Surprise: Lawyer Pushed 104-Year-Old To Sign New Will

Lawyer 'grab' for heiress $$
The New York Post by REBECCA ROSENBERG and DAN MANGAN - September 1, 2010

A lawyer for reclusive copper heiress Huguette Clark repeatedly tried to get the 104-year-old Manhattan woman to sign drafts of last wills and testaments that would have left him and her accountant $1 million or more apiece, his former paralegal told The Post. The Manhattan lawyer, Wallace Bock, "stood on his head trying to get her to sign, and she'd say, 'No,' and he'd stop for a year or months, then he'd put it to her again," said the paralegal, Cynthia Garcia. "The wills were all drafts and revisions and changes. They were all different," said Garcia, 42, who worked for Bock in the early 2000s. "The drafts left Bock and [Clark's accountant] Irving Kamsler millions," said Garcia. "This woman didn't deal in less than millions . . . I don't remember the exact amount. But it was at least a million dollars [each]." "There were marked, stamped drafts. She was asked to pick one, but I don't think she ever did. I never saw one signed," Garcia said. "She'd say, 'Change this or that.' " Bock's spokesman, Michael McKeon, yesterday ripped Garcia's "wildly inaccurate and reckless statements. "Both her credibility and her motivation are suspect," he said. "An independent review will demonstrate that Ms. Clark's affairs were handled appropriately, professionally and consistent with her wishes." Garcia last weekend spoke with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, which is investigating Bock, 78, and Kamsler, 63, for their handling of Clark's vast wealth, estimated at $500 million. Clark, whose US senator-father was one of America's richest men by virtue of his copper-mine earnings, has voluntarily lived for more than two decades in Manhattan hospitals. In the meantime, her huge Fifth Avenue apartment and mansions in Connecticut and California have been vacant. An MSNBC.com report about her financial affairs -- and Bock's alleged habit of keeping Clark's family members from visiting her -- spurred the DA's probe. That report also noted how Bock and Kamsler -- a convicted felon on probation for attempting to send porn via the Internet to detectives posing as underage girls -- had come to jointly own a Manhattan co-op signed over to them from another elderly client, Donald Wallace, who himself once was Clark's lawyer. dan.mangan@nypost.com