BY MELISSA GRACE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Papa Smurf is broke – and behind bars.
Lawyer Stuart Ross made millions introducing the bizarre blue Smurf cartoon characters to the U.S. in the 1980s. Now he stands accused in a twisted plot to extort as much as $11 million from his rich son-in-law, Blackstone Group exec David Blitzer – and unable to make his $200,000 bail.
“He’s not in a position to afford bail like that,” Ross’ lawyer Matthew Myers said outside a Manhattan courtroom yesterday.
“He made some bad investments,” Myers said.
Ross, 73, concocted a scheme that would make the evil Smurf nemesis Gargamel blush.
He threatened to smear Blitzer’s reputation – and drag his good name through the mud.
Ross even went after his own daughter, Allison Blitzer, court papers say. At one point, Ross told the then-pregnant woman he hoped her child died – and that her gravestone “should be carved with a vile obscenity.”
The attempt to bilk Blitzer fell apart two years ago as the threats escalated – and when law enforcement was called in.
Ross and his co-defendant Stuart Jackson, his former lawyer, were indicted in 2008 for grand larceny and attempted grand larceny .
“These threats escalated to a point where Ross, through his attorney, defendant Jackson, told Blitzer’s attorney, Roger Stavis, that for $5.5 million, Ross would not try to visit his daughter or grandchildren and would stop harassing Blitzer and contacting his business,” State Supreme Court Judge Bonnie Wittner wrote in legal papers.
Other court documents mentioned figures as high as $11 million coming from Jackson.
At yesterday’s bail proceeding, Ross – who is essentially homeless and on the brink of divorce – laid out a sob story about his failing health.
“I have leukemia,” he said. “Almost every month I was in the hospital.” He also announced plans to represent himself at trial when a date is set at a hearing scheduled for June 28.
“You want to represent yourself,” Wittner told him. “I know you’re a lawyer. You know the risks.”
Ross once owned the North American rights to the Smurfs, investing in the blue cartoon figures from France in 1976, before they hit it big.
The Smurfs are bound for a new round of popularity: A live action movie starring Neil Patrick Harris, Katy Perry, Hank Azariaand Alan Cumming is due out next year.
Written by Melissa Grace for the New York Daily News – mgrace@nydailynews.com
Attorney for the defense: Matthew D. Myers