Billion dollar dynasty at war as heiress battles dad over younger fourth wife and shocking sex allegations
Gretchen 'Greta' Hentsch-Cowles received $1.5million from her father Russell Cowles II in 2004 after she claimed he had sexually abused her from 1973 to 1978, starting when she was just two years old.
But 15 years after Hentsch-Cowles made the claims in a lawsuit, she reconnected with Russell when she was going through a divorce and needed $270,000 to buy her ex-husband out of their Texas mansion. Russell was happy to lend her the money as a means of reconciling.
But the reconciliation ended four years later, when Russell, who is personally worth about $22million, sued Greta for failing to pay back the 2019 loan, as reported by the Star Tribune.
Meanwhile Hentsch-Cowles filed her own lawsuit claiming that Russell, 88, had offered to take care of both her and her children, only to change his mind after he married his fourth wife, Linda Lou, 60.
Russell, who lives in a $5 million mansion in Naples, Florida, said in court documents that his financial adviser Justin Stone, who he put in charge of the loan, betrayed him.
He said Stone's romance with his daughter Hentsch-Cowles ultimately duped him into supporting her family.
In her own legal filing, Hentsch-Cowles claimed Stone sexually assaulted her in a hotel room in 2019 - just hours after they first met in Minneapolis to discuss the money she needed from her father.
Hentsch-Cowles, a family and relationship therapist, also claimed that Stone later texted her about 1,000 explicit images and sexually assaulted her a second time in 2022.
Hentsch-Cowles did not explain why she continued to have a professional relationship with Stone for three years after he allegedly sexually assaulted her in a hotel room.
In text messages to Hentsch-Cowles, Stone spoke of Russel's fourth wife Linda Lou, saying she 'must be on the warpath for as much money as possible' and '[She] loves only the money.'
In her filing, Hentsch-Cowles said Stone told her in 2019 that her financial future would be secured when her father died. The heiress also said she was promised that her children would receive financial help for private schools and health and housing costs.
Her claims have dragged the bank Stone worked for, US Bank, into the legal battle.
Stone has not been charged with any crimes and denied any wrongdoing through his lawyer.
Greta reconnected with Russell when she was going through a divorce and needed $270,000 to buy her ex-husband out of their Texas mansion
Russell is the heir of former Star Tribune publisher and owner John Cowles Sr.
His family is one of Minneapolis' wealthiest after John Cowles Sr. sold the newspaper in 1998 for $1.4 billion.
He said in court that anything he promised Hentsch-Cowles and her children were 'purely expressions of intent' and should not be legally binding.
Russell previously spoke of how he enjoyed his family's vast wealth and used it to open an art gallery which he effectively ran as a hobby.
In a 1973 letter to his father, Russell wrote the family fortune 'has resulted in my being able to live where I want to, comfortably and happily free of day-to-day routine.'
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