Tony Bennett’s adult children are in a feud, with his daughters having sued their half-brother over the singer’s estate this week, nearly a year after his death.
Antonia and Johanna Bennett are seeking unspecified “equitable relief,” as well as comprehensive accounting and inventory of their family trust, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York.
The suit claims that D’Andrea “Danny” Bennett, who was their late father’s manager, failed to disclose some of the assets from the recent sale of the singer’s music catalog and image rights to branding company Iconoclast, which aims to “preserve and grow the legacy of culturally significant artists.”
“It remains unclear what music assets (and other property) were or were not sold as part of the deal,” according to the suit, with the sisters saying they “have not been provided with various details of the transaction despite repeated requests.”
The lawsuit also names the singer’s widow, Susan Benedetto, and his son Daegal “Dae” Bennett. Like Danny, Dae was born to Bennett and his first wife Patricia Beech, while Antonia and Johanna are from Bennett’s marriage to second wife Sandra Grant.
Transactions made on behalf of the 19-time Grammy winner ensured Danny Bennett “obtained personal benefits for himself and his company,” the filing claims, in reference to RPM Productions. Currently the president, Danny founded the management and strategic marketing company in 1979.
Antonia and Johanna allege the “piecemeal information” they have thus far received from their brother’s camp “raises more questions than answers and fails to provide anything close to an accounting of Tony’s assets and financial affairs.”
The lawsuit comes nearly a year after the Queens native, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, died at his Midtown home last July. He was 96.
RPM Productions could not immediately be reached for comment.
With News Wire Services
