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The inspiration behind the upcoming HBO Max limited series directed by Susanna Fogel and co-executive produced by Cathy Schottenstein
Ninety-six-year-old Beverley Schottenstein’s legal victory against the biggest bank in the world, J.P. Morgan, and two of her own grandsons made financial headlines around the globe. Now, Beverley’s granddaughter Cathy reveals that her cousins’ crimes were not merely financial, but also deeply personal—and all too common.
Beverley’s War warns readers of the real and irreversible consequences of elder abuse, financial fraud, and how family money can sow the seeds of generational conflict.
This book offers a rare and unflinching look at the fiercely private Schottenstein clan, one of America’s most influential and philanthropic families. It’s a story about how money can tear a family apart and about the multigenerational roots of the entitlement that allowed Beverley’s grandsons to justify fraud and deceit.
In 2020, then 94-year-old Beverley Schottenstein, the matriarch of the Schottenstein retail dynasty, was cross-examined for more than eleven hours in a financial-industry arbitration that captured media attention worldwide. Beverley sought restitution for unauthorized trading by her financial advisor grandsons and accused them of abusing their fiduciary duty, making fraudulent misrepresentations, and elder abuse. In 2021, the final binding decision and $19 million award made seismic headlines, but few people knew the inside story of what Beverley had endured.
In a candid narrative that reaches beyond Evan and Avi Schottenstein’s fraud and deceit, Beverley’s granddaughter Cathy details the warning signs of elder abuse and wrestles with the origins of family dysfunction and betrayal—all while weaving together a powerful and detailed story that captures and honors her grandmother’s legacy.
It’s a timely and important book, shining a bright light on what even the most vulnerable can accomplish when refusing to be intimidated or governed by fear.
