Blackstone Group founder Peter Peterson has been drawn into the vicious war of the wealthy Palm Beach Pope family.
Paul Pope, son of National Enquirer founder Generoso Pope, is investigating whether money is missing from his father’s estate and is demanding Peterson — his father’s financial adviser from 1979 up to his death, in 1988, and an executor of Pope’s estate — hand over all of Generoso’s tax and accounting documents.
In a scandal fit for the tabloid itself, Paul believes he was cheated out of inheriting the Enquirer when his father died, and that much of his father’s millions disappeared.
On Monday, he filed suit against his socialite-philanthropist mother, Lois Pope, 79, demanding $5 million.
In a letter to Peterson that is not part of the suit, Paul’s lawyer Michael J. Schlesinger says, “My client . . . recently discovered that at the time of his father’s death, there may have been numerous foreign bank accounts and other assets.”
The letter goes on to ask why there was no money left to the trust by his father following his death — only the National Enquirer and his family home were handed over to the trust — and demands that Peterson, who was also a close friend of his father, hand over all Generoso’s financial documents.
Paul Pope told us, “It is time for the people that were in charge of my father’s estate, Pete Peterson and [Lois Pope’s lawyer] Robert Miller, to . . . disclose all of the assets, not just the ones they reported. I can’t believe the only assets my father had [upon his death] were the company and his home. It just doesn’t add up.” His attorney Schlesinger added, “Peterson was sent a letter demanding official records over a week ago, and all we hear is silence.”
Lois Pope has denied hiding or misappropriating any of Generoso’s finances, and claims her son is just after her money. A spokesperson for Peterson told us in a statement, “These claims are both baseless and preposterous.”