FORT LAUDERADALE - 'Judge Larry' is now 'Defendant Larry.'Larry Seidlin, the former Broward Circuit Court judge who gained national notoriety in the Anna Nicole Smith death case, is being sued by an elderly neighbor who claims the judge fleeced her of money and property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Barbara Kasler, 83, claims Seidlin, 59, exploited her for personal gain, and that he, his wife and in-laws feigned friendship to steal her money and jewelry and change her will for their benefit.
Kasler, who lives in the same Fort Lauderdale condominium building as the Seidlins, claims the Seidlins even redeemed points on her credit cards for themselves.Seidlin attorney David Ferguson noted state investigators have twice cleared Seidlin of exploiting Kasler.
'He will be vindicated again,' Ferguson said. 'We doubt very seriously that Mrs. Kasler is behind, or in any way, supports the allegations pleaded in this civil complaint. It appears...that there are others behind this that have axes to grind, or their own personal gains at stake.'
But Kasler's niece, Corine Kasler, said her aunt is suing to get her money and property back.
'It makes me sick to my stomach that she has been taken advantage of by somebody she thought loved her and cared for her,' Corine Kasler said. 'I think her heart's a little broken by it.'
The suit, filed in Broward Circuit Court on Tuesday, says that within six months of meeting Kasler in 2002, Seidlin began referring to himself as her son.
Eventually, the suit claims, Seidlin isolated the wealthy widow by taking control of her telephone and mail and instructing security in their building to notify him whenever someone came to visit Kasler.
According to the lawsuit, Seidlin wrote checks on Kasler's bank account totaling $519,496. The money allegedly went to pay off the mortgage on Seidlin and Belinda Ray Seidlin's condo, cover their daughter's private school tuition and purchase a second home in Pennsylvania.
No date has been set for hearing the lawsuit.
