Artist Peter Max has battled with dementia and been beneath the care of a guardian.
Carly Otness
Regardless of his daughter’s claims on the contrary, famed pop artist Peter Max — value a cool $65 million — isn't any prisoner, claims the court-appointed guardian who controls his affairs.
The ailing 84-year-old father of two, whose paintings has created the whopping fortune, suffers from dementia and has had each facet of his life — authorized, private and monetary — beneath court docket scrutiny since 2015.
The artist’s daughter, Libra Max, and a pal, Edward Tricomi, have been on a “Free Britney”-style marketing campaign, claiming the individual in command of Peter’s private affairs — together with his healthcare, actions and social visits — has been ruining his life as an alternative.
They actually have a website, freepetermax.com, which has drawn the assist of well-known names like Tony Danza and Mary Trump, with accusations that guardian Barbara Lissner has saved the artist remoted, drained his funds and even taken his cellphone and his cats.
But it surely’s all a lie, contends Lissner, who's suing the daughter and Tricomi in Manhattan Supreme Courtroom for defamation.
Libra, 54, controls her father’s funds, and he or she’s the one “confiscated” Max’s cellphone and cats, in response to Lissner’s swimsuit, which notes judges have repeatedly rejected Libra’s allegations of mismanagement.
“[O]nly she is aware of of their whereabouts,” Lissner stated of the felines, alleging in her court docket papers that “Libra and Mr. Tricomi’s depravity know no bounds.”
Lissner, an lawyer who works with Holocaust victims and was appointed by in 2019 to supervise Peter’s affairs, claims in court docket papers that Libra and Tricomi have falsely accused her of kidnapping and even trafficking Peter; referred to as her a Nazi; wrongly claimed they’ve been barred from seeing the artist and accused judges who disagree with them of taking kickbacks.
The alleged smear marketing campaign has been so efficient that Lissner and her regulation agency now get “emails and phone calls accusing them of crimes and threatening them,” in response to court docket papers.
" class="wp-image-20767202"/>Lissner claims Peter Max requested guardianship as a result of “pressure” and “mismanagement” of his affairs by his household, which incorporates Libra, son Adam Max and his second spouse, Mary, who allegedly abused the artist earlier than she dedicated suicide at age 52 in June 2019.
He rejected the thought of placing Libra in cost, in response to Lissner’s swimsuit.
Libra Max was so tough she drove out guardian after guardian, Lissner alleged.
Lissner needed to resign final yr, however the COVID-19 pandemic made that unimaginable, she stated within the court docket papers.
“It’s my opinion that a variety of [guardians] stepped apart, fairly frankly, due to all of the pandemonium that was raised within the Max family [by Libra Max and Max’s late wife, Mary],” Robert Johnson, an lawyer for Max’s son Adam, informed The Submit. “I don’t like to talk ailing of the lifeless, however that’s what I must say.”
Peter’s son, Adam Max, informed The Submit he backs Lissner.
“All the pieces Barbara Lissner is alleging is true,” he stated. “Barbara Lissner is giving my father wonderful care. He’s by no means been handled higher in his life.”
Lissner’s allegations are “motivated by greed and a want to silence Libra Max for exposing the abuse of her father,” stated Libra Max’s lawyer, Jeffrey M. Eilender. “The swimsuit is a tissue of lies and a cash seize. Barbara Lissner continues to place Peter Max at risk and have to be eliminated instantly. Peter wants important medical consideration. Libra won't be silenced.”
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