Tobias Aide to Testify in Fund Manager's Estate Case

Date: Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Author: Scott Cohn, CNBC.com

A former assistant to Seth Tobias has agreed to testify in the court battle over the late hedge fund manager's estate.

Bill Ash, 43, claims he has evidence that Tobias was murdered. And Tobias' brothers want to use that evidence to block his widow, whom they say killed him, from receiving any monies from his estate.

Tobias' widow, Filomena, is engaged in a legal battle with his four brothers over the estate, estimated to be worth at least $25 million

Ash's attorney, Debra Opri, says her client will give a deposition in the case, but only after toxicology results on the body come back. Those results were supposed to be in by now, but Opri says according to the medical examiner, they could be another six weeks away.

That would put Ash's testimony in late January, ahead of a probate trial scheduled for mid-February.

Filomena Tobias has denied any role in her husband's death, and police thus far are not even classifying the death as suspicious.

Seth Tobias, a frequent CNBC guest and founder of Circle T Partners, was found dead in the swimming pool at his Jupiter, Florida home Labor Day weekend. He was 44 years old.

The $87 million fund managed by Tobias is being liquidated, according to an attorney for the fund. Two other Circle-T funds run by other managers remain intact.