Battle over boxer Arturo Gatti's multimillion-dollar estate begins
A three-week civil trial begins Tuesday to determine how the multi-million dollar estate of Montreal boxer Arturo Gatti will be divided up.
Gatti died while on vacation with his family in the Brazilian seaside resort of Punto de Galinhas in July 2009.
Brazilian investigators ruled that his death was a suicide, a claim Gatti's family has long opposed.
They had requested a delay in the proceedings in order to introduce the results of a private investigation, carried out over the past 10 months, that they say will refute the suicide finding.
The report was carried out by an investigator hired by Pat Lynch, Gatti's former manager, and will be released Wednesday in New Jersey.
However, a judge ruled last week the report would not be allowed and the trial would continue as planned.
"The admissibility of this report would certainly be vigorously contested, notably because the author relies on hearsay," Justice Claudine Roy wrote in a ruling.
"Mr. Gatti is a public personality and his death made waves and is still doing so. This should not stop a fair and equitable trial from taking place to decide the fate of his estate."
Gatti's family has been embroiled in a dispute with his widow, Amanda Rodrigues, over the two versions of Gatti's will.
In one version, from 2007, Gatti leaves his estate to his family. But in a more recent version, written just several weeks before his death, the boxer leaves everything to his wife.
Brazilian police initially named Rodrigues as a suspect in his death. However, she was later released when the autopsy concluded he had committed suicide.
Investigators in Brazil concluded that Gatti hung himself from the staircase in the apartment they had rented, using the strap from a handbag.
A second autopsy was conducted on Gatti's remains in Montreal in 2009. A Quebec coroner carried out the autopsy along with Michael Baden, a TV host and former New York state chief pathologist, who was hired by the Gatti family.
The results of that autopsy have not yet been released.
There have been reports of a possible settlement between the two sides, but Rodrigues' lawyer Pierre-Hughes Fortin said last week there was no truth to the reports.
Gatti's estate is valued at several million dollars.
Arturo Gatti's wife Amanda Rodrigues strangled him with her purse strap, say cops
BY HAROLD EMERT IN RIO DE JANEIRO AND MITCH ABRAMSON AND SAMUEL GOLDSMITH
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Boxing legend Arturo Gatti's sexy stripper-wife choked the life out of him with her purse strap while he slept in a swanky Brazilian resort, cops charged Sunday.
Amanda Carine Barbosa Rodrigues, a 23-year-old former exotic dancer, looked unfazed as cops escorted her out of a police station in Recife, Brazil.
The stunner's eyes were hidden by giant designer sunglasses as she walked to a police cruiser in low-rise blue jeans and a clingy white top that showed off the toned physique that first caught Gatti's eye.
A three-week civil trial begins Tuesday to determine how the multi-million dollar estate of Montreal boxer Arturo Gatti will be divided up.
Gatti died while on vacation with his family in the Brazilian seaside resort of Punto de Galinhas in July 2009.
Brazilian investigators ruled that his death was a suicide, a claim Gatti's family has long opposed.
They had requested a delay in the proceedings in order to introduce the results of a private investigation, carried out over the past 10 months, that they say will refute the suicide finding.
The report was carried out by an investigator hired by Pat Lynch, Gatti's former manager, and will be released Wednesday in New Jersey.
However, a judge ruled last week the report would not be allowed and the trial would continue as planned.
"The admissibility of this report would certainly be vigorously contested, notably because the author relies on hearsay," Justice Claudine Roy wrote in a ruling.
"Mr. Gatti is a public personality and his death made waves and is still doing so. This should not stop a fair and equitable trial from taking place to decide the fate of his estate."
Gatti's family has been embroiled in a dispute with his widow, Amanda Rodrigues, over the two versions of Gatti's will.
Brazilian police initially named Rodrigues as a suspect in his death. However, she was later released when the autopsy concluded he had committed suicide.
Investigators in Brazil concluded that Gatti hung himself from the staircase in the apartment they had rented, using the strap from a handbag.
A second autopsy was conducted on Gatti's remains in Montreal in 2009. A Quebec coroner carried out the autopsy along with Michael Baden, a TV host and former New York state chief pathologist, who was hired by the Gatti family.
The results of that autopsy have not yet been released.
There have been reports of a possible settlement between the two sides, but Rodrigues' lawyer Pierre-Hughes Fortin said last week there was no truth to the reports.
Gatti's estate is valued at several million dollars.
Arturo Gatti's wife Amanda Rodrigues strangled him with her purse strap, say cops
BY HAROLD EMERT IN RIO DE JANEIRO AND MITCH ABRAMSON AND SAMUEL GOLDSMITH
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Boxing legend Arturo Gatti's sexy stripper-wife choked the life out of him with her purse strap while he slept in a swanky Brazilian resort, cops charged Sunday.
Amanda Carine Barbosa Rodrigues, a 23-year-old former exotic dancer, looked unfazed as cops escorted her out of a police station in Recife, Brazil.
The stunner's eyes were hidden by giant designer sunglasses as she walked to a police cruiser in low-rise blue jeans and a clingy white top that showed off the toned physique that first caught Gatti's eye.
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