J. P. Morgan Chase, the court-appointed temporary guardian of Brooke Astor’s assets, says in court papers that it is investigating whether her son improperly obtained about $14 million in cash, property and stocks from his ailing mother while managing her finances. The filing suggested that the bank might pursue litigation against the son, Anthony D. Marshall, to get some of the money and property back.

The papers also raise questions about Mrs. Astor’s mental competency in 2003, when she signed documents transferring $3.4 million of her securities and her seaside estate in Maine, valued at $5.5 million, to Mr. Marshall.

Morgan Chase, in broadly challenging Mr. Marshall’s handling of Mrs. Astor’s financial affairs, pointed out that for 2005 he gave himself as compensation for financial management services “allegedly rendered to his mother,” more than a fourfold increase over the previous year, out of her funds.

Details of the documents come less than a week after lawyers for Mr. Marshall, 82, tried to publicly pre-empt the filing by claiming in court papers that the bank had shown “unremitting hostility” toward Mr. Marshall, and that it had been operating outside of its legal scope. Yesterday, Mr. Marshall’s response was even sharper. 

“It is a completely bogus and bloated claim that just piles on the kitchen sink, indiscriminately,” said Kenneth E. Warner, one of Mr. Marshall’s lawyers. “There is nothing to it. It is just window dressing.”

The papers, prepared by one of the bank’s lawyers, Les Fagen, lay out in great detail a blueprint that could form the basis of a court battle over the fortunes of New York’s grande dame of society and philanthropy. The bank’s documents also represent the first substantial examination in the case of how Mr. Marshall has tended to the finances of his 104-year-old mother.

Mr. Marshall’s son Philip has accused his father in a court petition of neglecting Mrs. Astor by cutting back on her medications and living expenses and subjecting her to deplorable conditions in her Park Avenue duplex while enriching himself with her wealth.

Justice John E. H. Stackhouse of State Supreme Court appointed J. P. Morgan Chase in July as a temporary guardian in the case. Since then, the bank has moved aggressively in its fiduciary role, changing the locks at Mrs. Astor’s Park Avenue business office and hiring an accounting firm to further dissect her finances. 

In its guardianship role, the bank is entitled to compensation of $275 an hour for senior staff members and $175 an hour for other workers, subject to court approval. It can also receive “customary compensation” for investment management services it may provide in the case, according to the judge’s order.

“We have nothing to hide, but they have no business expanding and involving themselves in this case,” said Mr. Warner, Mr. Marshall’s lawyer. “We believe their motives and approach are not in good faith. They are behaving badly in our view.”

Over all, the bank stated in its papers, “The evidence developed as of now supports the conclusion that transfers of Mrs. Astor’s assets were made not for her benefit, but for the benefit of Anthony Marshall or his wife, or for the benefit of entities he owned or controlled.

“Some of these transactions, at least on their face, cannot be explained except as an exercise in impropriety,” the document concluded.

In its filing, made on Aug. 24, Morgan Chase seeks to have its standing in the case expanded to include subpoena power and the authority to take testimony under oath and obtain documents from witnesses. Because the motion is under consideration by a judge, it is not yet part of the public case file. It will be entered into the file once the judge has rendered a decision. The New York Times obtained a copy of the document from a party involved in the case.

In its motion for broader powers, the bank said, “We seek to identify any assets of Brooke Astor that by virtue of improper transfers are no longer in her possession, custody or control. We also seek the power to commence proceedings, if appropriate, for the return of such assets.”
According to an affidavit by Joel Barth, a principal of Eisner LLP, the accounting and advisory firm retained by the bank last month, Mrs. Astor’s funds were used to pay $4.1 million in gift taxes for the securities and Maine estate that were transferred to Mr. Marshall in 2003. 

A person familiar with her finances said that had the Maine property gone to Mr. Marshall through Mrs. Astor’s will, he might have been obligated to cover the estate tax himself. The individual spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the court case.

“We understand that Mrs. Astor’s signature may appear on certain documents relating to these gifts, but questions have been raised as to Mrs. Astor’s competence at this point in time to participate in such transactions and therefore the extent to which Mr. Marshall alone implemented these transactions,” the affidavit said.

In his opposition to the bank’s motion, another of Mr. Marshall’s lawyers, Harvey E. Corn, said that J. P. Morgan Chase had questioned the gift of the Maine estate without any basis and “uses it to produce a bloated monetary claim, ignoring completely the perfectly normal nature of a transfer of this kind between a loving mother and her beloved only son.”

Mr. Marshall’s filing noted that one of Mrs. Astor’s lawyers at the time, Henry Christensen III, a trusts and estate partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, was a witness when she signed the quit claim deeds that were part of the transfer of the estate.

Mr. Barth’s affidavit also states that last year, Mr. Marshall carried out a transaction by which his compensation for the year as financial manager of his mother’s assets went from $450,000 to well over $2 million.

“Based on the documents we have reviewed, it appears that Mr. Marshall, together with others, directed the payment of a lump sum management fee to himself in August 2005,” the document said. “It was formulated as a percentage of the total assets of Mrs. Astor and also the Vincent Astor Trust, of which,” the document said, Mr. Marshall “was not a trustee.”

Mr. Marshall’s court papers last week said that Mrs. Astor had been giving her son a salary since 1980 for the substantial amounts of time he dedicated to her personal affairs. The document further stated that the “one-time high compensation” that he received in 2005 was in recognition for what he had achieved for Mrs. Astor as her financial steward.

Mr. Barth’s affidavit also notes that Mr. Marshall collected a $2 million commission for selling his mother’s Childe Hassam painting “Flags, Fifth Avenue,” for $10 million in February 2002. 

The document explains that the commission was paid according to Mr. Marshall’s written instructions to his mother’s bank to transfer $1 million to his account. He himself signed two $500,000 checks for the other million.

Mr. Warner, one of Mr. Marshall’s lawyers, has said that Mrs. Astor came up with the $2 million figure for her son. Mr. Marshall’s court papers said that the commission was taken in three installments.

J. P. Morgan Chase’s documents also say that Mr. Marshall used Mrs. Astor’s money to pay for certain costs like monthly maintenance fees for the East 79th Street apartment he shares with his wife, Charlene, and for expenses associated with operating the house in Maine. The Maine expenses include payroll and health insurance for personnel at the property.

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