Sex, Drugs and Mystery in Financier's Death

Dec. 5, 2007 — -- The estate of millionaire hedge fund manager Seth Tobias, who was found dead in his swimming pool under mysterious circumstances, is now the focus of a battle by competing heirs amid allegations of drug abuse, gay sex and murder.

Tobias' wife, Filomena, found her husband floating facedown in the swimming pool of the couple's mansion just after midnight Sept. 4, according to police in their hometown of Jupiter, Fla.

"Please send somebody, please!" Filomena said in a frantic call to 911. "He's not breathing!"

Police at the time didn't consider the death suspicious, but have yet to make a final determination pending a medical examiner's report. One of Tobias' four brothers reportedly said at the time he believed the 44-year-old money manager to such luminaries as real estate mogul Samuel Zell had suffered a heart attack.

Tobias was founder of the $300 million hedge fund Circle T and made a name for himself through appearances on the CNBC financial programs "Squawk Box" and "Kudlow & Company."

Soon after Tobias' death, and just as his will went into probate, his four brothers accused Filomena of murder by drugging her husband and luring him into the pool.

Tobias' brothers are named in his will as the beneficiaries of his $25 million estate. The will was written before he and Filomena were married and his wife has contested it in court.

In a civil suit against Filomena, the brothers claim she "intentionally killed" Tobias "by asphyxiation and drowning."

The brothers claim Filomena caused Tobias "to ingest one or more controlled substances that induced loss of consciousness and capacity to breathe … [and caused him] to enter the swimming pool at their residence after his ingestion of controlled substances and in his stuporous and helpless condition he was asphyxiated and died."

Several weeks after Tobias was found dead, William Ash, a convicted felon and former assistant to Tobias, who police said has worked as a gay prostitute, told authorities he had a recording of Filomena confessing to murdering her husband.