A nasty little war...

| 4 Comments
...is being fought over a 13 year old boy. From Yahoo/LA Times:
A boy and his $400 million
His name is Alex. He is 13 years old. And when he reaches 35, he stands to inherit an estate now valued at about $400 million.

This L.A. golden child is the only son of Mark Hughes, the late founder of Herbalife International, a maker of nutritional supplements.

Hughes' death at age 44 on May 21, 2000, made Alex the sole beneficiary of a vast trust. The multimillionaire died of a lethal combination of alcohol and an antidepressant after a drinking binge. The death was deemed accidental.

But Alexander Reynolds Hughes is now at the center of a lengthy and contentious probate battle in Los Angeles County Superior Court pitting his mother, Suzan Hughes, a former actress, court reporter and Miss Petite U.S.A., against trustees of the Hughes Family Trust. Mark and Suzan Hughes divorced two years before his death, in 1998, after nearly a decade of marriage. She was the third of his four wives.

Suzan Hughes wants the court to oust the trustees, who include Alex's paternal grandfather. She previously tried � and failed � to persuade the courts to remove the trustees on grounds of violating their fiduciary duties. Now, she has filed another petition seeking their removal on other grounds.

Hillel Chodos, her attorney, claims the trustees have paid themselves millions in fees while ignoring Alex's needs.

"Basically, they got the gold mine and [Alex] got the shaft," Chodos said. "They have paid themselves at least $5 million in trustee fees to date � maybe more. They paid their lawyers and accountants maybe $12 million to $15 million."

But attorneys for the trust have fired back in court papers, accusing Suzan Hughes of waging a "personal vendetta" against the administrators of the Hughes trust. They describe the case as "one of the most contentious trust and estate proceedings on record."
The terms of the trust:
The trustees include Alex's paternal grandfather, Jack Reynolds, former Herbalife chief executive Christopher Pair, who was a longtime friend of Mark Hughes, and Conrad Lee Klein, an attorney who was Mark Hughes' personal counsel for almost 20 years. Klein is the husband of California Appeals Court justice Joan Dempsey Klein and served for many years as an executive officer of Herbalife. (None of the parties, including Alex and his mother, retained financial ties to Herbalife after its sale.)

Under terms of the trust, Alex will receive one-third of the trust's annual income � or about $1 million judging by today's value � along with an additional $35 million from a separate custodial account, when he reaches age 25. At age 30, he could expect to receive about $2 million annually. Then, at 35, he will receive whatever remains in the trust, Ziskin said.
And of course, Ms. Hughes is not well off -- no, not at all:
Under her divorce settlement, Suzan Hughes receives $10,000 a month in direct child support and the trust pays approximately $100,000 for property taxes and insurance on her home, for Alex's tuition at the Windward School in West L.A., and for his medical expenses and medical insurance.

Court papers filed on Suzan Hughes' behalf state that "child support did not take into account the lavish lifestyle that was provided to Alex by his father when Mark was alive and had custody of Alex. This lifestyle included vacationing with Mark at his lavish beach home, cruising on Mark's yacht, driving in Mark's fleet of luxury cars and attending events of extraordinary prestige, lavishness and extravagance."

She has asked the trust to reimburse her for Alex's expenses and to make annual payments of $877,000 in after-tax dollars "so that Alex may continue to live the lifestyle he enjoyed while his father was alive." Chodos said Alex's expenses include legal fees, charitable giving and accounting advice.

The trust's attorneys believe that Alex's mother has waged her legal fight for two reasons: her attempt with other bidders to acquire Herbalife after her ex-husband's death was rejected by the trustees, and, she may believe that her divorce settlement was "insubstantial" when compared to the payout received by Mark Hughes' fourth and final wife, Darcy LaPier Hughes. The former Hawaiian Tropic model, who married Hughes on Valentine's Day 1999 after previous marriages to Hollywood action star Jean-Claude Van Damme and Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice, reportedly received a $34-million settlement.

But attorneys for the trust estimate Suzan Hughes' net worth in excess of $10 million, with a yearly income of more than $600,000.

Yet, they assert in court documents, "her wealth apparently falls short of what she believes she is entitled to."
What a hypocrite -- it is what Alex wants... Google her name and she comes up as an "actress and philanthropist" and she is starting her own reality TV show.

4 Comments

THE TRUSTEES OF THE MARK HUGHES ESTATE EMBROIL HEIR�S MOTHER IN VICIOUS LEGAL BATTLE

���By, Edgar Bennett

Alex Hughes is the richest child in America. As the sole heir to Mark Hughes Estate, left by his father, Herbalife Icon Mark Hughes, 13 year old Alex Hughes will be the sole beneficiary of an estate valued at half a billion dollars by the time he turns 18. That is, as stated in the Los Angeles Times, �If the money is still there�. This statement is one major reason Alex�s mother, Suzan Hughes, has been suing the Trustees of Alex�s estate. Court documents show that since Mark Hughes death in 2001 Alex hasn�t received a single penny from his inheritance. However, the Trustees have paid over $4 million to themselves and over $11 million to their attorneys and accountants, largely to pay for their litigation against Alex�s mother, Suzan Hughes. A source reveals �Suzan has been forced into litigation to protect her son�s money. It is outrageous for the Trustees to spend over $15 million of Alex�s inheritance and hire 15 to 20 law firms to try and bury Alex and his mother so they can continue to self deal with no one authorized to watch over them. It is ironic that they are spending Alex�s money to keep him away from his own money.�

The character of the Trustees has also come into question. As reported in the Los Angeles Times in December of 2000, Trustee Chris Pair was convicted of shoplifting from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills and ordered psychiatric treatment. A source close to Herbalife says �The Trustees of the Mark Hughes Estate, Conrad Klein, Chris Pair and Jack Reynolds are all unsavory characters. Chris Pair has been charged with sexual harassment numerous times in addition to his shoplifting fiasco. Jack Reynolds was charged with a 647a, lewd sexual conduct with a minor in Long Beach. Conrad Klein used to roam the offices declaring that he was Mark Hughes.� When Klein was forced out of his cush job the source says he made it clear that he intended on crushing Suzan Hughes. �We were appalled at his blatant and irrational display of vengeance.�


As revenge for Suzan Hughes� suit to remove the Trustees, they filed a suit to remove her as Guardian. Trustee Jack Reynolds filed the petition based on his status as Alex�s grandfather. However, an article in the Los Angeles Times Magazine in 2001 states that according to Mark Hughes birth certificate, Hughes was born to Stuard Hartman, not Reynolds. �Jack Reynolds came in to Mark Hughes life when Mark struck it rich.� Says a source, �Have you ever heard the story of a guy who made millions and had relatives coming out of the woodwork?�

Court documents show that Suzan petitioned to remove Jack Reynolds recently after it was revealed in a trial that as custodian Reynolds co mingled the custodian assets. Documents also reveal that Reynolds along with Pair and Klein have been found guilty of Gross Negligence, vindication that Suzan Hughes suit against the 3 Trustees was justified. Legal analyst Daniel Rosenblum says, 'Gross negligence' refers to negligent acts, which are aggravated, reckless or flagrant and which are such a departure from what would be the conduct of an ordinarily prudent, careful person under the same circumstances as to be contrary to a proper regard for danger to human life or to constitute indifference to the consequences of those acts. This term is usually associated with Manslaughter. Being found �Grossly Negligent� should be grounds for immediate removal as a Trustee.� Court documents show that the Trustees even petitioned the Judge to reconsider the fine for the gross negligence, but she still affirmed it.

As the rounds of legal fire continue the battle was summed up by a former Herablife employee �I read a recent article where an attorney for the Trustees equated this to the legal version of World War 3. World War 3, being fought by the Trustees with a budget of $400 million, against a single mom and her 13 year old son.� The source ads �That would be like Saddam Hussein paying us to invade his country but he would remove his people first and leave a single mom and her child to fight our armed forces. The fact that Suzan has withstood these attacks proves that she has plenty of ground to stand on. Otherwise they would have already won the war.�


I didn't mean to copy the last comment in my response. I wanted to point out specific things that I agree with in the last comment. In the end, it belongs to Alex anyway why should he not get what he wants?

It makes no sense to me that these trustees are stipulating that Suzanne Hughes is in this for the money???? How is that? Anyone with common sense could discern that one would not spend millions on legal fees if they were after money. These trustees assert that she is looking to increase her annual support by $277,000. If this support ends when Alex is 18 that would be asking for a little more than one million. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that one would not spend millions and millions to make one million! HASN'T ANYONE FIGURED THIS OUT?!?!?!?

It makes no sense to me that these trustees are stipulating that Suzanne Hughes is in this for the money???? How is that? Anyone with common sense could discern that one would not spend millions on legal fees if they were after money. These trustees assert that she is looking to increase her annual support by $277,000. If this support ends when Alex is 18 that would be asking for a little more than one million. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that one would not spend millions and millions to make one million! HASN'T ANYONE FIGURED THIS OUT?!?!?!?

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This page contains a single entry by DaveH published on September 13, 2005 2:13 PM.

An interesting coincidence? was the previous entry in this blog.

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