The Nation - News from Aug. 25, 1989

Billionaire hotelier Leona Helmsley had trouble differentiating between the tax status of her husband’s real estate empire and the couple’s $11-million estate, her defense lawyer said in closing arguments in Manhattan federal court. Helmsley, 69, is accused of billing $4 million worth of renovations at the couple’s mansion in Connecticut as business expenses in order to evade $1 million in taxes. Harry Helmsley, her 80-year old real estate magnate husband, also was charged but was severed from the trial after a series of strokes left him with a loss of memory.