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Associated Press
This is the last known photo of Huguette Clark, taken 80 years ago. She hid away in a New York hospital room for at least the past 22 years, until her death in May. This photo was made on Aug. 11, 1930, the day of her divorce, in Reno, Nev. Her marriage lasted two years. She had no children.
New York — A New York official has accused the attorney and accountant for mysterious heiress Huguette Clark of a tax fraud that could cost her estate $50 million in IRS penalties. While the men denied any wrongdoing, the accountant resigned this week from handling her $400 million estate just before the allegations were leveled in court documents.
The allegation was made by the office of the public administrator of New York County, who was appointed by the court as a third executor, in effect to watch the actions of Clark's attorney and accountant. The public administrator, Ethel J. Griffin, asked the court on Tuesday to remove attorney Wallace "Wally" Bock and accountant Irving Kamsler as executors, a position that would normally pay each of them about 2 percent of her estate, or roughly $8 million each.
Read the related story: Nurse, in line to inherit millions, battles family of heiress Huguette Clark.
Document: Read the full petition at msnbc.com. (PDF file opens in a new window.)
Clark, who died in May at age 104, gained public attention in a series of articles on msnbc.com over the past two years, focusing at first on the mystery of her empty mansions and then the financial dealings of her attorney and accountant. The full series of articles is at http://clark.msnbc.com. Born in 1906, Clark was the youngest child of former U.S. Sen. William Andrews Clark (1839-1925), a copper miner and U.S. senator from Montana, said to be one of the richest men in the world.
The public administrator alleges that while Huguette Clark lived as a recluse in New York City hospital rooms, attorney Bock and accountant Kamsler:
- Failed to file federal gift tax returns for Clark for the years 1997 through 2003, when she made approximately $56 million in gifts to individuals. The gift tax and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax due would have been about $41.5 million.
- Charged her for filing tax returns that were not filed.
- Paid only $7.5 million in estimated tax payments toward the gift tax in those years.
- Failed to pay the remaining $34 million during the years since, exposing her to millions in IRS interest and penalties for failure to file.
- Failed to tell Clark about the unpaid taxes or possible interest and penalties, even though she had sufficient liquid assets to pay the bill in full.
- Filed false returns with the IRS for the years 2004 through 2009, claiming that previous gift tax returns had been filed, and understating Clark's current tax liabilities by more than $7 million.
- Underreported and underpaid by millions her federal taxes.
- Misrepresented to the IRS that returns had been filed.
- Lied to the IRS, with Kamsler claiming he was unaware of a $5 million gift to Clark's nurse, when documents show he listed that gift on a profit and loss statement seven months earlier.
- Lied to the public administrator, claiming that they were searching for the gift tax returns, until the IRS disclosed that none had been filed.
"By 2011, Mrs. Clark owed $34,000,000 in gift and GST taxes for the years 1997 through 2003; plus potential late filing and late payment penalties in excess of $16,000,000; plus interest on the unpaid taxes and potential penalties in the amount of approximately $32,000,000; for a total liability to the IRS in excess of $82,000,000," the public administrator alleges, adding that "neither Bock nor Kamsler made Mrs. Clark aware of this tax liability."
Claudio Papapietro
Irving Kamsler, Huguette Clark's longtime accountant, resigned as her executor this week. He is shown outside court on Long Island after he pleaded guilty in October 2008 to attempting to disseminate indecent material to minors on AOL. The court sentenced him to five years of probation, but he was allowed to keep his license as a certified public accountant. In a letter he told his client only the barest details of the case.
The tax bill was rising at the rate of $9,000 per day, the public administrator calculated.
"Bock and Kamsler have demonstrated," the public administrator wrote, "that they are unfit for the execution of their office as Preliminary Executors, by reason of their dishonesty, improvidence, waste and want of understanding, both while Mrs. Clark was alive and subequent to their appointment." In addition, the public administrator's office said it is investigating what it believes are other violations of trust, including improper solicitation of gifts, abuse of powers of attorney, and making gifts without authority. The case is being handled by attorneys for the public administrator, including Peter Schram, David R. Gelfand and Georgiana J. Slade.
An attorney for Kamsler in the estate case wrote to the judge informing her that Kamsler would resign. That letter was filed in court on Tuesday, just ahead of the filing by the public administrator, and was released by the court on Wednesday.
Kamsler's criminal defense attorney, Elizabeth Crotty, would not answer questions but issued a statement on Wednesday: "For the past 3 decades, Mr. Kamsler has served professionally and diligently as Ms. Clark's accountant. Although Mr. Kamsler is fully capable of remaining as a preliminary executor to Ms. Clark's estate, the distant family members and the Public Administrator have made it impossible for him to carry out her wishes. Therefore, Mr. Kamsler is voluntarily removing himself as Preliminary Executor, with the hope that Ms. Clark's last wishes be respected and to put this whole matter behind him."
An attorney representing Bock and Kamsler in the estate case, John Dadakis of the firm of Holland and Knight, issued this statement Wednesday through a spokesman: "For 30 years, Irving Kamsler was Mrs. Clark's accountant, and for 15 years Wallace Bock was her attorney. There is no allegation in the paper's filed that either individual was taking anything out of her account for themselves. Their entire handling of her affairs was an effort to protect and preserve Mrs. Clark's chosen lifestyle."
Bock and Kamsler are already under investigation by the Manhattan district attorney, who is looking into their handling of Clark's finances; no charges have been filed, and the investigation remains open.
Christopher Sadowski
Attorney Wallace "Wally" Bock says he has always done exactly what his client, heiress Huguette Clark, has asked. He acknowledged soliciting from her a gift of $1.5 million for the community where his daughter and grandchildren live. Court records show the amount to be $1.85 million. He remains an executor of her estate, at least until a court hearing planned for Friday.
The new allegations raise the possibility that they could face federal charges, with the public administrator noting that it is a felony to willfully submit fraudulent tax returns.
Kamsler, 64, from the Bronx, N.Y., is a convicted felon and a registered sex offender who pleaded guilty in 2008 to attempting to distribute indecent materials to teenage girls in a chat room on AOL, under the moniker "IRV1040." Bock, 79, is from Queens, N.Y.
Msnbc.com reported last year that the two men also handled the affairs of another elderly client, Donald Wallace, who in fact was the previous attorney for Huguette Clark. After the man's will was revised six times, during years when his relatives said he was suffering from dementia, Bock and Kamsler ended up as his executors and also beneficiaries in his will, getting his New York apartment and his Mercedes.
And the allegations may bolster the request by Clark's relatives that they be allowed to intervene in the case. The relatives disclosed last month that Clark signed two wills at age 98 in 2005, six weeks apart: The first benefitted mostly her family, the second cut out the family altogether and included $500,000 each in bequests to attorney Bock and accountant Kamsler, who also stood to benefit as trustees of a charitable foundation and art museum to be established in her home in Santa Barbara, Calif. The family has not yet officially challenged that second will but has asked to intervene in a preliminary stage of the case, the accounting of the estate.
The public administrator makes a point in the document of saying that the gifts made by Bock and Kamsler from Clark's accounts may not have been valid, because the men may not have had authority to make those gifts. "The Public Administrator will seek, in a separate proceeding, to clawback into the Estate any gifts deemed to be invalid."
The public administrator notes that Kamsler lists himself in online biographies as a specialist in "gift tax planning and preparation," and Bock bills himself as having "substantial expertise in estate planning."
The allegations by the public administrator were first reported Wednesday by The Associated Press.
A hearing is scheduled on Friday in Surrogate's Court in Manhattan on the family's request to intervene in the case, and the public administrator's request to remove Bock and Kamsler.
---
Documents (PDF files)
Family reply to nurse and attorney and accountant, Dec. 21, 2011
Public administrator's petition to remove attorney and accountant, Dec. 20, 2011
Public administrator's petition to remove Bock and Kamsler, Dec. 20, 2011
Bock and Kamsler reply to the family's motion to intervene, Dec. 16, 2011
Family motion to intervene in the estate case, Nov. 28, 2011
Huguette Clark's last will and testament, signed April 19, 2005
Huguette Clark's previous will, signed March 7, 2005
Family's petition seeking a guardian for Huguette Clark, September 2010
Attorney Bock's sworn statement to the court, September 2010
Judge's ruling rejecting her family's guardianship petition, September 2010
Kamsler letter informing Clark of his guilty plea, February 2009
Kamsler's criminal court file and investigator's report
---
Stories in the Huguette Clark mystery on msnbc.com:
Archive of all stories, photos and videos
Photo narrative, "The Clarks: An American story of wealth, scandal and mystery," Feb. 26, 2010.
Printable version of the photo narrative, Feb. 26, 2010.
Clark family notes and sources, Feb. 26, 2010.
Investigative report, part one, "At 104, the mysterious heiress Huguette Clark is alone now: Relatives are kept away. Only her accountant and attorney visit. Who protects Huguette Clark, with 3 empty homes and no heirs?" Aug. 19, 2010.
Investigative report, part two, "Who is watching Huguette Clark's millions? Reclusive heiress's assets are sold by two advisers, one an accountant with a felony conviction. Another elderly client signed over his property to the same accountant and attorney," Aug. 20, 2010.
"Criminal probe begins into the finances of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark: Manhattan DA's Elder Abuse Unit is on the case. The same unit prosecuted the Brooke Astor case — though Clark has about four times the wealth," Aug. 24, 2010.
"Report sparks welfare check on heiress Huguette Clark," Aug. 25, 2010.
"Generosity of an heiress: four homes for a nurse, gifts for attorney's family," Sept. 1, 2010.
"Huguette Clark, the reclusive heiress, has signed a will, attorney says," Sept. 2, 2010.
"Family of copper heiress asks court to protect her from attorney, accountant," Sept. 3, 2010.
"Attorney for 104-year-old heiress defends his handling of her finances," Sept. 7, 2010.
"Judge leaves pair under investigation in control of heiress Huguette Clark's fortune," Sept. 9, 2010.
"Huguette Clark, the reclusive copper heiress, dies at 104," May 24, 2011.
"Family excluded from Huguette Clark burial," May 26, 2011.
"Heiress Huguette Clark's will leaves $1 million to advisers," June 22, 2011.
"The 1 percent of the 1 percent: How Huguette Clark's millions were spent," Nov. 19, 2011.
"A $400 miillion twist: Huguette Clark signed two wills, one to her family," Nov. 28, 2011.
"Nurse, in line to inherit millions, battles family of heiress Huguette Clark," Dec. 22, 2011.
I knew it! I absolutely knew this was going to happen! These two guys were shady from the moment they began talking about them in the media! I so wish someone had been watching more closely over this elderly and wealthy recluse.
Both of these slimeballs belong in prison. They took advantage of an elderly woman to line their own pockets and those of their family. Neither one of them has any business being in a position of trust with anyone else's money. They have demonstrated time and again that they are only out for themselves. I hope that the court invalidates the second will and reverts to the the first will that left the bulk of her estate to her family. The second will is completely suspect as it was executed after these two had effectively cut of Clark from her family by denying hm any access to her. While they claim they were carrying out her wishers, I do not buy it. The supposed reason for the change in the will was that these relatives had abandoned her, which was not the case. The attorney was intentionally keeping her family from contacting her so that he could, in coordination with the accountant, manipulate Clark to suit their own purposes. While I would hope that the family would give a significant portion of the estate to charity, I would rather see it in their hands than see the multi-million dollar bequest to the nurse, who has already received several sizable gifts, be allowed to stand. I would bet that there is some under the table agreement that the nurse will quietly turn over a large chunk of her good fortune to the lawyer and accountant once the attention dies down. This was all engineered to avoid the direct bequest of a large sum of money to the accountant and lawyer which would have raised immediate red flags and been completely unethical. Instead they set it up to run the money through the nurse to try and avoid the scrutiny. I certainly hope that the courts do not fall for this and fully investigate the relationship between the nurse, accountant, and attorney to expose this fraud. These two belong in prison for what they did to this poor woman, intentionally cutting her off from her family and milking her estate for their own gains. They should both be locked up for a long time for what they have done and not get a dime from the estate.
She lived to be a 104 and she doesn't need that money anymore.
She didn't trust her relatives for a long long time and they deserve none of her money, because she said so.
She relied on her workers and they get her money now, as she wanted.
The beneficiaries cheated the IRS, so they need to pay it up, with penalties, and the the prosecutors be done with it. Just because her (estranged) family (and a lot of commenters here) don't like who she gave her money to, doesn't mean it isn't theirs. Somebody certaily took care of her till that old age and it isn't her relatives. The care-takers didn't kill her for money. Hope greed (of family) and jealousy (of unrelated public) doesn't dictate this case.
I think the only ones stealing here is the IRS! Period!
tes - that is what the blood-sucking lawyer wants you to think! Did you read any of the legal document pdf files posted at the end of the article? The family petition says they have proof of continuous family contact - until the lawyer took control of her and the estate in 1997. Take the time to read the documents and you will see!
I myself would rather see distant relatives inherit he fortune than the bloodsucking lawyer, accountant and nurse. The second will, signed 6 weeks after the first one in 2005, was completely prepared by the attorney in question. That in itself should be suspect!
I'll bet if it was YOUR great aunt, you would think differently!
Segdirb, you obviously haven't read the entire story.
How many here think that a gift tax is going a bit to far, if someone earned the money and paid taxes on that money they should be free to give it away if they so please, no wonder the RICH don't want to pay I sure as hell would not either ..... Maybe we need to start thinking TAX REFORM ....
@Rick - The gift tax is necessary to prevent the wealthy from completely evading the estate tax. Otherwise, a terminally-ill (or just very, very old) person could simply "gift" all of his assets to his heirs, tax free.
Needs to go to the next of kin, whoever it may be. She didn't earn this money , her Father did. Keep it in the family. Her employees were just that and they were paid for their work.
Does anyone have Aunt Huguette's estate address?
In this I do not care. She had a bundle and did not leave me a cent. From all that I have read over the years by this writer "Dedman" the old gal did not leave a dime to help others either. Not a penny to a single worthy charity. Weird as could be, she collected dolls and shut herself up for decades. That's not living. She was dead long before she died.
Let the courts, her distant relatives who have come out of the woodwork, the lawyers, and the entire bunch of money grubbing fools fight it out.
Rick-3608408 -
She didnt earn the money. That's why she's an heiress. She didn't do anything to earn her enormous wealth except be born to wealthy people.
If I was born to wealthy people is that somehow my fault - or something I should have to suffer for? I didn't choose it, if it's so. Unlike REAL criminals who CHOOSE to harm others...being wealthy in and of itself isn't harming others by merely being wealthy. If you were born with blue eyes and everyone wants blue eyes, is there something wrong with who you are?
ANYONE who can defend the actions of a pedophile (please read Kamsler's court file if you doubt he is one), a shyster, and a greedy nurse is either already a criminal or has a criminal mind. As the attorney for the family stated, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Those who abuse and defraud the elderly and those who abuse and sexually exploit children are the most vile of human beings.
ANYONE who can defend the actions of a pedophile (please read Kamsler's court file if you doubt he is one), a shyster, and a greedy nurse is either already a criminal or has a criminal mind. As the attorney for the family stated, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Those who abuse and defraud the elderly and those who abuse and sexually exploit children are the most vile of human beings.
tes-1779376
Uh, think you are wrong about the relatives (please read the pdf file showing her plan to leave her money to relatives from 1930 AND the will made 6 weeks prior to the one filed).
All of her relatives are financially well off and don't need her money. However, they are not about to sit back and watch the rest of her remaining millions go to three people who have already STOLEN from the deceased while she was alive.
Nancy4366
Are you serious? Suffer? She died one of the wealthiest people in the world. She certainly didn't "suffer" anything.
a accountant who is a convicted felon, a lawyer who had no other clients a 104 year old lady worth about 1 billion dollars, doctors who kept her in isolation for 20 years, gee-wheeze would could go wrong.
The happens to far too many families who put their trust in attorneys and in bank wealth management departments.
Huge amounts of wealth are syphoned off and buried under a mountain of paperwork.
It's just amazing that no matter how well the stock market does that your charitable remainder trust stock investments never seem to do better than 2% average return. The bank trustees are all crooks.
.
Surte corporations are greedy and bad, but in that respect, corporations are indeed prople - relatives or otherwise. What is worse is the concept of inheritance; if a person doesn't trust his beneficiaries enough to gift them his/her assets and rely on them to take care of him/her in old age, they don't deserve it. And to fight over it is shameful.
What if the gifts were fraudulent? The estate should demand all gifts be returned.
Could it be that the proper tax forms were not filed to hide improper management of the estate?
That's so true they could claim they were gifts but the money was pocketed by those MORONS ...... That's probrbly why they could not file the tax forms because she would know that she did not give those so called gifts ..... Wow makes you wonder ... These two clowns could have pocketed a fortune without one being the wiser ....
Since this was not simply a mistake but the IRS was LIED to, in a more perfect world the accountant and attorney should be made to pay those taxes, not the estate.
Dear MSNBC...its not Mrs. Clark as you have in this complete article, its Ms./Miss Clark..if it was any Mrs. it would of been Mrs. Gower ( her ex-marriage last name) not Clark her maiden name.
Thanks, Mike, I understand the Emily Post point you're making, but all those references to Mrs. Clark are in quotes. We quote the documents, or the people, just the way they talk. Her attorneys always refer to her as Mrs. Clark. You'll see that in most of the article, to us she's just plain "Clark" -- we don't use courtesy titles on second reference.
OK, I already know that MSNBC reporters can't right a complete article without multiple errors in spelling (what the heck is "soliciation"?), grammar, punctuation, etc., but it appears that they also can not do math. If her estate is worth 400 million and the attorneys could each earn 2% by acting as executors, how does that equate to 16 million dollars apiece? Last I heard, 2% of 400 million is 8 million.
And Mike277, it's not "would of been", it's "would have been".
Thanks, Mike, for pointing that out! (We'll ignore your snark. Hey, we're supposed to get it right the first time.) Fixed now. An error in haste. I had the $16 million in my head from the previous installment, and didn't do the math this time around. Fixed that spelling error, too. Thanks again. Bill
ABCzyx, since we're pointing out errors, I just want to note that you write an article, you don't right it.
"...MSNBC reporters can't right a complete article without multiple errors in spelling..."
It's write, darling.
Take it easy on Bill Dedman, at least he is man enough to face your criticism. Mrs. Clark is not entirely inappropriate considering she was married at one time. Here in America we, "allow" the woman-folk to keep their maiden name. I also think it is sort of remarkable there are still writers that don't rely on spell check.
Kristina - actually, you are dead wrong. One can right an article and one can write an article. Articles in English grammar include the, a and an. Let's say that Kristina incorrectly writes, "He took a ax and cut down the tree". I can right an article by correcting Kristina's mistake and writing, "He took an ax and cut down the tree". Yes, right is also a verb. Look it up and learn something new today.
Remember that it's better to remain quiet and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth (or post a comment) and remove all doubt.
wow. it takes guts to call someone out for making a typing error. but to make an error yourself, and then lie about what you were trying to say when someone else points out that you're not perfect either, is arrogant. Ring the call bell, ABC. The nurses should have brought your meds to you by now
ABCux: Mistakes happen, especially in delivering time-tight products. But you are the difference between correcting mistakes and defending it. And to attack the person pointing it out...That last line in #2.8 is by you and for you too.
"Right" can be used as a verb, but it would not be used in the context of correcting a grammatical or spelling error. But you get partial credit for knowing various parts of speech.
And now back to our regularly scheduled program.
I love it when a know it all, has to pick up their face for being wrong when they are trying to correct someone else.
I'm currently laughing and pointing at Mike277 and ABCzyx....LOL..LOL
Next time you want to play grammar police, make sure you're not AN OFFENDER!!!
So ABCzyx is write after all?
They had to remove the family as they would have questioned the things mentioned in this article and maybe more.
They would ask where is the money or documents to show where it went. These 2 guys did this to another person not to long ago, I don't remember his name but when they showed some of the statements but could not find the documents to prove the work. They should have thrown the book at them then.
Bock and Kamsler should be made to pay any monies and penalities to the IRS and not have it taken out of the estate. They were the ones who scammed and did wrong.
Put em in the KLINK w/ Bernard Maddoff! ha!
As a retired estate planning attorney, if those allegations are true, that would have been extremely negligent on the parts of the attorney and accountant. While I could respect Ms. Clark's quirks and desire to be a recluse and that perhaps they were really trying to carry out her request, this shows they either didn't know what they were doing or were trying to make sure that Ms. Clark didn't know what they were doing.
From the first article MSNBC posted on Clark, I smelled a rat (make that two rats). Fortunately, the wheels of justice are rolling around sooner than later, and these two opportunistic parasites will get what's coming to them. I hope they have the book thrown at them, and the tax book is indeed the biggest one of all. Just ask Al Capone.
"Failed to file federal gift tax returns for Clark for the years 1997 through 2003, when she made approximately $56 million in gifts to individuals. The gift tax and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax due would have been about $41.5 million."
Ms. Clark would not have been responsible for paying a gift tax since she was the giver. The generation-skipping-transfer tax is another 'death' tax and therefore also not applicable in this case since she apparently didn't leave anything to her family...gst applies when a parent/grandparent skips the next generation sons/daughters and leaves money to the grandchildren/greatgrandchildren....the govt thinks they are entitled to the taxes they missed on that "left out" generation...greedy bastards the lot of them. I think the court appointed exec is looking to rape the estate for every penny he can get his hands on.... If her attorney and accountant knew about the taxes and didn't pay them then they should be held responsible and made to pay.
2Wylde4U, if a gift tax is due, it is the giver, not the receive who is responsible for paying the gift tax. I'm a CPA/Tax Preparer and have filled out gift tax returns previously, so I know it is the giver, not the receiver who pays any tax owed.
Yep, if X gives a gift to Y, it's X who owes the gift tax. The total tax bite is so high in this case because of the additional generation-skipping tax (giving a gift to someone much younger).
what I don't understand is I thought that the republicans did away with some type of taxes to help the rich, or does this not apply in this case. Yes, I too believe the greedy government is trying to get their hands on this money because it is a lot, very sad situation here. People grasping at you whether you are alive or dead, pretty sick.
in a fair, just society, a gift shouldn't be taxed on either party.
I hope that the family of Hugette Clark recognises the contributions that the journalists have made toward revealing the scam perpetuated by the attorney and the accountant. When the dust settles I look forward to reading the novel and watching the movie.
In a fair just society some old bat who never worked a day in her life wouldn't have a net worth 10000x higher than most hardworking americans either.
oh really ??? ---- and for how long have you had this envy regarding the wealth of others ??
knightofdespair - have some respect. Your wife, mother or sister will be "an old bat" some day. Sounds to me like you are envious of her wealth and care nothing but for yourself. It's not her fault she was born into privilege - she was fortunate. What did you expect her to do - give her money away?
Lord what rock did you craw out of Knightofdespair if you had read her father was the one who amassed the fortune and she got it from him... Why should she work if she did not have to..do you call it a fair society if they would take it from her and give it to someone else...I would think that would be unjust and unfair....she got it fairly and just because you have to work {or maybe not } does not mean she needed to give it away....
Money alone does not provide happiness.You will never see any increase of abundance with that attitude knightofdespair. Unless you were in the woman's shoes you have NO idea what kind of life she led or what she did. Just like you she had a right to do exactly what she wanted to with HER money however it came to her.
You guys are idiots.... I didn't say anything about envying her or how her father 'earned' it, I am pointing out that some woman who never worked a day in her life falls into wealth 10000x what any hardworking honest American makes. Our founders purposefully set up tax laws in a way to prevent this kind of crap, even they could see that creating dangerous wealth concentrations like we have now is a direct threat to the long term survivability of a country. Perhaps she did deserve some inheritence but the sheer scale points very clearly to a broken system.
knightofdespair, you missed my point. You called her "an old bat", showing no respect. And it is not her fault that she was born into privilege. Her father earned his millions with his businesses in the day and she inherited it. Its not her fault that millions of Americans are "hard workers" and she never had to work. Its not clear what "kind of crap" it is you are talking about. Sounds like you would like to prevent anyone from inheriting a family fortune. As I said, if it was YOUR family and you stood to inherit some or all of it, you would probably think differently.
No it's her fault she did absolutely nothing worthwhile with her life and did absolutely no good in the world. She is an old bat, for me respect is earned - not handed out at birth. I have far more respect for the sweaty labors working to build the backbone of our homes and businesses at barely minimum wage then this 'lady' will ever get.
knight of despair you are an idiot it is pretty easy to see you are jealous of he wealth . her father made his money in copper, so what she inherited the money .these two POSs have been trying to steal it for years they should be in jail
This to knightofdespair.......I'm done beating a dead horse.
Hey guys, just do what I did with knight...hit the ignore button. It's a great tool to use on tools.
I hate it for the family, but it looks like the IRS is going to get the money. The IRS ought to take all the lawyer & accountants money. what they haven't already hid.
Stc you're exactly right.
The state apointed executor is going to make sure that New York and the Federal Government take as much of the pie as possible. Never mind the fact that the IRS constantly runs plans that remove all tax penalties and fines if you just pay your bill in full. They do it every year to get people compliant. This is a perfect case where fraud was involved and there would be no reason to deny such things to her. But you can rest assured that the executor will make sure the estate pays the full board of funds with no worry about trying to keep any around for the family.
The only people getting 'rich' off this will be the State and the Lawyers involved.
The executor has a legal responsibility to represent the best interests of the estate, regardless of who appointed him. If it is possible to negotiate the tax due, he is obligated to attempt to do that.
I am not surprised that these 2 little snakes wwere scamming her. Throw the book at them and dont forget to bill them interest on all the fraudulant money they screwed her out of.
Were they scamming her? It sounds like they were scamming the IRS and her foundation.
But, yes, they are snakes, I agree.
Berecca, yes they were scamming her. Scamming her for 15 years. They wrote "gift checks" to themselves during the time they oversaw her fortune, and sold some of her property for millions. They also rewrote her will making them beneficiaries of $500,000 upon her death. Read some of the documents in the weblinks provided at the bottom of the article and you will see.....they were definitely taking advantage of this rich, elderly recluse.
I wonder if they will share a cell with Madoff/
Three rats, The attorney, the accountant, and the government. Did anyone truly believe this estate would be settled without the government taking the lions share. By the time the government is done the family will be lucky if there is 10 or 20 million left.When its GE they pay ten cents on the dollar. When it someone like her the penalties will be 1000 percent of the penalties.
Agree'd Smlfry2 & US....
While I'm glad they are investigating, you just had to know the "gov-met" was also going to be sticking their hands into the till like the criminal accountant/lawyer.
So much for the heirs.....
sdpaulson......I agree with what you said also. But if the heirs are successful in taking part in this (as may be determined in a couple of days) the family heirs will hopefully still get something. Her estate has been estimated to be worth over 500 million, while it appears her overdue taxes are in the neighborhood of 90 million, according to the PDF legal documents at the bottom of this article. Interesting reading!
A tax on a donor for a gift he/she has given is unjust. If there is a tax due, the only righteous tax should be the burden of the receiver of such gifts. This sort of tax is just wrong. Our government needs to stop this.
true.
That (having the liability be on the receiver) would not be sane as the reciever may have no control over the actual gift. If I were to make the decision to give someone money, then it is my decision, and my responsibility to pay any leagally required taxes.
Note: the above to not consitute approval of the current tax rates or policies, and is a comment solely on the responsibility issue.
CPUWizard,
As the receiver: You can always refuse the money. You have total control over the gift, and it is your 'income' that would be increasing because of said gift. The receiver should be responsible for any 'income' tax. Logic fail in argument.
crooked lawyers and conniving neighbors pray on the elderly who have money and no immediate relatives (spouse/children) ....beware people and make sure your family is protected from these rats who move from one elderly person to the next under the guise of "being there for them" and then coerce them into giving their life savings away!!!
Gee, another reason people have a hatered for attorneys and accountants. As always,with the" brotherhood of attorneys", they will both walk free with there money. And the poor family gets screwed again by the system.
prey*
Of course we knew the attorney and accountant were stealing her blind. But now the Government is going to steal her estate blind as well. Do you think all of those millions use will be seen by you or I? Lower your health care cost? Improve your roads? Create jobs? Protectt our borders? Make our sky's safer? Feed or house our poor? Pay for our prisons? Reduce our deficit? Again millions that will just disappear into the corrupt people's pockets again.
rj - this is not an article about politics. It's about a rich elderly woman who was taken financially advantage of by a lawyer and an accountant over the last 15 years. Save your political comments for political articles - your comments have no bearing on this story.
The vultures (taxmen) are circling. They're worse than the other two.
The Feds, State and city will take everything!
She was right to become a recluse and avoid the refuse.
She will be paying taxes on gifted money she may have not gifted? Yeah, I would say that is no different than what the lawyer and the accountant did to her. Just pure theivery!
Well now, isn't that a surprise.
These two are nothing but a couple of sleazy dirtbags. One commenter was correct about banks and trust companies. Do not trust them. I had a relative with substantial assets who appointed her banker as a trustee of her resources. When she died, the bank dragged probate out for several years so they could pay themselves huge fees. When all was said and done, the bank got more of her estate than the family did. I say hang these two crooks and seize all their assets to pay toward the taxes and penalties. I hope the IRS takes a close look at their reported incomes for all those years and compares it to transfers they made from the estate.
WHO CARES ABOUT THIS RIDICULOUSLY TANGENTIAL STORY TO MOST AMERICANS?! Why is this news?
Did nobody die today MSNBC? Seriously?
Kanth R,
I take it that you are the self appointed representative of the American people?
People die every day, as you and I will eventually. Why is that news?
The news aspect is that the reporters for MSNBC have found crooks. That is a good thing to most people - unless you are a crook.
The whole fiasco on Wall Street was started and perpetuated by people behaving like crooks on Wall Street. Now, of course, they were "not committing any crimes" in the legal sense, but they were committing crimes in the moral sense Fortunately for them, they controlled (and still control) the people who we "trust" to protect the American people - Congress, the SEC, the Treasury, so they determine what is a crime and how they will be investigated.
So, the Hugette Clark story is a "feel good" story -someone got the bad guys for once.
Obviously you cared enough to comment on the story.
If one doesn't care, then why would they bother posting a comment?
So, so, so sick and tired of the "why is this a story" comments. If you weren't interested then why did you waste 2 minutes scanning the article and 3 minutes posting a comment? You just wasted 5 minutes you could have been patting yourself on the back for being so original <sarcasm on the word original>.
And this is news??? WHY didn't it happen sooner???
I'll never understand why the state of New York didn't step in long ago when questions were first raised about these two creeps. Is there no elder care division in NY???? Makes you wonder if the state/Fed knew all along how this poor lady was being screwed by these two and were just waiting for her to die to step in and take their chunk of the estate. "If" (LMAO) there is malfeasance on the part of these two jokers, the city, state and Fed shouldn't get a dime of this ladies estate because they are just as guilty.
i guess this is just another sign of how bad things are, when the govt finds ways to steal from dead people.
NEVER, NEVER turn your assets over to anyone else to manage for you. If you hire a tax attorney or CPA, have a second attorney or CPA take a look at the work. NEVER turn your assets over to a bank for any reason. Take a look at the cashiers at the bank in levis and no necktie. This is the bunch you want to watch your money? They should be cashiers at McDonalds. You want honesty, put your money in the Bank of Tokyo. Go back again in 200 years and every dime will still be there. If a Japanese banker does something dishonest his life is totally over as well as his family's. In years past, they would committ sepuka (committ suicide by cutting their stomachs out). Americans talk about how dishonest people are in other countries but we have gotten to be a bunch of low life dirtbags.
"Harry McNicholas Americans talk about how dishonest people are in other countries but we have gotten to be a bunch of low life dirtbags."
Speak for yourself Harry ! Most Americans are hard working honest and law abiding . You shouldn't in my opinion lump all Americans as dirtbags ! Thank you .
So, Harry, if you don't wear a tie you're a low life dirtbag?
So sorry greedy family that still does not prove that she wanted to give them anything or the time of day. And the attorney still is not at fault for the accounting errors.
he is if that was a part of his responsibilities.