Richard S. Lehman Fights For What Is Right

excerpt from Latin America Report, How Panama Cut Poor Kids Out Of A Florida Millionaire's Will, by Tim Padgett

What has happened to Lucom’s will since he died in 2006 is a bewildering if not byzantine tale of legal intrigue that stretches from Panama City to Palm Beach County. Critics at home and abroad call it a stark illustration of Panama’s, and to a large degree Latin America’s, indifference to gaping wealth inequality and brazen judicial corruption – two factors that weigh down the region’s development like millstones.

Boca Raton tax attorney Richard Lehman was an executor of Lucom's will, and he's a central character in this Grisham-esque drama. “No one who has grown up in the American system, who believes in the law, can possibly be prepared for the lawlessness of Panama,” he says.

But the case may now be taking another important turn. “It’s not dead,” Lehman argues, “by any stretch of the imagination.” Read full article 

Recent Panama Actions

1. Summary of Lucom’s Will: download pdf
2. Lucom’s Will: download pdf
3. Panama Supreme Court Decision: download pdf
4. Criminal Complaint to the Panama Congress by Mario Chizmar, Notary: download pdf

Lucom Public Documents

http://www.lucompublicdocuments.com

Institutions created a charitable foundation to administer an estate millionaire

Read article in Spanish - click here

Panama .- Six charitable institutions of Panama formed today at the Foundation for the Support of Poor Children in the country to receive and administer the estate in a will left millions for over two years by a U.S. investor.

Formed by the Pro-Children of the Darien National Association Pro Nutrition (Nutrehogar), the Association of Religious Mercedarios The Orphanage "San Jose de Malambo," SOS Children's Villages City and the patronage of the Child, the group aims to support "viable programs in accordance with the needs of children" proposals by third parties.

The members of this foundation, all long-and prestige in the country, were invited by Richard Lehman, executor of the deceased, legally constituted as "natural recipient" of the will of his client, as he explained today in a wheel press.

Upon his death in June 2006, Wilson C. Lucom, diplomat and investor based in Panama, left an estate valued at 50 million dollars to poor children in Panama ", without defining how to share his legacy.

The family of his widow will protest and engaged in a legal process that has reached the Supreme Court, which is pending for a year.

In the event that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the will of Lucom, the new foundation would be its main beneficiary, according to an agreement reached with Lehman lawyer.

"It is in the hands of Panamanians to join me to speak before the Supreme Court in defense of the nation's children," noted Lehman through a translator.

The challenge will also let different amounts of cash and annuity pension to his widow, Hilda Piza, friends and colleagues.

On behalf of his mother, the children of Piza (84), challenged the will and for more than two years the parties have conflicting arguments ventilated in the courts of justice and international media, ranging from attempted murder , extortion, bribery and criminal association removed to another reason.

According to Octavio Del Moral, counsel for the case in Panama, despite the High Court ruling in favor of Lucom testament to his political family filed an appeal before the Supreme Court, which he hoped "to be resolved soon."

On November 26 the National Council of Transparency of Panama, responsible for identifying and preventing acts of corruption in government, charged that the heirs of the widow of Lucom, not directly related to the testator, "brought more than 13 fraudulent criminal allegations "against the executor of the will, causing the suspension and delay the process of succession.

Information on the case with which the executive secretary of the Council, Alma Montenegro, was that "two prosecutors acted irregularly in the investigation of allegations that, on the other hand, were dismissed for lack of consistency.

Property Lucom ceded testament "to the poor children of Panama is known as the Santa Monica, an area of 3,000 hectares along the Pacific coast of Panama, currently dedicated to the cultivation of grains and fruits and livestock.

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TIME MAGAZINE article

TIME
MAGAZINE - November 12, 2007

Postcard: Panama
A bitter dispute over a wealthy American's will has become a metaphor for this nations big divide.
Inside the fight for $50 million

Posted, Friday, Nov. 02, 2007
By TIM PADGETT

These are heady days for tiny Panama. It is undertaking a massive expansion of the Panama Canal, luring billions of dollars in maritime and high-tech investment that could make it the Hong Kong of the Americas. But here's the other side: in the past few months, scores of toddlers have died of malnutrition in villages around the country. More than half of Panamanian children under 5 are at risk of suffering the same fate. That's why, say friends of Wilson (Chuck) Lucom, who died last year at 88, the eccentric U.S. millionaire left as much as $50 million in his will for poor children's charities in Panama. It's the largest private gift ever made here. The will doesn't single out which relief organizations will be recipients. But, as the director of a charity that may benefit says, it could have a "tremendous impact on our ability to save these children."

READ FULL STORY online: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1680177,00.html

DOWNLOAD TIME Article as PDF: http://www.lucom-ninospobresdepanama.com/pdf/TimeMag_lehman_lucom.pdf