Who are Kendalle and Alexandra Getty? Financial advisor accuses sisters of $300M tax avoidance scheme
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: A legal battle between the heirs of the Getty family fortune and their long-time financial advisor has revealed how the two wealthy sisters devised a tax avoidance scheme that could save them $300 million. Marlena Sonn was a financial planner for Kendalle P Getty and Alexandra S Getty for eight years. She has now explained how she would take off their appearances n the business and how she was fired for resisting being a part of a "dubious tax avoidance scheme."
Sonn filed a lawsuit against the Getty sisters in May 2022, in which she claimed she was fired as their financial planner as she opposed an evil tax avoidance scheme that could save $300 million for the Gettys in California state taxes from 2013 through 2021. On the other hand, the sisters filed a counter-lawsuit accusing their ex-financial advisor of promoting "unjust enrichment" and influencing them to roll out bonuses worth millions. The advisor also claims that she moved around their investment portfolios to emphasize “socially responsible” ventures more. Their father, Gordon Getty, established corporate entities based on Kendalle and Alexandra's initials - KPG Investments and ASG Investments.
READ MORE
Who are Kendalle and Alexandra Getty?
Kendalle and Alexandra Getty were born to Gordon Peter Getty who is an American businessman and classical music composer, and the fourth child of oil tycoon J Paul Getty. Kendalle is a multimedia artist and has spoken on issues like environmental conservation, animal welfare, human rights, and reforming the way the justice system handles gendered violence, racial inequities and bias, and transphobia. On the other hand, Sarah calls herself an artist, webtoon creator, boxer, runner, and vegan The allegations centers around the Pleiades Trust which Gordon established for his three daughters born out of an extramarital affair.
The Pleiades Trust is based in an office park known as Airport Gardens and is only a block away from Nevada. In the lawsuit, Sonn explains that the location was "chosen for its proximity to the private jet terminal at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport so that its ultra-high net worth clients can easily fly in from high tax jurisdictions like California to conduct business from Nevada." While California has income taxes ranging up to 13 percent, Sonn tells New Yorker, "that's a lot of tax on billions of dollars." On the other hand, Nevada has no individual state income tax.
Who is Marlena Sonn?
Sonn is the President and Founder of Amazonia Wealth Management, LLC. Sonn tells the New Yorker, "For Sarah, she was in Japan, then she was in New York, then she's in California. For Kendalle, she was back and forth between L.A. and New York and also traveling. So there's this game of counting their days. It would be a different place every quarter. New York, Seattle. Once a year, it would be in Nevada, usually in Las Vegas, because none of the family members wanted to go to Reno."
Sonn alleges that this movement established the pretense that a major portion of the business was not being conducted in California, hence avoiding the state's tax laws. This is a similar tune to what J Paul Getty, known as Old Paul in the family, did. When he died in 1976, he was living in England. However, he was attempting to evade British taxes by claiming to be a resident of California, a city he had not lived in for 25 years.
What are the Gettys accused of & what's their response?
The Gettys are accused of devising a tax avoidance scheme that would save them around $300 million in taxes and that too from only one investment firm. Sonn stated that the number could go up to millions if the same technique was used for other trusts as well. Sonn states that her job as a financial advisor was to come up with tax-efficient schemes. She says, "The financial-services industry lives between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. That's what tax efficiency is."
At the moment, the Getty sisters are lowkey. On the other hand, Sarah Getty told the New Yorker, "Everything we were trying to do was lawful. I'm not against paying taxes at all, because I think they're very important, especially if they go in the right things. I would want the right government to be in control, though, because, if the wrong government is in control, then they go to all the stuff I don't support," she added. "I'm very against military and guns and weapons, and very pro-planet."