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Anybody ready to take over?


jjakq27

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The estate of former Bengal co-owner and co-founder Austin Knowlton was settled yesterday in probate court. The dispute had to do with his children being disinherited from his will. Part of his estate includes shares in the Bengals valued at between $42 and $350 million. The estate is to be sold and most of the money is directed at several charities.

So I was thinking that maybe we could pool our money together and and form the Bengalszone Corp. and purchase the shares. Then maybe we could get this mess cleaned up.

In all honesty I wonder how those shares will be sold and how quickly the Brown family moves to buy them. I think it is round 30 percent of the total shares of the team.

Enquirer article:

"Heirs cut out of Bengals fortune

Co-founder left stake in team to charity

BY SHARON COOLIDGE

A four-year court battle over the multi-million-dollar estate of one of the original owners of the Cincinnati Bengals has been resolved.

A Hamilton County Probate Court jury Tuesday rejected claims by two of Austin E. "Dutch" Knowlton's three adult children who said their father's will was a forgery and there was undue influence when it was drafted.

The children filed the lawsuit in 2003 against the estate's executors, Charles Lindberg and Fifth Third Bank, after they discovered they were left out of the will, worth at least $42 million.

It's believed to be the county's largest probate case ever. It lasted more than a month.

On one side were two of Knowlton's children: construction company owner Peter Knowlton and his sister P. Valerie Knowlton, both represented by attorney Stan Chesley.

Peter Knowlton has since died, but his claim remains.

On the other side were Lindberg, the Bengals and the family of Paul Brown, the team's founder.

"We're very pleased," Lindberg said. "It really does carry out the wishes of Mr. Knowlton, whose children had been disinherited starting with a 1971 will."

Chesley said "we're disappointed" and that he would file an appeal.

Knowlton died in 2003 at age 93.

Knowlton owned several homes and a yacht, but the estate's most valuable asset lies in 176 shares of the Cincinnati Bengals - about 30 percent of the team - which are worth between $42 million and $350 million, according to experts.

Only the actual sale will reveal the value, Lindberg said.

Knowlton's last will, signed in February 1996, left nothing to his children.

Knowlton's children contended that last will was forged and that their father's mental health had deteriorated and he was heavily medicated during his last years.

Lindberg countered the children had long been estranged from their father.

The Austin E. Knowlton Foundation, which is overseen by Lindberg and his two sons, will get the bulk of the estate.

Knowlton's construction company designed, financed and built more than 160 college and university buildings, 200 elementary and secondary school buildings and more than 35 hospitals and 43 post offices."

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...EWS01/712060341

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