According to a handwriting expert, the signature on a will codicil that lawyer Frances Morrissey is accused of forging is indeed not Brooke Astor’s. (Though Morrissey and Astor’s son Anthony Marshall are accused of working together to defraud Astor of millions, just the lawyer faces up to seven years in prison over the signature.) The damning evidence was in the letters: There was not enough space between an R and an O, the U and the SS in her maiden name were wrong, and her entire last name was too neat. “When you get to the last name, Astor, all of a sudden you have a beautifully well-crafted signature,” the expert, Gus Lesnevich, said. “She can’t write that well.” So the letters in question are: ROUSSASTOR. Which, as everyone knows, is an anagram for “Rats So Sour,” “Sour Roasts,” and “Our Ass Rots.” As far as we’re concerned, case closed.
