Former Astronaut Buzz Aldrin Is Suing His Kids For Elder Abuse

Vandana Rambaran on June 25, 2018

The second man to walk the moon, Buzz Aldrin, is suing two of his three children and former business manager alleging they slandered his name and are trying to control his assets and businesses without his consent.

Aldrin is alleging that Christina Korp, former business manager of his private company, Buzz Aldrin Enterprises, and his son Andrew Aldrin engaged in elder exploitation, unjust enrichment and converting his property for themselves, according to a lawsuit filed on June 7 in Florida. He has also accused his daughter Janice Aldrin of conspiracy and breach of fiduciary duty.

The children are asserting that their father, an 88-year-old former astronaut, has dementia and is “in cognitive decline,” and they should be appointed his co-guardians. The elder Aldrin has denied these allegations and is suing them for slander, according to the suit. (RELATED: Sick Buzz Aldrin Evacuated From Antarctica)

Aldrin voluntarily underwent mental evaluation by Dr. James Spar, a professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral sciences at UCLA Medical School in April. Dr. Spar concluded that Col. Aldrin is “cognitively intact and retains all forms of decisional capacity,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

His children have asked that he undergo yet another mental evaluation, which Aldrin will complete later this week. If he is declared medically incompetent, his children could gain control of his businesses and have the ability to make decisions on his behalf.

“Nobody is going to come close to thinking I should be under a guardianship,” said Aldrin to The Wall Street Journal.

Aldrin’s children released a statement on Monday responding to the lawsuit filed by their father saying, “We love and respect our father very much and remain hopeful that we can rise above this situation and recover the strong relationship that built this foundation in the first place.”

In 2007, Korp became the executive secretary at Buzz Aldrin Enterprises. She is also the director of Aldrin’s nonprofit, ShareSpace Foundation along with Janice. Although Korp is still involved in ShareSpace, Aldrin fired her from his private company after alleging that she and his son Andrew, who is the president of Share Space, transferred half a million dollars over a two year period from his savings account to his private company and his foundation for their own personal use, according to the lawsuit.

Aldrin told the Wall Street Journal that he demanded financial records from the past seven years for his private company since September, but only recently received them after back and forth with Korp and Andrew.

The documents, which were reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, show that Buzz Aldrin Enterprises paid the company’s namesake $36,000 in 2017 and reimbursed him for his expenses. Andrew Aldrin and Korp, however, each received salaries of $153,000 from the company as well as reimbursements for expenses.

In 2015, Aldrin lost control of his company when he was voted out by his children who were the other two board members.

“When we established the current structure several years ago, it was done so at Buzz’s request and with his full support,” said Aldrin’s children in their joint response to the lawsuit.

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