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At the age of 87 Leona Helmsli, the owner of one of the biggest empires in hotel business in USA died. She gained herself the surname of Avaricious Lady because of her legendary greed.
In 1992 Leona with her husband Harry, owning a real property, including in New York city, of 5 milliard dollars in cost, were found guilty for not paying the taxes of 2 million dollars. As the court declared, during years Leona Helmsli was including in the column for no subject to taxation business expenses the bills for her own needs, even the ones for the magnificent environment of her cottage in Connecticut state.
According to statement of Helmsli's ex-housekeeper the queen of the hotel empire once declared to her: "we do not pay taxes. Only the small people pay them."
Even though Helmsli herself denied in every possible way that she said such things, the bad fame of a cheapskate stuck to her for the rest of her life. The court enacted to claim from the Helmsli spouses the tax of 7 million dollars, besides the 2 million dollar due to state treasury.
The 83 years old Harry had been discharged of judicial responsibility because of his health condition. At the same time the court rejected the Leona's lawyers' application for replacing the imprisonment with a conditional or abbreviated charge, and billionaire had to go in prison, not for long of course.
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