Hotel heiress Leona Helmsley left almost none of her fortune to her family and much of it to her dog. She was known for being cruel, and the majority of her estate went to her dog. She left a $12 million trust fund to her cherished Maltese when she passed away in 2007. Very little, if anything, of her estate, was distributed to her heirs. Most of her dubious past would be acquired by her previous owner.
The Nasty Queen Leona Helmsley became well-known in the 1980s, but not for the reasons you might expect. Instead, she seemed to stand for conceit and avarice. Even her staff feared her because she was a hotel heiress who was closely involved in her husband’s hotel company. She wasn’t a family woman; it appeared that her sole concern was making money. Along with her white Maltese, Trouble.
After losing one of her sons, Jay, the lone child who had defended her when an assailant came close to stabbing her to death, Leona drove the widow and children out of their home. She claimed that the removal of all the household goods and other items inside was necessary to pay back a $100,000 loan and that the furniture and other items were Helmsley Estate property.
Perhaps the only thing she truly loved was her dog.
She took two of her grandchildren out of the trust fund she had set up before she passed away in 2007. Instead, Trouble, Helmsley’s spoilt maltese, earned the majority of her trust fund—precisely $12 million. Next, she distributed her funds as follows:
She gave her brother Alvin some money and asked him to take care of Trouble.
If two of her four grandchildren visit their father’s grave once a year, her late son Jay would bequeath millions to them.
$3 million will be used to upkeep the tomb where she was placed to rest and where Trouble would ultimately be interred.
She pays her driver $100,000
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust will receive the money raised from the sale of the billions of dollars’ worth of Helmsley assets.
The sum left to Trouble was reduced by a judge, yet it was still enough to bring off one last controversy for the “Queen.” On the other hand, her children and grandchildren were left with nothing. Her two grandchildren appear to comprehend the reason why their grandmother did not leave them with even a single dime.
Named Brother of Her Leona’s brother, Trustee Alvin, was designated as both the executor of her estate and the permanent caretaker of Trouble, her white Maltese dog. Additionally, she designated five executors to manage her estate. In her will, Helmsley specified that Trouble would receive a 12 million dollar gift held in trust after her passing. Alvin, her brother, was also tasked with finding Trouble a suitable place to live and be tended for when she passed away. She had a spoilt Maltese, Trouble, and he chose a 12,000 square foot family tomb for her. The will also mentioned her brother Alvin Rosenthal and her late son Jay’s grandchildren.
What She Produced Libera Mindy Operator, real estate investor, and prosperous broker Roberts Helmsley amassed a fortune in the billions. In addition to residential real estate, she also owned businesses that dealt in co-ops, condominiums, and apartments. She was also a prosperous hotelier in New York City. Her late husband Harry Helmsley gave her his business when he passed away in 1997.
On the other hand, this woman wasn’t a pleasant person. She was as brutal as they come and had been married twice before she married Harry. She became well-known after appearing in advertisements for Helmsley hotels. Despite being attractive, she was probably the complete opposite to work for. At Helmsley, everyone was terrified of her. They were concerned enough that they came up with a kind of warning system to let staff know when she was leaving her penthouse and heading to one of the couple’s many hotels.
Leona Helmsley was known for letting people go without warning whenever she felt like it. She was also notoriously jailed for tax fraud and evasion in the late 1990s. Famously, during her prosecution, her former servant said the hotelier reportedly remarked, “Only the tiny people pay taxes.” She received a sentence that included two years in prison and a payment of fines and taxes totaling close to $8 million. She was required by the judge to complete 750 hours of community service after she was released from jail. He made her work 150 additional hours after they found out she was having her staff work some of those hours. As the adage goes, some people “never change.”
