Sumner Redstone — the 93-year-old former leader of Viacom — is suing to stop his former girlfriend from getting her hands on his Carlyle Hotel penthouse when he dies.
Last year, Redstone picked up the $3.7 million apartment and promised it to his former girlfriend, Manuela Herzer, after his death. But he apparently no longer wants her to have it, the New York Post reported, and is suing in Manhattan Supreme Court to try and make sure she won’t have any claim to the property after his death.
Herzer has refused to “relinquish her claim” to the penthouse, according to the lawsuit. Her lawyer, Ronald Richards, said the suit is “another frivolous filing.” He claims it is Redstone’s daughter Shari, not Redstone himself, that is behind the case. Herzer signed an agreement last year stating that Redstone had bought the apartment with his own funds.
“This gift, like millions of others given by a previously competent Sumner Redstone, was approved by two doctors and two attorneys and most importantly, Mr. Redstone, prior to having his life and assets stolen from him by others,” Richards said, according to the Post.
Last month, Redstone launched a lawsuit in A California Court against Herzer and another former girlfriend, Sydney Holland, alleging he has been the victim of elder abuse and was forced to borrow $100 million to cover tax obligations on gifts he gave the two women.
In 2014, the mogul and his daughter paid $10 million for a four-bedroom co-op at the Pierre Hotel. [NYP] — Miriam Hall