The attorney overseeing the trust Aaron Hernandez left to look after his daughter said the late soccer player’s ex-fiancé should be removed over suspicious spending as the girl’s conservator.
Attorney David Schwartz said Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez’s expenses were “rightly scrutinized” in court documents after she requested $10,000 from the trust to take 10-year-old Avielle’s dance lessons.
Jenkins-Hernandez is already making around $150,000 a year — which has totaled $832,040.83 since Hernandez’s death by suicide in prison in 2017 — from the trust the football player left to look after her daughter to take care of.
O’Regan noted a number of other suspicious withdrawals Jenkins-Hernandez made from the trust and asked how they could be linked to Avielle’s foster care. Jenkins-Hernandez, in turn, moved to remove Schwartz as trustee of the trust.
Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez and her and Aaron Hernandez’s daughter, Avielle, now 10
Aaron Hernandez seen during his trial for the murder of Odin Lloyd. He was sentenced to life imprisonment
Once a star tight end for the New England Patriots, Hernandez hanged himself with prison sheets after being sentenced to life in prison for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd.
After Jenkins-Hernandez requested the $10,000, Schwartz denied the request and filed court documents with attorney Robert O’Regan asking that she be removed as Avielle’s conservator.
The filing pointed to a litany of suspicious expenses taken from the fund, including $36,858 on clothing, $39,347 on home goods, $25,577 on online shopping, and $11,792 on “self-care”— Costs associated with gym memberships and visits to beauty salons.
There were also “unexplained” ATM withdrawals worth $18,406.04 and a payment to Bay Path University in Massachusetts of $3,720.00.
In the filing, O’Regan wrote of “large amounts of money being disbursed… with little clear identification of how those disbursements benefit Avielle.”
‘I believe that [Jenkins-Hernandez] mixed the child’s funds with her own,” the filing said. “I believe that Ms. Jenkins-Hernandez’s ongoing conflict, her nearly five-year record of excessive spending, her continued violation of this court’s ruling … and her failure to file an inventory and current accounts all point to whatever may be In.” With the best of intentions, Ms. Jenkins-Hernandez is not effectively performing her duties as Conservator.’
Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez and daughter Avielle in the courtroom during the 2017 murder trial of Aaron Hernandez
Aaron Hernandez in the courtroom at his 2017 murder trial
After being denied the $10,000, Jenkins-Hernandez asked a judge to have Schwartz removed as trustee, arguing he was preventing Avielle from enjoying her favorite pastime. After Schwartz asked for her removal, she defended her spending.
“Since Aaron’s death, my only focus has been raising my children and giving them as stable a life as possible,” Jenkins-Hernandez told the Boston Globe. “All the monies I’ve spent have been for that unique focus and that will continue to be my focus going forward.”
Jenkins-Hernandez’s attorney, Stephen Withers, called Schwartz’s allegations “much ado about nothing.”
“Shayanna has been focused on her children. Any claim or suggestion that she is spending money improperly or for any other purpose is absolutely false.
Aaron Hernandez plays for the Patriots at Gillette Stadium in October 2012
Jenkins Hernandez and Aaron Hernandez. The couple started dating when they were in high school
Jenkins-Hernandez and the disgraced football star started dating when they were in high school.
The couple was engaged but often on guard because of Hernandez’s repeated infidelities. Avelle was born in 2012.
Jenkins-Hernandez testified for the prosecution at Hernandez’s trial but maintained his innocence.
She testified that the day after Lloyd was killed, she took a box from the house she shared with Hernandez and got rid of it. The box is believed to have contained the gun Hernandez used to assassinate Lloyd.