High-Stakes Lauda Legal Showdown: Widow Claims Lion's Share
May 19 - Niki Lauda's widow is now emerging from a legal dispute over about 30 million euros of the late F1 legend's estate.
The case first emerged a year ago, when Lauda's wife at the time of his death, Birgit Wetzinger, sued the Lauda Foundation.
La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Birgit, 45, won the dispute in the higher regional court of Vienna, entitling her to 16 percent of the triple world champion's assets.
The Lauda Foundation - supported by Lauda's children from his first marriage, Lukas and Mathias - appealed.
The lawsuit claimed that Birgit was "unworthy of inheritance" because she hid up to 50 priceless works of art and jewellery that once belonged to Lauda, who died in 2019 of kidney failure.
One of the most expensive of these was valued at 1.4 million euros, but Birgit claimed that many of the items were purchased by her rather than Niki.
Kurier newspaper said the foundation also accused Birgit of "massively false statements".
Vienna judges now have to rule on the exact amount due to Lauda's wife - reportedly believed to be a figure with "more than six zeroes".
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