Family Begins Battle For Missing Boater's Millions
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – The two key people in the life of missing millionaire Guma Aguiar went to court Thursday to battle over control of his vast fortune.
The 35 year old millionaire and philanthropist who made his fortune in the oil and gas industry, left his Ft. Lauderdale mansion on June 19 and boarded a small fishing boat at his dock. The boat is seen on surveillance heading out into a choppy Atlantic Ocean. The boat washed ashore six hours later without him. Police recovered his wallet and cell phone.
His wife Jamie Aguilar and his mother Ellen Aguilar each want to control his assets valued at one hundred million dollars. Lawyers for both women argued their case before a Broward circuit judge late Thursday afternoon.
Jamie Aguilar's lawyer William Scherer told a Broward judge Thursday that Guma Aguiar was a"'troubled man with bipolar disorder who was hospitalized here and in Israel."
Scherer accused Guma Aguiar's mother of squandering millions of her son's fortune fighting a lawsuit against her brother who is Guma Aguiar's uncle.
Scherer also said before Guma Aguiar vanished Aquiar had misrepresented his worth on a prenuptial agreement. The couple has four children together between the ages of ten months and seven years old. The prenuptial agreement according to Scherer granted only $500,000 to Jamie Aguiar.
Though she originally wanted control of her son's assets, Ellen Aguiar amended her petition to allow a third party to oversee the estate.
An attorney for Northern Trust Bank is being considered as the third party to oversee the estate.
Meanwhile police say the GPS on Aguilar's boat is being studied to see if it can provide further clues into his disappearance.
