Henry Christensen III, who was Brooke Astor’s lawyer for over 20 years, denied allegations on thursday that he had violated his duty of loyalty to Brooke Astor because of a conflict of interest. He had also represented Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, who, together with attorney Travis C. Morrissey, is on trial for taking advantage of his mother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the time.
Marshall is also charged with larceny for taking a $2 million commission when he sold a painting of his mother for $10 million. Christensen, who was the former chair at Sullivan & Cromwell’s trust and estate practice, was dismissed after he refused to draft additional later will changes that would have increased Anthony Marshall’s share. Christensen says he did not know about the $2 million commission and denied a conflict of interest in the dual representation of Astor and her son.
Astor, who died in 2007 leaving a $192 million estate, was strongly opposed to her son’s marriage to Charlene Marshall and did not want to leave anything to her. Christensen testified that despite her dislike of Charlene, Astor “had a very strong wish to make her son happy” and that she became increasingly dependent upon her son and his wife. He also testified that he knew about Astor’s Alzheimer condition but “didn’t know it was serious”.
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