"He always wants more," complained the chief trustee Stelios Papadimitrou of Thierry. "The man has certain ambitions, that is to handle the inheritance… but there is a will we operate within, and that is Christina's."
"I want to ensure that at least some of the Onassis fortune is conserved," countered Thierry, accusing the trustees of mismanagement. The rows came to an end in 1999 when a Swiss court transferred control to KPMG of Lausanne, cutting both Thierry and the managers out of the loop.
As of January 28, Athina herself takes unilateral control, and the financial world and society at large will be watching closely to see what choices she makes. Some reports suggest she would rather be free of the money, which she blames for her mother's unhappiness. "If I burn the money there will be no problem," she once told her stepmother. "No money, no problem."
She has expressed an interest in transferring the bulk of the fortune to good causes, and is known to have consulted the advisers that helped Bill Gates channel his billions into charities. For the moment, however, nothing is certain.
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