DEL.ICIO.USPublished on: 07/16/08
His siblings accuse him of improperly taking money from their mother's estate in order to pad his own bank account.
But as long-simmering conflicts between the children of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King boil over into an increasingly ugly public spat, Dexter King says his brother and sister got just as much from their late mother's estate as he did.
 Mikki K. Harris/mharris@ajc.com | ||
| Dexter King (above) says his siblings, Bernice King and Martin Luther King III, have cut him off and aren't speaking to him. Their attorney, however, says the problem is Dexter has gone into their mother's estate and taken money without authority. | ||
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"They [claim] that they're being injured," King said in an interview Tuesday. "But the money's in their bank account. If you think you're being injured, go get the money out of your bank account.
"I don't mean to be flip about it, but it's so ridiculous," he said. "I'm still reeling over the ridiculousness of it, the recklessness of it."
By e-mail, King provided bank statements and correspondence that he says shows that his brother Martin Luther King III and sister Bernice got just as much money in a recent distribution from the estates of their late parents as he did. The documents show that allegations in a lawsuit filed by his brother and sister in Fulton County Superior Court in Georgia are false, he claims.
Family matriarch Coretta Scott King died in January 2006 and her estate is still being settled among her heirs. Dexter would not discuss the size of his mother's estate, and his mother's will, which was filed in a Fulton County court, doesn't reveal much about the family's financial worth and doesn't specify what she left her children.
The suit, filed last week, accuses Dexter King of taking money from the estate of Coretta Scott King for his own use, and also of mishandling funds from the estate of Martin Luther King Jr. Dexter King is president and CEO of King Inc., the corporation that controls the intellectual property and other rights from Martin Luther King Jr.'s works.
It also accuses Dexter King of acting without the permission or knowledge of his brother and sister, the two other shareholders in King Inc. and equal heirs to their parents' estates.
"I believe that it's important to set the record straight, and at this point I can only think about clearing my good name," Dexter King said. "Frankly, I'm very angry in the way they've maligned and damaged me.
"You can call me a lot of things, but I am not a thief," he said.
King Inc.has made periodic disbursements from the MLK estate to Coretta Scott King and her children, who have been its shareholders. Since the death of Coretta and Yolanda King, only the three surviving children are now shareholders.
On June 20, the bank statements of King Inc. provided by Dexter King show that $477,772.15 was transferred to Bernice King in connection with their mother's estate and a regular disbursement from the proceeds of King Inc.
Another $377,772.15 went to the account of Martin III — a lesser amount because Martin III apparently borrowed $100,000 from King Inc. a month earlier, according to another document.
A third distribution of $477,722.15 went to Dexter King.
"Whenever there's a distribution it has to be equal — that's what really counts, and that's what happened," he said.
The bank statements also show how $535,000 was transferred on that same day — June 20 — from the estate of Coretta Scott King to King Inc.
That $535,000 is apparently at the crux of the argument between the siblings.
According to Dexter King, the money was part of a previous disbursement from King Inc. to the estate of Coretta Scott King, which was entitled to the money as a shareholder in King Inc.
But Dexter King said after King Inc. bought the shares back from the estate — as required by corporate bylaws after the death of Coretta Scott King — the corporation was entitled to get the money back. As president and CEO of King Inc. and under previous agreements, Dexter King had the authority to move the money, he said.
Once back in the coffers of King Inc., the $535,000 was included as part of the money that was equally distributed to the three siblings on June 20, according to Dexter King.
Whether the transfer was lawful is an issue that could be left for a judge to decide. Through their representatives, neither Bernice nor Martin III would comment on their brother's claims, instead referring comments to their attorney Jock Smith.
Smith said the heart of the problem among the King siblings has been Dexter King's refusal to call a meeting of King Inc. in at least four years. The corporation has only three shareholders — the remaining King children.
"It has been years since there has been a meeting," Smith said. "No information has been provided to Bernice and Martin, so you must begin to wonder what is happening with the corporation," Smith said.
"How are they to know what he is doing? And what they know he is doing is not good. If he would spend time talking to his brother and sister, instead of the press, progress would be made," Smith said.
On Tuesday, Dexter King acknowledged he has been "estranged" from his siblings for some time, but that he still communicated with them regularly about the affairs of King Inc. He also said he has tried to call meetings, but Martin III and Bernice wouldn't respond.
"They essentially cut me off," he said. "We were always in this weird position of estrangement where they would not speak with me."
Contradicting Dexter King's claims, attorney Smith said Dexter had no authority to go into the account of the Coretta Scott King estate and decide how much money to take out. Bernice King is the executor of their mother's estate.
"The only way he can [do that] is to have a meeting [of] King Inc.," Smith said.
By transferring the money, Smith said, the estate couldn't fulfill other financial obligations.
"He doesn't have the power to act on his own," Smith said. "He is acting like he is the final arbiter, and that is the problem. He just does what he wants to do. He is saying, 'I will make decisions by myself. I don't need Bernice or Martin to tell me what to do, because I can write checks on my own.' "
Dexter King, in response, said it was clear he did have the authority.
"The simple answer is, how could I have accessed the funds if I didn't have the authority?" he said. "It's a no-brainer."
E-mail Bob Keefe at bkeefe @ajc.com and Ernie Suggs at esuggs@ajc.com
Researcher Nisa Asokan contributed to this report.
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