February 6, 2003 | Read Time: 1 minute
Lawyers for one of the heirs to the Pritzker fortune have asked a Cook County judge, in Chicago, to freeze the assets of the family’s foundation until a lawsuit that accuses her father of stealing $1-billion from her trust fund is settled.
Liesel Pritzker alleges that her father, Robert Pritzker, illegally transferred assets from trust funds he controlled into the family foundation and other trusts that benefit a range of other family members.
The motion to freeze the assets of the Pritzker Foundation, one of the nation’s 100 largest grant makers, with $624.3-million in assets as of the end of 2000, would not prevent it from using interest income generated by its holdings to make grants to charities.
Ms. Pritzker’s lawsuit says that her father sold off some assets from her trust fund at below-market prices and funneled the proceeds to the foundation. In other instances, the suit alleges, the foundation sold off assets it had received from her trust fund for below-market value.
Lawyers for Mr. Pritzker, the foundation, and other family members named in the suit declined to comment.
Lawyers for Ms. Pritzker, 18, want the court to prevent any further foundation assets from being sold before the court rules on her suit.
The Pritzker family owns a wide range of businesses, the largest of which is the Hyatt hotel chain.
