Photo: Anthony Marshall, son of late philanthropist Brooke Astor, in state Supreme Court where he is accused of stealing from his mother's estate/AP
Posted: Tuesday, 09 June 2009 12:12PM
Laurence Rockefeller Testifies at Brooke Astor Trial
NEW YORK (AP) -- Aging socialite Brooke Astor didn't recognize her close friend, Laurence Rockefeller, when they had lunch together.
Rockefeller's great-niece, Miranda Kaiser, described the encounter Tuesday in Manhattan's state Supreme Court. Prosecutors are trying to show that Astor's son took advantage of her dementia to plunder her $198 million fortune.
The trial hinges on whether Astor -- one of America's richest women -- understood 2003 and 2004 changes in her will that increased Anthony Marshall's inheritance.
Kaiser says the luncheon was around that time period.
She said Laurence Rockefeller pointed out the tie that Astor had given him for Christmas.
Astor turned to Rockefeller's brother, David, and asked: "Who is that man?''
Astor was 105 when she died in 2007.
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