...and rightfully so.... is that a crime!?

I think that both the attorney and the lawyer are as slimy as they come. The previous case of receiving very large gifts from an elderly client show that their actions should be questioned. I also wonder how a convicted felon can still have a license as a CPA. I had thought that a felony conviction would result in the loss of a license for this type of occupation. Any attorney or accountant that accepts repeated large gifts from an elderly client should be investigated. At the very least, this is seriously questionable from the standpoint of professional ethics. If these gifts are solicited or the result of abusing a power of attorney (i.e. giving themselves/each other the gifts), they should both be put in prison. In the latter case, it should result in very long prison sentences and a loss of their respective licenses to practice. People who take advantage of the elderly in this manner are despicable. The gifts to the nurse, while large by most peoples standards, do not seem to be that questionable, particularly if the nurse has been taking care of the woman for over 20 years. An old woman with no close relatives might very well be generous with a long time caregiver that she has become close with.

JS in SD- I agree fully that the attorney and accountant are lowlife. However, the accountant, Kamsler, was charged with attempting to distribute indecent material to 13- and 15-year-old girls on-line. As a CPA, he doesn't come in contact with children, so why do you think that his license should be revoked? It would be an entirely different situation if his profession required him to come into contact with children on a regular basis.

I totally agree......the attorney and the accountant seem to be swindlers. MONEY TALKS! I completly believe the paralegal. If she were getting something out of it ($$), she would still be working for the scum bags, with her hand out, helping to cover up their ill deeds, and profiting along the way. I hope that the long lost relatives can see Hughette before she dies, and I also hope that Hughette learns of this swindle that's been going on. SHAMEFUL

js/scales, in ever state, I guess except New York, once a CPA is convicted of a felony he loses his right to practice as a cpa ( certified audit, IRS hearings, court appointed trustee, bankruptcy Representative, etc) , as I said earlier , what is taking the DA so long to get a audit order !

a

scales67 - It is not about the specific act, but rather what a felony conviction says about the persons character. In many cases a felony conviction will have adverse effects on your life, even though the conviction may have nothing to do with your profession. For example, in a lawyer is automatically disbarred for a felony conviction of any kind in most jurisdictions.

I agree...if someone has a felony conviction, then that person is not trustworthy and therefore cannot be trusted to handle the huge amounts of money / property / valuable antiques etc., especially when the victim is elderly and has no close relatives to oversee any of this. IMO, for the attorney to not have reported this to the proper authorities makes him just as culpable and makes it look as though the two of them were in cahoots to swindle Ms Clark.

PJB, yes I quite agree something smells. I do not care what his felony was as far as I am

concerned it shows who he is and he stinks!!!!!!

It doesn't look like the nurse did anything wrong. She is clearly generous to those surrounding her if she gives away $10M at a clip, so who would be more deserving than a 24/7 nurse?

Attorneys (and their families) handling a client's money should not be allowed to take gifts at all. There is too much room for malfeasance.

If you knew anything about in home or private(nursing home)care Kevin you'd know that accepting gifts is a no-no. It can be said later that you may have coerced an elderly patient who possibly has impaired judgement into giving you their things. It's considered taking advantage of the patient.

In my humble and uninformed opinion I would think that from the attorneys side it would be a conflict of interest...

This lady has lived as she has wished to live. It's sad that she's been so alone all these years, but I suppose that with all her money, she could never be sure that anyone loved her for herself. I think her mind is probably working much better than most people would expect at her age. Hell, it may be working better than mine is working! LOL

If the attorney and accountant have been ripping her off, though, they need to get plenty of jail time.

Dani: My mother is 105 in a nursing home & she knows no one. She has been like this for several ys. I'm also a retired nurse & never saw a patient over 102 that had a clear, uninfluenced mind.

My money is on the paralegal.

The majority of people over 100 do have some dementia. Most people over 75-80 have some issues. In my family, living well into one's 80s and 90s is normal, and for the most part, my family members have been able to think clearly. Even my mother's mother, who died at 86, was perfectly coherent the day she died. She was talking to everyone, she knew everyone; then she just went to sleep and didn't wake up. My dad's mother knew everyone (and everyone's business! LOL) until she had a really bad stroke at 87, and was in and out of consciousness for a week before she died.

It's sad, though, when the mind goes before the body. I hope that, if I live that long, my mind will still function at least halfway!

V. Bevis. Sounds like you were put in a unit that housed only patients as you described. You can't judge everyone over 102 to be vegatables just because that is who you nursed. Sorry about your Mother. I think I know how hard it must be on you and your family.

I don't think you need to be brain dead to get swindled by your attorney. Plenty of younger people with perfectly functioning minds get scammed all the time. Also, we don't really know for sure that she doesn't want to see anyone. That may just be her attorney's cover story. He is slick, and so is the accountant.

I am with you DANI... Having that much money would make me a bit skeptical of anyone near me...Sad...But so true...

You're right, she has a right to live her own life and if she wanted to be alone growing up, so be it, but for swindlers to come out of the woodwork to try and pressure her and manipulate her, pretending to have her best interests at heart now that she is elderly is WRONG!

Frankly, why should there be taxes on money that was already earned and taxed?

Also, Republican controlled environment? What is that? The Democrats control both houses of Congress and the Presidency. They have had years to change it, but only recently did. Man up and put the "blame" where it belongs, although blame is not what I would call it...It was the right thing to do.

There should not be a death tax. It would be better to cut spending.

Thank you Kevin C for your tact and great response. I majored in Finance, though it doesn't take much knowledge to know don't spend more than you take in.

Death taxes...sighhhhh...

Taxes on money that has already been taxed! Oh wait...that's what sales tax is also!

Simple, Kevin C. Because taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilized society, and rich heirs shouldn't be exempt just because their rich and don't have to work for a living like the rest of us. For decades we've bought the ridiculous lie from the right wing neocons about how we should lower taxes on the rich and it would benefit all of us. It doesn't - it's turning us into a 3rd world nation with a few rich and masses of poor. Now the extreme rich pay only approximately 17% of their income in taxes thanks to the virtual elimination of Capital Gains taxes. The income disparities in this country are now at the level they were just before the great depression. That's what caused the great depression! And now we've eliminated one of the most basic taxes that has been a foundation for our economic success in the 20th Century: The estate tax. As if extremely wealthy people (the estate tax never applied to most of us) are paying so much in taxes - ohhh how my heart bleeds for them. The poor rich kids, who'll never have to work a day in their life even with the repeal of the estate tax, will have to lose a few measly millions of their billions.

Oh, and Taylor, if you really majored in finance, you failed out. We don't have to spend less than we take in. We have to invest our tax dollars properly so that they grow the economy instead of wasting them in stupid wars for stupid reasons. If our growth outpaces our deficit spending, than we are effectively in the black, and can continue to do so indefinitely. Throughout the deficit laden 60's and 70's our deficit, as a percentage of GDP, decreased. It was the Republican neocon tax policies that reversed those trends and effectively doubled our debt to gdp ration in the 80's. Clinton at least partially reversed that trend until W came along and messed everything up.

Tax her estate! Tax it hard.

Hey, I know! Let's turn this woman's plight into a political diatribe that distracts from her and her care. That'll solve things! That's the best way I know to demonstrate tact and respect.

Jeez, greow up. Not everything is about you.

SLD - a bit bitter and envious, are we? Considering the cost of running the USA, how can you seriously think that estate taxes are the "foundation for our economic success in the 20th Century"? They don't even amount to a drop in the bucket of what this country spends. Granted, laws need to be changed to eliminate loopholes and other shelters so that the rich pay their fair share of income taxes, but taxing their estates won't even create a ripple. That money has already been taxed.

You criticized Taylor for stating that we can't spend more than we earn if we want to stay solvent. However, if we "invest our tax dollars properly so that they grow the economy", isn't that the same as increasing our income? If we increase our income, we can spend more. The fact remains that the only way to stay in the black is to spend less that we earn. You are making the same statement as Taylor in different words, so don't criticize him for being the first to say it. I would guess that his degree in finance is more valid than yours.

The least deserving money is Inherited money. Estate taxes are neccasary because otherwise UBER rich people would be able to create a money black whole. People with Billions of dollars can generate high Millions in interest. If they don't spend all of the interest, there principle will keep growing (More normal people need to be this way). But by the principle growing they will earn more interest, and so on. If for generation after generation the egg keeps growing it will eventualy suck up all the "Free" cash out there. People wine about estate taxes on the rich, but it is not like the people inheriting the money did anything to earn it. If they work for the family business, then they should be drawing a paycheck. So I have ZERO sympathy for people having to give up some of their un-earned gains.

friedmegg - Psst, I believe you mean "money black-hole".

Hole: a hollow place in a solid body or mass.

Whole: the entirety of a thing.

We are on the internet, look these things up.

What we really need is more of what Gates and his billionaire friends are doing now. Giving their money to charities. Dont charge estate tax on these people since they earned the money and deserve it. but.. we need more of these people to LET GO of their hoard and give to charity instead of billions to their children. The children can live on a couple million.

Every dime I ever made has been taxed before I receive a paycheck. I then must use my pre-taxed funds to pay for items on which I pay sales tax, and for houses and cars on which I pay property tax. I'm not complaining. My taxes are the price I pay to live in the greatest country on earth. Estates must be taxed. It is simply wrong to deliver huge sums of cash into the hands of people who did nothing to earn it. If they want to live here, they need to pay taxes. Why should the wealthy be even more privileged? Keep in mind, estates are money that's off the table. If they can keep being handed down without taxation, the punkish children of the wealthy will be the only ones with the funds to consolidate even more power. That leads to a moribund society and that's not good for anybody. The anti-taxers need to grow a brain.

Seems the people that want to take money from the rich have never had much of their own or even the motivation to make money. So sure they are entitled to steal from the hiers of families because after all they are entitled to it. What a joke, I decided long ago that Iam never giving any more of my money to charity, my charity is the Government & taxes and no more.

Sorry Non Profits, but maybe when the Gov decide to be fair about taxes I will go back to donating my money to whoever I choose. Until then you will have to get your hand out from the government, like rest of the worthless blood suckers.

O and you are entitled to keep more of your money why?, yes because you deserve it because you are a victim of society. We have ways out of taxes, but good luck pulling your ass out of the poverty hole you dug for yourself.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe only the first $10M is tax free. Any above $10M is taxed at a high enough rate that many are joining Bill Gates in giving it to charity, where they have some clue how it will be spent. The one thing they don't want is for the government to get it, where it will vanish.

louee - do you mean post-tax funds rather than "pre-taxed funds"? My property tax, sales tax, etc., is all paid with income on which I have already paid tax.

You no tax people would live in a polluted wilderness, with unsafe food supplies, surrounded by bandits, no police protection, no roads, no fresh water together with your huge piles of non-taxed money.

The services of civilization are what the taxes pay for.

But, on the other hand, you would want the ordinary citizen who does not have piles of money, who has only enough to live on, to pay the taxes for these services.

You disgust me.

lee if she dies before jan 1st it will all be tax free. the estate tax ended dec 31st last year and is back in effect jan 1st next year. a loophole created by george bush and never fixed. kinda scary cause old rich people may not get the care they need to live if their money hungry heirs realize they could save the huge amount of tax.

The Attorney General is a Politician.....Thats What Politicians Do......These people need Lawyers to counter the insanity evidenced by the comments made here.

Because America is the most litigious country in the world and there's no telling what they could get sued over. I don't think the paralegal should take the Florida lawyer but she should have someone objective looking out for her.

Consider that The attorney said she left and begged for her job then left again... why did they supply her or offer to provide an attorney for her? Their reasoning that she was a past employee and they thought she could use an attorney contradicts their earlier description of how she left. Why would anyone offer to pay big bucks for an attorney for an unreliable, ex-employee unless they had something huge to hide?

Cynic, I'm sure the lawyer and the accountant are most appreciative of your defense of their behavior. I've somehow missed the "insanity" evidenced by the comments here. To what do you refer? Our desire that all should pay their fair share of taxes? That's true insanity. Why don't you deliver your wealth to the nearest rich person? The rest of us will keep fighting for fairness, thanks very much.

If you had $500M and very few friends because you were a recluse, what would you do with the money? Sure, you can give a ton to charity, but I would give a lot to the people, who made my life better (the attorneys aside).

Good point, Kevin. I just hope that she was actually aware that she was being so generous.

What seems to be missing here is any word from Ms Clark.....If they are "investigating" then I'm sure they have/will talk to her, unless she's incapacitated, which bodes well for the money grubbers.....And if they HAVE talked with her then why aren't we hearing what she has to say?? It's always someone else who has something to say abojt the whole darn thing....

I think you're stretching just a tad. People with that much money are generally raised with other people that have money too. Very few of us meet or interact with very wealthy people. They travel in entirely different circles from the average person. They usually marry each other and don't have to worry about whether someone is after their money. It seems like her main problem is that her mother raised her in a very secluded fashion and she didn't really have any kind of social life. All her half-siblings were grown and gone by the time she was born so she probably had little contact with them. When her mother died, she was left alone with nothing but servants.

And I agree with SLD - the rich pay very little taxes compared to the rest of us and the richer they are, the less taxes they pay. And most of them are descendents from robber barons like Clark who stole most of their money anyway.

I didn't get the impression that she was 'left' with wealth as a young child. She lived with her mother, until the 1960's. Are you suggesting children shouldn't be born into wealthy families? The issue here seems to be that she was never a social person. She's lived in seclusion for pretty much her entire adult life. Whether by choice or not, that remains to be seen.

That's easy! Marry and associate with those who have more.

Good grief.

So she should be penalized for her fathers (families) sins? Maybe you should be too? She is not responsible for her predecessors sins and that is not what this article is about.

This article is about the scummy lawyers and caretakers that have hidden her away. How do we know that she wanted to be locked away from the world for the last 22+ years? Because her lawyer, the scumbag, says so? The man that is trying to take her fortune is someone that we should whose word we should trust?

mssuzieq, in a way, I have to agree with mdphknmrk....How would you feel if Bernie Madoff's kids did not get to keep all of the money he scammed off of hard-working people? I would personally like all of Madoff's ill-gotten gains to be confiscated and allocated back to the people who lost their life's savings to him, even if his kids were left penniless. Ms Clark's father would probably be turning over in his grave to see that the attorney & accountant are (possibly) doing to his daughter what he himself did to the state of Montana.

There is no question that some of the fortune left to Ms. Clark was made under "shady deals". There is also no question that her father was not the only one who made his money this way. Mr. Clark's estate was liquidated and distributed long ago and it is unlikely that the State of Montana, or any other state for that matter, can do anything about it.

But the article is about what appears to be elder abuse. Given the differences between the paralegal's story and the attorney and accountant, this should be looked into very thoroughly.

Not all of the fortunes of this family were made "illegally" or by "scamming" people. No offense meant, but the majority of the "robber baron" millionaires of that era, made their money the same way.. I don't hear you calling for the Vanderbilts or any other of those "old money" families to give up their wealth. Why should she have to? Her obvious philanthropy should more than offset her complicity in her fathers sins.

Her attorney should be disbarred for the hint of impropriety in her business dealing though. Seems like he has been the one to run interference between her and the world... Makes you suspect to his actions....

I know that nothing can be done to right the wrongs perpetrated by the robber barons from two centuries ago, just as nothing can be done to right the wrongs of people who engaged in slave trading. I would just hope that we have learned something from all of this, and that people who in this day and age continue to sleaze their way through life are not allowed to get away with it. Florida is full of people who committed scams and put all their money into mansions, where it legally cannot be touched according to Florida law. I am somewhat heartened that BP did not even think of NOT plugging up the leak and paying for the clean up of the gulf coast and reimbursing the fishermen who have been unable to work. (Mr. Clark would probably have just made some half-hearted attempt to plug up the leak and then walked away from the mess.) I feel just as bad for Ms Clark as anyone though, and I think that elder abuse is a particulary heinous crime that should be dealt with harshly whenever and wherever discovered. In my opinion, elder abuse is just as bad as child abuse, because in both cases the victims are pretty defenseless. I just wish that the paralegal would have reported her employers to the NY City D.A.'s office years ago when she first left.

I believe what I said in the one hundred percentile - about all of the families who linger - every one of them have used the 'Robber Baron" money to influence the American culture in a negative way. Dominoe effect - I said "left" to, which means, after she passes on.

good thought. the house she grew up in (in butte) has been bought by some people and they give tours and you can even stay in hugette's room that she had as a child. they should find the ancestors in butte and divvy up her money after she goes of course.

IF you had an employer who was "crazy (senile) enough" to give you those gifts, it would be very wrong (if not criminal) of you to take the gifts. Taking money or gifts from someone who is crazy or senile is just plain wrong. But you knew that, didn't you?

I agree. I've been very intrigued with every article written. I am thinking that at her advanced age it's unlikely she has the capacity to make any decisions concerning her vast wealth, or anything else. It's sad there are so many people who want something for nothing and have no trouble taking what isn't theirs. Though not yet proven, it does appear that's what's been going on.

These two characters represented Clark's previous attorney and took advantage of him when his mind started to go... they probably convinced him to recommend them to Clark as she probably trusted her first lawyer... they just latched on to him for his rich client and took advantage of her as well. Am curious to know who else these two have represented / conned in the past... sounds like they have made a living just climbing the ladder on the backs of vulnerable clients, and finally hit the jackpot.

acdca..They ARE good at their jobs...They ripped someone off....

How many lawyers does it take to roof a house?...350 if you spread them really thin...

Sue - since the donation was likely handled by the attorney, she probably isn't aware of their needs since the two criminals watching her money are REALLY looking after their own best interests. She could have told him to send a million to the orphanage but they didn't want to cut into their own future fortune. You can bet she has no idea what they're up to with her money!

I don't think she even knew the school got the money. the school contacted the lawyer after the story started coming out. The lawyer just sent 10K to shut him up. The school obviously needs more for painting, but the lawyer didnt think so.

These guys are obviously trying to keep her from giving away what they expect to be theirs once they coerce / trick her into signing her fortune over to themselves in a will.

VULTURES!!!

i doubt ms clark even knew they sent the money, and yes, my daughter and i both thought it strange that the money was given right after the articles started coming out. especially when the lady that wrote hugette said it had been several months before they got the money and were surprised that they even got any. 10,000 is a drop in the bucket. too bad the lawyer didn't see fit to send $100,000. yes, that would have cut into their profit.

mac-1268139 - excellent points; if the article is about trees eventually those 3 will eventually come into play; as for your second point, I have a black friend whose last name is Beavers, and he's definitely not German.

amen to that. job well done msnbc

She only met the lawyer twice. He was someone who provided a service -- it is not like they were close friends in any way.

I can understand her giving generous financial gifts to her nurse and her social secretary, because these were people who provided her with personal care and attention through decades of her life. However, I suspect that she was tricked or pressured into giving the many financial gifts to the lawyer, who was a virtual stranger to her.

I was just wondering, what services does a "social secretary" perform for a recluse who never leaves her room and sees no one?

They run their errands, pay their bills, run interference with want to be guests/visitors. They do all the "outside", deal with the public type work that they lady of the house does not wish to do. Answers mail, pays bills, keeps her schedule and the like.

Thinker: think it is illegal in most if not all States. BTW, having had POA over an elderly Aunt, when we wrote a ck. to us for cash for small items for her, it was always documented by the sales slips for what it was we bought for her-clothes, nightgowns/robes, sundries, magazines, etc.

CYA-even if you don't have to since she left everything to our boys in trust for their educations.