UPDATE: Sanford Ziff’s Baroness Accused of Abusing Trust of Dying Man

Posted by Jose Lambiet , October 10, 2011 Print

Miami Beach socialite Baroness Beatrice Clancy, who married 86-year-old philanthropist Sanford Ziff six months after the death of his wife, allegedly talked an ailing ex-boyfriend into spending millions on her!

“It was very a upsetting time,” said Jane Schoninger, the developer’s daughter, when asked about Clancy.

Clancy, 68, and Ziff made news last month when he admitted to mulling over changing his dead wife Dolores’ name into Beatrice’s on the Arsht Center’s Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House — angering Dolores’ children.

Meanwhile Schoninger, who built thousands of homes and several malls in Hialeah, gave his three adult children $100,000 each, and each of his eight grand-children $140,000.Clancy inherited $1.2 million!

But it’s mostly what Clancy got during his lifetime that riled up the estate’s reps, and they sued her in 2004 for undue influence.

As Schoninger’s health failed – he died of lung cancer in 2003, at 90 – Clancy controlled Schoninger’s vast assets and allegedly had him transfer $1.5 million to an annuity with her as sole beneficiary. Clancy “abused Schoninger’s trust … coerced him into conveying millions of dollars to her … with his credit cards, department-store charge cards and bank accounts,” the suit reads. It also calls Clancy “a mistress.”

A source close to the case said Clancy repaid the estate $350,000. Guy Lewis, Clancy’s attorney, didn’t return calls for comment but denied the allegations in his legal answer. And he bristled at the term “mistress,” calling it “sexist and demeaning.”

Clancy didn’t return calls. Said Ziff: “I don’t know anything about the lawsuit. But I know that my wife is the most generous, caring and giving person I ever met.”

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– This story first appeared in my column in the Miami Herald

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