Lisa Bonder-Kerkorian has branded the decision to cut her daughter Kira and Liz Hurley’s son Damian out of family trust funds which could see them inherit £180million ‘horrifying’.
Kira Kerkorian and half-brother Damian Hurley are the children of multi-millionaire businessman Steve Bing, who tragically took his own life in June last year, but they won’t receive a penny of their grandfather’s fortune.
The siblings have never met each other, but their mother’s won a court battle in July 2019, in which a judge said their children were entitled to part of the Bing family trust funds – thought to be worth up to one billion dollars.
But in October 2020, Steve’s father – billionaire Dr Peter Bing – won an appeal to deprive his grandchildren of a share of his fortune that could have reached £181,494,800 each, on the basis they were not born in wedlock.
Instead, the fortune will be split between the two children of Steve’s sister Mary, which retired tennis plater Lisa, 55, told The Sunday Times was a decision based purely on ‘greed’.
Lisa Bonder-Kerkorian said the decision to cut her daughter Kira and Liz Hurley’s son Damian out of family trust funds is ‘horrifying’. Pictured, Hurley with son Damian
Kira Kerkorian and half-brother Damian Hurley are the children of multi-millionaire businessman Steve Bing, who tragically took his own life in June last year. Kira is pictured with Bing and her mother Lisa Bonder-Kerkorian
In March 2019, Steve’s father, the billionaire Dr Peter Bing, went to court to cut Damian and Kira out of the ‘grandchildren trusts’ he had set up nearly 40 years earlier, on the basis they were both born out of wedlock (pictured: the Bing family tree)
‘In my estimation there’s only one way to describe this, and that’s greed,’ said Lisa. ‘It’s appalling, horrifying.’
Lisa first met Bing in Los Angeles in the late 1990s while she was married to her first husband, Kirk Kerkorian. The pair began a relationship while she was on a break with Kerkorian, but soon went their separate ways.
Unaware she was already pregnant with Kira when they parted, she then reconciled with billionaire businessmen Kerkorian.
The pair had a short-lived marriage in 1999, but Kirk nonetheless adopted Kira and continued to support her even when, in 2004, a DNA test confirmed that Steve was Kira’s biological father.
Model Liz Hurley, 56, had an 18-month relationship with Bing, announcing her own pregnancy with son Damian in 2001
For many years, Bing had refused to publicly acknowledge 19-year-old son Damian, or Kira, 23, however in the final years of his life he began to build bridges with his two adult children.
In March 2019, Steve’s father, the billionaire Dr Peter Bing, went to court to cut Damian and Kira out of the ‘grandchildren trusts’ he had set up nearly 40 years earlier, on the basis they were both born out of wedlock.
Lisa teamed up with Liz – whom she described as ‘lovely’ and a ‘devoted mother’ – to contest his application and, in July 2019, a judge ruled that both Damian and Kira were entitled to a slice of the family fortune. But their victory was short-lived.
In June 2020, Bing jumped to his death from the 27th floor of his Los Angeles apartment block amid a battle with depression.
Former tennis player Lisa, pictured with daughter Kira, first met Bing in Los Angeles in the late 1990s while she was married to her first husband, Kirk Kerkorian. The pair began a relationship while she was on a break with Kerkorian, but soon went their separate ways
Bing initially claimed he and Hurley had not been in an exclusive relationship, but later tried to form a connection with son Damian. Hurley is pictured with her son in London in 2019
The real estate heir, 55 and thought to be worth $590million at the time of his death, reportedly took his own life having become depressed amid a lack of human contact during lockdown.
‘He was so close to building a life with Damien and was already developing a relationship with Kira,’ said Lisa. ‘If he could have just held on a little bit longer.’
Four months after his son’s death, Steve’s 90-year-old father appealed the decision to give Damian and Kira a piece of the family fortune and last October, a judge ruled that he could distribute the trust as he saw fit.
Lisa said that her daughter had tried to meet her paternal grandparents before the legal battle but was rejected.
Liz was so appalled is she by the ‘callous’ treatment of her son by his own grandfather that she gave a statement to the Mail earlier this month insisting that Bing would have been ‘devastated’ by the choice
Model Liz, 56, had an 18-month relationship with Bing, announcing her own pregnancy in 2001. While Bing initially claimed the couple had not been in an exclusive relationship, he later tried to form a connection with son Damian.
She was so appalled is she by the ‘callous’ treatment of her son by his own grandfather that she gave a statement to the Mail earlier this month insisting that Bing would have been ‘devastated’ by the choice.
‘When Stephen took his own life, he died thinking his children were going to be taken care of,’ she said.
‘What Stephen wanted has now been callously reversed. I know Stephen would have been devastated.’
Lisa told the Mail: ‘As a mum, I wonder why on earth this had to happen. Why make two innocent kids into victims?’