Tony Bennett’s two daughters have filed a brand new lawsuit in opposition to their older brother, alleging he “abused” his energy over their father’s property for “important monetary achieve.”
Johanna and Antonia Bennett have accused D’Andrea “Danny” Bennett of “improper and illegal conduct” in his position as trustee over the household property, claiming he’s gone in opposition to their father’s needs that each one 4 of his youngsters “be handled equally.”
“Since Tony’s dying, Johanna and Antonia have found that Danny exercised full and unchecked management over Tony and his monetary affairs previous to and following his dying by means of a number of fiduciary and different roles of authority that Danny has abused, and continues to abuse, for his personal important monetary achieve,” attorneys for the Bennett sisters wrote within the go well with, filed Monday.
The sisters declare that Danny paid himself “extreme and unearned commissions” and gave “substantial loans and presents to himself and his youngsters” previous to their father’s dying in 2023.
“Danny engaged in these improper transactions with out accountability or oversight of any form, freely utilizing and controlling Tony’s property and belief property typically as in the event that they had been Danny’s personal,” the go well with reads.
It claims Danny took benefit of his father’s diminished capability late in life as a result of Alzheimer’s illness to make offers for himself and his firm, together with the sale of Tony Bennett’s catalogue and his title, likeness and picture rights to the model improvement agency, Iconoclast, shortly earlier than the singer’s dying.
The submitting comes after a lawsuit in June of 2024, when the sisters sued Danny, alleging he had mishandled their father’s property and requesting that he open the books for the household belief so any and all cash may very well be accounted for.
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In court docket filings within the earlier lawsuit, his attorneys mentioned the sisters’ claims had been baseless, that they’d been supplied with ample accounting, and that their father trusted Danny utterly throughout his life and that the entertainer credited him for pulling him out of monetary troubles and reviving his profession.
Danny was his father’s private {and professional} supervisor with energy of lawyer and was the supervisor of his firm, Benedetto Arts. He’s the trustee of the household belief, the go well with says.
The brand new lawsuit accuses him of benefiting from “self-interested and conflicted transactions, extreme and unearned commissions,” and “substantial loans and presents to himself and his youngsters” which have diminished property that Tony’s will requires his 4 youngsters to separate equally.
One other brother, Daegal “Dae” Bennett, and Tony’s widow, Susan Bennett, had been additionally named as defendants within the lawsuit.
FILE – Tony Bennett, his daughter, singer Antonia Bennett, and son, producer Danny Bennett, attend the Clive Davis pre-Grammy occasion on the Beverly Hills Resort, Beverly Hills, Calif., on Feb. 26, 2002.
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Assortment through Getty Photos
The sisters declare that the US$245,000 they every obtained from the property is “nowhere near what they imagine they’re entitled to obtain.”
Additionally they allege that Danny discarded sentimental gadgets that belonged to their father in a “malicious and retaliatory method” after the earlier lawsuit.
Bennett’s piano, which Antonia says was promised to her, was in “horrible situation” after they had been allowed to see it in a tour of the singer’s house, the place they are saying they had been denied entry to a lot of his property.
The 38-page lawsuit states that on the time of Tony’s dying in 2022, his property had been valued at $12 million, however the sisters declare his lifetime earnings exceeded $100 million.
“Johanna and Antonia haven’t obtained any credible rationalization about what occurred to Tony’s substantial lifetime earnings previous to his dying,” the go well with reads.
Additionally they allege Danny took two loans from the household belief for a complete of greater than $1 million and offered their father’s title and likeness rights and the royalty stream to his music with out session.
Whereas Danny’s attorneys haven’t commented on the newest lawsuit, a supply near him advised Billboard journal that the latest case is “one more baseless try to distort the general public and the court docket’s understanding of Tony Bennett’s clearly said needs” for his property.
“Danny has adopted his father’s plans with integrity and care, and it’s disappointing that these Tony supported all through his life — and continues to help by means of his property — at the moment are difficult Danny’s integrity with unsubstantiated and unfounded claims,” the supply is quoted as saying.
Tony Bennett died in 2023 on the age of 96. Previous to being identified with Alzheimer’s illness in 2016, he launched greater than 70 albums and was awarded 19 Grammy Awards.
— With information from The Related Press
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