A polo club founder adopted his 42-year-old girlfriend after a fatal drunk-driving crash, giving her a share of his children's trust

John Goodman's family sold Goodman Manufacturing to Apollo Management for about $1.43 billion in 2004. He founded the International Polo Club Palm Beach. Early on 12 February 2010 his Bentley ran a stop sign in Wellington and hit a car driven by Scott Patrick Wilson, 23. Wilson's car went into a canal and he drowned. Goodman left the scene and did not call for nearly an hour; a blood test about three hours later read 0.177. Wilson's parents sued for wrongful death. In October 2011 Goodman formally adopted his girlfriend, Heather Laruso Hutchins, 42. He had set up a trust for his two children in 1991 with $1.5 million; his lawyer said it was worth several hundred million dollars. As an adopted child over 35, Hutchins gained a one-third interest at once. Civil judge Glenn Kelley wrote that Goodman had diverted "a significant portion" of the children's trust to her. In 2012 Goodman settled with the parents for $46 million. Florida's Third District Court of Appeal vacated the adoption on 27 March 2013, ruling that his former wife and the children's guardian should have been heard^†. A 2012 conviction was overturned for juror misconduct. On 28 October 2014 a second jury convicted him of DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide, and he was sentenced to 16 years. A judge denied him a new trial in February 2024. In 2026 he is held at Everglades Correctional Institution, with release scheduled for 22 January 2028.