Brooke Astor: A Tale of Greed and Elder Abuse
How one man swindled his dying mother out of $200 million
Source: Billy Huynh on Unsplash
A Cautionary Tale
A prominent philanthropist and the epicenter of the New York society scene, Brooke Astor lived a tumultuous but glamorous life.
After her husband, Vincent Astor passed away and left her the family fortune, the famous socialite had only one intention: to live out the remaining years at her country estate. But her son, Anthony Marshall, had other plans.
After brief stints working as a C.I.A. agent and U.S. ambassador, Mr. Marshall wanted to return home to New York. So, his mother procured him a spot on the boards of Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She also had him take control of her considerable investment portfolio, paying him $450,000 a year to do so.
To further help her son, Brooke Astor bought him a $2 million apartment on East 79th Street and promised him a $50 million inheritance, which included her pad on Park Avenue and the sprawling Westchester County estate.
But despite all of this, Mr. Marshall felt he deserved more — so he decided to use his mother’s power of attorney to give himself a bonus, raising his total annual income to $2.4 million. From there, he plotted with the family’s estate lawyer to reroute $60 million — meant for his mother’s favorite charities — to their own bank accounts.
Between stealing valuable artwork from the family home and buying 55-foot yachts, Mr. Marshall didn’t have much time to look after his ailing mother. And sadly, Brooke Davis spent her final years deprived of necessary medical care and imprisoned on a urine-soaked sofa in her Park Avenue apartment.
What motivated Mr. Marshall to commit such a crime? Love — or, rather, an attempt to satisfy his third wife and her expensive tastes.
To learn what happened next, listen to AARP’s Perfect Scam podcast:
Useful Resources
AARP’s Perfect Scam podcast on Brooke Astor:
https://www.aarp.org/podcasts/the-perfect-scam/info-2018/famous-socialite-robbed.html
Vanity Fair’s in-depth exposé on The Battle for Mrs. Astor:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/10/astor200810
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