Astor Son Gets Jail for Looting Mom's Cash

(AP)  The 85-year-old son of philanthropist Brooke Astor was sentenced Monday to as many as three years in prison for exploiting her mental frailty to plunder her millions, but the legal saga surrounding the society doyenne's fortune will persist with planned appeals.

Anthony Marshall showed little emotion as state Supreme Court Justice A. Kirke Bartley sentenced him to one to three years in prison — the minimum term his conviction required — for looting the fortune of his mother, who gave away nearly $200 million to institutions and charities before she died at age 105 in 2007.

Marshall will remain free for at least the next month as his defense lawyers try to persuade an appeals court to let Marshall remain free on bail while his planned appeal plays out.

The judge noted Marshall's World War II service and the possibility that the late Astor herself would have been aghast to see her son imprisoned, but he added that the law left him no choice but to impose a prison term.

"It is a paradox to me that such abundance has led to such incredible sadness," Bartley said. He gave Marshall until Jan. 19 to provide his medical information to prison officials and otherwise prepare for life behind bars.

Marshall declined to speak at his sentencing, where prosecutors described him as an unrepentant thief who deserved punishment, while his lawyers strove to portray him as a dutiful son who believed his mother wanted him to have the money and items he was convicted of stealing.

Before leaving court, the stooped, unsteady Marshall sat for a minute on a bench in the courtroom audience, his tearful wife's arm around his shoulders. He nearly stumbled over a pile of snow as he and his wife, Charlene, walked to a waiting car.

Co-defendant Francis X. Morrissey Jr., 67, an estates lawyer convicted of helping Marshall steal his mother's money, was also sentenced Monday to one to three years in prison. Like Marshall, Morrissey will remain free until Jan. 19 and is planning to appeal.

Marshall faced as many as 25 years in prison after being convicted of 14 counts, including grand larceny and scheming to defraud, for looting his mother's nearly $200 million fortune. She was suffering from Alzheimer's disease when she died.

In the final year of her life, the nasty family feud over her care was splashed all over the city's tabloids — including allegations that she was forced to sleep in a torn nightgown on a couch that smelled of urine while subsisting on a diet of pureed peas and oatmeal. Those allegations were never substantiated.

Defense lawyers have said Marshall's myriad illnesses would make any prison term a virtual death sentence.

Marshall's Oct. 8 conviction followed a five-month trial in which Manhattan prosecutors painted him as an impatient heir who schemed to get his hands on his disoriented mother's money, though she had already provided for him generously.

Prosecutors, who brought in such prominent Astor friends as Barbara Walters and Henry Kissinger to help make their case, say Marshall manipulated Astor into changing her will and even helped himself to artwork from her walls.

"The defendant's economic and social standing shouldn't put him above the herd," Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann said. "He shouldn't be treated as anything other than a common thief."

Defense lawyers say Marshall had the legal power to give himself gifts with his mother's money, and she was lucid when she changed her will to benefit her only child. He consulted with attorneys throughout, they noted.

"I think the fairest way to think about it is that there is a man who, maybe, felt entitled — and in hindsight felt too entitled

but he's not somebody who simply stuck his hand in the cookie jar when no one was looking," defense lawyer John R. Cuti said as he argued for leniency for Marshall.

Marshall didn't testify or call any witnesses at his trial. After his conviction, he aired details of his life — from childhood sorrows to his current health problems — and lined up some celebrity supporters of his own in a bid to stay free.

Al Roker, a fellow parishioner at Marshall's church, praised the decorated World War II veteran as a "good son, father and patriot." Neighbor Whoopi Goldberg told the judge in a letter that jailing him "would only amount to an unnecessary cruelty that would serve no real purpose."

Prosecutors dismissed the letters as belated and irrelevant.

"When you steal millions from your mother, it isn't enough to say you're nice to Whoopi Goldberg," Seidemann said.

Under Marshall's sentence, he generally would have to serve at least a year in prison before being eligible for parole. But he might be able to request parole earlier for medical reasons.

Meanwhile, a fight over Astor's estate continues in civil court, pitting Marshall against several charities. It was on hold during the criminal case.

Citing the will fight, Bartley turned down prosecutors' request to force Marshall to pay more than $12 million as restitution.

Astor was seen as the queen of New York society and a power in the city's philanthropic scene, supporting such grand institutions as Carnegie Hall and such humble needs as a new boiler for a youth center. Her efforts won her a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 1998.

[brady51h-2009]

I think his wife should join him. She appeared to be the brains of the outfit.

[askagain]

With many posters always being critical of wealthy people, it is surprising they even respond to this article.

[stryker54]

This is all about her GRANDSON that feels he didn't get enough and figured he could probably cause his dad to have a heart attack and die leaving it all to him. Wise up folks, I have one child also. I will give to charity what I want while alive, when I die I would want it all to go to my daughter, not lawyers or charities. Than my daughter can pass it on to her children, my grandchildren. real easy concept.

[Auld1957]

ONLY a one to 3 year sentence ? Has this greedy heartless man have no shame? I thank GOD that I was not raised with a silver spoon in my mouth. All of my family have passed away now, and at 52, and on social security disability, I can't even 'make ends meet', and this man is going to be treated like a KING in whatever facility he goes to. Um, sometimes (it may take awhile) KARMA just turns around and bites ya in the ASTOR.

[westwoodmews]

My earlier comment was tossed into the ash can by CBS. As I said in my initial comment - Whoppi Goldberg, the best part of her ran down her father's leg...Paul/ Bethesda

[formrusmcsgt]

...a dutiful son who believed his mother wanted him to have the money and items he was convicted of stealing.
--
If those HAD been her wishes, he wouldn't have had to steal it, would he?

[bubbadubba]

So we must ask ourselves this very important question, since it was her money would the mother want her 85 year old son to go to jail?
"Meanwhile, a fight over Astor's estate continues in civil court, pitting Marshall against several charities. It was on hold during the criminal case."
Does anyone still think those so called charities are not a bunch of money grubbers lining their own pockets and making big paying jobs for themselves and their family and friends?
Charities - what a joke.

[stn_sage]

One to three years? Not enough! This man is likely to live to 105 years old! He should have gotten twenty (20) years at least!

The judge kissed Astor's posterior!

[tmittelstaed]

Once she was certified by doctors as being mentally incompetent, the will should not have been changed. if she hadn't been certified as incompetent when the will was changed, then he wasn't guilt of anything.

[nowhiningallowed]

This was a tragic story of how a son kept pilfering money from his mother's riches as she aged for his own benefit. Three years is much too mild a sentence given that he's reportedly stolen or diverted millions for his own benefit that he wasn't entitled to claim as his own. He also took advantage of his mother's failing health merely for his own gain and that of his wife. The fact that the likes of an Al Roker and Whoopi Goldberg spoke on behalf of the defendant shows how indifferent they both are to the evidence and the principles in this case, not too mention being dismissive to the charitable causes Astor favored, but the son didn't. Considering these two and their support of the son shouldn't be too surprising. Marshall probably promised to give them part of his ill-gotten diverted gains.