Ethics Inquiry Widens Against Attorney Who Set-Up Brooke Astor Son
The Monday, July 22, 2013 New York Law Journal story by Brendan Pierson, "State Recommends Medical Parole for 89-Year-Old Marshall," explains the pending application before the medical parole board seeking the release of the wrongly-convicted former U.S. Ambassador, Anthony D. Marshall.
However, the Law Journal fails to address the recent revelations that support the claim that the convictions of Anthony Marshall and Francis X. Morrissey, Jr., were a complete set-up, a sloppy money-grab orchestrated by one of New York's own "officers of the court."
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| Anthony Marshall |
The New York Law Journal has yet to report about the fact that Manhattan's ethics committee, The Department Disciplinary Committee (the "DDC"), on July 5, 2013, formally asked New York admitted attorney Susan I. Robbins, of the Detroit-based Miller Canfield law firm, to explain herself.
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| Susan Robbins |
And the proof of the Robbins' ethics inquiry, and as being officially advanced by the DDC, sits as a public document, filed in federal court in SDNY case #13-4423 in The U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York.
$ Twenty Million Reason $
The ethics complaint against attorney Susan Robbins alleges that she, in concert with others in and outside of the Miller Canfield firm, have, since at least 2007, advanced a complex scheme to defraud law enforcement, courts of law and individuals involved in matters concerning Brooke Astor and her $150,000,000.00-plus estate.
The filing references other attorneys from Miller Canfield: Gregory L. Curtner, Esq. (now employed at Schiff Hardin LLP in Ann Arbor, Michigan) and Marcy L. Rosen, Esq. (currently employed at Miller Canfield in Detroit, Michigan), and that Miller Canfield principal attorney and Chief Executive Officer Michael P. McGee, who is based in Detroit, Michigan), and who has been apparently aware of the ethics allegations.
The complaint says that, "Ms. Robbins' scheme required the removal of Anthony Marshall so that her client, Philip Marshall, could advance his court filing to be the lone administrator of the Astor monies. Indeed, had Philip Marshall succeeded in becoming the administrator of the estate, Susan Robbins and her law firm, Miller Canfield, stood to gain $18-20 million dollars in legal fees."
Making Tammany Hall Proud: Triple Dipping
If he were alive today, Boss Tweed would be beaming, "Crank out the legal fees, then use someone else's money to prime your future client (to the tune of $800,000.00). All so you can get $20 million as the Astor estate's attorney. It might be criminal NOT to set someone up for this......"
The complaint presents evidence from Ms. Robbins' former client, Philip Marshall, that Robbins "had been emailing the Manhattan district attorney’s office about the Astor proceedings on many occasions and over an extended period of time...... those emails were never provided, in violation of well-settled Brady provisions, to any member of the criminal defense team, the court, nor apparently the involved prosecutors...."
The status of the relationship between Philip Marshall and his former attorney Susan Robbins is unclear, but what is known is that Philip Marshall's children's receipt of $800,000.00, and his (Philip's) filing against his father ultimately cost him (Philip) and his brother Alec $10-15million dollars each. (Apparently, Ms. Robbins was unaware of prior agreements that provided for a heavy payday for Philip and Alec- $10-15million dollars each.)
Apparently, Philip Marshall's confession as to Ms. Robbins behind-the-scenes activity was not made known until April 15, 2013- well after Marshall and Morrissey were set-up and convicted. Had Robbins' Brady material it been revealed during the trial, a mistrial would have resulted.
Another issue worthy of a Tammany Hall bronze star is the fact that an alleged forged document, and that was advanced to prosecutors by Ms. Robbins, was always under her control.
Conflict, What Conflict?
The complaint against Robbins says that it, "is undisputed that while Brooke Astor was alive, Susan Robbins distributed $800,000.00 to Philip C. Marshall’s two children..... [and] shortly after Brooke Astor’s death, attorney Susan Robbins filed papers, on behalf of Philip Marshall personally, seeking his (Philip’s) appointment as administrator of Brooke Astor’s estate, and where Susan Robbins and Miller Canfield would receive tens of millions of dollars as the estate’s legal representative."
The conflict, according to the complaint, arises when, "At no time did Susan Robbins reveal her true motives or conflict as Philip Marshall’s attorney after having been Brooke Astor’s attorney....[or] reveal to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, or to the defense, that she and her Miller Canfield law firm were seeking tens of millions of dollars that could only result from criminal convictions."
A former government employee who has reviewed the Astor filings in federal court has a lot to say on the subject, "Everyone knows Anthony Marshall and Francis Morrissey were framed- completely set-up. Look at their history. Marshall was a valuable member of the U.S. Marines, receiving a Purple Hearth. He was a U.S. Ambassador and a highly respected member of the State Department. And most people will unfortunately never know how much they owe Francis Morrissey - all beyond his life a good works. Francis Morrissey has been recognized for his work in keeping us all safe after 9/11 - just ask someone you know who works for the NSA."
A high-level former member of the NYPD agrees that Marshall and Morrissey are innocent, adding, "If two white guys with money can get pounded with such injustice, we're all screwed."
More soon...........................
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| Francis X. Morrissey Jr. is charged with forging Brooke Astor’s signature. |
Lawyer Charged in Astor Case Has Been a Beneficiary in Clients’ Wills
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Ever since the family battle broke out over Brooke Astor’s care and fortune, most of the attention has focused on her only son, Anthony D. Marshall, 83, who served as the steward of his mother’s finances for more than a quarter-century. But indicted this week along with Mr. Marshall was a lawyer with a troubled legal career who has faced disciplinary action in at least two states.
Yesterday morning, that lawyer, Francis X. Morrissey Jr., 65, turned himself in at the Manhattan district attorney’s office after being charged in the 18-count indictment with helping Mr. Marshall exploit an ailing Mrs. Astor so the two men could gain financially. Mr. Morrissey is charged with, among other things, forging Mrs. Astor’s signature on a final amendment to her 2002 will.
In the afternoon, Mr. Morrissey, his wrists handcuffed in front of him, appeared at his arraignment but did not utter a word. One of his lawyers, Pery D. Krinsky, entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. An assistant district attorney, Peirce Moser, then summed up the crimes that Mr. Morrissey was charged with committing.
“Under the guise of representing Mrs. Astor when she had diminished mental capacity, the defendant in reality worked himself into a position to collect millions of dollars when she died,” he told Judge A. Kirke Bartley Jr.
Mr. Moser asked that Mr. Morrissey provide a personal recognizance bond of $100,000 and surrender his passport, the same request prosecutors made of Mr. Marshall on Tuesday. Mr. Morrissey stroked his chin with his left hand, which was no longer cuffed, and signed the necessary papers before leaving the courthouse in silence.
It would seem to be the darkest moment in the career of a lawyer who over the years has gained a reputation for ingratiating himself to older people and finding his way into their wills or trusts, mostly as a beneficiary, but also as an executor or a trustee.
In the indictment in the Astor case, Mr. Morrissey was charged with forgery, criminal possession of a forged instrument, scheme to defraud, and conspiracy. Mr. Marshall was charged with scheme to defraud, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, falsifying business records and other charges.
Mr. Morrissey has been accused in several previous cases of taking advantage of mentally incompetent people near death and then being named as a beneficiary of such bequests as a Park Avenue apartment, a Midtown Manhattan apartment, expensive art and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.
Those cases were settled in confidential agreements with the other interested parties. As part of those settlements, Mr. Morrissey admitted no wrongdoing.
In a gift that was not challenged, Mr. Morrissey received an annuity worth more than $100,000 from an elderly alcoholic woman who claimed to have fallen in love with him before her death a few years ago, according to a person briefed on the situation. She kept a photo of Mr. Morrissey next to her bed.
One of Mr. Morrissey’s lawyers, Michael S. Ross, said in an e-mail message yesterday, “A handful of Mr. Morrissey’s close friends, including some he had known literally for decades, showed their appreciation and deep feelings by making gifts to him in their estates.
“While these gifts upset some who would receive less money, Mr. Morrissey’s friends were fully entitled to express their feelings for him in this way,” Mr. Ross said.
Before he was indicted in the Astor case, Mr. Morrissey’s most serious problem as a lawyer stemmed from work he had done in the field of admiralty law. In 1995, he was issued a two-year suspension by the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court linked to his representation of a Spanish company, Mar Oil, in a dispute it was having with an insurer over the loss of one of its supertankers.
Mr. Morrissey, who was in disagreement with Mar Oil over his fee, was found to have wrongfully taken $925,675 out of an escrow account belonging to the firm to compensate himself, and to have deceived a top company executive into signing a letter that approved the payment, according to court documents.
Stephen Gillers, a professor of legal ethics at New York University School of Law, has included the case in his curriculum.
“I teach the case because it is a good illustration of how not to treat your clients, and it is factually dramatic in showing how Morrissey’s conduct violated his duty to Mar Oil,” Mr. Gillers said.
In November 1996, Mr. Morrissey submitted his resignation from the State Bar of California with charges pending against him, according to records. A spokeswoman for the bar said that the charges remain confidential.
Mr. Morrissey is the son of a Boston judge who was nominated for a position on the federal bench in the mid-1960s. But the nomination, which was being pushed by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, was pulled back after questions were raised about the elder Mr. Morrissey’s qualifications and character.
The younger Mr. Morrissey, who received his law degree from the University of California, was admitted to practice law in New York on Oct. 15, 1973, according to court records.
Later that decade, he met Mrs. Astor. After 2000, Mr. Morrissey developed a closer relationship with her and started advising her on estate planning.
He was invited to her birthday celebrations. He dined with her at the Knickerbocker Club and accompanied her to museum events and the theater. He took her to the opening of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” on May 6, 2003, in which Mr. Marshall and his wife, Charlene, had made an investment, according to a copy of Mrs. Astor’s schedule.
Mr. Morrissey would drop Mrs. Astor notes about the goings-on of New York society and send her flowers and books, like “The Diaries of Beatrice Webb,” correspondence from her to Mr. Morrissey showed.
Mr. Morrissey has also been an investor in and board member of Mr. Marshall’s theater production company, Delphi Productions, which received hundreds of thousands of dollars of Mrs. Astor’s money.
During this period and in earlier years, Mr. Morrissey was being accused of exploitation.
On March 3, 2002, Sam Schurr, an economist who would die the next day at 83, apparently signed an amendment to a family trust that gave Mr. Morrissey his East 57th Street apartment and a drawing by Diego Rivera.
In court papers challenging the document, a relative of Mr. Schurr’s said it “was the product of fraud and undue influence exerted on the decedent” by Mr. Morrissey and others.
Mr. Schurr was “incompetent” on the day of the signing, according to the court filing, which also said that he had suffered a stroke in May 2000 and that his health “deteriorated progressively.” The matter was subject to a confidential settlement in 2005.
“He’s a ‘walker,’ as we say in the trade: someone who befriends elderly people, mostly women, with the idea of getting on their good side and getting into their wills,” said J. Hayes Kavanagh, a lawyer who represented several clients in a similar case against Mr. Morrissey.
In that matter, beneficiaries and a public administrator appointed by a surrogate’s court alleged that Mr. Morrissey had exploited a woman during a revision of her will on July 17, 1997.
The woman, Elisabeth von Knapitsch, a widow who lived on Park Avenue, died on Jan. 15, 2000, at 91 with an estate worth about $15 million. In her will, Mr. Morrissey, who had known her since the early 1970s, received Ms. von Knapitsch’s apartment, the furniture, four oil paintings — including two by Renoir — as well as $300,000 and whatever was left of her estate after other bequests had been made.
But in court filings, five beneficiaries to her fortune said that Ms. von Knapitsch “was not of sound mind or memory” and was not capable of making a will. They accused Mr. Morrissey and others of subjecting her to “duress and undue influence.” Under a settlement agreement, Mr. Morrissey received a significant portion of the money designated for him in the will.
A month before Jose Juarez Garza died in May 1987 at the age of 56, the will he made in 1976 was amended, appointing Mr. Morrissey as both co-executor and lawyer for his estate. But Mr. Garza, who was in the hospital at the time, was so ill that he apparently signed the amendment with an X, which was accompanied by the words “His Mark,” written by Peter J. Kelley, a lawyer who signed the document as a witness.
Mr. Morrissey supervised the signing of the amendment. “Mr. Garza was in extremis and could not move his hand very easily. He was very weak,” Mr. Kelley said in an interview. “So we had him just make a mark. But from what I could tell, he knew what he was doing.”
Mr. Kelley said he had worked with Mr. Morrissey on a number of wills and amendments, known as codicils, for various clients. He said that Mr. Morrissey would contact him and “give me the parameters” and ask him to draft a will or a codicil.
As for Mr. Morrissey becoming a beneficiary in a number of wills, Mr. Kelley said that Mr. Morrissey “is connected in the social set.” He added, “ In my experience, he seldom sent out a bill, and people reciprocated. And he is extremely good at caring for elderly people, but it could be interpreted in different ways by different people.”
“He seemed dedicated to seeing that these people maintained their quality of life to the utmost,” Mr. Kelley said. “He would often take them to lunch every week, or see to it they would go to the occasional show or museum tour.”
Another lawyer who Mr. Morrissey has often collaborated with on estate matters is Warren Forsythe, according to court records. This relationship was highlighted in another case in which Mr. Morrisey was accused of untoward influence in being designated in an amendment to receive one-third of a trust of Louise Page Morris, who died in October 2002 at age 98.
In a petition to set aside the amendment, two relatives of Ms. Morris asserted that the two lawyers had unduly influenced “clients of advanced age and fragile condition to sign wills and trust agreements that provided for gifts to” Mr. Morrissey and “for the appointments” of Mr. Morrissey and Mr. Forsythe “as paid fiduciaries of the wills and trusts.”
Mr. Forsythe did not return calls seeking comment.
LINKAstor attorney’s disbarment:
too little, little too late
By Lou Ann Anderson
Disbarment is the latest development in the saga of Francis X. Morrissey, the New York estate planning attorney who schemed to loot millions of dollars from Brooke Astor's estate. In October 2009, Morrissey was convicted of four felony and one misdemeanor counts including forgery and scheming to defraud the late philanthropist.
Francis Morrissey
Anthony Marshall, Morrissey's co-defendant and Astor's son, was at the same time found guilty of 14 (out of 15) counts comprising 13 felonies, one misdemeanor. December brought each man a one to three year prison sentence though prior to their January surrender date, an appeals court judge ruled the two can remain free pending their appeal, a process anticipated to last for years.
Brooke Astor
While a New York state appeals court may hope Morrissey's disbarment plays as a show of the legal industry's commitment to professional integrity, based on his past record, this move plays more like a Pat Benatar song - specifically ="it's a little too little, it's a little too late."
Media reports paint a picture of an attorney with, at best, a pattern of questionable professional conduct. In August 2006, here's how The New York Post characterized Morrissey:
Francis X. Morrissey Jr. has befriended and done estate work for at least six people who died in their 80s and 90s- most of whom changed their wills shortly before dying to make sure he got a bigger piece of their fortunes, court records show.The article outlined how one client, 83-year-old Sam Schurr, changed his will the day prior to his death resulting in Morrissey receiving his East 57th Street apartment and valuable artwork in addition to $300,000 for which the attorney was previously designated. The Post reported that "=91undue influence' - taking advantage of his clients' mental states for his own benefit" was alleged in two cases, included Schurr's, but that due to settlements in both cases, charges officially remained unsubstantiated.
Here is how The Post describes Morrissey's befriending of Schurr:
Records show Morrissey has made his longtime friendships with other rich people pay off.In a subsequent Post article, a dispute over Page Morris' estate is detailed:
Morrissey, who was admitted to the bar in 1973, was doing estate work by the mid-'70s. In 1979, he befriended Jay Lovestone, labor party leader, co-founder of the Communist Party of America and CIA operative.
He was named co-executor of Lovestone's 1986 will, which was prepared when Lovestone was 86. He died in 1990, and left a chunk of his estate to Morrissey, who said in court papers that he'd overseen Lovestone's medical care for the last few years of his life.
In an affidavit, Morrissey said he'd been introduced to Lovestone by Page Morris, "who was a close friend of his for over 50 years, and a very close friend of my own family for many years."
Morrissey also did legal work for Morris, who died in 2002 at age 98. Her 2001 will left Morrissey one-third of her estate after her debt cleared.
It was through Lovestone that Morrissey became friends with Schurr, who was married to Lovestone's niece.
The Brooke Astor lawyer who has made a healthy living off his elderly, ailing clients' estates has made a "practice" of taking advantage of their "advanced age and fragile condition," court papers charge.A January 2008 New York Times blog headline read "How Francis X. Morrissey Swindled New York's Best and Brightest." Another Times article during the same timeframe described the activities of Morrissey and two other lawyers, Warren J. Forsythe and Peter J. Kelley.
Francis X. Morrissey Jr.'s "plan," the filing says, was carried out by him and another lawyer, Warren Forsythe, who drafted all of the wills that name Morrissey as a beneficiary and executor.
The allegations were contained in an estate challenge by the family of a woman named Louise Page Morris, who died in 2002 at age 98. Morrissey and Forsythe were named co-executors and co-trustees of her estate in her 2001 will, which awarded Morrissey a large chunk of her fortune.
Her grandchildren accused the pair of "fraud," and said at the time the will "was claimed to be signed, our grandmother was disabled by the effects of her advanced age and so incapacitated by the undue influence" of Morrissey and Forsythe that she "was not capable of making a valid will of her own."
They also charged that she "had been moved out of her own home when it was sold" by Morrissey, "who then made payments from the proceeds of the sale to himself."
The dispute was settled last month, court records show. There was no finding that Morrissey committed any wrongdoing, but he gave up his one-third claim to the estate and repaid the estate $10,000, records show.
It also provided a striking illustration of how Mr. Morrissey and two other New York lawyers together became involved in estates, often of wealthy and prominent people whom Mr. Morrissey had known, sometimes for decades.
They have been criticized for their involvement in a succession of such cases.The three lawyers have collected sizable fees for serving as executors or trustees and for performing legal work on estate and trust matters, and Mr. Morrissey has been the beneficiary of a number of bequests. Some of those wills have been challenged in court and have resulted in settlements.The Times also detailed the case of Elisabeth von Knapitsch.
Ms. von Knapitsch was a widow when Mr. Forsythe drafted a new will for her that she signed on July 17, 1997. Under the will, Mr. Morrissey received most of Ms. von Knapitsch's $15 million estate, including her six-room apartment on Park Avenue. Mr. Forsythe, who had served as her lawyer, was co-executor of the estate.In a May 2009 article, The New York Times offered that despite Morrissey's involvement with estate disputes that were settled via confidential agreements and avoided admissions of wrongdoing, that "Mr. Morrissey's most serious problem as a lawyer stemmed from work he had done in the field of admiralty law."
Upon Ms. von Knapitsch's death at age 91 in 2000, some of her relatives and a probate official argued that the will was the result of fraud and "duress and undue influence" by Mr. Morrissey "and others."
The dispute was resolved in a settlement, with Mr. Morrissey, who had known Ms. von Knapitsch and her late husband since the 1970s, still receiving a significant portion of the bequests.
The same day that Ms. von Knapitsch signed her will, Dr. Alexandra Adler, an authority on schizophrenia and one of the first female neurologists to teach at Harvard Medical School, signed hers at the age of 95. The same three witnesses were used in both women's wills. Mr. Forsythe prepared the document and was named a co-executor of Dr. Adler's estate.
The will stipulated that Mr. Morrissey was to receive 40 percent of what was left of her estate after all other bequests had been made. Dr. Adler died in January 2001 at 99.
Anne Hilde Huston, a von Kanpitsch friend dating back to the women having first met at a dance class in Germany when they were 10, was another client of Morrissey. Huston emigrated to New York in 1936 to escape the Nazis. Upon her death, Morrissey inherited from her a house in Maine house and 29 acres of land.
"A long-term pattern exists in which Mr. Forsythe has prepared wills" in which "Mr. Morrissey is designated as a beneficiary, and Mr. Morrissey or Mr. Forsythe is named as a fiduciary," a lawyer named Donald Novick wrote in an affidavit in 2003.
In 1995, he was issued a two-year suspension by the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court linked to his representation of a Spanish company, Mar Oil, in a dispute it was having with an insurer over the loss of one of its supertankers. Mr. Morrissey, who was in disagreement with Mar Oil over his fee, was found to have wrongfully taken $925,675 out of an escrow account belonging to the firm to compensate himself, and to have deceived a top company executive into signing a letter that approved the payment, according to court documents.Morrissey's disbarment is one of several recent developments that should trouble anyone respectful of American property rights and/or desiring to believe in our legal system. Without the Astor case, how many more estate looting complaints would have had to surface for action to be taken? How many families harmed? How many more assets questionably diverted?
In November 1996, Mr. Morrissey submitted his resignation from the State Bar of California with charges pending against him, according to records. A spokeswoman for the bar said that the charges remain confidential.
Dupe the dying so you can steal their stuff. That's a lowbrow description that depicts a lowdown act increasingly perpetrated on all sizes of estates. For the activity surrounding these estates to be so known and documented, lawyers and other legal authorities knew what was going on. Perhaps only those harmed by Morrissey's actions viewed these patterns as a problem. By legal industry standards, Morrissey's disbarment may be a job well done.
For the affected families as well as those who believe in American property rights, this seems a little too little, a little too late.
More Articles by Lou Ann Anderson
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