Dead Billionaire’s Will Only Accounts for $25 Million

Dead Billionaire's Will Only Accounts for $25 Million

(RightWing.org) – Last month, billionaire corporate trader Thomas H Lee shot himself in the head in his NYC office. Now his will has been revealed — and it accounts for just $25 million of his fortune. What’s going to happen to the rest of it?

On February 23, police were called to the Fifth Avenue offices of Thomas H Lee Capital Inc. after staff got worried they hadn’t heard from their boss in hours. They found Lee’s body on the floor of his sixth-floor private office, with a gunshot wound in his head and a Smith & Wesson revolver lying beside him. The New York City medical examiner ruled his death a suicide. Lee, a friend of former president Bill Clinton, was well known for buying struggling mid-sized companies and selling them for huge profits; Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at around $2 billion.

Now the New York Post has reported that Lee’s will distributes just $25 million to his relatives. The bulk of that goes to two of his sons, who will receive $10 million each. Lee set up a trust for his other three children, although details of that aren’t listed in his will.

The other main beneficiary is Lee’s widow, Ann Tetenbaum. She inherits his homes — including an estate in East Hampton, which could be worth over $100 million. She will also take over his “tangible” property, which includes art, silver, cars, books and furniture, the value of which isn’t listed either.

Going by the documents now being held by Manhattan Surrogate Court, Lee’s assets were a lot smaller than estimated. Papers show he had $5 million in cash and bonds, $5 million each in real estate and business assets and $10 million in the “tangible personal property” that goes to Tetenbaum. People who knew him are skeptical that this is all he owned; the only person who’s likely to know his real worth is Tetenbaum, who was also listed as the executor of his estate. That means she won’t just know what assets Lee really had; she’ll have a lot of control over where it goes now.

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