Four children of the late Rocky Aoki, founder of the Benihana empire, claim their stepmom is trying to boot their lawyers from the case over Rocky’s $35 million estate.
The kids’ attorney, Faith L. Carter from law firm Holland & Knight, calls the move by widow Keiko Ono Aoki a “charade.”
As The Post’s Julia Marsh reports, Keiko says Holland & Knight — which represents Rocky’s children Kana (who goes by “Grace”), Kevin, Kyle and Echo — has a conflict of interest because the firm allowed the kids to loot $3 million from a trust fund when Rocky was on his deathbed in 2008.
Two more siblings — model Devon and Steve, a well-known DJ — are represented by a different firm.
Carter calls the claims “baseless” in papers filed in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court on Wednesday. “It’s a transparent tactic intent on depriving [the children] of legal counsel so [Keiko] may prosecute her objections against lay, pro se litigants,” she said in court papers.
In 2010, two years after Rocky’s death, the court awarded Keiko control over the $17.5 million family trust. The kids got a measly $29,400.
All six kids are appealing a 2013 ruling that awarded Keiko sole power over the fortune. A 2007 will gave her a quarter of Rocky’s estate and the ability to distribute the remainder to his heirs. Keiko’s counsel, Richard
Feldman, did not return requests for comment.