Smurfs Lawyer Stuart Ross Arrested for Alleged $11 Million Shakedown
By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The man who brought the Smurfs to the US has been arrested and charged with trying to shake down his son-in-law for $11 million.
Stuart Ross, 73, a one-time media entrepreneur credited with bringing the cartoon about Papa Smurf and the rest of his little blue gang over from Belgium, was picked up in Florida and extradited to Manhattan Supreme Court to face grand larceny charges, prosecutors said at his bail hearing Monday.
In 2008, Ross and his former attorney, Stuart Jackson, 81, allegedly demanded $150,000, and then two payments of $5.5 million, from Ross's estranged son-in-law, David Blitzer, an executive at the Blackstone Group investment firm.
Together they verbally harassed Blitzer, threatening to ruin his career if he didn't pay, prosecutors said.
The case has been pending in Manhattan Supreme Court for years, though delays have prevented the sides from setting a trial date. A warrant was issued April 6 for Ross's arrest.
Ross said illness prevented him from appearing in court in Manhattan.
"I have leukemia — that is matter of fact," Ross told the judge. In Florida, he underwent chemotherapy and had a heart valve replaced, he told Judge Bonnie Wittner.
Ross, a non-practicing attorney, said he plans to force his lawyer to step down so he can represent himself at trial, which could begin as soon as the end of the summer.
Bail was set at $200,000 bond or $100,000.
Ross's lawyer as of Monday, Matthew Myers, said Ross lost a lot of money in bad real estate investments and would look to family and friends to bail him out.
