Melissa Scripps is a member of the famous Scripps family, which owns the E.W. Scripps media empire. The company was founded by her great-great-grandfather, Edward Willis Scripps, who borrowed $10,000 to start a newspaper in Cleveland in 1878. Today, the company owns about 65 broadcast news stations across the country and has administered the National Spelling Bee since 1941.
The Rise And Fall Of Melissa Scripps
Melissa Scripps inherited a fortune from her father, Edward W. Scripps Jr., who died in 1986. She was one of the beneficiaries of a family trust that controlled the voting shares of the company. She also received a generous annual allowance from the trust, which was estimated to be around $4.5 million in 2012.
However, Melissa Scripps did not live a lavish lifestyle. She preferred to stay out of the public eye and lived in a modest home in Michigan with her husband and children. She was also known for her philanthropy, donating millions of dollars to various causes, such as education, health, and the art.
But Melissa Scripps’ fortune took a turn for the worse in 2012, when she was accused of fraud by her own family. Her brother, Edward Scripps III, sued her for allegedly misusing the trust funds to buy personal items, such as jewelry, cars, and art. He claimed that she had spent over $11 million of the trust money in less than a year, without the consent of the other trustees.
The lawsuit revealed that Melissa Scripps had been manipulated by a con artist named Joseph Caramadre, who had befriended her and convinced her to invest in a scheme that involved buying life insurance policies of terminally ill people. Caramadre was later convicted of fraud and sentenced to six years in prison.
Melissa Scripps denied any wrongdoing and claimed that she was a victim of Caramadre’s scam. She also said that she had given most of the money to charity and that her brother was trying to take away her inheritance. She filed a counterclaim against him, accusing him of breach of fiduciary duty and defamation.
The legal battle between the siblings lasted for years and took a toll on Melissa Scripps’ health and finances. She suffered from depression, anxiety, and addiction. She also declared bankruptcy in 2016, claiming to have only $11 million in assets and $50 million in liabilities. She said that she had lost most of her money due to the lawsuit, the fraud, and the divorce from her husband.
Melissa Scripps Net Worth Today: A Mystery
The outcome of the lawsuit between Melissa Scripps and her brother is not publicly known. The case was settled out of court in 2018, and the terms of the agreement were not disclosed. It is unclear how much money Melissa Scripps received from the settlement or how much she still owns of the Scripps company.
According to Forbes, the E.W. Scripps family had a net worth of $8.4 billion in 2020, making them the 43rd richest family in America. However, the family wealth is not evenly distributed among the members, and some have more influence and control than others. The family also sold some of its assets in recent years, such as the Scripps Network Interactive, which owned the cable TV channels, to Discovery in 2017 for $14.6 billion.
Melissa Scripps’ net worth today is therefore hard to estimate. Some sources suggest that she is worth around $100 million, while others say that she is broke and struggling to make ends meet. The truth may lie somewhere in between, but only Melissa Scripps knows for sure.