Leona Helmsley Net Worth

Net Worth:	$5 Billion
Date of Birth:	July 4, 1920 - August 20, 2007 (87 years old)
Gender:	Female
Profession:	Businesswoman, Criminal
Nationality:	United States of America

What is Leona Helmsley’s Net Worth?

Leona Helmsley was an American businesswoman who had a net worth of $5 billion before her demise. Based on her track record for treating her family and colleagues harshly, Leona Helmsley was given the moniker “Queen of Mean.”

She was found guilty of federal income tax fraud and a slew of other offenses in the late 1980s after charges of non-payment by contractors engaged to work on her property.

Helmsley first sentence of 16 years in jail was reduced to 19 months in prison and two months of house arrest. Leona Helmsley died on 20 August 2007 from congestive heart failure.

Early Life

Lena Rosenthal notably known as Leona Helmsley was born on 4 July 1920 in Marbletown, New York. As a young child, the family relocated to Brooklyn before making numerous additional moves and eventually settled in Manhattan.

Helmsley attended Abraham Lincoln High School before leaving to pursue fame and wealth.

Career

In 1968, Leona started dating real estate tycoon Harry Helmsley while working as a condominium broker. She became a senior vice president at one of his brokerage firms two years later.

Leona Helmsley’s real estate license was revoked for pressuring her tenants to purchase condominiums.

230 Park Avenue, the Empire State Building, and the Tudor City apartment complex were all parts of the New York real estate that Helmsley and her husband developed. Also, there were lodgings in states like Florida as well as the Helmsley Palace Hotel, Park Lane Hotel, and New York Helmsley Hotel.

As of 1989, 23 hotels in the chains were under Leona Helmsley’s management. She ultimately earned a bad reputation due to her habit of insulting and sacking her workers.

Tax Avoidance and Lawsuit

The Helmsleys purchased Dunnellen Hall, worth $11 million in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1983 with the purpose of using it as a weekend getaway and decided to enhance its extravagance.

The Helmsleys declined to pay their contractors because they were already notorious for opposing payments. The contractors consequently brought a lawsuit to the court.

The majority of the contractors’ labor was fraudulently claimed by the Helmsleys’ hotels as business costs throughout the court proceedings.

Meanwhile, faked invoices revealed the couple’s attempts to reduce their tax obligations. The Helmsleys and a few of their accomplices were charged with extortion and tax evasion in 1988 by then-US Attorney Rudy Giuliani.

In August 1989, Helmsley was found guilty on three charges of tax evasion, one count of conspiring to defraud the United States, three counts of submitting fictitious personal tax returns, sixteen counts of helping to file fictitious business and partnership tax filings, and ten counts of mail fraud. She was cleared of the extortion and accusation.

Alan, her new attorney, filed an appeal, and her 16-year prison sentence was reduced to 19 months.

Post Prison Life

Leona Helmsley lived primarily in seclusion after being released from custody in 1994, most especially after the demise of her husband in 1997. She received his whole estate, which was valued at over $5 billion, but was compelled to give up ownership of the majority of her hotels and bars because of New York law, which prohibits someone with a criminal record from possessing an alcohol license.

Leona Helmsley did make some humanitarian donations in her final years despite her reputation for oppressive nastiness.

In the wake of 9/11, she gave $5 million to the families of New York City firefighters and police, she also made large donations to the New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

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