Crime Writer Patricia Cornwell Has Her Own Legal Drama

ABC News ^ | Jan. 10, 2013 | SUSANNA KIM

[TheMole]

Fiction crime-writer Patricia Cornwell is used to writing about a heroic medical examiner investigating complex mysteries, but now she is in the middle of a drama of her own, claiming her former financial management firm cost her tens of millions of dollars in lost money over four years.

Cornwell, 56, and her partner, Staci Gruber, a neuroscientist at Harvard University, have lived in the Boston area for the last six years. In October 2009, she filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts against her former accounting firm and business manager, Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP and its former principal, Evan Snapper. A jury continued to hear the case on Thursday.

[TheMole]

LOLZ all around on this one. Some very brief excerpts just to give you the idea while staying on the side of legality:

Cornwell alleges she was charged far more than the $40,000-a-month rate she thought she would be paying the company for management of her money ...

Her lawsuit also says that she "openly acknowledges her diagnosis with a mood disorder known as bipolar disorder...

Snapper admitted to violating campaign finance laws by using her money to buy $50,000 in tickets to an Elton John concert benefiting Hillary Clinton.

[firebrand]

Whatever you may think, she did start the whole genre of postmortem crime fiction, or at least was one of the biggest and earliest popularizers.

Also, the whole crime-scene business, which is now metastasizing into billions of dollars in TV money, and the proper outrage toward those who refuse keep away from the victim with their big feet. I loved her early stuff. Hope she solves this to her satisfaction.

If you see a copy of the 1st edition of Postmortem, try not to look too excited as you carefully consider buying it.

[Lancey Howard]

Sounds like ‘L’ is for Lesbian.

[Drango]

partner, Staci Gruber

Who knew?

[nickcarraway]

Didn’t she have an affair with the wife of an FBU agent who was helping her with her books?

[preacher]

How Patricia Cornwell's lesbian affair with FBI agent ended in savage revenge
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-562141/How-Patricia-Cornwells-lesbian-affair-female-FBI-agent-ended-savage-revenge.html#ixzz2HqShY6hN

[Bratch]

Twisted Triangle is the first complete narrative thriller about the sensational story of Margo Bennett, a married FBI agent who had a love affair with bestselling author Patricia Cornwell and whose jealous husband, Gene Bennet, a superstar FBI undercover agent, kidnapped and attempted to murder her.

When the case first came to trial, it was reported in Vanity Fair, Newsweek, People, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. Almost every profile of Cornwell, written in the United States and abroad every time she releases a book, mentions this case and her relationship with Margo.

Margo also was the inspiration for the heroine in Hostage Negotiator, a TV movie that came out in 2001.

Opening up for the first time, Margo Bennett has given Caitlin Rother complete personal access, sitting for interviews and turning over photographs, documents, records, and private papers.

Twisted Triangle includes the crazy dynamics of Margo and Gene Bennett's family; the brilliant FBI undercover career of Margo's husband, Gene; the lesbian affair with celebrity author Pat Cornwell; Gene's reactive kidnapping and attempt to kill Margo; Gene's insanity defense; the trial that validates Margo's story and shows she was telling the truth all along; and a happy ending to her tale of survival.

[Ann Archy]

Another Liberal LESBO.....

[BlackVeil]

Cornwell has indeed made her mark. Like you, I prefer her early novels, especially 'Body of Evidence', a very strong story.

If you see a copy of the 1st edition of Postmortem, try not to look too excited as you carefully consider buying it.

Very good advice. Just casually flip a few pages, and ask mildly, 'how much is this one ... ?'

[MissMagnolia]

I loved her early stuff.

Yup. As the Scarpetta series has progressed, it's gotten kinda' weird ... certain aspects are getting a bit much for me.

[SES1066]

When a fiduciary company gets ‘merged’ with another company as apparently happened here, it behooves a client to take stock and be sure that the new operators are aware of their responsibilities. In her case it sounds like a combination of 2008 hang-over and a degree of bill fatigue as well as malpractice.

A 40k+ monthly retainer ($480k+ per year) on top of operating fees is a whopper of an account! Given the fact that most of these kinds of fees are based upon a percentage of expected income and that 15% seems to be a logical agent fee, Ms Cornwall was, at one time, hauling in about $5 million / year. If, as stated in the article, her portfolio is around a year’s income after 7 years of operation with this company, I’d say this representation was the equivalent of opening the window and throwing out moolah by the handful for days at a time!

Maybe time for a CONSERVATIVE shift?

[ottbmare]

This is one of the most horrible and sick things I’ve ever read. The women were awful but the husband is a monster. And as usual, the children are the victims.

[dennisw]

This one percenter (Obama voting lesbian) should just look at this as redistribution of her wealth to the more deserving “little people”

[dennisw]

Hilarious lesbian affair stuff at your link. lol