Leona Helmsley's prison suit sells for $850 -- a bargain!

Posted May 20th 2008 5:08PM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Law

It's fair to say that few people were feeling pity when "The Queen of Mean," billionaire New York real estate mogul Leona Helmsley was sent to prison for 18 months after her conviction on charges of federal income tax evasion. At the trial, it was revealed that Ms. Helmsley, never known as a woman of the people, had said that only "the little people" pay taxes.

Apparently few people were interested in buying the suit she wore on the day she arrived at the slammer in 1992. The Chanel pink wool and denim skirt suit went for just $850. Leslie Hindman Auctioneers sold $118,845 worth of her clothing and other items at an auction over the weekend.

According to Reuters, a J. Mendel brown broad-tail coat sold for $12,000, by far the most expensive piece sold at the auction. I wonder what her orange jump suit from the pokey would have sold for. Maybe she left that to her dog too.

If you're in starting a collection of artifacts of white collar crime, check out this 1998 copy of Enron's code of ethics on eBay.

Tags: Chanel, Enrons code of ethics, EnronsCodeOfEthics, leona helmsley, LeonaHelmsley, queen of mean, QueenOfMean