Ex pin-up closer to her millions

2002-06-13 07:26

Los Angeles - A federal judge has ruled that he will not block an $88.9 million inheritance award to former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith unless the son of her late tycoon husband could post a bond for half that amount.

In a decision which moved Smith closer to claiming her fortune, US District Court Judge David Owen Carter on Wednesday said E. Pierce Marshall would have to guarantee some payment to Smith if he loses the appeal.

Pierce Marshall has bitterly contested his 90-year-old father's decision to leave his oil millions to Smith - a 26-year-old topless dancer he met and married just 14 months before his death in 1995.

His lawyer has said he could post no more than a $3 million bond.

Smith's attorney Philip Boesch told reporters he would start trying to collect on behalf of his client, whose fairy tale progress from nudie pin-up to wealthy heiress has made her into a minor pop celebrity.

Smith won a six-year court battle with Marshall in March after Carter ruled that the oil tycoon's son had tried to rob Smith of her rightful inheritance by mounting a campaign of deceit and dishonesty.

Denying Pierce Marshall's assertions that the marriage was a sham, Carter said Smith and her wheelchair-bound husband had a legitimate relationship despite their age difference, and that Marshall had every intention of providing for the blond bombshell after his death.

Carter granted Smith $44.2 million in compensatory damages and an equal amount in punitive damages.

Pierce Marshall's lawyers have vowed to continue to appeal the case, and said they would also appeal Carter's latest ruling.

Smith, meanwhile, has agreed to star in a new "reality" television series, modelled on MTV's The Osbournes, which will give viewers a glimpse of her everyday life. That series is slated to run on cable television's E! Networks starting in August.

- Reuters