Benson’s Mental Capacity

The dispute over future ownership of the Saints and Pelicans has dominated headlines when Tom Benson announced his wife would inherit the two teams. 

As I have previously discussed, Benson’s granddaughter, Rita LeBlanc, as well as other family members have alleged in a lawsuit that Benson’s mental capacity is inadequate to manage his own business assets.  Yet, New York Times writer Ken Belson recently spent several days with Benson, and told WWWL Radio that the 87-year-old owner appeared sharp and comfortable in his element during his visit.  “He was very sharp.  He was presiding over a couple of meetings that I was lucky enough to sit in on,” said Belson. 

While he noted that Benson is aging and cannot recall every detail, Belson said the allegations claiming the billionaire can no longer make decisions was baseless. 

See Dave Cohen, Writer: Tom Benson is ‘Sharp . . . On Top of Things’, WWL.com, March 18, 2015.

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.