Brooke Astor’s son and his shady former lawyer have been indicted on criminal charges involving the suspicious handling of the late philanthropist’s finances.
Anthony Marshall and former business partner Francis Morrissey have been told to surrender to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office this morning, when the indictment is expected to be unsealed.
The exact charges were not disclosed, but knowledgeable sources said the pair will be hit with at least fraud, forgery and grand larceny charges, apparently involving controversial changes to her will.
While Astor’s 2002 will was very similar to her earlier wills, later amendments shifted much of her fortune away from her favorite charities and directly to Marshall, a former ambassador and Marine.
A conviction on the forgery rap alone could carry a seven-year prison term.
Marshall’s lawyer, Ken Warner, did not immediately return a call for comment.
Morrissey’s lawyer, Michael Ross, said, “We did receive a call from the DA’s office [saying that] he has been indicted. The charges are not yet unsealed. I do not know the charges.”
He said Morrissey – a lawyer who was suspended for two years in the 1990s – will not be surrendering today because he is currently “out of town.”
“[He] will return later in the week,” Ross said.
The indictment came after an almost yearlong investigation by the DA’s Office into numerous allegations of wrongdoing against Marshall stemming from his handling of his multimillionaire mother’s affairs.
Astor – regarded as the first lady of New York society and philanthropy – died in August at age 105.
Marshall ceded control of her care in 2006, after his son Philip filed court papers charging him with skimping on her while helping himself to millions of her money.
Astor’s court-appointed guardian, Susan Robbins, was skeptical of some of the changes Astor had made to her will in 2003 and 2004 and hired a handwriting expert, who determined the third and final amendment to her will in March 2004 was a forgery.
The signature was much sturdier and bolder than Astor’s had been in years, something Morrissey crowed about in a letter to Marshall – his partner in a theater production company – the next day.
Morrissey said the then-102-year-old Astor had told him she wanted to make changes “to give you recognition” and to “thank you.”
“I think the strength of her signature on this third codicil reflects these truths,” Morrissey wrote.
Also targeted by the grand-jury probe, at least early on, was Marshall’s $10 million sale of one of his favorite paintings, Childe Hassam’s “Flags, Fifth Avenue.”
Marshall and Morrissey have both denied any wrongdoing.
The Post reported last year that Morrissey has been repeatedly accused of using “undue influence” on elderly friends for his own benefit.
The guardianship case settled late last year, with Marshall admitting no wrongdoing but returning $11 million in assets to his mother and surrendering his position as her executor. Her only son, he is still the main beneficiary of her estate.