The son of Tennessee nursing home billionaire Forrest Preston is accusing one of his father’s executives of aiding in a plot to steal from his elderly dad, according to a petition filed in a Tennessee court on Wednesday. It’s the latest shot fired by Preston’s son, who is fighting for financial oversight of America’s largest privately owned nursing home chain.
Aubrey Preston, 65, whose father Forrest is the founder and CEO of $3 billion (est. revenue) Life Care Centers of America, is asking the Chancery Court of Bradley County in Tennessee to make him the emergency conservator of his 91-year-old father, who Forbes estimates has a net worth of $1.3 billion.
Aubrey first filed an explosive complaint on Oct. 29, claiming Forrest is suffering from dementia and that his wife and former caregiver Kim Phuong Nguyen Preston is robbing and abusing his dad. The complaint alleges that Kim, who is 36 years Forrest’s junior, and her siblings have siphoned “tens of millions” of dollars worth of cash and real estate from Forrest and are attempting to take over Life Care.
Kim and Preston have not yet filed any legal response, nor has Kim responded to multiple requests from Forbes for comment.
On Wednesday, Aubrey escalated these claims in a new filing that alleges Lisa Lay, a 30-year-veteran of the company, has been “been complicit with Kim in transferring money and potentially other assets to Kim and her family while Forrest has been disabled.”
Lay has allegedly helped Kim take resources from Century Park, an independent affiliate of Life Care that specializes in assisted and independent living facilities; Life Care caters to more clinical advanced patients. According to a source familiar with the matter, Forrest is believed to be the sole owner of both companies. Per Aubrey’s filing, Forrest and Kim apparently plan to tap Lay, who is vice president of treasury for the 200-location chain, as the conservator instead of........