Andy Warhol's foundation valued his art at $95 million; a court said $390.9 million, and his estate lawyer was paid on the difference

Warhol died after gallbladder surgery^† and left most of his estate to create a foundation^†. His longtime manager Fred Hughes was executor^†. The estate's lawyer, Edward Hayes, was to be paid in line with the estate's value^†. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts relied on a Christie's appraisal that valued the art at $95 million and the whole estate at $220 million. Hayes said it was worth far more. As the court examined the dispute, Hughes changed sides: he accepted the foundation's valuation in return for $5 million in cash and title to some Warhol paintings, and agreed to fire Hayes. Surrogate Judge Eve Preminger set the art at $390.9 million and the estate at $509.9 million. In 1995 she awarded Hayes $7.2 million plus $250,000 in legal fees; he had already received $4.85 million. In February 1996 the Appellate Division cut his fee to $3.5 million. Hughes had been removed from the foundation in 1992. The foundation disbanded its authentication board in 2011.