Our Mission
The mission of the Thornton Estate Foundation is to educate and increase consumer awareness of the potential for estate executor malfeasance and real estate attorneys who commit escrow account fraud. To accomplish our mission, we provide publicly available information and other resources with the goal of enabling people to foresee the potential pitfalls of working with individuals who may have a low standard of ethics.
Our Story
We are the beneficiaries of the Thornton estate. Our story is an unfortunate one involving the executor of our father's estate, Southport, Connecticut real estate attorney Robert Dante Russo III. Mr. Russo took on this complex executorship despite efforts from his peers do dissuade him from doing so. Rob has destroyed our father’s once large, multi-million dollar estate and has sued estate beneficiary Brett Thornton. Rob spent all of the estate's cash and securities to finance this lawsuit but has "painted himself into a corner" whereby he now owes the IRS and his attorneys 4 to 5 million dollars! A debt for which he is PERSONALLY liable.
The Facts, as Stated by the Attorneys
Robert Dante Russo III, a real estate lawyer and the executor of the Thornton estate, was put in charge of running the Thornton Business in April 2014, notwithstanding that he had no relevant experience. He acted as sole stockholder and sole director for more than a year -- supervising the Business from “10,000 feet,” as he testified. (Tr. 7/9/15). He did so essentially without consulting the estate’s four residuary beneficiaries, the Thornton siblings, who were named in the will as the legatees of the stock of the Business. Russo named Brett Thornton president of the companies, but never gave him any real authority and eventually stripped him even of check signing privileges. Russo never devoted more than a few minutes a week to the Business or learned much about it, save that it was producing cash flow. For whatever reason, he rejected all efforts to persuade him to distribute the stock, and determined to stay in charge of the Business for an indefinite time. He contends that this was required for the proper administration of the estate. He wished to (and did) use the cash flow, not to reinvest in the Business to preserve its future, but for other purposes connected with the estate’s operations -- not because this was really necessary (or, arguably, even proper), but because it was a convenient line of least resistance. Russo also billed the Estate well in excess of $300,000.00 for about thirteen months of work.
The Trial and the "inlaw factor"
Many years ago, Rob Russo completely stopped communicating with three out of four of the estate beneficiaries, instead favoring only the beneficiary Emily Salmore (nee Thornton) and, by extension, Emily Salmore's husband Paul Salmore.
For example:
It is a matter of public record, in the form of a Westport Connecticut Probate compact disk recording, that Paul Salmore made the following statement in OPEN Westport probate court: "The truth is, if this person (meaning Brett Thornton) were a minority, this person would be in jail right now".
Brett Thornton, who has been struggling for years to save our family companies and been through the ordeal of a trial, now has a judgement against him. The judge in the trial reduced the judgement by nearly half and the originally hung jury resorted to unethical tactics in coming to its decision. In the meantime, Mr. Thornton has been accused of bad acts but, the fact of the matter is that ownership of the assets in question STILL HAS NOT BEEN RESOLVED. It could easily be concluded that Mr. Thornton was wrongfully accused but that doesn't matter now, the damage is done. This should have NEVER GONE TO TRIAL. The beneficiaries have been trying to settle for nearly TEN YEARS.
Rob Russo
We have seen Rob mislead many smart people over the years and the fact that, in the course of his duties as a real estate attorney, he has control of large amounts of escrow money, should be of huge concern for anyone planning on hiring him to be involved in a real estate transaction. WE DO NOT WANT THIS TO HAPPEN TO YOUR FAMILY!
Westport, CT Probate Judge Lisa Wexler
The Honorable Lisa K. Wexler (the Westport, CT Probate Judge overseeing the estate) summed up the sad status of our situation when she said:
The decedent Thomas Thornton was a man who left behind a successful dental floss business, six children, two ex-wives whom he had a post-mortem duty to support, and a girlfriend whom he clearly cared about at the time of his death. He also left behind millions of dollars in cash and securities as well as valuable residential and commercial real estate. More than three years later, the Thornton estate has no cash, most of the properties have been sold to pay debts, the IRS is still owed in excess of two million dollars, and [Mr. Russo] is behind in payments owed to children and two ex-wives.
(Judge Wexler Opinion, August 25, 2017)
The unfortunate truth is that the beneficiaries will get nothing while Mr. Russo (by his own admission) has paid himself over $750,000 from our inheritance. “Russo and Associates received approximately $750,000 plus in fees from the estate from January 2014 to November 2016.” (Judge Wexler Opinion, August 25, 2017).
Coming soon: Resources and guidance so that families may make better informed decisions.
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