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Octogenarian Heir To Astor Fortune Begins Prison Term

Anthony Marshall, the son of the late New York philanthropist Brooke Astor, leaves court in 2009 after his sentencing hearing.
Spencer Platt
/
Getty Images
Anthony Marshall, the son of the late New York philanthropist Brooke Astor, leaves court in 2009 after his sentencing hearing.

Anthony Marshall, the 89-year-old heir to the Brooke Astor fortune, is heading to prison in New York after exhausting appeals in his 2009 conviction for defrauding his famous mother.

A judge in Manhattan ordered Marshall to begin serving the one- to three-year prison term on charges that he exploited his philanthropist mother's ailing mental health to loot her millions. She died in 2007 at the age of 105.

Last week, Marshall's lawyers filed papers seeking a new trial, claiming that a jury in the 2009 case had been coerced to convict him. But the judge rejected the request.

Marshall's father, who was Astor's second husband, died in 1953. In 1959, Astor's third husband, Vincent Astor, died and she set up a foundation in his name, which subsequently gave away nearly $200 million.

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Scott Neuman is a reporter and editor, working mainly on breaking news for NPR's digital and radio platforms.