Skeleton Key to the Chelsea Closet

UPDATE:  Vote now to support Piri Thomas and help send David Elder back to California!

Dig this, Happy Chelsea Campers:  our favorite Lovecraftian abomination, board member and Hotel Chelsea layabout David Elder, apparently has a long and distinguished history of separating artists from their money.  When David’s mother died in 1986, she left her 16% interest in the Chelsea Hotel to David and his two siblings in trust.  However, the trust stipulated that Piri Thomas, her husband and David’s stepfather, was to receive all income from the trust for as long as he lived. 
     David and his siblings didn’t care for that arrangement and have refused to hand over the 1.2 million that the trust has generated in income, forcing Piri to sue for the money.  Though the court called David and his siblings’ argument that the income was principal “absurd,” and ruled against them, they have tied it up in appeals.
     Piri Thomas grew up poor in Spanish Harlem and wrote the now classic autobiography “Down these Mean Streets” about his childhood there.  A true artist and social activist who worked with drug addicts, Piri is a former Chelsea Hotel resident and a friend of the late painter Herbert Gentry. 
     Sickeningly, the elderly Piri was even forced to pay $494,000 in taxes on the income he still can’t collect.  (Check out the court filing for all of the details.) David’s mother, a social welfare lawyer active in women’s right and health care issues, must be rolling over in her grave. 
     I'm not a lawyer, but wouldn't the fact that David stands to benefit from the trust make him fiduciarilly unfit to administer?  Someone with a legal background might want to check this out.
     Oh, by the way, David, you are more than welcome to weigh in with your side of the story.  -- Ed Hamilton

Comments

[732]

Wow -- this David Elder guy is scum. This makes me sick. And angry. Will spread the word.

[Joe]

Great story, Ed -- I am a lawyer and there does seem to be a clear conflict of interest here. I mean if David Elder witholds these sums by commiting them to principal (and therefore keeps the money within the trust), according to the court documents he does indeed stand to inherit this very same money upon his stepfather's death. If this is still tied up in appeals as you say, Elder probably hopes that he can drag his elderly stepfather through the courts over this, and that the old man will die before they receive an unappealable ruling, therefore leaving all of the money in question to Elder and his siblings. Lovely. (ugh)

[Guest]

I agree 732, this is a new low.

he's disgusting!!!

[Joe]

Oh, and PS, the important thing to note here is that David Elder does not OWN these shares, the trust does, which means that he's only allowed to vote on the Board (i.e. to help get rid of Stanley) as long as he is the Trustee of the trust. If, for any reason, David Elder is indeed ruled UNFIT to be a Trustee (and he seems pretty unfit to me), he gives up all his voting power on the Board and the vote of his shares will either temporarily be suspended or voted by a NEW Trustee which could very likely mean GOODBYE to BD Hotels.

In other words Chelsea-ites, it's critically important that you SPREAD THE WORD about this.

Get this story on as many listservs and blogs as you possibly can. Post as many comments as you can to let Ed know this is a top story. Email the link to your friends and ask them to do the same.

And does the Puerto Rican community know about this? They're going to go CRAZY.

Rock the vote!

[Julia]

I agree -- ROCK THE VOTE!!!!!!

[777]

what a lowlife, beware of your karma david elder it is real.

[Lobby Hero]

We gotta get this guy. What a creep.

[Guest]

Omigod! This voting link is great! What a terrific website! So that's our mission friends, SAVE PIRI THOMAS!!!!! I love it!!!!

Wow. Does Marlene Krauss know? Somebody should send her the link. And what about Andre Balazs? Did he know who he was getting into business with? Heh heh. Seems like a pretty shaky situation if you ask me.

[Victoria]

Can you imagine what kind of coward has to steal from his own stepfather?
Just voted to save Piri Thomas. Also going to spread the word. What else can we do to help?
Rock the Vote!

[sam]

When someone is put in charge of a business enterprise--like running a hotel or residence--you would like to know that they possess scruples. Otherwise, they are unfit for any endeavor where they manage money or have other people's welfare at stake. This much is clear. If he is this manipulative and unscrupulous in his personal life, imagine what he would do to strangers--ie people living in this hotel. Running a business is not just about the bottom line, it is about making sure laws are followed and people are protected. It would seem that DE is supremely unqualified for this position.

[Chelsea Hotel Stranglers]

Well, greed never wins - now does it.

Won't be long now, with this revelation it sounds like BD's days are numbered ~ what goes around comes around and all the rest. Until now it looked like we'd have to run this David Elder out on a rail, and meanwhile he's done it to himself. And good.

So GO PIRI! Everybody should get behind this very worthwhile effort. No doubt one of the city's fine investigative journalists will latch onto this and help save the hotel from a con-artist who'll cut his own family's throat. No wonder they treated Stanley the way they did.

In the future, we would like to see the David Elder vote transferred colletively to the resident body of the Hotel Chelsea.

PS Lets have a Piri Party fundraiser in the lobby and invite the press. Who is on board?

What kind of pathetic bottom feeder has come to control the Hotel Chelsea? No way does he stay.

No wonder Stanley has such a big smile on his face this morning. This Elder guy was pegged from the start - a real limp dick, spying on guests and employees from the accounting office with the lights out. He came in on a song and dance about utilizing the hotel's historic spaces but since then he's been selfishly holding the hotel's most infamous bathroom hostage to his own ablutions, and built a steel and masonite wall dividing Richard Bernstein's art studio that ought to be declared a criminal act. Oh, and according to the blog he applied for permits to demolish Herbert Hunke's SRO bath. Been here weeks and hasn't once addressed an official "Hello" or personal introduction to the hotel's residents.

But we'll be saying "Goodbye" to him. And soon.

Word is he's too chickenshit to walk the Chelsea's halls by himself...now what gave him that impression?

A Piri Party sounds great!!!!! Let's do it!!!!

[Guest]

OMG, the press is going to have a field day with this...

[Witness]

The facts as stated in the court ruling are appalling.

The blog has done a great good deed, bringing this to light.

[ginny]

these creeps! it's hard enough in this world without these greedy bloodsuckers -- for pete's sake!

[Miss H]

Doesn't this just take the cake?

Piri Thomas is a wonderful man! Herbert G. used to talk about him a lot. And his book is classic.

Blogger,s this story is turning into a Tennessee Williams *former Chelsea resident) play crossed with a night-time soap. Unbeleievable. How did you guys unearth this.

Good job.

I support Piri Thomas!

[Guest]

Miss H, unBELIEVABLY, these court documents are available on GOOGLE!!!!!! See for yourself -- google: david elder piri thomas (no quotes) and you'll see!!!!!

[Pirilover]

Piri is a great writer and one of my personal heroes -- *I support Piri Thomas*

Hey Joe -- what paperwork do we need to fill out to rule David Elder unfit as a Trustee? Let's start a petition here on the Blog to send to Piri's lawyers -- Ed, can you work your computer magic here?

[chelsearez]

Is there any chance we can get Piri Thomas on the Board of Directors?

Congratulations, bloggers, on digging up this.

[BM]

16% of the shares, withholding income from his elderly ztepfather, overthrows Stanley! This guy not fit to sit in the lobby, lt alone run hotel.

[Susan]

I'm all about this paperwork -- where do we go? Let's do this petition thing asap.