The battle between Tony Bennett’s oldest son, Danny Bennett, and the singer’s daughters, Antonia and Johanna Bennett, heated up in court, In Touch can exclusively report.

According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Danny, 70, opposed his sister’s demand for accounting of Tony’s estate, specifically information about money earned and spent during Tony’s lifetime.

Danny said Tony’s will directed that everything he owned at death be transferred into his trust. “Tony considered Danny to be one of his greatest assets. In addition to naming Danny cotrustee, Tony also retained Danny to be his personal manager and his business manager,” Danny’s lawyer said.

Danny said his father credited him for turning around his career “after he hit rock bottom in the late 1970s, including a near-fatal cocaine overdose and financial disaster that caused the IRS to seize his home in Los Angeles.”

Danny said his father credited him for putting him in a position to win a comeback Grammy Award in 1995.

Tony’s oldest son added that when his father “stopped being physically able to go on tour,” he stepped in and negotiated a deal to sell Tony’s memorabilia as well as Tony’s music royalty stream and rights to his likeness and publicity (the ‘Iconoclast Deal’).”

Danny said the “Iconoclast Deal” included a purchase price and a steam of income for a limited period from various projects. In his motion, Danny said he has been “fully transparent” with his sisters regarding the details of the deal and “has provided them not only with the full agreement … but has provided them with detailed schedules reflecting income from the deal.”

He argued his sisters did not have a right to all of the accounting they requested. “Since Petitioners have only a remainder interest in the Trust, they lack standing to seek an accounting for the period during Tony’s lifetime when Tony was the sole beneficiary,” Danny’s lawyer argued. “The law is clear that only the lifetime beneficiary has a right to an accounting for the period prior to his death.”

Further, in regard to accounting for Tony’s estate post-death, Danny’s lawyer said, “Nor do Petitioners have a valid claim for an accounting for the period since Tony’s death.”

Danny’s lawyer continued, “Tony died on July 21, 2023, less than a year before Petitioners commenced this proceeding for an accounting of the Trust. The administration of Tony’s estate has barely begun.” Danny’s lawyer added, “The estate tax returns have been timely filed, but not yet audited – a process which is expected in this instance.”

He said Danny still had items he needed to sell off. “It simply makes no sense to go to the expense and effort of an accounting for an estate that has been open for barely a year, particularly when significant aspects of the work have not been done,” his lawyer said.

Antonia, 50, and Johanna, 53, scoffed at Danny’s position. They accused him of engaging in “self-dealing” prior to and after their father’s death. They said he has refused for more than 15 months to provide them with accounting.

Their lawyer said, “Danny has provided conflicting financial statements, unexplained expenses totaling many hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more), and significant distributions, gifts, and other payments that Danny made directly to himself or for his own benefit while wearing every fiduciary hat possible.” He continued, “Danny’s actions during the Pre-Death Period were anything but ordinary and raise serious concerns about the Post- Death Period.”

The motion added, “Danny acted in multiple, conflicting fiduciary capacities for an extended period prior to Tony’s death and took (for himself and his children) significant funds from the Family Trust. Moreover, as publicized by Danny to various media outlets, at some point prior to Tony’s death, Tony entered a phase of diminished capacity, which means Tony was no longer able to act as co-Trustee, leaving Danny to serve as sole Trustee of the Family Trust with no oversight.”

The sisters said their father’s trust intended to treat his four children equally. Their lawyer argued, “It is critical that all beneficiaries of the Family Trust have an ability to examine Danny’s conduct in order to ensure Tony’s wishes are fulfilled.”

The sisters pointed to several examples of questionable behavior by Danny.

They said in December 2022, Danny signed a management agreement with Tony’s trust that paid him $50,000 per month regardless of Tony’s income.

Further, they claimed, “Danny also cut checks as trustee using Trust funds as he saw fit. Bank statements provided to Petitioners evidence that Danny wrote multiple checks to himself, sometimes gifting himself large sums of cash.”

The sisters motion argued, “Additionally, without more information about Tony’s income, it is unclear whether the payments Danny was making to himself exceed what was contractually owed to him.” In regard to the deal to sell Tony’s likeness, the sister said Danny claims he entered into it because their father was in financial trouble.

The sisters said, “However, records, provided to [them] indicate that Tony still had millions of dollars at the time of the Iconoclast deal and, despite claiming that Tony was running out of money, Danny continued to make gifts to himself and his children with Family Trust assets and loan himself significant amounts from the Family Trust.”

“Danny’s company RPM received almost $2.6 million in commissions. Petitioners each received $245,000 and to this day have not received anything additional from the deal, despite having a financial interest in the LLC,” a lawyer for the sister’s added.

Antonia and Johanna demanded the court allow their case to move forward.

As In Touch previously reported, Antonia and Johanna filed a lawsuit against Danny demanding he turn over accounting for their father’s estate. Danny was appointed the trustee of Tony’s trust after the musician died at the age of 96. Danny also worked as Tony’s manager when he was alive.

In their lawsuit, Antonia and Johanna questioned why their late father’s estate was only worth $7 million at the time of this death. The sisters said their father had earned over $100 million in the past 15 years.

The duo believed Tony should have had a substantial amount more. The sisters pointed out their brother Danny had received $4.2 million in gifts while they had received a lot less over the years. Antonia and Johanna, who are beneficiaries of the trust, accused Danny of failing to provide proper accounting.

The sisters claimed Danny left them in the dark about the details of the sale of Tony’s music catalog and other deals.

“It remains unclear what music assets (and other property) were or were not sold as part of the deal,” due to Antonia and Johanna “not [being] provided with various details of the transaction despite repeated requests,” their filing read.

Antonia, Johanna and Danny have a brother named Dae, who is not a party to the legal battle.

After his death, Tony was remembered by his famous friends. Lady Gaga said, “I will miss my friend forever. I will miss singing with him, recording with him, talking with him, being on stage together.”