SANTA MONICA, Calif. – A judge has refused to freeze property owned by Zsa Zsa Gabor's only daughter, marking the latest development in a family feud between the ailing socialite and her child with the late hotel magnate, Conrad Hilton.
Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Connor ruled Tuesday at a pretrial hearing that there was no evidence that Francesca Hilton planned to sell or encumber her Laurel Canyon home.
Gabor and her ninth husband are suing Hilton, accusing her of stealing $2 million by forging her mother's signature to take out a loan on Gabor's $14 million Bel Air home. The suit, which alleges elder abuse, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress, alleges that Hilton used money from that transaction to buy the Laurel Canyon property and invest in a phantom company in New York.
Hilton has repeatedly said she refinanced the Bel Air estate with Gabor's permission to prevent her stepfather, 60-year-old Prinz von Anhalt, from getting into Gabor's will. He has said Hilton tried to secure money through the refinancing because she was afraid she wouldn't get enough when her mother died.
Hilton's attorney, Ronald Richards, said Tuesday that his client had invested some of the loan money for her mother's benefit and now plans to return it.
Ronald Jason Palmieri, Gabor's attorney, said his client was concerned she will lose the loan money if Hilton sells or encumbers her Laurel Canyon home.
Neither Gabor nor Hilton were present in court.
Hilton, born in 1947, is the only child from Gabor's marriage to the hotel magnate. She is a great-aunt to Paris and Nicky Hilton.
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