BRIDGEPORT — A former White House adviser, aide to a U.S. congressman and prosecutor, Rik Bachman can now add convicted embezzler to his resume. The Fairfield lawyer pleaded no contest Thursday in state Superior Court to second-degree larceny for stealing more than $200,000 from the accounts of his 85-year-old aunt. He is accused of using Keep Reading…
Nelson Mandela’s grandchildren insisted on Thursday they were not after his money after launching court action over alleged irregularities in two companies owned by ailing anti-apartheid icon. “Most of us are gainfully employed, work for our own companies and run our own projects,” they said in a statement. The family last week filed papers to Keep Reading…
A California judge awarded Tito Jackson’s son, T.J., and mother Katherine co-guardianship of the Thriller hitmaker’s kids, Prince, Paris and Blanket, last July (12) following a major family feud, which began when the matriarch was reported missing during a 10-day vacation. The 34 year old, who is married and has three children of his own, Keep Reading…
Brooke Astor’s octogenarian son won a temporary reprieve from prison life on Friday, when a judge ruled he could stay out while continuing to appeal his conviction for swindling the late philanthropist’s $185 million fortune. A frail-looking Anthony Marshall, 88, was wheeled before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice A. Kirke Bartley for a brief appearance Friday Keep Reading…
A federal judge has ruled that DC Comics holds the rights to Superboy and the 1938 advertisements that marked the first published appearances of Superman, rejecting efforts by the heirs to one of the Man of Steel’s co-creators to reclaim the works. U.S. District Judge Otis Wright granted summary judgment to DC, a unit of Keep Reading…
A Nashville attorney whose law license already is under suspension for misappropriation of a ward’s funds is being accused in a civil suit of misappropriating at least $450,000 from a now-deceased elderly woman whom the courts had entrusted to his care. In the suit filed in Davidson County Circuit Court, John E. Clemmons has been Keep Reading…
Probate Judge Polly Jackson Spencer has announced she will not seek re-election in 2014. Why bother with the early revelation? Spencer, a Democrat, wants her successor to be well qualified for the specialized job she has held since 1990. The announcement gives probate lawyers in both parties plenty of time to craft a campaign and, Keep Reading…
As lawyers troll for litigation treasure in the wake of the West Fertilizer Co. explosion, impacted parties should understand the potential for illegal activities perpetrated by lawyers and other hypocrisy that comes with the brand of “justice” being promoted. The Waco Tribune-Herald reports the filing of two explosion-related lawsuits, one by a group of four Keep Reading…
The feuding family of late tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung has returned to court despite reaching a settlement last year, as one son accuses another of withholding information that may affect the distribution of billions of dollars’ worth of assets. Benjamin Fok Chun-yue asked the Court of First Instance yesterday to remove his elder brother, Ian Keep Reading…
FREEHOLD – A 43-year-old Matawan man admitted in a Monmouth County courtroom Thursday that he posed as a terminal cancer patient’s nephew to steal nearly $1 million and a family home from her. James J. Demitro was arrested on Aug. 19, 2011, following a five-month investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Monmouth County Keep Reading…
The prison doors aren’t swinging shut just yet for Anthony Marshall. The swindling son of famed philanthropist Brooke Astor must return before his original trial judge this Friday, April 19. But Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Kirke Bartley will allow Marshall, 88, to remain free for now so he can take one further shot at appealing Keep Reading…
PORTSMOUTH — About $300,000 in a will, left to police Sgt. Aaron Goodwin by an elderly resident whose competency is being challenged, should legally go to her grandson, said attorney Paul McEachern. The resident, Geraldine Webber, died in December at age 94, seven months after she endorsed a new will and trust that names Goodwin Keep Reading…
TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday upheld the first-degree murder conviction of a Gove County man in connection with the death of his father. In a 14-page ruling, justices unanimously turned aside each issue argued by attorneys for 66-year-old David A. Stevenson, convicted Oct. 13, 2009, for the May 13, 2008, murder of Keep Reading…
PHILADELPHIA — In a story April 12, The Associated Press erroneously reported the fortune to which Michael Scripps was an heir. He had a trust fund from the fortune of James E. Scripps, not E.W. Scripps. A corrected version of the story is below: A Scripps family heir was convicted Friday of stealing $3.6 million Keep Reading…
Estate of Denial® provides news, analysis and commentary on abusive practices occurring in probate courts and via probate instruments (wills, trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney). We provide original perspective to educate the public regarding this growing threat to both individual freedoms and property rights.
An update on Texas district attorneys’ questionable conduct
A recent article queried Texas district attorneys and misconduct: isolated practices or bigger pattern? Updates on three public officials – Travis County’s Rosemary Lehmberg, Williamson County’s Ken Anderson and Dallas County’s Craig Watkins – again remind of that question. Read the full article at Texas District Attorneys’ Questionable Conduct Continues Making Headlines.