The
media mogul Sumner M. Redstone was in the middle of a bitter divorce
from his wife of 52 years in December 2000 when he was spotted with a
decades-younger woman at the New York premiere of the Paramount movie
“What Women Want.”
His
companion was Manuela Herzer, then a 36-year-old single mother of
three. The pair met the previous year, and they dated for about two
years. When he asked her to marry him in 2000, she declined.
Yet
Ms. Herzer remained in the orbit of Mr. Redstone’s life as a friend,
even as he cycled through another marriage and a series of girlfriends.
He lavished gifts, real estate and money on her — more than $70 million
in cash and other assets since 2009. He named her a beneficiary of his
personal trust, listing her as “family.” Upon his death, he planned to
leave her an additional $50 million and his $20 million Los Angeles
mansion, according to various court filings.
Now Ms. Herzer is challenging Mr. Redstone’s mental competence in a salacious lawsuit she filed last November,
not long after she was suddenly ejected from Mr. Redstone’s life and
his home, where she had maintained a residence for about two years. She
also was removed from his will and from a directive that would have
given her supervision of his health care.
The
legal battle, filled with embarrassing claims about Mr. Redstone’s
sexual desires, incontinence and demands to eat steak while on a feeding
tube, is scheduled for trial starting Friday in Los Angeles County
Superior Court, exactly three weeks before his 93rd birthday.
This
real-life soap opera has captivated both Hollywood and Wall Street.
While the dispute concerns Mr. Redstone’s personal affairs, the outcome
could have major implications for his $42 billion media empire, which
includes two of the world’s largest entertainment companies, Viacom and CBS, both still controlled by Mr. Redstone.
A ruling by Judge David J. Cowan that Mr. Redstone is not competent would set off a contentious battle for power across Mr. Redstone’s businesses.
At
the center of it all is Ms. Herzer, now 51, who claims in the suit that
Mr. Redstone lacked mental capacity and was under the undue influence
of a nurse and his daughter, Shari Redstone, when he changed his health
care plan. Is Ms. Herzer a loving friend, concerned about his
well-being, whom he trusted to look out for his best interests even more
than his own family? Or are her claims an invasion of privacy, riddled
with lies and motivated by greed?
Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
Those
questions will set the backdrop for the trial, as the court is expected
to hear video testimony from Mr. Redstone, as well as from his
daughter, doctors and nurses, Ms. Herzer and Philippe Dauman, the chief
executive of Viacom.
“The
trial will expose the tragic inconvenient truth that Sumner Redstone
needs the court’s protection from those who have lied to and exploited
him in his debilitated condition,” Pierce O’Donnell, a lawyer for Ms.
Herzer, said in a statement. “We look forward to trial.”
Robert N. Klieger, a lawyer for Mr. Redstone, said in a statement that the case was all about money for Ms. Herzer.
“For
Mr. Redstone, it is about his ability to decide who will make the most
important health care decisions in his life,” Mr. Klieger added. “Some
things are more important than money.”
The two sides came close to reaching a settlement last month but talks hit a snag.
Since then, hurried trial preparations have been underway, with both
sides boldly proclaiming that they are looking forward to arguing the
dispute in court.
The trial, which is scheduled to last five days, promises to provide vivid details and plot turns worthy of a Shakespearean drama.
The first witness Friday is expected to be Mr. Redstone, in video testimony recorded Thursday.
Mr. Redstone has not been seen publicly since his 92nd birthday last
May and has suffered minor strokes that have left him with a severe
speech impediment. In her suit, Ms. Herzer called him a “living ghost.’’
One
person who has interacted regularly with Mr. Redstone, and who asked
not to be identified because the conversations with Mr. Redstone were
private, said that while it was difficult to understand him initially,
people who become familiar with his speech patterns could make out what
he was saying, particularly when he responded to yes or no questions,
spoke in shorter phrases or became angry. His speech therapists and
nurses are said to assist in interpreting Mr. Redstone’s more complex
statements.
Next
on the witness list is Dr. Stephen L. Read, a psychiatrist who
conducted a medical exam of Mr. Redstone in late January and filed a
37-page report; most details were withheld. Dr. Read is expected to
testify that Mr. Redstone “did not fully understand and appreciate the
consequences” of removing Ms. Herzer from the health care directive,
according to court documents filed by her lawyers on Thursday.
Lawyers
for Mr. Redstone asserted in a separate court filing on Thursday that
Dr. Read’s report was manipulated by Mr. O’Donnell.
Then
comes Keryn Redstone, Mr. Redstone’s granddaughter, who has formed an
alliance with Ms. Herzer that essentially pits her against Shari
Redstone, her aunt. In a recent declaration Keryn Redstone described her
grandfather as a “prisoner in his own home.” She also claimed that she
and her grandfather had been threatened by her aunt. Shari Redstone has
called the claims false.
New
court documents filed Thursday by lawyers for Mr. Redstone assert that
Ms. Herzer exploited her relationship with him for financial gain,
saying that between last August and mid-October she charged more than
$265,000 to his American Express card, and at one point called in a
request for $40,000 in cash to be delivered to Mr. Redstone’s house and
had him sign for it.
In
response, lawyers for Ms. Herzer said that Mr. Redstone had been
generous to many people in his life, and Ms. Herzer was one of them.
Ms.
Herzer has said the suit is solely about Mr. Redstone’s well-being. She
was introduced to him by one of his old friends in 1999, about five
years after her bitter divorce from Eric Chamchoum, a Nigerian-born
telecommunications executive who is part of a dynastic Lebanese family.
Ms.
Herzer was born in Buenos Aires, the only daughter in a family with
four sons. The family moved to Miami when she was a child. She later
studied in Paris, where she met Mr. Chamchoum. The couple moved to Los
Angeles.
Their
divorce filings, in the Los Angeles court system, are lurid. The case
includes well over 1,500 pages, with accusations of physical abuse and
tax evasion, and assertions by Ms. Herzer that her husband had
threatened to abduct their two children and take them to Nigeria.
Lawyers came and went.
Mr. Chamchoum lived in Nigeria at the time. Ms. Herzer was unable to provide any evidence of abuse.
Over
the years, Ms. Herzer has listed her occupation in public records as
homemaker, producer and self-employed. She owns property in California,
New York and Paris and is also listed as the principal officer of the
Herzer Foundation, dedicated to the prevention of childhood diseases and
child abuse.
Former
employees of Paramount, the movie and television studio owned by
Viacom, described her as a frequent presence on the lot and on the red
carpet for movie premieres, charity parties and other social events over
the years. Last year, she participated in an interview and photo shoot
for a lengthy profile about Mr. Redstone in Vanity Fair.
Though
they stopped dating early in the 2000s, Mr. Redstone and Ms. Herzer
remained close, and in early 2013 she moved into his mansion at his
request, she said in court filings. From 2013 until August 2015, Ms.
Herzer said, she helped Mr. Redstone make health care decisions along
with his girlfriend at the time, Sydney Holland.
In
August, Ms. Holland was ejected from the home after a confession of
infidelity. At that point, Ms. Herzer said, she took over the management
of Mr. Redstone’s health care. She characterized his health as
deteriorating rapidly.
On
the morning of Oct. 12, Ms. Herzer was removed from Mr. Redstone’s home
in a scene she described as a tearful frenzy. She has said that she did
not know why she had been ejected and was told by Mr. Redstone’s
lawyers only that she had “lied” to Mr. Redstone. The papers filed by
the Redstone side on Thursday said the lies involved Ms. Herzer
obstructing Mr. Redstone’s relationship with another woman as well as
her fabrication of a letter she said was from Ms. Holland.
Lawyers for Ms. Herzer said that they will show during the trial that the allegations have no merit.