Leona Helmsley aka the billionaire woman who owned the Empire State Building is long gone, over nine years, but her estate is still hounded by controversies. Just recently, New York's attorney general told Helmsley's executors including two of her grandchildren, that the $100 million fee they were asking was too much and should be reduced by 90 percent.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Helmsley's real estate portfolio lists the Empire State Building as one of her assets and she reportedly had a net worth of $4.78 billion at the time of her death in 2007. She left a big chunk of her wealth to various charitable institutions and in 2014, her estate's four executors decided to ask a fee in exchange for their work as caretakers of the estate.
However, Eric Schneiderman, New York Attorney General will not easily agree to their demand. Broken down, the amount they are asking converts to more than $6,000 per hour rate which Schneiderman calls "exorbitant" and unjustifiable. Unfortunately for the executors, the attorney general has a charities bureau which possesses the power to check and refuse the payment they demand when they deem the amount as excessive and unreasonable. Instead of acceding to their set price of compensation, the AG's office suggested that $10 million or less would be a comfortable figure.
In a report by Forbes, Lady Helmsley was reputed to have a very bad case of greed which many think is the reason why her estate's executors are going for broke and asked a whopping $100 million in fees. Aside from giving away her fortune to charity, the "Queen of Mean" also left her dog named Trouble $12 million. Helmsley's surviving kin decided it was too much for a pet and challenged the will. Brother Alvin Rosenthal was left $15 million and two of her grandchildren received $10 million while the other two got $3 million apiece but only after contesting the will too.
