'Chicago P.D.' actress Marina Squerciati says dead Wall Street mogul was her father, fights for her share of his $100 million fortune
Marina Squerciati, who is well known for her role as Kim Burgess on NBC’s 'Chicago P.D.', has claimed that she is the daughter of Wall Street mogul John R. Jakobson. As reported by New York Post, Marina never interacted with her father as her mother and John had come to an understanding that he would financially support Marina for the rest of her life but there would be no interaction between the two.
Marina's Dalton college tuition was paid by the father she had never met as her mother kept drawing out checks every month for 20 years. While Marina is now a successful actress, she is now fighting for the promise that her father could not keep, that is, to leave a part in his $100 million fortune for her mother and her.
Marina claims that the price of remaining silent about her father was "extraordinary". She says that she lost the chance of interacting with John who died last year of pneumonia at age 86, and she was denied “any relationship whatsoever with her half-siblings,” according to the court documents filed by the actress in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court. While Marina is confident that John is her father, the Wall Street mogul's window Joan Jakobson says that she never knew about Marina.
“I’m not aware of it at all,” she said before asking, “She said she was John’s daughter?” She later added, “This has all hit me, like, I don’t know — a snowstorm.” While Joan may not know about Marina, it is reported that John was quite the ladies’ man. He was first married to his college sweetheart Barbara Jakobson with whom he had three children. Unfortunately, one of his children died. The couple divorced in the 1970s.
In 1976, while John was planning on marrying Joan, he met former Miss America Bess Myerson. The two ended up having months-long affair but soon John decided to call things off. However, it did not end well as Bess reportedly troubled him with vulgar letters, phone calls.
Even though the police investigated the problem, she was not charged. Despite this, John was not afraid of getting into another romantic relationship. This time, he started seeing Marina's mother Maria.
While the two had a year-long relationship, neither commented on it. Marina remained silent about her relationship with John which also led to their daughter’s August 1981 birth. The pair soon broke up and John went on to marry Joan. Even though John knew that he and Maria had a daughter, he never cared to make them a part of his life. While the exact details of their romance are not mentioned in the court documents, it is reported that his longtime personal secretary and the headmaster of one of New York’s most prestigious schools made sure that he is able to provide for his daughter.
It is reported that John paid Marie Squerciati $1,200 a month for more than 20 years, which was used to hire a nanny for Marina and pay rent for their house. At the same time, he did not hold back in providing for her education as he shelled out more than $175,000 for her to attend the upper-crust Dalton School through her senior year, then another $131,000 for her schooling, room, and board at Northwestern University.
He even sent her flowers and cards on her birthday. However, the court documents state that it was all a build-up for the lies he kept telling them. The documents stated that John promised to leave Marina a part of his assets. When Marina got engaged, Marie asked if he would send a gift. He replied by reaffirming that the girl “would receive money under his will.” But that never happened.
According to John's will, he has left his money for his first and second wives, his three surviving children and his stepdaughter through Joan, as well as funds for a foundation. Nicholas Jakobson, the executor of his father’s estate, said that they have "devoted substantial time and considerable legal expense in analyzing the claim." The court documents filed by Nicholas state that the allegations made by Marina have “no basis in fact or law.”
Marina's decision of being included in her alleged father’s massive estate “amounts to nothing more than an avaricious attempt to enforce an alleged, vague oral promise made to [her] mother, rather than to herself, and which resulted in no legally recognizable injury to her,” states Nicholas' lawyer in the documents. Even if Marina is able to prove that John was her father, there is no written proof of the promise he had made.
The financial lawyer claims that Marina had “ample opportunity as an adult” to get this commitment in writing from John but that never happened. The lawyers further stated that keeping this a secret might be something that Marina herself wanted. However, they are ready to pay her a paltry $50,000 settlement. “She may have wished to avoid the opprobrium, which, although unfair and unjustified, is often cast upon nonmarital children,” the lawyers wrote. “As a successful actor, [she] may have been especially sensitive to this given her public persona and position in popular culture.”