Leona Helmsley's dog heir dies
Leona Helmsley's dog heir dies. Trouble, the fluffy white lap companion of the widely vilified hotel and real estate tycoon Leona Helmsley — and a dog that managed to be both the world’s richest and most hated Maltese — died in December, a vice president of the Helmsley trust has confirmed.
Trouble gained infamy after Mrs. Helmsley, who died in 2007, left the dog $12 million in her will, though a surrogate court judge later reduced the amount to $2 million. After Mrs. Helmsley’s death, the dog was cared for by Carl Lekic, the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle hotel in Sarasota, Fla., and was 12 when she died.
