ladies and gentlemen of the jury I am in receipt of your note three or four person indicating that you have reached a verdict after five long months of a kind of high society trial that riveted New York and much of the nation today finally a verdict as to defendant Anthony Marshall I'll say you to the first count of the indictment guilty or not guilty guilty 85-year-old Tony Marshall found guilty of grand Larsen fraud and conspiracy against his Alzheimer stricken mother Brook Aster for decades the reigning queen of New York High Society what do you think
Brooke Aster would make of this I'm sure she would be heartbroken I mean she would be heartbroken to have her family um torn apart she's been on trial to some extent as well down in court about her you know role as a mother as a friend as a grandmother in fact it's been a family drama straight out of a juicy n Noel complete with a fabulously wealthy socialite Esther her A-list friends including Henry Kissinger and Barbara Walters her son Tony who'd spent his life craving his mother's affection and approval her rebellious grandson Phillip and the
daughter-in-law she held at a distance Charlene the story began back in the 50s when Brook Aster inherited her famous name and Fortune from her third husband Vincent Aster he left her all this money for a foundation and you know who was more popular than someone who's willing to give money to charity beyond that she was charming and amusing not beautiful um loved men loved to flirt loved to go to parties and give them yet when it came to Tony her only child from a previous marriage Brook Aster was much different though he became a decorated
war hero a US ambassador father to twin boys he was clearly living in his mother's sh Barbara Walters a friend of Brook Aster says mother and son had little in common he wasn't what sparkly enough maybe um exciting enough interesting enough so that although Brooke loved him she was a somewhat distant mother I think that Tony spent his life maybe trying to have his mother love him although he was devoted um and of course it's a known fact that uh br did not love charene um his wife still Tony was the dutiful son escorting his
mother to events and at her request managing her finances for years it was a very complicated relationship she gave him a salary and he was making at one point about a half million dollars a year he really was very dependent on her for his living guys Rel Charlene Tony's third wife and the love of his life would be cast as the villain in her husband trial the two met in Northeast Harbor Maine where Brook Aster had a waterfront summer home Tony in a rocky marriage and charene wife of the church Minister fell for each other
while Brooke acknowledged that Charlene made her son happy she never fully accepted her which was apparent in her will Mrs aser really disliked Charlene so that if Tony who had heart problems who has heart problems had died before his mother all of that money would have gone to charity all Charlene would have received was a diamond necklace and earrings and two used for coats but if there was distance between Brooke and her son and daughter-in-law there was a growing fondness in her later years toward Tony's Sons Alec and Phillip what were those relationships like between
Alex and Phillip and the grandmother she really cared about her grandsons but she didn't give them a lot of money and I think it's because she realized her son had become very dependent on her for money and she wanted her grandchildren to really find their own way in the world in early 2006 Philip Marshall says he started to worry that his grandmother now aged 103 was not being properly cared for Philip Marshall went to visit his grandmother and he lingered a little bit afterwards the nurses unloaded were these people implying that Tony was deliberately leaving
his mother In Harm's Way or in squalor I don't think she was necessarily in danger in any way but clearly appearances weren't being kept kept up the way they had been during her you know her better days in an exclusive interview Philip told us he thought Charlene the stepmother he never liked was to blame I cannot believe that my father would have done this had it not been an in an influence and in this case it's Charlene who directed him and motivated him to do what he you know he both did and has allegedly done
you know it is easy for me to Simply say Well it couldn't be my father it has to be somebody else but I really believe as though Charlene is driving this they said many things today about your relationship with Mrs Aster is there anything that you want people to know you guys get up gentlemen what Philip hoped would be a private family disagreement became public after he filed a petition to have a legal guardian appointed for his grandmother we ask now that the clerk take the verdict please he didn't realize it but his actions would
start a chain of events that could land his 85-year-old father in prison in March of this year New York prosecutors began a criminal trial alleging that Tony Marshall took advantage of his elderly mother philanthropist Brook Aster who was suffering from Alzheimer's they discovered among other things what appeared to be a forged signature on Aster's will now how did defendant Marshall steal the $2 million Tony recovering from heart surgery was in court every day with his wife Charlene I started hearing them described and demonized in in the in the press and horrible horrible things said about
them I said this does not sound like the people I know his son Philip remained at his New England Home coming to the trial only once to testify against his father guilty with today's verdict Tony Marshall's future is uncertain he could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison at 85 years old and in failing Health that could mean the rest of his life Behind Bars s putting a guy like that in prison is is really more like a death sentence I think and maybe some other accommodation could be made I don't know what
do you think your grandmother would make of what's playing out right now she didn't choose this but this may be her greatest Legacy this will extend beyond Brooke this will inform the greater discussion all their Justice how do we honor our fathers and mothers what is it to be a dutiful child child or grandchild Philip Marshall says this criminal trial was not the outcome he'd ever intended it started he insists because he felt a duty to help his grandmother spend her last days in dignity yet for his own father that dignity has been taken away
for Nightline I'm Deborah Roberts
