A judge has sentenced Anthony Marshall, only child of the late philanthropist and socialite Brooke Astor, to one to three years in prison for looting his mother’s fortune as she slipped into the confusion of Alzheimer’s disease.
“What would she say if she were here?” Justice A. Kirke Bartley Jr. demanded. Mrs. Astor died at age 105 in 2007. “Would she blanch at the spectacle?”
Mr. Marshall’s attorneys had sought to avoid prison for their 85-year-old client, arguing that he is in poor health and that any jail time could amount to a life sentence. “He’s not someone who stuck his hand in the cookie jar while no one was looking,” his lawyer said in court.
Prosecutors have portrayed him in much that way, however, today describing his management of his mother’s finances as “basically a six-year crime spree” that diverted tens of millions of dollars, long intended for charities and cultural institutions, to Mr. Marshall himself.
Mr. Marshall declined to make a courtroom statement. He has been ordered to report to prison on Jan. 19, but will apply to remain free on bail pending an appeal.
“Justice Bartley made it clear, in his angry tone of voice and language, that he was infuriated by Tony Marshall’s behavior in taking advantage of his mother,” said Meryl Gordon, author of “Mrs. Astor Regrets,” after the sentencing.
Around the country, Mr. Marshall’s conviction in October pleased district attorneys’ offices and experts in elder abuse, who hoped the case would spotlight an underreported and hard-to-prosecute crime, financial abuse of the elderly. Ms. Gordon agreed that the verdict and sentence “will have powerful repercussions in preventing elder abuse.”
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