Cursed inheritance of the £20million manservant: Illiterate fisherman who was left his master's entire fortune is STILL living in poverty - and locked in a legal battle as colourful as it is bizarre Glen House, where Lord Glenconner once lived, is now a decaying mansion It lies at the centre of an extraordinary dispute when he left it to his manservant It's sparked a legal wrangle between illiterate fisherman Kent Adonai and Lord Glenconnor's 22-year-old grandson
Kent Adonai, an illiterate St Lucian fisherman, is in a legal battle with his former master's grandson after he was named as the inheritor of the estate
Extravagant: Lord Glenconner in 1985 in Mustique, the island he owned before being forced out
Party pals: Lord Glenconner with his close friend Princess Margaret in Mustique in 1976
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LOL Narmerthot you are very funny. I think the Western governments and Western judicial systems are design to protect the wealth of the rich class. It is very difficult for a rich person to live is fortune after his death to a poor friend, a poor employee, a poor girlfriend and even a poor wife. The judicial system give the children of the rich man and even distant family members the power to challenge the rich person gift of wealth to a poor person. Even when the rich children of the rich person doesnt win million of dollars and years are spent in litigation.
I remenber the case of the 40 years old model and actress Anna Nicole Smith who was left a $1 billion fortune by her octogenarian husband Howad Marshall III. The son of Howard sued Anna Nicole Smith in court to keep her from inheriting the fortune. There was the case of L Oreal Heiress the octogenarian Lilianne Bettencourt who gave $1 billion to her fifty year old boyfriend. Lilianne Bettencourt sued her mother and took control of her mothe wealth and the company L Oreal.
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the wealthy class family and lawyers protect rich people fortune and keep the rich from giving their money to middle class people and poor people. Even the judicial system protect the rich class fortune from being given to poor people. E Pierce Marshall the son of J Howard Marshall sued her mother in law Anns Nicole Smith Marshall to kept her from inheriting half of her husband J Howard Marshall $1.6 billion fortune.
Reality star: Smith, shown in 2004 in Los Angeles, died at age 39 of an overdose of prescription drugs
26 years old Anna Nicole and 89 years old ninety years husband J Howard Davis
Blonde beauty: Anna, shown in 2005, landed the cover of Playboy and a Guess jeans ad campaign
Father and daughter: Smith's daughter Dannielynn Birkhead is shown in May with her father Larry Birkhead at the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky
Anna Nicole Smith's estate fails in final court bid to win $44m from estate of her Texas billionaire husband
Anna Nicole Smith's estate failed in its final bid to obtain her late Texas billionaire husband's money. A federal judge in Orange County on Monday rejected the effort to obtain about $44 million from the estate of J. Howard Marshall seven years after the death of the Playboy model and reality TV star. Smith and Marshall married in 1994 when he was aged 89 and she was aged 26. Scroll down for video Federal case: A federal judge has ruled against an attempt by the estate of Anna Nicole Smith to obtain money from her late Texas billionaire husband Federal case: A federal judge has ruled against an attempt by the estate of Anna Nicole Smith to obtain money from her late Texas billionaire husband The oil tycoon died the next year and his will left his $1.6 billion estate to his son and nothing to Smith. Smith, under her real name of Vickie Lynn Marshall, challenged the will, claiming that her husband promised to leave her more than $300 million above the cash and gifts showered on her during their 14-month marriage. RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 2 Next
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Michelle Duggar claims 'child predators' will haunt public... SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share A Houston jury said Marshall was mentally fit and under no undue pressure when he wrote the will. Christmas present: Oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall and Smith are shown together in 1995 Christmas present: Oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall and Smith are shown together in 1995 Over the course of nearly 20 years, the Texas bankruptcy court and local and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, all rejected Smith's various attempts to overturn Marshall's will and trust and to obtain money from his estate. The efforts continued even after Smith died of an accidental drug overdose in February 2007. U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter on Monday denied a request from Smith's estate to sanction the estate of Marshall's son, E. Pierce Marshall. Anna Nicole Smith's bid for her husband's money has failed Loaded: 0%Progress: 0%0:00 Previous Play Skip Mute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:25 Fullscreen Need Text Father and daughter: Smith's daughter Dannielynn Birkhead is shown in May with her father Larry Birkhead at the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky Father and daughter: Smith's daughter Dannielynn Birkhead is shown in May with her father Larry Birkhead at the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky 'Time spent litigating the relationship between Vickie Lynn and J. Howard has extended for nearly five times the length of their relationship and nearly twenty times the length of their marriage. 'It is neither reasonable nor practical to go forward,' the judge said in his ruling. He noted that it was the last surviving piece of decades of litigation. Reality star: Smith, shown in 2004 in Los Angeles, died at age 39 of an overdose of prescription drugs Reality star: Smith, shown in 2004 in Los Angeles, died at age 39 of an overdose of prescription drugs 'The American taxpayer has supported the burden of this litigation for many years, and it is time for this suit to no longer ''drag its weary length before the Court'',' Carter concluded. The judge was quoting a Supreme Court decision in the case that itself quoted Charles Dickens' Bleak House. An email message from The Associated Press for Howard K. Stern, the executor of Smith's estate, was not immediately returned on Tuesday. G. Eric Brunstad Jr., attorney for the Marshall family, said in a statement that the family agreed with the judge that it was time to stop the litigation. Smith's daughter Dannielynn, seven, is being raised by her former boyfriend Larry Birkhead.
Marriage to J. Howard Marshall While performing in October 1991 at Gigi's, a Houston strip club later renamed as "Pleasures", Smith met elderly oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall, and they began a relationship. During their two-year affair, he reportedly lavished gifts on her and asked her to marry him several times.[14] She divorced her husband Billy on February 3, 1993, in Houston.[15] On June 27, 1994, 26-year-old Smith and 89-year-old Marshall were married in Houston.[7] This resulted in a great deal of gossip about her marrying him for his money.[16] She reportedly never lived with him, never made love with him, or kissed him on the mouth more than ten times.[17] Smith, however, maintained that she loved her husband, and age did not matter to her. Thirteen months after his marriage to Smith, Marshall died in Houston on August 4, 1995, at age 90.
Inheritance court cases Main article: Marshall v. Marshall Within weeks of J. Howard Marshall's death, one of his sons, E. Pierce Marshall, disputed her claim for half of her late husband's US$1.6 billion estate. She temporarily joined forces with J. Howard's other son, James Howard Marshall III, whom the elder Howard had disowned. Howard III claimed that J. Howard Marshall had verbally promised him a portion of the estate; like Smith, Howard III was also left out of J. Howard's will.[18] The case went on for more than a decade, producing a highly publicized court battle in Texas and several judicial decisions that have gone both for and against Smith in that time.[19]
In 1996, Smith filed for bankruptcy in California as a result of a $850,000 judgment against her for sexual harassment of an employee. As any money potentially due to her from the Marshall estate was part of her potential assets, the bankruptcy court involved itself in the matter.[20]
Smith claimed that J. Howard had orally promised her half of his estate if she married him. In September 2000, a Los Angeles bankruptcy judge awarded her $449,754,134. In July 2001, Houston judge Mike Wood affirmed the jury findings in the probate case by ruling that Smith was entitled to nothing. The judge ordered Smith to pay over $1 million in fees and expenses to Pierce's legal team. The conflict between the Texas probate court and California bankruptcy court judgments forced the matter into federal court.[21]
In March 2002, a federal judge vacated the California bankruptcy court's ruling and issued a new ruling but reduced the award to $88 million. In December 2004, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the March 2002 decision, on the reasoning that the federal courts lacked jurisdiction to overrule this probate court decision.[22]
The U.S. Supreme Court decided in September 2005 to hear the appeal of that decision. The Bush administration subsequently directed the Solicitor General to intercede on Smith's behalf out of an interest to expand federal court jurisdiction over state probate disputes.[23] After months of waiting, Smith and her stepson Pierce learned of the Supreme Court's decision on May 1, 2006. The justices unanimously decided in favor of Smith; Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion. The decision did not give Smith a portion of her husband's estate, but affirmed her right to pursue a share of it in federal court.[24] On June 20, 2006, E. Pierce Marshall died at age 67 from an "aggressive infection". Following his death, his widow, Elaine T. Marshall, pursued the case on behalf of his estate.[25] The case was remanded to the 9th Circuit to adjudicate the remaining appellate issues not previously resolved.
After Smith's death, the New York Times reported that the case over the Marshall fortune "is likely to continue in the name of Ms. Smith's infant daughter."[26] The situation as of 2010 was that Anna Nicole Smith's estate will not inherit any of her late husband's estate.[27] Following the decision by the Appeals Court for the Ninth Circuit, lawyers for the estate of Anna Nicole Smith requested the appeal be heard before the entire 9th circuit. However, on May 6, 2010 the appeal was denied.[28] On September 28, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court again agreed to hear the case.[29]
On June 23, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling against the estate of Anna Nicole Smith, holding that a bankruptcy court ruling giving her estate a sum of $475 million was decided without jurisdiction (now called Stern v. Marshall). A California bankruptcy court had awarded Smith part of the estate, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal said that a bankruptcy court could not make a decision on an issue outside bankruptcy law. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the ruling of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.[30]
In August 2014, a federal judge in Orange County, California, David O. Carter rejected the effort to obtain about $44 million from the estate of J. Howard Marshall. U.S. District Court Judge Carter also denied request from Smith's estate to sanction the estate of Marshall's son, E. Pierce Marshall.[31]
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Mena: the 86 years old L Oreal heiress Lilianne Bettencourt gave a $1 billion life insurance policy to her 62 years old boyfriend M Banier who is a photographer and her daughter Francoise Bettencourt Meyer sued her for being mentally incompetent because of her old age.
86 years old L Oreal heiress Lilianne Bettencourt and her 62 years old boyfriend M Banier
An unseemly mother-daughter dispute threatens to smudge the glittering public face of L'Oréal, the world's most successful cosmetics company. The mental capacity of L'Oréal's chief shareholder, Liliane Bettencourt, 86, to manage her €23bn (£20.5bn) fortune has been challenged by her only child, Françoise.
Mme Bettencourt, one of the world's wealthiest women and a renowned philanthropist, is reported to have funded life insurance policies worth nearly €1bn which benefit a jet-set photographer, artist and author whom she has befriended. Her daughter has brought a legal action which suggests that her mother's great age makes her vulnerable to "abuse".
The complaint was first made almost a year ago but details have just emerged in the French press. An investigative website, Bakchich.info, reported that police had discreetly interviewed both Mme Bettencourt and the man who is said to have become virtually her adopted son, François-Marie Banier.
M. Banier, 61, is a playwright, novelist and above all a photographer and friend of the glitterati, ranging from Johnny Depp to Princess Caroline of Monaco. He is said to be the sole beneficiary of several life insurance policies, endowed over many years by Mme Bettencourt.
According to Bakchich.info and the Journal du Dimanche, Mme Bettencourt confirmed the existence of the insurance policies to investigators but said that she knew exactly what she was doing and could "sponsor" whoever she liked. To borrow L'Oréal's own catch-phrase, she was giving part of her fortune to M. Banier "because he was worth it".
Mme Bettencourt declined to undergo medical examinations to prove her mental capacity.
The row is part of a long-simmering dispute between mother and daughter, who have hardly spoken to each other for several years. Both Mme Bettencourt and Françoise Bettencourt Meyers are board members of L'Oréal which had a global turnover of €17.1bn in 2007 and employs 63,000 people worldwide. Other board members include Mme Bettencourt Meyers's husband, Jean-Pierre Meyers, and the Cheshire-born businessman Lindsay Owen-Jones, who built L'Oréal to its present pinnacle in his 18 years as chief executive of the company before he stood aside in 2006.
L'Oréal was founded by Mme Bettencourt's father, Eugene Schueller. She married the French politician André Bettencourt, a friend of the late President François Mitterrand, in 1950. She still owns 27.5 per cent of the stock of L'Oréal and has used her fortune, among other things, to fund the Bettencourt-Schueller foundation which invests in medical research, helping the illiterate and housing for the homeless.
A confidante of her daughter told the Journal du Dimanche yesterday that Mme Bettencourt Meyers had brought the legal action because she feared that her mother was no longer in control of her actions. "She is not looking for any money, but is afraid, quite simply, that her mother, at her advanced age, is about to fritter away her fortune," the confidante said.
Mme Bettencourt's lawyer, François Goguel, told the newspaper: "She is travelling in the United States at present and is very well. She does not wish to make any comment on what is a private affair."
The lawyer said, however, that the €1bn figure had been "exaggerated" and that the gifts to M. Banier, in the form of insurance policies, had been made freely over a number of years.
Mme Bettencourt lives in a large house in Neuilly-sur-Seine, the wealthy suburb just west of the Paris city boundary which was for many years the political fiefdom of President Nicolas Sarkozy. The public prosecutor for Nanterre, who covers the Neuilly area, must now decide whether to launch a full investigation or let the matter drop.
Mme Bettencourt is known to have one of the finest private collections of art in France. She has donated several works, including paintings by Pablo Picasso, to M. Banier but they are not covered by her daughter's legal action.
M. Banier has written several novels and plays but is best known as a photographer with privileged access to the famous. His friends include the actress Isabelle Adjani and the fashion designer Pierre Cardin. He is also a close friend of the celebrity acting couple Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp, whose relationship began at M. Banier's home in the south of France.
Inside the Fight for the Fortune of the World's Richest Woman, Liliane Bettencourt BY PETER MIKELBANK•@PMIKELBANK
POSTED ON MARCH 4, 2015 AT 7:20PM EST
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HORST OSSINGER/PICTURE-ALLIANCE/DPA/AP Was L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt abused by a cadre of close associates who plundered her billions? Or was she in control of her faculties, giving away money and gifts to friends, politicians and even strangers?
These were the central questions in a trial that unfolded over the course of five weeks in southwestern France last month, where prosecutors and defense lawyers attempted to determine whether people took advantage of the 92-year-old.
Known in France simply as the Bettencourt affair, the story starts in 2007, when Bettencourt’s daughter, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, filed a lawsuit against her mother’s confidant, society photographer François-Marie Banier, claiming he abused Bettencourt’s weakness when she gifted him with cash, artwork and other extravagant presents totaling over $1 billion.
The initial lawsuit led to an investigation that uncovered questionable dealings involving Bettencourt’s fortune. Most notably it showed alleged payouts to France’s former budget minister éric Woerth at the time he was in charge of Nicolas Sarkozy‘s presidential campaign financing.
Ultimately, 10 defendants, including Woerth, stood trial in Bordeaux for allegedly exploiting Bettencourt. The trial concluded on Feb. 25, but the verdicts will not be announced until late May.
In the meantime, Bettencourt is living out the remainder of her life in “The White House,” her mansion in Neuilly-sur-Seine, too ill to attend the court battle waged over her inheritance.
The World’s Richest Woman
Bettencourt, the daughter of Eugène Schueller, the chemist who founded cosmetics giant L’Oréal, has always been portrayed in French media as France’s “Poor Little Rich Girl”: An only child who lost her mother at the age of 5, Bettencourt worked inside the company’s chemistry labs from the tender age of 15.
In 1950, she married businessman and politician André Bettencourt, who eventually became the French foreign minister before passing away in 2007. The couple had one child, daughter Françoise, in 1953.
After her father’s death in 1957, she inherited the family business. Today, Bettencourt’s fortune – more than $40 billion – is France’s largest and ranks 10th overall in the world, according to Forbes. Depending on the day, she’s arguably the world’s richest woman, but she’s largely kept to herself through the years, living behind the gates of her enormous mansion in Neuilly-sur-Seine, one of Paris’s most expensive suburban neighborhoods.
Bettencourt’s home in Neuilly-sur-Seine JAMES ANDANSON/SYGMA/CORBIS
Claims and Counterclaims
Banier first met Bettencourt when he was hired to photograph her for the French magazine Egoiste in 1987. They became close over the years – so close that after showering Banier (and his boyfriend Martin d’Orveval) with over $1.25 billion, she ultimately decided to make him her heir.
Long estranged from her mother, Bettencourt-Meyers heard the news and promptly filed complaint against Banier in 2007 for exploitation of weakness, initiating what became a very public saga.
After hiring France’s top two lawyers, the mother and daughter began negotiations. But when they failed to reach an agreement by late 2009, Bettencourt-Meyers took the next legal step, formally requesting her mother be placed under court custody. And indeed, Bettencourt has been monitored by court-appointed guardians since 2011, when it was determined that she has dementia and “moderately severe Alzheimer’s.”
But the lawsuit really came to a head in mid-2010, just as Banier came up for trial in Paris. That’s when Bettencourt-Meyers gave police a series of secret recordings made by Bettencourt’s butler.
Leaked to media shortly afterwards, they allegedly feature several of Bettencourt’s inner circle and financial advisors discussing tax avoidance, Swiss bank accounts, the alleged cash handovers to Woerth and the creation of a Seychelles island tax haven for Banier.
Banier’s Paris trial opened and closed on the same July day after police requested time to review tapes. And then, in November 2010, government officials suddenly and inexplicably transferred the entire process as far from Paris as possible, assigning it to Bordeaux instead.
That’s where the trial finally kicked off on Jan. 26. But this time, Banier was joined by nine other people accused of exploiting the heiress.
A residence of Bettencourt’s in Arcouest near Ploubazlanec, northern Brittany STEPHANIE MAHE/REUTERS/CORBIS
Awaiting the Verdict
At the trial’s late February conclusion, prosecutors formally asked the tribunal to acquit five of the 10 defendants, including Woerth, due to insufficient evidence. They demanded the maximum sentence for Banier, however, including three years in prison without reprieve, a $425,000 fine, and the seizure of his properties. Prosecutors have asked for a similar fine and prison term for Banier’s boyfriend d’Orveval, with the possibility of probation after 18 months.
Banier has adamantly denied taking advantage of Bettencourt’s fraility and refuted the charge it was his suggestion – overheard by a maid – that Bettencourt adopt him.
L'affaire Bettencourt"[edit] By most accounts Bettencourt met François-Marie Banier, a French writer, artist and celebrity photographer, in 1987 when he was commissioned to photograph her for the French magazine Egoiste.[5][20][21] Over the ensuing years, Banier and Bettencourt became friends and she became his benefactor, bestowing gifts upon him estimated to be worth as much as €1.3 billion. These gifts include, amongst other things, a life insurance policy worth €253 million in 2003, another life insurance policy worth €262 million in 2006,[22] 11 works of art in 2001 valued at €20 million, including paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, Delaunay and Léger, a photograph by surrealist Man Ray,[5][23] and cash. The life insurance policies were allegedly signed over to Banier after Bettencourt was recovering from two hospital stays in 2003 and 2006.[24] InApril 2013, Forbes magazine listed Liliane bettencourt as the world's richest woman in 1999 at a value of $30 billion.[25]
In December 2007, just a month after the death of her father, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers lodged a criminal complaint against Banier, accusing him of abus de faiblesse (or the exploitation of a physical or psychological weakness for personal gain) over Bettencourt.[26] As a result of her complaint, the Brigade Financière, the financial investigative arm of the French national police, opened an investigation and, after interviewing members of Bettencourt's staff, determined to present the case to a court in Nanterre for trial in September 2009.[24] In December 2009, the court delayed ruling on the case until April 2010 (later extended until July 2010) pending the results of a medical examination of Bettencourt's mental state.[24] However, Bettencourt refused to submit to these examinations.[27]
In July 2010 the trial was adjourned again until autumn 2010, at the earliest, after details of tape recordings made by Bettencourt's butler, Pascal Bonnefoy, became public. The tapes, which were turned over to police, consisted of over 21 hours of conversation and were made because the butler had feared that Bettencourt was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and was being duped.[28] The tapes allegedly reveal that Bettencourt had made Banier her "sole heir", excluding the L'Oréal shares which make up the bulk of Bettencourt's estate and which had already been signed over to her daughter and two grandsons.[29]
On 6 December 2010 Bettencourt reconciled with her daughter, ending a series of lawsuits. It is reported that Bettencourt and Banier had separated, and he was eventually written out of Bettencourt's will.[30] The spat reignited over the following summer, however, when Bettencourt said her daughter needed to seek psychological help.[31] A re-estrangement resulted.[31]
Guardianship[edit] On 8 June 2011, it was reported daughter Meyers filed an application with the court to make Bettencourt a ward of the state for her health and being incapable of the management of her fortune.[32]
On 17 October 2011 a French judge ruled that she is to be placed under the guardianship of members of her family on concerns about Bettencourt's declining mental health. Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers, along with Bettencourt's two grandsons, will now control her wealth and property.[31] One of the grandsons was additionally named as her personal guardian.[31] Liliane Bettencourt's lawyer said he would appeal, and told Le Monde newspaper that "Mrs. Bettencourt was ready for 'nuclear war' with her daughter."[31] As of 2014, Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers is guardian of the fortune,[33] while Francoise's son, L’Oréal Board member and member of the Supervisory Board of the Bettencourt family holding company, Tethys, Jean-Victor Meyers oversees her health and personal life after a judge determined he was the only person able to “ward off all conflict between Liliane Bettencourt and Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers.”[28]
Madoff victim[edit] Bettencourt was reported to be one of the most high-profile victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, losing €22 million. She was the first investor in a fund managed by Access International Advisors, which was co-founded by René-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet. De la Villehuchet committed suicide on 22 December 2008 after it became known that his funds had invested a substantial amount of their capital with Madoff.[34]
L’Oreal heiress fraud trial rocked after nurse accused of trying to steal money from France’s richest woman attempts suicide hours before hearing opens Liliane Bettencourt was ruled unfit to run her own affairs in 2011 Francois-Marie Banier became her confidant and was showered in gifts Mrs Bettencourt's daughter then filed court proceedings against him The heiress' own butler started recording her conversations for evidence Mrs Bettencourt's nurse tried to take his own life on the eve of the trial
Mrs Bettencourt's daughter, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, was locked in a bitter dispute with her mother
Francois-Marie Banier, left, an artist and photographer, became a close confidant of Mrs Bettencourt and she showered him with gifts including paintings by Picasso. Banier's partner Martin d'Orgeval, right
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