He tried to appear stoic, but Brooke Astor’s son had a difficult time keeping a stiff upper lip yesterday as he was arraigned on charges of swindling his Alzheimer’s-stricken mother out of millions in cash, property and artwork.
Anthony Marshall had to wipe away tears when his wife, Charlene, ran into his arms in Manhattan Supreme Court, where he was about to be slammed with charges over his handling of his mother’s affairs, including grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and conspiracy.
If convicted at trial of the top count, Marshall, 83, would face up to 25 years in prison and would likely die behind bars.
“We’ll be all right. We’ll be all right,” Charlene told him as she escorted him up the aisle of Justice A. Kirke Bartley’s courtroom.
Prosecutor Elizabeth Loewy told the judge that Marshall and his business partner, a shady lawyer named Francis Morrissey, had “exploited Brooke Astor’s deteriorating mental condition for a period of years . . . to defraud her estate.”
“Despite his mother’s generosity when she was well, he used his position of trust to steal from her,” Loewy said.
The indictment said Marshall, who managed his mother’s money, stooped so low as to con the then-100-year-old – a world-renowned and much-beloved philanthropist – into thinking she was broke in order to force her to sell one of her favorite paintings for $10 million.
In reality, she actually had a net worth of more than $120 million – but the sale enabled Marshall to pocket a $2 million commission, the DA said.
The filing also charges that Marshall exerted “undue influence” on the ailing Astor to get her to make changes to her will that would steer tens of millions of dollars away from needy charities and institutions and into Marshall’s already deep pockets.
As time went on, the indictment says, Marshall – who had power of attorney over his mother’s finances – simply started helping himself to her cash. In 2005, “after consulting with Morrissey,” he “used his mother’s money to pay himself an unauthorized retroactive salary increase” of almost $1 million, District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said.
Marshall used the bulk of that money to buy himself a second yacht, the 55-foot General Russell, which he named after his mother’s father, Morgenthau said. He then allegedly stole another $52,000 from Astor to pay the yacht’s captain.
He also spent an undisclosed sum of Astor’s money “to pay the salary of a social secretary who worked primarily” for Marshall and Morrissey’s theater-production company, which they ran out of Astor’s Park Avenue apartment “without her knowledge,” Morgenthau said.
He helped himself to two of Astor’s paintings as well, one by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo and one by John Frederick Lewis, which are valued at half a million dollars each, the DA said. The paintings were returned last year.
Marshall also used $600,000 of his mother’s money “without her knowledge” to pay for upkeep of his wife’s home in Maine – which had belonged to Astor.
Marshall had allegedly convinced his mom to give him the beautiful 8.4-acre estate on a scenic island, and then “quietly transferred” it to Charlene.
Marshall was released on a $100,000 personal-recognizance bond after surrendering his passport.
He declined to speak with reporters as he left the courtroom, and passed his time waiting for his car by sitting on a bench and reading the 22-count indictment against him and Morrissey, who’s expected to turn himself in later this week.
Marshall’s lawyer, Ken Warner, said “we are confident that when all the facts are known, Mr. Marshall will be exonerated.”
He said his client, a Tony Award-winning producer and former ambassador, “faithfully and effectively managed his mother’s affairs for more than 25 years, increasing the value of her investments from $19 million to $82 million.”
“Brooke Astor loved Tony, her only child, and whatever he received was in accordance with her wishes,” Warner said.
Morgenthau painted a very different picture of Marshall, and accused him of preying on his sick mother solely out of greed.
“As far back as 2001, Mrs. Astor’s physicians informed Marshall that his mother was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and that her ability to understand complex issues was limited” and the condition was degenerative, the DA said.
The son nonetheless helped her file a new will in 2002, which was later amended with three codicils.
The will and the first codicil, which had been drawn up by Astor’s longtime lawyer, Terry Christensen, were scrutinized by the grand jury but did not result in criminal charges.
In early 2004, the DA said, Marshall and Morrissey “conspired to fire” Christensen and have Astor “sign a second codicil to her 2002 will” for Marshall’s benefit. Earlier wills had left Marshall a 7 percent annual payout from his mother’s estimated $60 million residuary estate, which would pay out about $4 million a year. After Marshall’s death, whatever was left of the cash would go to Astor’s favorite causes.
The second codicil left Marshall all the money outright, “thereby changing the longstanding estate plan that this money would ultimately go to charity.”
The pair allegedly weren’t through. Marshall and Morrissey, whom Marshall had named a co-executor of Astor’s estate along with Charlene, then “conspired” to have Astor sign a third codicil, the DA said.
That amendment called for Astor’s real property to be sold after her death, resulting in higher executors’ fees.
Morrissey has been charged with forging Astor’s name on that codicil.
Morrissey, 65, was suspended from practicing law for two years in the 1990s for helping himself to money from a client’s escrow account. He’s also done estate work for at least six wealthy elderly people who changed their wills to leave him portions of their estates just before they died, court records show.
Over the years, he has been bequeathed millions in cash and property, including two Manhattan apartments, a house on 30 acres of Maine seacoast, a Diego Rivera drawing and several other luxury items.
“He likes to associate with widows,” said one person who knows him. “He charms people who are helpless. When you’re helpless, he’ll be there.”
In two of those cases, Morrissey was accused of using “undue influence” by manipulating his trusting clients to bequeath him larger shares of their estates. Both cases were settled confidentially, and the charges were never substantiated.
Morrissey has denied any wrongdoing in this case.
The DA’s probe started after Marshall’s son, Philip, started a court action against his father alleging that he’d been skimping on Astor’s care while skimming her millions.
Astor’s court-appointed lawyer in that case, Susan Robbins, spotted the forged signature and referred the matter to the DA’s Office.
“My concern for my grandmother’s health and well-being prompted me to help her,” Philip Marshall said yesterday. “Little did I know the outcome would be so profound.”