A Curmudgeon Leaves Millions to Poor Children of Panama, and the Battles Begin

Source: NY Times

June 25, 2008
A Curmudgeon Leaves Millions to Poor Children of Panama, and the Battles Begin
By MARC LACEY

PANAMA — In life, Wilson C. Lucom was not exactly child friendly. The gruff octogenarian never had children himself and was not especially close to the offspring of his third wife, Hilda, either. When he opened his ample checkbook, friends say, it was more likely to finance a conservative political cause than to help underprivileged youths.

But Mr. Lucom, a native of rural Pennsylvania who spent much of his life in Palm Beach, Fla., surprised everyone in his will, which was revealed upon his death two years ago at the age of 88. After doling out relatively small portions of his tens of millions to survivors, he left the rest to a foundation he had dreamed up in secrecy to aid the poor children of Panama, where he spent the final years of his life.

While the precise value is not clear, it would be one of the largest, if not the largest, charitable donations in Panama’s history. But so far not a single child has had access to the money.

The will has set off a vicious legal battle that is playing out in at least four countries. Criminal charges have been filed, insults traded and threats made. The number of law firms involved exceeds 20. The case is now before Panama’s Supreme Court.

“This is all about greed,” said Héctor Ávila, an advocate for poor children in Panama who organized a demonstration of young people in May outside the court calling for Mr. Lucom’s gift to be honored. Within a week of the protest, Mr. Ávila survived a shooting. No link to the Lucom case has been established.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/world/americas/25panama.html?ref=americas

is to grow up, pass the bar, and join one of the 20 law firms involved in the litigation.

This is a true story -- the greed is coming from panama government.

The American lawyer Richard Lehman and close friend of Wilson Lucom is doing everything he can to make sure the Lucom donation happens. He is doing what Mr. Lucom requested of him, and he will fight to insure that justice is done. Doing the right thing is not always popular -- and that is what Mr. Lehman is up against -- I applaud Mr. Lehman and say HANG IN THERE!! Good will prevail over evil!

If you would like to read the background on this case and VIEW the 500 page exhibit presented to the jury -- you can do so by visiting http://www.lucomchildren.com -- You can see obviously how corrupt the panamanian government is -- and this should be a warning to all expats that currently live in Panama.

Since Lucom’s Last Will and Testament could not be defeated in the Panamanian
courts of law, the only way to steal this precious gift to Panama’s poor children was
to get rid of Lehman. Lehman was appointed by the Panamanian Court as the sole
Executor of Lucom’s Will. Therefore, he was the only person with the legal authority
who had sworn an oath in Panama to protect the poor children of Panama.
The Report clearly shows not only a gross abuse of Panama’s civil law system which
has resulted in the complete inability to administer
Lucom’s Estate for 20 months. It will show a systematic
use of the criminal legal system to resolve civil cases by the
threats, terror and personal and financial ruin of the opponent.
It will show a legal system where one lawyer with impunity
can file more than 13 fraudulent criminal allegations
against Lehman in one year accusing him of crimes he
never committed; the issuance of two illegal arrest warrants
against Lehman in Panama and the issuance of two illegal indictments against
Lehman. All of this as a result of the corruption of at least one and possibly two
Panamanian Prosecutors.
The most recent attacks on Lehman and his lawyers resulted from the corruption
of several Panamanian police agencies. In January of 2008 Lehman and his main
Panamanian counsel, Victor Crosbie, were illegally listed as Red Notice criminals
of the highest order by Panamanian Interpol. Then Lehman’s counsel was falsely
arrested by Interpol in Columbia and Panama.
3 
A pattern
of gross
abuse
P A R T I
 4 
Sadly the plan to steal the millions has resulted in the deaths of no less than 200
malnourished Panamanian children who, by UNICEF standards have died at a
rate of one child every three days during the 20 month period that Lucom’s gift
has been delayed by the use of illegal tactics.
The tip of the ice berg of the abuses of the law that you will see in this Report
has been featured in TIME Magazine and the newspaper articles published in the
La Estrella Newspaper in Panama April 7th and 8th. (Exhibit 1(A))
Exhibit 1(B) includes newspaper reports and pictures of the most recent actions
involving Lucom’s Estate. They tell a story of just how dangerous it can be to
be a champion of Lucom’s Will.
On May 10th, 2008, Hector Avila, a local hero in Panama’s barrios, who has
worked hard on gang prevention; led a march to the Panama Supreme Court to
present a copy of this Attorney General’s Report to the Chief Justice of the
Panamanian Supreme Court. As one can see, it was a march by the poor children
of Panama asking for justice.
Exactly one week after the march, Hector Avila was gunned down on the streets
of Panama. Avila is recovering and has named the Arias family as one of the chief
suspects responsible for his shooting.
Background
Wilson C. Lucom, was a U.S. national and an extremely wealthy man
who arrived in Panama in 1995. Since the early 1980’s he was married for the second
time to a Panamanian woman, who was a member of one of the most influential
families in Panama. Lucom had no children of his own. His wife, Hilda,
was previously married to Gilberto Arias, the scion of one of Panama’s most powerful
families. Hilda had five children with Gilberto Arias; two of which remain
in power positions in Panama.
After several years in Panama, Lucom had problems with his wife’s children who
distanced him from themselves and their mother, Lucom’s wife. This situation
lasted several years.
Lucom was an enterprising man and a sensitive soul who gave up his U.S. citizenship
and fell in love with Panama. He witnessed the needs and the hunger endured
by thousands of Panamanian children, particularly in the rural areas;
therefore, he decided to leave in his will, written on June 20th, 2005, almost 50
million dollars to the poor children of Panama, which would be managed and distributed
by his “Fundacion Wilson C. Lucom Trust Fund”, created for this purpose.
Lucom left to his wife their multi million dollar home in Punta Paitilla and for the
rest of her life, 20 thousand dollars a monthly income, or a minimum 240 thousand
dollars per year, to be paid by the Foundation’s main account. He provided
handsomely for his stepdaughter in the U.S. and small amounts to his stepchildren
in Panama and bequests to his friends, employees, persons who provided services
to him and $1.0 Million to Mayo Clinic. This was his last will.
The object of the Foundation was to feed children with needs in Panama and he
gave instructions to look for areas where there were children’s schools that had no
meals for lunch.
Lucom explained that the principals of the schools had to form groups of volunteers
with parents and other persons to plant gardens with seeds, so that they
would bear fruit in the future to first feed the children in the area, then to provide
some money for their sale.
Upon Lucom’s death his will was probated in the country of Panama and the
Panamanian Probate judge accepted Lucom’s will as valid and appointed Lucom’s
long term United States friend and attorney, Richard S. Lehman, to serve as the
sole Executor of Lucom’s Estate.
5 
P A R T I I
Lehman is a South Florida attorney who had been Lucom’s attorney and friend
for 31 years faithfully. Lehman is a long time resident of South Florida, having
practiced law there for 33 years with an impeccable record as an attorney and community
leader. Before starting his private practice in Florida he graduated from
Georgetown Law School in Washington D.C.; obtained an LLM, master’s degree
in tax law at New York University Law School and served for years as a Senior Attorney
with the Internal Revenue Service of the United States and as a law clerk
to Judge William Fay on the United States Tax Court in Washington D.C.. He
has continually held an “AV” rating as an attorney since the beginning of his career.
He also served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corp. of the United States
Army Reserves.
Prior to commencing work as the Executor of Lucom’s Estate, Lehman had never
been accused of any criminal action whatsoever and is held in the highest esteem
in his community by individuals from the political, religious, legal, financial and
other walks of life.
Upon being appointed the sole Executor of Lucom’s Estate, Lehman swore an
oath upon the bible to uphold Lucom’s Will and to protect the poor children of
Panama with Lucom’s money. To date he has done so having guided the Will
through its acceptance by the Panamanian Probate and Superior Courts.
Lucom’s Will stands today at a point
where its ultimate legal validity
will be decided shortly
by the Panama Supreme Court.
~snip~

4/ There has been a systematic attempt to silence or force actions from every one of the
following persons through either criminal or civil actions, threats and intimidation, undue
influence or bribery:
(i) a Panamanian Notary:
(ii) lawyers both in Panama and the United States;
(iii) a Panamanian Judge;
(iv) the Executor of the Panama Will;
(v) witnesses that would testify favorably to the Testator’s intent;
(vi) U.S. and Panamanian beneficiaries;
(vii) several members of the press;
(viii) other professionals providing services to the Estate;
(ix) people submitting information to the press;
(x) several Panamanian charities that wish to benefit from Lucom’s gift;
(xi) A Panamanian Prosecutor (as will be seen);
(xii) Panamanian Police Authorities; and the
(xiii) Panamanian Division of Interpol (as will be seen).

~snip~

What a miserable shame. The rest of this information can be found in the first section:
Report to the Attorney General Country of Panama
THE Estate of WILSON C. LUCOM
Legal Abuse in Panama Civil and Criminal

~~~~~~~~~~
This will triggered a war, with the criminals trying to prevent the resources from getting to the little people who desperately needed them. The criminals apparently will stop at nothing short of risking their own lives to get it.

Even the Panamanian Interpol was involved in serious deception. False stories planted in the newspaper.

Thank you for providing the depth needed to start to grasp the complexity of this story, mdaultry. Welcome to D.U. :hi: