The year before Abe Hirschfeld’s death, his son — who has been accused by his sister of conning the real-estate mogul out of $300 million in his declining days — thwarted an investigation into a mysterious fall that landed the frail octogenarian in the hospital, a lawyer alleges.
“Mr. Hirschfeld told me that he had believed that his son pushed him down the stairs,” Simon Rosen writes in a damming Feb. 25 statement about the parking-lot magnate’s son, Elie. “Mr. Hirschfeld expressed concern that his son wanted to take control of his business affairs.”
But Elie, who’d taken over the family business, allegedly barricaded the entrance to his dad’s Lenox Hill Hospital room when Rosen tried to visit in November 2004.
“He directed me to leave the hospital and threatened to call security to have me forcibly removed,” Rosen said in the sworn statement.
Elie Hirschfeld, 63, president of Hirschfeld Properties LLC, and his sister Rachel, 67, an attorney specializing in pet trusts, are battling in two Manhattan courts over their inheritance.
In court papers, Rachel accuses Elie of forcing their oddball dad to sign over at least $300 million in property to him.
Abe Hirschfeld — a Polish-Israeli immigrant who hustled his way to a Fifth Avenue apartment — developed open-air parking lots, made numerous failed runs for political office and even had a short, controversial stint as owner of The Post in 1993.
When he died at age 85 on Aug. 9, 2005, his estate was worth a mere $7 million, documents show. At one point Hirschfeld’s net worth was around $1 billion.
Both children were estranged from their father at different times. Toward the end of his life, the storied gadfly spent 22 months in prison for attempting to put a hit on his business partner.
Rachel Hirschfeld petitioned Surrogate’s Court in February to take over the reins of her parents’ estates so she could go after the alleged looted assets.
Elie Hirschfeld, who told The Post he was in charge of medical decisions for his dad in 2004, called the claims “simply untrue.”
“There is no evidence Mr. Rosen was either employed by my father or acting on his behalf,” Elie said in a statement.
“I loved my father,” he added.