Battle Over Hong Kong Billionaire's Will Turns Bizarre

Billions go to trust, not her feng shui lover

(NEWSER) - Following a twisted series of sometimes bizarre court battles dating back to the '90s, a Hong Kong court today ruled that the $4.2 billion estate of Asia's richest woman will go to a charitable trust—and not to her feng shui master lover. Tony Chan claimed Nina Wang carried on an affair with him and left him her fortune, but the court deemed the will he produced a fake, the BBC reports. More»

Hong Kong slap Tony Chan Chun-chuen with forgery charges

(AP) - Hong Kong police today lodged forgery charges today against a feng shui master who tried to inherit the multibillion-dollar fortune of late developer Nina Wang. Tony Chan Chun-chuen appeared in a Hong Kong court and he was freed after his brother posted a bond of $2.6 million. Chan was arrested in February last year after a court ruled that a will purportedly leaving Wang's estate to him was a forgery; it declared as valid a will from 2002 that left Wang's estate to a charity that she and her late husband founded in 1988. More»

...but the feng shui master is so rich he doesn't notice fraud

(NEWSER) - OK, we knew New York cab drivers like to overcharge tourists , but this is ridiculous. A Manhattan driver allegedly racked up a whopping $794,986 on Hong Kong megamillionaire Tony Chan’s credit card after picking him up at the airport, the New York Post reports. The cabbie allegedly kept Chan’s card info and used it to fund spending binges of as much as $19,000, prosecutors say—but Chan is so rich that he never even noticed (a bank security specialist stumbled upon the suspicious activity). Maybe he was preoccupied with his own legal troubles. More»

He knew what he was doing—and we should follow his example

(NEWSER) - Michael Jackson wasn't known for his financial prudence, but he got one thing right: his estate planning, writes Jane Bennett Clark for Kiplinger. Here’s how to follow his good example:

• Write a will: Two-thirds of Americans don’t. Jackson’s is concrete: His kids get 40% of his estate, his mother gets 40%, and 20% goes to charity.

Anthony Marshall exploited mom's dementia to funnel fortune to him, says prosecutor.

(NEWSER) - Brooke Astor's son "dragged" his frail mom from her nurse's arms to a closed-door meeting about her will, which was immediately changed in his favor, according to the prosecutor at the heir's fraud and grand larceny trial yesterday in New York. Anthony Marshall exploited his vulnerable mother's dementia to manipulate her into leaving a larger chunk of her $198 million fortune to him rather than charities, as she originally intended, the attorney added. More»