Daughter-in-Law Scolded Astor for Breaking Hip

Author Auchincloss told her son's lawyer she didn't recognize him

(NEWSER) - A longtime friend of philanthropist Brooke Astor testified yesterday that her faculties were so deteriorated the last time he saw her that she did not recognize him, the New York Daily News reports. Author Louis Auchincloss said the encounter took place 2 years before Astor allegedly changed her will, awarding $60 million earmarked for charities to her son, Anthony Marshall—who’s currently on trial for fraud. More»

Her son also convinced her she was going broke

(NEWSER) - A decade before her death, Brooke Astor was so out of it that she couldn’t recognize Jesse Jackson, a prosecution witness testified today in the fraud trial against Astor’s son, the New York Daily News reports. Anthony Marshall’s defense rides on his mother’s mental state, with the prosecution charging that he took advantage of her deteriorated state to raid family coffers. More»

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»

(NEWSER) - Brooke Astor's son owes his lawyers nearly $5 million in legal fees, and he's apparently having trouble paying up. Attorneys for Anthony Marshall—convicted this week of fleecing his philanthropist mother on her deathbed—filed papers saying he owes $4.7 million, a figure that could double in the appeals process. He stopped paying upfront in December. Wife Charlene, meanwhile, is on the hook as guarantor of the debt, reports the New York Post. More»

(NEWSER) - Meryl Gordon has a plum seat at the so-called Brooke Astor trial, in which her son, Anthony Marshall, stands accused of thievery. Complete with the crème de la crème of New York society recounting terrible things and scathing Astorisms, Gordon writes in Vanity Fair, it’s a “story about money that everyone could understand, that did not involve credit-default swaps or derivatives: a son accused of stealing from his mother.” And the press is all over it. More»