Douglas Durst, One Bryant Park, Robert Durst (Getty, Durst Org)
The courtroom drama surrounding the Durst family did not end with Robert Durst’s murder conviction in Los Angeles on Friday.
A new chapter emerged this week in a lawsuit filed by Robert Durst’s nephew Evan Kreeger, who alleges members of the legendary real estate family have stopped making regular distributions to his trusts while his parents attempt to force him into a guardianship.
Kreeger filed a petition in New York State Supreme Court on Tuesday against Durst Organization chairman Douglas Durst and president Jonathan Durst, as well as Douglas Kreeger, his father.
Evan Kreeger alleges the three individuals are trustees of three separate trusts of which he is a beneficiary.
Evan, 50, claims the trustees have “virtually cut off” distributions to him, causing him “extreme hardship.”
Jordan Barowitz, spokesman for the Durst Organization, said, “The trusts are, and have been for years, providing financially for Evan. We hope he is getting all of the other support and help he needs.”
Evan said that his parents, Douglas and Wendy Kreeger — Robert and Douglas’ sister — filed a guardianship petition in 2019 that is also being heard in State Supreme Court. Evan disputes that he needs a guardian, asserting he can make his own health decisions.
“A pattern of distributions had been established and continued over years, which has been disrupted,” Evan’s petition reads. “The only explanation the trustees have provided to me is that they deem distributions to be ‘inadvisable’ at this time, which is insufficient under their fiduciary obligations.”
Evan said the timing of the disruption, combined with the trustees’ reluctance to provide a reason for it, “is troubling.” He said by cutting off distributions, the trustees would make “life more difficult in order to cause me to act out and demonstrate the need for the appointment of a guardian over me.”
The petition requests that the trustees, Douglas Kreeger, Douglas Durst and Jonathan Durst, file full and complete accountings of the three trusts. The trustees have a duty to account as well as provide beneficiaries with certain information, the petition claims. Such information is essential to the judge’s determination in his guardianship proceeding, Evan alleged.
Evan was the only Durst family member to appear in HBO’s 2015 documentary series, “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.” In the documentary, Evan expressed his disappointment with the Durst family over their silence on Robert.
Last week, Robert Durst was convicted of killing a close friend in Beverly Hills in 2000. It was one of three confirmed or suspected homicides to which the 78-year-old has been linked.
A year after the documentary aired — he was famously caught on tape muttering, “What the hell did I do? … Killed them all, of course,” Durst was convicted of a separate weapons charge and sentenced to a 7-year prison term.
The Durst Organization owns and manages more than 13 million square feet of Class A Manhattan office and retail space, according to its website. It was founded by Robert and Douglas’ grandparent Joseph Durst in 1915.
Evan Kreeger’s lawyer Clifford Meirowitz did not immediately return a request to comment.
