David Gest’s family launch legal proceedings over will
David Gest’s family have launched legal proceedings after he left them nothing in his will.
The 62-year-old television personality died from a stroke in April and left most of his £10 million estate to his lawyer Edward Bearman, leaving his family furious.
Gest’s former bodyguard and best friend Imad Handi told the Sun on Sunday: "I was left £18,000.
"I am upset and his family are upset. He told me I would be looked after.
"I’ve no idea why he left Bearman almost everything."
And now David’s sister Barbara Gerber, 60, has launched legal proceedings against the executors of the estate, who work at the same law firm as Bearman.
Bearman received Gest’s five-bedroom home in the US, clothes belonging to the late Michael Jackson and "a secret memorabilia collection worth £1.6million".
David was found dead in his hotel room on April 12, with police saying his death was being treated as "non-suspicious".
A subsequent post-mortem said David died of "natural causes" and Bearman later revealed his cause of death was a stroke.
In May, Handi claimed to have heard the star suffer a fatal heart attack during their last phone conversation – four days before his body was found.
Imad – who was friends with David for 16 years – said he received a silent phone call, which he believes was the entertainer trying to ask for urgent help, in the days before his body was found.
He explained: "I answered the phone and was like, ‘Hello, hello, hello?’, and I heard something smash on the floor.
"Part of me froze and then the phone went dead. Knowing David and his OCD I thought, ‘He’s dropped something on the floor, he’s going to hang up and clean it up. He’ll call me back’. Unfortunately, he didn’t call me back.
"I did try and call that evening and on Saturday and there was no answer. I believe he passed away on the Friday."
