Craziest Story Ever
Polo king's strange adoption of his adult girlfriend is struck down, deemed "a fraud" from DUI killer
John Goodman's adoption of his 42-year-old girlfriend was officially nullified by a Miami appellate court on Wednesday, roughly a year after the Houston-born billionaire was sentenced to 16 years in prison for a 2010 DUI incident that killed a young engineering student.
The Palm Beach Post reports that appellate judges ruled the 2011 adoption “a fraud on the court,” a legal ploy for 49-year-old Goodman to provide girlfriend Heather Hutchins access to his children's trust fund.
Appellate judges ruled the 2011 adoption “a fraud on the court,” a ploy to provide Goodman's girlfriend with access to his children's trust fund.
The court found he deliberately withheld notice of the adoption from the mother of his two kids until it was too late to contest it.
Attorneys for Scott Wilson — the victim of Goodman's drunken trek to Wendy's in his Bentley — have long argued that the championship-winning polo player was using the adoption to hide assets during the wrongful death trial.
Goodman eventually settled the wrongful death suit for $46 million, the majority of which will be paid through an insurance company.