It set off a series of charges and countercharges of scandalous behavior of the children raiding cash from their fathers safe deposit boxes as he lay gravely ill in a hospital, of the second wife spending lavishly like a material girl and taking advantage of his frailty late in life until it was dismissed in June 2018. Her suit described scenes of turmoil before Paterakis death and afterward, of fights breaking out in Harbor East restaurants and the siblings helping themselves to their fathers cash hoards and so-called play money. The siblings fired back, characterizing her as a spendthrift who once charged two Hermes Birkin handbags to her hotel room in Las Vegas and pressured him into a hasty wedding. Additionally, they defended the trusts that Roula Paterakis claimed were shams as above board and part of their fathers estate planning. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. The case isPaterakis vs Paterakis, et al.,03C18001742. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. ", Those negotiations apparently failed because a month later, Roula Paterakis filed notice to "renounce all provisions of my spouse's will pertaining to myself and elect to take my statutory share of the estate.". For the first time were getting a very large lump-sum payment on an old PILOT that had profit-sharing.. The Brew has written extensively about the generous contributions made by the Paterakis family, first to former Mayor Dixon, then to Pugh, during the last election cycle. Roula seeks to undermine John Paterakis's careful, legitimate estate and business succession planning. One third of $200,000 is a negligible amount of money compared to the total of the Paterakis family fortune, so in Roulas 2017 lawsuit, she tried to persuade the court to include some non-probate assets in the valuation of the estate. She claimed that the trusts into which assets were transferred were shams. (One of Mister Johns favorite adages, according to a profile by Rafael Alvarez, was: Always be involved in whatever you can politically, but never run for public office.). She alleged that Bill Paterakis and Venice Vanessa Paterakis Smith, the siblings designated as the personal representatives of their fathers estate, had tried to get him to divorce her. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. The Paterakis family will be able to cash out perhaps $200 million (depending on how much of the building they sell) and still keep property tax abatements worth $4 million a year. We will see if Roula continues to pursue the crumbs.. John Paterakis, like many wealthy people, kept many of his assets in trusts. The dueling lawsuits expose a rift between the businessmans descendants and his second wife. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. All rights reserved. The lawsuitalso accused Roula Paterakis of berating and belittling John Paterakis Sr. The siblings suit portrays the widow as a twice-divorced woman who latched onto their wealthy father. Both depict screaming, animosity-fueled fights and both make claims that the other side took advantage of the family patriarch when he was in a weakened state toward the end of his life. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. "You're almost guaranteed litigation," he said. Has it ever occurred to the BDC to say, We cant solve every problem you have, Mr. However, his political largesse landed him in trouble in 2010. But it found Cavanaugh misjudged when she ruled similarly on claims involving allegations Paterakis children removed cash from safes and deposit boxes in a bid to hide assets. The suit describes the magnate as dependent on round-the-clock nursing care after 2013. Weiner, of Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC in Baltimore, declined to elaborate. Paterakis was fined $25,000 and banned from making political contributions until 2012. Over a long career, the bread man created one of the biggest bakery businesses in the U.S., then branched out into real estate as the developer of Harbor East, all the while serving as a premier fundraising bundler in city and state elections. (Karen Jackson/Baltimore Sun). Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced by the family, who could not be reached for comment. She alleges that her husband's cash, assets and "controlling interest in the H&S Bakery enterprise" are worth more than $1 billion and should be part of his estate. Thus, H&Ss offer of $1.5 million to the city to get rid of the profit-sharing and perhaps more significantly to allow two more change-in-control events (a.k.a. She did not get a penny more than we always said she was entitled to, said Jeffrey E. Nusinov, of Nusinov Smith LLP in Baltimore. His actual net worth at the time of his death was unclear, but Roula Paterakis claimed she was supposed to inherit one-third of it. Jeffrey E. Nusinov, who represents Bill Paterakis and Smith, said Roula Paterakis suit, which initially sought a third of what she said was her husbands $1 billion fortune, has been chipped away over the years to almost nothing. But William Paterakis and Venice Smith say in their newly filed complaint that their fathers estate planning was lawful, and took place before he married his second wife. The Paterakis siblings fired back in a suit of their own. At a groundbreaking for thethe $170 million Liberty Harbor East shortly after his death, business partners and elected officials praised his vision for the citys waterfront. Are the children willing to give that up to avoid the fight? The amount that leaves in dispute is about $570,000. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. But the Legg Mason Tower is scarcely marginal it boasts some of the highest rents in the city, is fully leased, and is under contract to sell at an extraordinary $480 per square foot, according to the Baltimore Business Journal. O3-C-18001742. With this distraction put to bed, the Paterakis family will continue to honor John Paterakis true testamentary wishes and his legacy of supporting Baltimore.. He was referred to as the bread man by some politicians, a reference to his bakery and ability to provide campaign contributions. Roula Paterakis will receive what she was left as either a beneficiary or co-owner when John Paterakis died on Oct. 16, 2016, at age 87. As John Paterakis health began failing, the suit charges, she became concerned not with his well-being but with ensuring that she got as much of his fortune as possible. [Family feud over estate of bakery magnate, Harbor East developer Paterakis]. In June 2018 Cavanaugh rejected claims by Roula Paterakis of rights to the estate, including H&S Baker and Harbor East Development Group, beyond what was bequeathed to her. In the final month of her husbands life, Roula Paterakis sought to increase her inheritance, the suit alleges. Up/down is compared to their net worth in 2015. But, she said in her suit, Paterakis children raided the cash hoards and cleaned out play money bank accounts when he was ill and hospitalized, denying her a fair share after his death. Paterakis died on October 16 at age 87. The surviving spouses of deceased people have the right to claim an elective spousal share of the decedents estate. Continue with Recommended Cookies, Your email address will not be published. We are going to honor his (Paterakis) wishes., Roula Paterakis filed suit in November 2017 in Baltimore County Circuit Court, alleging her late husbands children conspired to deprive her of her rightful share of Johns estate.. Shunning the thought of retirement despite poor health, Paterakis was involved in the expansion of his domain to the east side of Central Avenue with the proposed $170 million Liberty Harbor East project. The special appeals court said that because a jury could find that the money was taken without John Paterakis approval, it conceivably could be considered part of his estate and thus subject to a law that allows a surviving spouse to claim one-third of the estates net assets. Adam Bednar He was 87. At issue is reconciling what Roula Paterakis' lawsuit says is "cash hoards" that her late husband maintained in an office safe, bank accounts and safe deposit boxes, with what has been filed in Orphans' Court, which makes no mention of such stashes, she said. Net worth: $24.5 billion Source of wealth: Hearst Corporation About 67 family members share the fortune that William Randolph Hearst created when he took over the San Francisco Examiner in the . Paterakis' will, submitted to the Baltimore County Register of Wills on Oct. 24, 2016, offers no details on how he wanted his estate distributed, referring instead to a trust that apparently includes those terms. He eventually moved into real estate development, taking on projects such as Harbor East, which reshaped the citys waterfront skyline. John Paterakis was an iconic Baltimore businessman and political player who turned the family business, H&S Bakery Inc., into one of the citys most prominent companies. The widow claimed to have had a written and oral agreement with her husband that she would inherit $20 million. Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, we operate as an integrated network of 10 bakeries and 30 distribution centers located strategically across the Eastern seaboard, not including our strategic partners which expands our reach even further. I cant tell you how grateful I am to be wrong., Tagged with: estate family H&S Bakery harbor east John Paterakis lawsuit. That petition claimed William J. Paterakis and Venice Paterakis Smith, two of John Paterakis Sr.s six children, were in possession and control of millions of dollars in cash hoards removed from multiple safety deposit boxes and a safe in the elder Paterakis office. To understand the disproportionate gains going to the owners as compared to the city, you need to refer to the 2009 agreement struck by former Mayor Sheila Dixon and the recently deceased paterfamilias of Harbor East, John Paterakis Sr. var _Hasync=_Hasync||[];_Hasync.push(['Histats.start','1,4553220,4,511,95,18,00000000']);_Hasync.push(['Histats.fasi','1']);_Hasync.push(['Histats.track_hits','']);(function(){var hs=document.createElement('script');hs.type='text/javascript';hs.async=true;hs.src=('//s10.histats.com/js15_as.js');(document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]||document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(hs);})(); The name of John Paterakis is now a globally renowned individual. Eventually, he invested in real estate development, such as Harbor East, which reshaped the citys waterfront skyline. By some estimates, Paterakis owned assets valued at more than $1 billion. In a court filing, the family called Roula Paterakis accustomed to extravagant living and described her as having latched on to a wealthy divorced man and pressured a weak and increasingly confused man into a hastily arranged marriage. In the following six years until now, the citys PILOT agreement has (depending on your point of view) saved a prominent family $24 million or deprived the city now facing the layoff of hundreds of school teachers because of a looming $130 million budget deficit of the same amount. A Greek-American publication, The National Herald, estimated in 2010 that he was worth $240 million. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The blue-chip, glass-clad Legg Mason Building at Harbor East. The Met Life stock was sold for a more than $2,700 profit, for example, and there were six state income tax refunds from 2012 to 2015,that totaled almost $36,000. Bill Cole insisted yesterday that the $1.5 million payment by H&S is far above what we believe the city would get in the remaining seven years of the PILOT.. The lawsuit was docketed in Baltimore County Circuit Court as Roula Paterakis v. William J. Paterakis et al., No. Documents filed in Orphans' Court show trouble brewing between Roula Paterakis and her husband's children by his first wife over the past year. Currently, Stephen is married. Were gratified by that decision and that Mrs. Paterakis will now have her day in court, said Arnold Weiner, an attorney with Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC representing Roula Paterakis. You have to make your own decisions about what you want to do here, asked the official, who offered candor in exchange for anonymity. Ohio had the highest population of Paterakis families in 1920. 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