US: New York hotelier and real estate magnate Leona Helmsley left millions to her beloved dog, Trouble, but she has left billions more for the care of dogs in general, the New York Timesreported yesterday.
Helmsley left instructions that an entire charitable trust - valued at $5 billion-$8 billion (€3.15 billion-€5 billion) and amounting to virtually all of her estate - be used for the welfare of dogs, the newspaper said, citing two people who had seen the document.
The two said Helmsley signed it in 2003 to establish goals for the trust that would disburse assets after her death. The first goal was to help indigent people, and the second was to provide for the care and welfare of dogs, the newspaper said. But a year later, she deleted the first goal.
All the money may not yet go to the dogs, the article said. It said the mission statement also has a provision that Helmsley's trustees may use discretion regarding the funds. Some lawyers say the statement may not mean much, given that it was not incorporated into her will or the trust documents.
Helmsley, who was known as "the Queen of Mean" because of the way she dealt with her employees, had a soft spot for her dog. But a New York court last month lowered the dog's inheritance to $2 million from $12 million on the grounds that Helmsley was mentally unfit when she made her will.
Helmsley died in August 2007 aged 87. Famously quoted as having said "only the little people pay taxes", Leona Helmsley spent 18 months in US federal prison for evading $1.7 million in taxes in 1989.
- (Reuters)