Audrey Hepburn's eldest son is being sued by charity he helped establish in his mother's name 'because he keeps demanding control of the money they raise'

  • Audrey Hepburn's sons, Sean Ferrer and Luca Dotti, started the charity in 1993
  • The suit says Ferrer is using his control of her intellectual property to interfere 
  • It claims he demands funds raised from exhibitions be sent to other charities
  • He has allegedly had the exhibitions shut down by threatening his own suits
  • Ferrer allegedly began interfering after losing money in a divorce 
  • The suit demands damages and an end to Ferrer's alleged interference
  • It also wants the court to rule who has control over the IP - Ferrer or Dotti 

By James Wilkinson For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

Published: 19:32 EST, 8 February 2017 | Updated: 02:24 EST, 9 February 2017

Audrey Hepburn's eldest son is being sued by the charity he helped establish in her name because, it says, he is interfering with its attempts to raise money for children.

The Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund sued Sean Ferrer on Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, saying that he had spent the last four years becoming increasingly 'hostile' to its use of Hepburn's intellectual property (IP).

It says he 'seeks to entirely control, limit and prohibit' the use of the IP unless it pays a 'significant portion' of money raised to another charity of his choice, 'or to simply preclude' it from using the IP at all, The Hollywood Reporter wrote.

Audrey Hepburn's eldest son, Sean Ferrer, is being sued by the charity he and his half-brother founded in their mother's name
The suit claims that Ferrer (pictured) attempted to stop the charity from using his mother's dresses in fundraising exhibitions

Audrey Hepburn's eldest son, Sean Ferrer (right) is being sued by the charity he and his half-brother founded after he allegedly tried to stop it from using Hepburn's dresses in exhibitions

Ferrer and half-brother Luca Dotti started the charity in 1993, the year their mother died of cancer, as Hollywood for Children, hoping to continue her enthusiasm for helping kids.

That was to be achieved largely by exhibiting her clothing - some created by famed fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy - which the brothers jointly own.

In 1998 they gave the charity, which supports children's centers Los Angeles and New Orleans hospitals, its present title. But ten years later, the suit claims, things began to go wrong.

The crux of the problem is that both brothers equally own Audrey Hepburn's IP - including her image and former possessions - and previously agreed that they each have 'unrestricted unilateral authority' to license it out to third parties.

The suit says that became an issue after Ferrer ran into financial difficulties in 2008 and 2009 due to a divorce and real-estate troubles, according to Variety.

In 2012 he stepped down from the board, leaving Dotti as the chairman, but the following year he ordered the fund to stop using Hepburn's IP - specifically the use of her dresses - in its fundraising, the suit says.

It claims that Ferrer then took control of the charity's online accounts, and started up a new site and emails without Dotti's consent.

Ferrer and half-brother Luca Dotti (pictured) have equal rights to Hepburn's intellectual property; the suit alleges Ferrer is demanding money raised in exchange for allowing exhibitions to occur

Ferrer and half-brother Luca Dotti (pictured) have equal rights to Hepburn's intellectual property; the suit alleges Ferrer is demanding money raised in exchange for allowing exhibitions to occur

He then threatened potential exhibitors in China, Korea and Australia with lawsuits if they hosted his mother's items in fundraising exhibitions for the charity, the suit says.

That allegedly resulted in the Australian exhibition being postponed and the Korean one canceled.

The suit also alleges that Ferrer tried to get Hubert de Givenchy to falsify a donation letter regarding the dresses he made.

The fund is suing Ferrer for intentional interference with contractual relationships, and seeking damages. 

It is also demanding an injunction to stop him from registering any domain names based on Hepburn's name, and and to stop him interfering with the Fund's partners.

Attorney Steven E Young says that if the court does not 'definitively [declare] the rights, obligations and duties as between the Fund and Ferrer with regard to the use of the Hepburn IP' the charity will be jeopardized. 

Emails and a phone message left for Ferrer's attorney Wednesday were not returned.

Hepburn had Ferrer in 1960 with then-husband Mel Ferrer, whom she divorced in 1968. 

She had Dotti in 1970 with Andrea Dotti, her second husband. She divorced him in 1982.


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