Fight Over National Enquirer Founder’s $418M Fortune

National Enquirer founder Generoso Pope Jr. led a hell of a life and was responsible for the paper’s pre-celeb glory years. (Pope’s only instructions to his reporters: “Never say anything about the CIA, never say anything about the Mafia, and never knock Sofia Loren.”)

In death, his $418 million fortune is causing a scandal of its own. Widow Lois Pope and son Paul Pope are fighting a messy courtroom battle over the money, filled with the problems that only the truly rich have to deal with:

He claims she promised to get him a $5 million house and a Bentley, and reneged. The 74-year-old philanthropist sued her son to get back $340,000 she said was a loan. “It’s tough love now,” she told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. She demanded he cut his $840,000-per-year expenses, which included $5,000 a month for restaurants and entertainment, $1,000 a month for dog walkers and $1,500 a month for dry cleaning.”

Paul is currently shopping around a manuscript named Confessions of a Rich Kid From Hell.

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