Tony Bennett's children have entered a bitter dispute with each other as the singer's daughters have accused their brother of financial misconduct.
In legal documents obtained by People, Johanna Bennett and Antonia Bennett shared that their brother, D'Andrea "Danny" Bennett, was paid substantially more than them, noting that the payments were much higher than they should have been.
"Without more information about Tony's income, it is unclear whether the payments Danny was making to himself exceed what was contractually owed to him. Statements and management agreements provided by Danny indicate that commissions paid to [his company, RPM Productions] appear to have been much higher than they should have been based on Tony's income," the documents state, per the outlet.
Bennett's daughters each received $245,000 from the trust while their brother's company made $2.6 million.
Danny filed to dismiss the lawsuit in November. Johanna and Antonia claim that Danny took advantage of Bennett's diminishing mental capacity in his older age.
"As publicized by Danny to various media outlets, at some point prior to Tony's death, Tony entered a phase of diminished capacity, which means Tony was no longer able to act as co-Trustee, leaving Danny to serve as sole Trustee of the Family Trust with no oversight," the suit alleges.
Johanna and Antonia claim that their brother also made out expensive gifts to himself while he was the sole Trustee. They also claim that their father was not in any financial trouble near the time of his passing, despite Danny helping Bennett to sell his music assets in 2022.
Bennett died in 2023 at the age of 96. The singer had been battling Alzheimer's since 2016 and no specific cause of death was listed. During the course of his life, Bennett released 70 albums and was seen as a music icon by not only fans, but many other artists in the industry. He notably had a long-lasting friendship with Lady Gaga, whom he released two albums with. Their last one was Love for Sale, whichwon a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
After he died, Bennett's last words were revealed.
"That he loved me," his widow, Susan Benedetto told Today. "Yeah. He would wake up every day and still say that. He woke up happy every day. Even if he had had a bad day or night, he didn't remember it. That was the only blessing. He woke up happy. And he's just like, 'Susan. You're the best thing that ever happened to me.' And he would say that to me all the time."
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