The third wife of the late Rocky Aoki, founder of the Benihana Japanese steakhouse empire, has an appetite for cash.
Barely a year after Keiko Ono Aoki won control of her husband’s $35 million estate, she’s trying to claw back $3 million more she says her six stepchildren looted from it on the eve of his death.
Keiko, 59, claims the kids, including the restaurateur’s model daughter Devon Aoki and DJ son Steve, made the cash grab “as Rocky lay dying in his hospital bed” on July 9, 2008.
The children counter that since the money was from a trust Rocky created in 1998 after being convicted of insider trading, they were entitled to the funds. They argue that the money could be doled out “at the complete discretion of the trustees,” who were Rocky’s sons, Kevin and Kyle, daughter Kana Grace Nootenboom and close friend Kenneth Podziba.
“Keiko had no more right to notice [of the money transfer] than did Rocky’s doctors or chauffeur, as she is not a named beneficiary,” the kids say in the Manhattan Surrogate’s Court suit.
A source close to the case said the eve-of-death distribution was made because two of Rocky’s kids were in dire need of the funds. The money was split evenly between the six children, including daughter Echo.
Rocky married Keiko without a prenuptial agreement in a shotgun ceremony in 2002.
Keiko is now the CEO of Benihana, which has grown to 100 locations across the globe. Rocky, a former Olympic wrestler, founded the first teppanyaki-style eatery, where diners sit around a steel-topped table that incorporates a grill, on East 56th Street in 1964. The steakhouse, with its theatrics of chefs brandishing knives and juggling shrimp, quickly drew crowds, including such celebs as Muhammad Ali and Sean Connery.
Rocky’s friend and the children’s spokesman, Kenneth Podziba, declined to comment.
Keiko’s attorney, Richard Feldman, downplayed the legal battle, saying the dispute was “not uncommon.”