Joe Biden's brother avoids paying $1M he owes to car crash victim's family by leaving just $29 in his account
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden seems to be facing another uncomfortable story on his family front. After all the ruckus allegedly involving his businessman son Hunter which saw a massive national controversy snowballing last year, Biden’s brother has now made the headlines. Francis Biden, 66, has been accused of wriggling out of paying $1 million in compensation that he owes the family of a young father who was killed in a car crash more than two decades ago after creditors found that he had less than $30 in his bank account, an exclusive Daily Mail report has said.
Francis or Frank, a long-time real-estate developer in Florida, has made a fortune from his high-profile surname. He is currently serving as the pitchman for a large law firm in Florida. He is known to live with his partner Mindy Ward, 47, in a house worth $600,000 in a gated community overlooking a golf course in upmarket Atlantis, Florida and owns more than one high-end car. But when attorney John F Hayter, who is representing the family of Michael Albano, who died in the accident in 1999 leaving two daughters orphaned, checked Frank’s Wells Fargo bank account in February, it was found to be almost empty, the Mail report added. Hayter at that time had placed a lien on Biden’s 2014 Supercharged Range Rover.
Frank hasn’t paid a cent of the compensation he owes the Albano family despite having defaulted on a lawsuit filed against him for the death. However, the former vice president’s brother reportedly contacted the family’s attorney, the Mail revealed. It is the first time that Frank has contacted the aggrieved family, even through an attorney, after he ignored repeated court orders and written requests to pay up over the past two decades.
In November last year, the Albano family attorneys served legal papers to several of Frank’s business associates at various companies he has links to after registering the California case in Florida. But none of the associates responded to the order, not even the Berman Law Group, which still has Frank as a senior adviser to the firm on its website. The Mail report cited sources saying an attorney of Biden reached out on his behalf after the latter was served with First Interrogatories in Aid of Execution documents in April. The court documents were the first step towards making Frank subject to a debtor’s examination that would drag him before the court to testify as to his full earnings and assets. It, however, has now been understood that Frank is willing to discuss the repayment of the $1 million he owes.
When asked by the Mail, Frank said: “We’re heading towards settlement, it’s that simple.” He, however, refused to get drawn into any discussion over his elder brother’s key election campaign.
Frank was found partially legally responsible for the death of Albano in August 1999. A high-powered Jaguar XK8 convertible (290hp) hired by Frank hit Albano when he was crossing the road on Highway 101 in Cardiff-by-the-Sea besides Encinitas, California. The car was running at a speed of 80mph when it hit Albano while the speed limit was just 35mph. Frank, who was riding shotgun and after putting the car into manual mode, asked the driver, Jason Turton, 25, to ‘punch it’ just before Albano was hit. He was allegedly heard saying ‘keep driving’ when Turton fled, telling the police someone advised him to. Another passenger in the vehicle said “everyone was drinking”.
Frank subsequently fled to California and never came to the court when the Albano family sued him, according to legal papers.
Joe Biden reportedly defended his brother
Albano’s daughters Lorraine and Nicole even pleaded with Joe Biden more than a decade ago when he was the senator from Delaware for helping them out by recovering the money from his brother but to no avail. The elder Biden told them that he had “deep sympathy” but his brother was without any money.
Frank calls himself these days as a senior adviser to Joe’s political action committee. His partner was seen in January driving his white Range Rover which displayed a sticker that read ‘BIDEN PRESIDENT 2020’ on the rear window but it was removed later.