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Tony Bennett's Children Locked In Vicious Fight Over 'Mismanagement' Of Late Vegas Legend's Estate!

Tony Bennett's Children Locked In Vicious Fight Over 'Mismanagement' Of Late Vegas Legend's Estate!

Tony Bennett‘s adult kids are duking it out after two of his daughters have gone to court to claim that his son — and their brother — has been mismanaging funds in the family trust!

The legendary Las Vegas-based singer, who died back in July of 2023 at 96 years old, is the subject of a VERY contentious posthumous legal filing brought about by his daughters Antonia and Johanna Bennett. The lawsuit, which was first filed late last year and is now bubbling over into the media realm, was filed against the duo’s brother Danny Bennett over assets the sisters claim have gone unaccounted for both before AND after their father’s death.

Tony himself first created the trust way back in 1994. The singer later amended it in 2008 to name Danny as a co-trustee. Thus, Danny alone was left in charge of the trust and the millions of dollars it housed after Tony passed away about 18 months ago.

Related: Lady GaGa Mourns ‘True Friend’ Tony Bennett In Heartbreaking Death Tribute

The latest update in this case is, to date, the most shocking. Last week, Antonia and Johanna filed a motion with the court citing “serious concerns” over the fact that Danny is the sole trustee for their late father’s estate. They also accused their brother of “mismanagement” of the crooner’s ample funds after death.

In the filing, first obtained by People on Wednesday, the sisters claim Danny “acted in multiple, conflicting” capacities while doling out trust funds for himself and his own children from the pool of money that had meant for all of Tony’s kids. The petition discusses Tony’s tragic decline before death, and asserts Danny used that to his advantage:

“Danny acted in multiple, conflicting fiduciary capacities for an extended period prior to Tony’s death and took (for himself and his children) significant funds from the Family Trust. Moreover, as publicized by Danny to various media outlets, at some point prior to Tony’s death, Tony entered a phase of diminished capacity, which means Tony was no longer able to act as co-Trustee, leaving Danny to serve as sole Trustee of the Family Trust with no oversight.”

Yikes!

The two sisters are demanding a look at the accounting actions Danny took with the trust both before and after Tony’s passing. Citing a “lack of transparency” in how Danny has apparently been doling out funds, the sisters argued:

“[Tony] expressed a clear intention and direction in his estate plans that all four of his children be treated equally.”

Specifically, Antonia and Johanna accuse their brother of cutting checks for himself and his children from the trust funds “as he saw fit.” That included a moment in 2022 when Danny allegedly “made multiple gifts to himself” with trust money that ended up totaling just over $200,000.

Furthermore, they claim Danny took monthly $50,000 advances from the trust on top of the money he’d earned as Tony’s business manager in the final years of the singer’s life. Those large-sum advances allegedly came as early as 2021 — despite nobody else formally agreeing to them until more than a year later. Uh-oh!

Then, in 2022, Danny helped orchestrate a major sale of Tony’s assets to a company called Iconoclast after he claimed at the time that his father was “in financial trouble.” But now, the two sisters say that simply wasn’t true!! In their filing, Antonia and Johanna assert their dad “still had millions of dollars” in assets when the deal was made. And after the asset sale, Danny allegedly continued to “make gifts to himself and his children with Family Trust assets.”

In total, the sisters’ filing claims that Danny’s company RPM Productions received nearly $2.6 million in commissions during that time, while Johanna and Antonia each only received less than a tenth of that from the trust — about $245,000 per sister.

The sisters’ filing goes on:

“Without more information about Tony’s income, it is unclear whether the payments Danny was making to himself exceed what was contractually owed to him. Statements and management agreements provided by Danny indicate that commissions paid to RPM appear to have been much higher than they should have been based on Tony’s income.”

Damn…

FWIW, tho, Danny’s camp is already clapping back at these accusations. A source close to the embattled Bennett son said this to People in response:

“Tony and Danny Bennett have worked together for over 40 years, and the record of their successful partnership speaks for itself. Tony thoughtfully planned his estate to reflect his wishes and generously provided for his loved ones. Danny has always acted in Tony’s best interest and has worked diligently to ensure his father’s plans were honored and carried out. It is unfortunate and sad that some are choosing to dispute his decisions rather than honoring Tony’s legacy.”

Shots fired… on BOTH sides!

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[Image via Mr. Blue/WENN]

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Jan 16, 2025 12:00pm PDT