Richard Mellon Scaife was a titan among the rich and famous of Pittsburgh due to his control over a business empire that included the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. However, since his death, a battle has been brewing over distributions made from a trust set up in 1935 which Scaife’s children say was raided by a greedy trustee. The children claim that a trustee directed hundreds of millions of dollars out of trust in a deliberate attempt to keep them from inheriting. In addition, the children claim that the trustee exerted undue influence over their father when it came to a will that left bequest to only one family member, a cousin. Due to the amount of money is dispute, it is safe to say this case is not going to settle anytime soon and will likely turn into the latest estate drama involving the superwealthy.
See Jonathan D. Silver, Scaife children say they were kept in dark about trust as it was drained, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 6, 2015.
Special thanks to Deborah Matthews for bringing this article to my attention.
