Samantha Perelman not only relative who lost millions to uncle James Cohen 

Hudson News heir James Cohen — who is being accused of unfairly influence to nearly exclude his niece Samantha Perelman from his father’s will — says he bought his nephew’s stock at a seriously reduced price because he ‘knew he would be well taken care of.’

BY Barbara Ross

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, March 13, 2014, 10:23 AM

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Amy Newman/APJames Cohen, heir to the Hudson News fortune, defends himself Monday in Hackensack, N.J., in the ongoing trial. His niece claims he swindled her out of hundreds of millions.

Samantha Perelman is not the only one with cause to complain about her uncle.
Hudson News heir James Cohen testified in Bergen County Superior Court on Wednesday that his nephew Michael lost the opportunity to inherit millions — which his uncle pocketed — when James Cohen bought stock that Michael's father had owned.

Norman Y. Lono/for New York Daily NewsSamantha Perelman enters Bergen County Superior Court where she is suing her uncle James Cohen over her grandfather's will.

Cohen's brother, also named Michael, died in 1997 and the executors of his estate, both executives at Hudson News, sold estate stock to their boss, James Cohen, in two separate deals for a steeply discounted total price of $513,000. The stock was later valued at a total of $7.5 million.

Lisa Cohen (L), Claudia Cohen and Robert Cohen attend an after-party for Samantha Perelman's bat mitzvah Nov. 15, 2003.

James Cohen testified that he never told his sister-in-law about how he profited from the deals. After she died and her son Michael went to live with his uncle's family, Cohen said he never told Michael either because his nephew "knew he would be well taken care of."

Elizabeth Lara/AP Samantha Perelman — daughter of billionaire Ron Perelman and granddaughter of late Hudson News patriarch Robert Cohen — listens to witness testimony.

Cohen's niece, Samantha Perelman, contends she lost the opportunity to inherit millions from her grandfather, Robert, because her uncle exerted undue influence over his ailing father as he changed his will many times before he died in 2012.

Howard Simmons/New York Daily NewsJames Cohen told the court that he bought Samantha's mother's share of the family's $60 million Palm Beach house for $177,000.

On cross examination, Cohen admitted that he fired his father's chef without first consulting him, overruled his father on what handicapped van to buy and excluded him from a meeting with bankers about selling a huge chunk of the family's national news stand empire.
Cohen also acknowledged that he started meeting privately with his father's estate planners and lawyers to draft changes in his father's will after Robert Cohen invited him into the process.
Robert Cohen suffered from Parkinson's and was unable to speak, walk, talk or sign his own name in the last few years of his life.
Cohen admitted that he also did not consult with his father before notifying Samantha Pereleman — just weeks after her mother, Claudia, died in 2007 — that he was buying Claudia's share of the family's $60 million Palm Beach house for $177,000.