The Wendy Williams drama about her $20 million fortune continues. Now comes reports that her ex-financial adviser didn’t make sure the TV talk show host was financially protected. This comes from a Williams’ former attorney who spilled the beans to Page Six.
The ex-attorney, LaShawn Thomas, told Page Six that Wells Fargo financial adviser Lori Schiller is trying to “muddy the waters” by allegedly contributing to a false narrative that Williams’ son charged $100,000 to her American Express card without her knowledge.
Twenty-two-year-old Kevin Hunter Jr., a University of Miami student, denied the claims in a statement, telling the U.S. Sun, “I vehemently deny any allegations of unauthorized use of my mother’s American Express card. This is a false narrative perpetuated to justify freezing her accounts.”
Schiller no longer works for Williams but is entangled in her lawsuit against the bank for control over her accounts.
Williams went public earlier this year while on a unending hiatus from her former show, “The Wendy Williams Show,” that she could not access her accounts at Wells Fargo. The bank had filed court documents claiming Williams needed to be placed under a guardianship. In turn Williams charged that her former manager Bernie Young used “my American Express card to hire an attorney to file a petition against me.” She also said Schiller and “Wells Fargo has this guardianship petition about keeping me away from my money.”
Thomas told Page Six that she didn’t think Wells Fargo should be making decisions about Williams’ life.
“No bank should have the authority to do that. No one attempted to gain access to any of Wendy’s accounts. The Wells Fargo adviser and [former manager Bernie Young] were the only people with access. … They left Wendy to die,” she said.
She added that when Schiller made the decision to freeze Williams’ account, she left the former shock jock without access to money. Williams has had to use her American Express to pay for her day-to-day living expenses.
“The real issue is that Wells Fargo, through their adviser, refused to grant Wendy access to her own accounts; this includes the right to check her balance,” Thomas said.
“Instead, [Schiller] locked Wendy out of all of her accounts,” Thomas claims. “[Schiller] restricted all access to every single account. Wendy was even restricted from going to the bank and personally withdrawing funds. … Wendy, a woman who has worked hard for her wealth, was left penniless,” the statement adds.
Thomas also defended Hunter, explaining that he coordinated all of Williams’ appointments, “cooked and cleaned for his mothe. He absolutely loves his mother without question, and no one should place any blame or allegations of wrongdoing at his feet.”
Page Six reached out to Williams’ rep, who said the former radio host had no response. And Schiller didn’t respond to Page Six’s request for comment. A spokesperson for Wells Fargo did deny “any allegations of improper actions with respect to Ms. Williams’ accounts.”
