NYC law firm wants $3M for selling off billionaire’s estate

Now that’s one steep broker fee: the Manhattan law firm Reed Smith wants $3 million in fees for selling a Soho loft for $10.5 million, and generally cleaning up the estate of late billionaire economist Pentti Kouri.

Kouri, who became a billionaire in the dot-com bubble, had five kids with two women before his death in 2009 — even though his estate is bankrupt, according to the New York Post. And it took more than 40 attorneys from the Reed Smith six years to untangle tens of millions of dollars in debt owed by his estate, according to court papers filed by Reed Smith lawyers.

Reed Smith claims that, because it sold his Soho loft for $10.5 million, negotiated settlements with creditors and found buyers for more than $1 million in art, that it is owed the huge fee for “legal ingenuity.” [NYP] – Christopher Cameron