Health club charges, on-line procuring, bounced checks: Ex-fiancée of Aaron Hernandez accused of misspending cash meant for couple’s younger daughter

Then Schwartz reviewed how Jenkins-Hernandez had been spending the cash: $36,858 on clothes, together with maternity put on; $39,347 on dwelling items; $25,577 procuring on-line; $11,792 in “self care,” together with health club charges, and visits to hair and nail salons.

“There may be purpose to query whether or not the expenditures had been for Avielle’s profit,” stated legal professional Robert O’Regan, who’s representing Schwartz within the courtroom dispute. “To be truthful, this little lady ought to have an honest life with what her father left for her. Nobody would complain if there have been affordable bills. We’re speaking about excessive or in any other case unrelated bills to Avielle.”

Now Schwartz and Jenkins-Hernandez are locked in a battle over who controls the cash that remained after the demise of Hernandez, who hanged himself in jail after being convicted of murdering Odin Lloyd, the boyfriend of Jenkins-Hernandez’s sister. Only a few days earlier than his demise, Hernandez had been acquitted of a separate double murder in the South End.

When Schwartz declined to pay Avielle’s dancing invoice, Jenkins-Hernandez promptly requested a Bristol County probate decide to take away him as trustee, arguing he was probably forcing the kid to surrender her favourite extracurricular exercise. Jenkins-Hernandez, who gave start to a second daughter by one other man in 2018, insists she hasn’t improperly spent cash and the cash from the belief fund needs to be obtainable when she wants it.

“Since Aaron’s demise, my sole focus has been on elevating and offering as secure a life for my youngsters as potential,” wrote Jenkins-Hernandez in an e-mail to the Globe. “All monies I’ve spent have been with this singular focus in thoughts, and this can proceed to be my focus going ahead.”

Her lawyer, Stephen Withers, known as the controversy “a lot ado about nothing. What Shayanna has achieved is concentrate on her youngsters … Any allegation or insinuation that she’s spending cash inappropriately or for another goal is totally false.”

However Schwartz stated Jenkins-Hernandez seems to have damaged the principles and he has requested that she be eliminated as Avielle’s conservator, a court-appointment that allowed her to arrange the belief fund Schwartz now administers. If she loses that function, a brand new conservator would obtain Hernandez’s pension and Social Safety checks and determine how the cash needs to be spent.

The downfall of Aaron Hernandez was probably the most surprising in American sports activities historical past, because the Patriots’ star tight finish was revealed to be a brutal killer, exposing an unsightly underside of the NFL. The Boston Globe Highlight Staff discovered that Hernandez had long been prone to wild mood swings and sudden violence — after demise, his mind confirmed indicators of power traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which may be brought on by repeated blows to the top — however the warning indicators had been neglected so long as he was catching landing passes.

Jenkins-Hernandez, who began courting Hernandez when each had been in highschool in New Britain, Conn., testified as a prosecution witness throughout his homicide trial, however has insisted her fiancé was harmless. She instructed jurors that the day after the killing of Lloyd, she eliminated a field from the couple’s 7,100-square-foot North Attleborough dwelling at Hernandez’s route and discarded it. Authorities believed the field contained the homicide weapon, which was by no means discovered.

After his demise, Jenkins-Hernandez took her fiancé’s identify and unsuccessfully sued the NFL over his prognosis of CTE.

Nothing may carry again the high-flying NFL way of life she as soon as knew — at one level, in response to courtroom paperwork, her daughter Avielle was receiving public help. And, as a result of Jenkins-Hernandez and Hernandez had been by no means married and he died with no will, any belongings would go to Avielle, his sole inheritor, to not her. Jenkins-Hernandez doesn’t have a job both, in response to her legal professional.

Even so, the settlement of Hernandez’s property, together with the sale of their North Attleborough mansion, introduced Jenkins-Hernandez some monetary stability. The belief administered by Schwartz paid for her present Rhode Island dwelling and all associated bills, in addition to Avielle’s faculty tuition. Individually, Jenkins-Hernandez straight receives Hernandez’s pension and Social Safety funds, though Schwartz stated these funds, too, are purported to be spent completely for the advantage of her daughter.

Because the conservator for her daughter, Jenkins-Hernandez was purported to file annual disclosures for the final a number of years as to how she was spending the cash, however Schwartz stated she solely not too long ago started submitting them.

Schwartz was shocked by what he noticed on the expenditure types: tens of hundreds of {dollars} in what he known as “questionable” bills, akin to $4,800 in costs at Harrods Division Retailer, that appeared to profit her greater than her daughter. She made $29,650 in ATM withdrawals and paid $13,778 in financial institution costs — principally overdraft charges.

“There may be each purpose to query whether or not and the way (Jenkins-Hernandez) is making use of the numerous assets that needs to be obtainable to pay for Avielle’s each day wants, together with dance classes, particularly since all of her primary housing safety and academic bills are paid from the belief,” wrote O’Regan, a accomplice within the legislation agency Burns & Levinson, in a submitting submitted on Schwartz’s behalf.

Schwartz was notably involved that Jenkins-Hernandez reported spending $39,655 on schooling — together with $3,720 for Bay Path College, a personal college in Western Massachusetts.

“Avielle isn’t in school,” wrote O’Regan, and her faculty payments are already paid for from the belief.

Jenkins-Hernandez additionally spent $12,830 on one thing known as “Ask My Accountant.” Neither Jenkins-Hernandez nor her lawyer, would clarify what that’s or talk about another particular expenditures.

“I filed the accountings on her behalf and really feel comfy they had been applicable,” Withers stated. “Questions may be simply answered. Every part she has achieved has been wholly applicable and I stay up for this matter being beneficially resolved and this distraction put behind her. “

“Our focus is ensuring Avielle has the perfect life she will be able to and that’s what Shayanna is concentrated on,” he stated.

O’Regan doesn’t query Jenkins-Hernandez’s devotion to Avielle, however wonders if she felt entitled to Hernandez’s cash.

“We’re coping with human habits right here,” O’Regan instructed the Globe. “For those who’re somebody like Shayanna — somebody on this scenario with Aaron, who was an NFL celebrity for a championship soccer group who dies and leaves a baby, you would possibly assume you get to spend this cash any means you need. No person instructed her she will be able to’t or she’s not listening.”

The motions from each side are pending, and Schwartz has requested the case be transferred to a particular courtroom that offers with complicated disputes like this.

A listening to on Jenkins-Hernandez’s movement to drive Schwartz to pay for the dance classes was purported to be heard earlier this month however was canceled. Based on Withers, Jenkins-Hernandez was in a position to make different preparations to pay for Avielle’s dance classes.

Going ahead, O’Regan argues, Jenkins-Hernandez ought to not be entrusted with funds for her daughter, who’s eligible to obtain the belief funds when she turns 25. At present, the fund accommodates round $700,000.

“I imagine that (Jenkins-Hernandez) has been co-mingling the kid’s funds along with her personal,” wrote O’Regan in a courtroom submitting. ”I imagine that Ms. Jenkins-Hernandez’s ongoing battle, her virtually five-year-long report of extreme expenditures, steady violation of this courtroom’s decree … and her failure to file a listing and updated accounts all point out that regardless of what is likely to be her finest intentions, Ms. Jenkins-Hernandez isn’t successfully performing her duties as conservator.”

Andrea Estes may be reached at andrea.estes@globe.com.