Brooke Astor’s Son Guilty in Scheme to Defraud Her

Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall, with his wife, Charlene, leaving court on Thursday, before the verdict was delivered. Photo by John Marshall Mantel/The New York Times/Redux

The son of Brooke Astor, the legendary New York society matriarch, was convicted on Thursday of stealing from her as she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease in the twilight of her life.

Barring an appeal, the jury’s verdict means that Mrs. Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall, an 85-year-old war veteran who fought at Iwo Jima, can be sentenced to anywhere from 1 to 25 years behind bars.

The verdict drew the curtain on a trial that lasted longer than had been expected: The jury of eight women and four men sat through more than 19 weeks of testimony and arguments in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, hearing detailed accounts of Mrs. Astor’s luxurious life of teas at the Knickerbocker Club, summers on an estate in Northeast Harbor, Me., and dinners with the likes of Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general. They heard testimony from Henry Kissinger, Barbara Walters and Annette de la Renta, among others.

Mrs. Astor, whose fortune was estimated at more than $180 million when she died two years ago at 105, may have been best known for channeling large sums toward New York charities and cultural institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Bronx Zoo.

Mr. Marshall was found guilty of one of two first-degree grand larceny charges, the most serious he faced. Jurors convicted him of giving himself an unauthorized raise of about $1 million for managing his mother’s finances. Prosecutors contended throughout the trial that Mrs. Astor’s Alzheimer’s had advanced so far that there was no way she could have consented to this raise and other financial decisions that benefited Mr. Marshall.

The defense sought to undercut the prosecution’s case by showing that Mrs. Astor had lucid moments, despite her Alzheimer’s. Frederick P. Hafetz, one of Mr. Marshall’s lawyers, cited the time she said, “Rich people are no different from poor people, they always want more,” after making a change to her will in 2004 that gave her son greater control of her estate.

Although Mr. Marshall and Mrs. Astor may have had an awkward relationship, the defense contended that she realized late in her life how much she loved her son, and that was why she gave him so much.

The prosecution, however, portrayed Mr. Marshall as greedy, saying that he was driven to squeeze his mother for money at the urging of his wife, Charlene.

In his closing statement, Joel J. Seidemann, an assistant district attorney, read from the Book of Psalms: “Do not cast me away when I am old. Do not forsake me when my strength is gone.”

He added, “It has been said that a society is judged based upon how it treats its elderly,” and asked jurors to hold Mr. Marshall “accountable for stealing from and defrauding a great philanthropist, a great New Yorker and human being in the sunset of her life.”

The jury, which was in its 12th day of deliberations, had shown signs of strain this week. On Monday, the jury sent out a note that read, “Due to heated argument, a juror feels personally threatened by comments made by another juror.”

“With regards to her personal safety,” the note continued, “she wishes to be dismissed anonymously.”

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