of Los Angeles stands the Mountain, impervious to the Hollywood power players and business tycoons plotting and scheming below. Many have coveted its 157 acres, but the Mountain has remained tantalizingly out of reach. Spanning a surface area bigger than 100 football fields, this grassy, lush mountaintop has been the prize—once valued at $1 billion—of Middle Eastern royals, A-list stars, and mega-moguls.
As the court fights exploded, Alex was thrust into an unwanted spotlight, dubbed “America’s richest teenager.” At the heart of the lawsuits was the Mountain, which Mark had wanted preserved for his son. The property cost around $250,000 a year to maintain by 2020, but maintenance was never a question. The trustees saw its potential as a development site.
During the first decade of the dispute, Alex’s lawyers said the trustees spent $22.6 million of the trust’s money on litigation, plus around $10 million as payment to themselves, while denying Suzan’s requests for the smallest of things—some of Mark’s clothing, his surfboard, furniture that reminded Alex of his father, according to Suzan and to court documents. Suzan had been the third of Mark’s four wives and the mother of his only child. She was also his longest relationship.
For a time they lived large, then sold their home to fund their legal battles against “big pharma,” which tried to “wipe them out,” Suzan said. For a while they lived in a rental on Benedict Canyon. Their landlord, according to Suzan, was Max Baer Jr., who played Jethro Bodine onand was a son of the heavyweight boxing champion. They married in Maui in September 1987 and renewed their vows each year, in places like Cabo San Lucas, Tahiti, the French Riviera, and Hawaii.
“I didn’t want to build a giant house. It’s a beautiful piece of property and there is nothing like it on the planet, but I was happy with the house we had. You can have enough without having to go further and higher and bigger,” she said. “You can be satisfied.”finalized in six months, with Mark keeping 98 percent of the marital assets.
“We asked for Mark’s favorite T-shirt. They said, ‘Sue us,’ ” she said, adding that she had to file lawsuits to force the trust to pay the already agreed upon $10,000 a month in child support. “There’s a lot of money. There’s the company and the land, and all they have to do”—Suzan’s voice dropped below a whisper—“is just fuck over one little boy. It gets very tempting.”
A fascinating and sad story about entrusted people baldly stealing from their employers & fighting to remain doing so on while on their dime.