A Death in Jupiter
Portfolio.com has obtained a heavily redacted digital recording of the 911 call made by Seth Tobias' wife when the hedge fund manager died, on September 4, 2007.
Tobias, 44, founded and ran Circle T Partners, an asset-management firm. His wife, Filomena, found Tobias floating in the pool at their new house in the Bear's Club, a community of luxury homes in Jupiter, Florida, that surround a golf course designed by legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus, who is known as the Golden Bear. She called 911 to summon help.
Her husband, however, was dead when paramedics arrived. The police later searched the house and found empty pill canisters and what appeared to be cocaine. Toxicology results are pending, and Tobias' brothers are locked in a battle with Filomina over his fortune.
Under Florida law, she stands to inherit Tobias' entire estate unless his brothers can successfully invoke the state's so-called "slayer statute." That law stipulates, basically, that one cannot inherit money from a person one has murdered.
Authorities have not classified Tobias's death as a homicide, much less accused or convicted anyone for having killed him.
The brothers' accusations are based on representations made by Tobias's self-described former assistant, Billy Ash, who is represented by Hollywood lawyer-cum-commentator Debra Opri. Ash has told reporters that he has recordings of Filomena essentially admitting to the crime.
In the recordings, he says, she talks of spiking Tobias' pasta with crushed Ambien sleeping pills and then luring him into the pool with the promise of a gay rendezvous with a tattooed stripper known as Tiger.
Ash's own credibility has been called into question due to a lengthy criminal record, but his lawyer has been making the rounds of the talk-show circuit in recent days, saying her client has passed a polygraph test.
Jupiter police acknowledge that they did indeed take some recordings from Ash, but add that if they had enough to arrest her for murder, they would have done so.
The 911 call can be heard here.
by Duff McDonald
- End Comes Early for a Law Firm
- Oct 10 2008 5:25PM EDT
- The Smartest Guy in the Art Gallery?
- Oct 10 2008 4:05PM EDT
- Lehman's Leavings
- Oct 10 2008 2:33PM EDT
- Kill the Ratings Agencies
- Oct 10 2008 12:41PM EDT
- Look Who's Hopeful
- Oct 10 2008 11:52AM EDT
- Prescription for Accounting Cases
- Oct 9 2008 6:24PM EDT
- Tom Perkins' Yacht, Now Slightly Used
- Oct 9 2008 4:30PM EDT
- G.M., the 1929 Model
- Oct 9 2008 3:51PM EDT
- New Home for a Fallen Housing Giant
- Oct 9 2008 2:25PM EDT
- Man Bites Dog, Paper Sues Readers
- Oct 9 2008 1:15PM EDT
- Shorts Come In From the Cold
- Oct 9 2008 12:44PM EDT
- Over the Edge
- Oct 9 2008 11:45AM EDT
- Study Says Closing Roads Might Cut Congestion. Huh?
- Oct 9 2008 11:27AM EDT
- U.S. Debt Too Big for National Debt Clock
- Oct 9 2008 11:13AM EDT
- Celebs on Economy: They're Just Like Us!
- Oct 9 2008 7:48AM EDT











