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

It sounds like the kind of story Dominick Dunne likes to do about trust puppies who screw over people.

[guest]

Now, THIS is more like the FACTS I was talking about! :) Is there any way to see MORE court documents with MORE details on this?

[guest]

If Piri Thomas was able to be placed on the Board of Directors over the Elder siblings, that would be a fantastic thing! I'm not sure if it's possible since he was only to benefit in trust, but if this is something that's able to be done...DOES anyone know if it's possible?

p.s.- in all fairness, David Elder has addressed me with a "hello" several times (not that he actually "knows" who I am really). Bernstein, however, has not. I've only seen him a few times but never anything remotely welcoming or friendly. Lee, the other bald-headed guy, is actually very nice, as I've heard from a few tenants as well. I can only assume that he's just trying to do his job.

[PT]

I've assumed all along that Marlene Krauss was behind this shameful coup. Now I wonder if it wasn't David Elder all the time! To do this to the great Piri Thomas, well, I am beginning to see a pattern.

[665]

Because it's all about you lowercase guest.

[guest]

I've heard that there were things that Marlene Krauss was very upset about regarding Stanley and money/art not seen by the other shareholders. I don't think it was David Elder alone. Who had the original idea to take them to court for control? They may be the only ones who know the truth about that. But even if it were David Elder's idea, Ms. Krauss still had to go along with it. She easily could have declined to do so and preserved Stanley and David's managerial positions. It's unfair to blame Elder alone. They're BOTH behind it.

Great, guest - let's get her too!

[outraged]

"david elder" is the face of evil he looks like a very unhappy young man,to do this to your living stepfather and in same breath try and destory a long time family biz is evil he must hate the world that we live in and what go's around come around my friend.

[guest]

no 665, it's NOT all about ME, it's all about the FACTS. Feelings don't usually hold up in court, as proved by the Elder's attempt at stopping their stepfather from getting the money their mother wanted him to have being called "absurd" by the judge. FACTS do. What you wrote though, reminds me of something someone I know would say.

IF it were all about ME, 665, I'd be speaking of how this will effect ME and MY situation (whatever that may be, right?), rather than the FACTS of the situation as a whole. Stop trying to start arguments where there were none being presented. That's really uncalled for and not needed.

[guest]

If Ed can dig up more of these type of facts about Ms. Krauss, I don't think anyone would object (except her). Does anyone know what HER situation regarding her family's shares are? Ed?

665...exactly...what a mouthpiece. FACTS FACTS FACTS. like a wind-up toy that won't stop. as if he/she just assumed there were FACTS such as these out there to be discovered, and barring that--DESPAIR. why type every scab-like thought that comes in your head?

Marlene Krauss recently filed papers for a $100 million dollar IPO for one of her companies KBL Healthcare Ventures. I hear that someone at the SEC is looking over them (and her) VERY carefully.......

[F]

If you miss the blog for a day, all hell breaks loose! Good find, bloggers! I totally vote for Piri! I'm dying to hear what Marle has to say!

Guest, people have posted the facts OVER and OVER, and speculated based on the BARE-faced facts PLUS day-to-day knowledge of the hotel and Stanley over a LONG period of time. There appears to be A difference of opinion about the validity OF knowledge versus plain facts,and there is a difference between the two terms, MY bete. It seems dreadfully awkward to discuss it here since an edict went out that talk of the tiresome legal details was verboten. Nobody will say anything specific, so reading this discussion is like reading a bad Ted Casablancas blind item.

So pleeeze, can we stop the Feelings versus Facts discussion? I always thought it meaningful Stanley had a fading mural of Eros vs. Psyche on the ceiling of his old office. The truth is out there, somewhere in the gray zone between the poles.

(Or was it a mural of Jesus holding a bottle of beer and a knife? That would be meaningful too, wouldn't it?)

[Cowboy]

Great Job, Ed! Your Pulitzer is in the mail.

[blank78]

Really, is anyone surprised about this? I'll be staying at the Chelsea July 28-30. If anyone has any ideas of anything I can do please let me know!! Has anyone called any newpapers? Let really get this one out there!!! The Village Voice would have a field day.

I agree - let's get the Voice on this - someone should tell that Tricia Romano to pick up her magnifying glass!

[hilzapoppin]

Below is a YouTube clip of Piri Thomas. I spent a memorable evening with him and members of his family in the mid-90's. He is a beautiful man. He must be protected. Thank you for bringing to light this deplorable situation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWbc1XR5M34

[FTOT]

Wow. WOW. Excellent job, bloggers!

Hi BLANK 78 -- Heres a suggestion - make sure you request a room on 23rd Street and hang a banner during your stay! Theres nothing new management can do about it except grow ulcers

[FTOT]

Blank78, you could wear a button like Natalie from Cincinatti that says Stanley Bard is My Hero.

[Randi Marx]

I was in NY a few weeks ago and was at the street festival on 23rd and saw one of the "Bring back the Bards" banners draped so beautifully over the balcony. It made me feel secure, even though I'm not a tenant--it was as if the ones who do live there are battling on the front lines, and loving visitors like me can hope that the heart of the place will be saved. Yet, there was something so sad--so bittersweet--to know that Stanley, someone so familiar, was no longer at the helm of that precious place. It's now as if some contagion has infected something sacred. I don't mean to sound so dramatic about it, but it's how I feel. The Chelsea is part of my heart. I'll help any way I can.

[joe o'neill]

A couple of people seem to think that I'm the Joe whose name pops up in some posts above. Rather boringly, I'd like to make it clear that I'm not said Joe, even though I'm a lawyer (historically more than currently) named Joe who lives in the hotel.

[MIss H]

Blank78, make sure you take photos and send them to the Chelsea bloggers to post in the flickr group.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/bringbackthebards

[lp]

Holy Seamy Scandal! David Elder, you should be ashamed of yourself for this, and for what you;ve done to Stanley and the hotel. Shame! Now, what have we found out about Marlene Krauss?

[Delia]

Hm.Maybe that mugwump story wasn't all fiction after all! The person who wrote it must have esp.