Leona Helmsley's Dog Loses $10 Million of Trust Fund

It's just the kind of thing that would have made the "Queen of Mean" growl.

A Manhattan surrogate court judge has decided to slash the trust fund that the late Leona Helmsley established for her little dog named Trouble.

Judge Renee Roth, in an April 30 decision made public Monday, reduced the trust fund for the nine-year-old Maltese to $2 million from $12 million. The remaining $10 million now goes to Helmsley's charitable foundation.

The dog lives in Florida with the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel.

Helmsley was dubbed the "Queen of Mean" during her 1989 trial for tax evasion. A former housekeeper testified that she heard Helmsley once say: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."

Helmsley denied having said it, but the words followed her until her death last August at age 87. via