Nobody feuds like a rich family with lawyers on the payroll.
But even by the standards of the tony North Shore, the bitter courtroom battles between the children of the late property developer Aaron Israel stands out.
The Israel brothers — Harey, Alan and David — have been fighting on and off in court with their sister, Diane, and their late father over the family fortune for 25 years.
Now David Israel is suing his sister for more than $1 million, alleging she hired a private eye who bugged his Northbrook office with a recording device hidden inside a teddy bear.
A recently filed federal complaint includes a photo of the scarf-wearing pink bear, which David says he received from a cancer charity. According to the lawsuit, David cut open the bear and found a listening device inside it after he was taunted by an anonymous text-messager who told him about his office being bugged and said there was “a big surprise” inside the bear.
The taunting text and other creepy anonymous messages (including one telling him “A bit hot to be wearing that shirt don’t you think David?”) were sent by a private eye hired by Diane, according to David’s lawsuit, which also alleges that a listening device was installed in a plant pot, and that his Highland Park home and Gold Coast condo were bugged along with his cars.
Though the private eye, Michael Bucon, in April pleaded guilty to planting the bugs, Diane denies the allegations and wants U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood to throw out the lawsuit. There is no evidence that the devices worked, that Diane ordered them installed or that she learned anything from them, court papers filed by her attorney Daniel Lynch state.
But the stalking allegations don’t go in only one direction: Diane previously alleged in court that David paid their brother Harey to go through her trash.
She’s also sued her brother Alan for mismanaging their father’s business.
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For their part, the brothers believe their father was tricked into giving Diane the lion’s share of his inheritance, a case due to go to trial in state court next week. David previously made headlines in 1998 when he sued their then-77-year-old mother, Miriam, for defamation after she allegedly told friends he was a thief. And Harey had their father held in contempt for refusing to give a deposition shortly before his death at 95 in 2014.
Aaron Israel, who owned several prestigious Oak Street addresses, including the home of the exclusive jeweler Harry Winston, had told the judge in that case that the stress of dealing with his family’s seemingly never-ending fight might kill him.
Twitter @kimjnews
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