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Richard Simmons’ brother, Leonard Simmons, slammed his longtime housekeeper, Teresa Muro, for allegedly taking $1 million of the late entertainer’s jewelry and other valuable pieces of fine art from his home after his death, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Leonard asked a court to shut down the petition that Teresa filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
In her filing, Teresa claimed she had been Richard’s closest friend when he passed on July 13 at the age of 76. Teresa said Richard named her and Leonard as cotrustees of his trust.
In court documents, Teresa claimed that Leonard asked her to sign paperwork while she was grieving that removed her as cotrustee while she was grieving.
Her lawyer said, “Teresa was overwhelmed by Richard’s sudden death just a few days earlier, the morning’s events at the funeral home and Leonard’s unexpected scare tactics. Moreover, English is not Teresa’s first language.”
She said she was “coerced and fraudulently induced to sign” paperwork that removed her as cotrustee. Teresa claimed Leonard refused to add her back as cotrustee when she confronted him.
This week, Teresa pleaded for an emergency hearing on the matter. She accused Leonard of working with Richard’s estranged manager on a documentary that she believed Richard would have been upset about.
Her motion read, “During the final years of his life, Richard unequivocally cut ties with [the manager] because he was exploiting Richard’s celebrity without proper authorization and compensation. In fact, Richard stated that he “would rather die” than participate in another project with him.”
On top of that, she said Richard’s brother has plans to sell Richard’s personal property.
Her lawyer wrote “Moreover, it appears that Leonard is actively preparing to dispose of numerous of Richard’s personal effects, as he has retained a real estate agent to market Richard’s home where all of his personal effects were maintained and has likely made arrangements to remove Richard’s personal effects from the premises so it can be marketed. Leonard is thus likely also making arrangements to imminently sell, donate, or otherwise dispose of Richard’s personal effects without Teresa’s input, as was envisioned by Richard in the Trust.”
Now, in a newly filed response, Leonard denied the accusations. He asked that she not be added back on as cotrustee.
“Since voluntarily declining to serve as Co-Trustee, Teresa has demonstrated strong animosity towards Leonard, for reasons that he does not understand, and having the two of them serve as Co-Trustees would be counter-productive and almost certainly lead to the appointment of a corporate trustee,” his motion read.
“This alone would justify denying her Petition and the Motion, but since Richard died, Teresa has shown that she has no interest in looking out for the welfare of the beneficiaries of the estate.”
Leonard also accused Teresa of taking $1 million of Richard’s jewelry.
His motion read, “Although Teresa has her own home, she had a room in Richard’s house that she refused to vacate after his death. When she finally did leave, 76 days later, she took almost $1 million of Richard’s jewelry and other valuable pieces of fine art, which she has refused to return.”
The motion added, “And, as discussed below, she participated in the effort to misappropriate the Trust’s intellectual property. Teresa’s counsel has not informed the Trustee whether Teresa intends to keep this property or return it. If she decides to try to keep it, the Trustee will have no choice but to file a petition to recover it, which is a clear reason she should not be Co-Trustee.” Leonard added that Teresa appears to be working on her own project about Richard, despite raising objections about one she believed he was working on.
In regard to the documentary, Leonard said, “This is false. The film crew was at the house in connection with a documentary about Richard being prepared by Diane Sawyer and ABC News, and Michael let them into the house. The documentary was begun before Richard died.” “He was very excited about this and posted about it on his Facebook page and other social media,” the filing added. “He sent Diane 30 dozen roses, each one with a card that read, ‘I trust you.’”
The motion added, “The Trustee and his counsel need to appraise any property to be sold and may need to sell it to pay the taxes. Teresa should not be permitted to interfere with this process absent serious, legitimate concerns about the administration of the estate that do not exist here.” Teresa has yet to respond to the allegations in court.
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