Actress Marina Squerciati made a name for herself on crime show Chicago PD and despite the fame, she kept her family life a secret.
But the 36-year-old actress has recently claimed that she is the daughter of Wall Street mogul John R. Jakobson, who at just 25 became one of the youngest people to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1955.
Although she was sworn to secrecy for years, she is breaking her silence after her alleged late father broke his promise and failed to include her in his will.
Actress Marina Squerciati, 36, who plays Officer Kim Burgess on Chicago PD, claims financier John R. Jakobson was her father
The actress kept her father’s identity a secret but is speaking out after she was not listed as a beneficiary in his will after he passed away in 2017 following a bout with pneumonia
In court filings Marina’s lawyers say keeping her father’s identity a secret came at an ‘extraordinary’ price, pictured above on set of Chicago PD
The Manhattan financier died of pneumonia in 2017 at the age of 86 and left part of his $100million fortune for his three children from his two marriages – including actress Maggie Wheeler who famously played the role of Janice on the sitcom Friends.
But Marina, his alleged love child, was absent from his will.
According to the New York Post, Jakobson was a ladies man who had several affairs including one with former Miss America Bess Myerson.
Marina is the product of his affair with her mother Marie Squerciati, an academic who wrote for TV in the 1970s and 80s and wrote for the Village Voice and the New York Times.
Her sister says Marie was the prize of many men’s affections.
‘My sister is and was a very beautiful and talented woman. Guys were always beating down her door,’ her sister Gloria Maloney said to the Post.
The affair allegedly lasted for a year and led to Marina’s birth in August 1981.
Jakobson went on to marry his widow Joan Jakobson in 1983 with whom they shared a son named Nicholas.
From his first marriage with college sweetheart Barbara Jakobson he had three children, one of whom has passed away.
For her entire life Marina kept her father’s identity a secret as he paid her mother $1,200 a month for more than 20 years – money used for Marina’s nanny and for her rent-controlled apartment on the Upper West Side.
She claims Wall Street mogul John R. Jakobson, who at just 25 became one of the youngest people to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1955, was her father, pictured with his second wife Joan Jakobson
Jakobson, pictured left, allegedly paid for her schooling and paid Marina’s mother $1,200 every month for more than 20 years
In his will Jakobson included money for his three living children including actress Maggie Wheeler, who plays Janice in the sitcom Friends, but not Marina
Marina, pictured above with her mother Marie Squerciati, who allegedly had an affair with Jakobson
Jakobson also paid for Marina’s schooling including the $175,000 tuition for Dalton School, then $131,000 for her education at Northwestern University, where she graduated from in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in theater.
He sent flowers and birthday gifts as well to Marina, and even invested in a play she appeared in .
Despite oral promises that he’d provide a ‘substantial’ trust for Marina in his will, it seems the Wall Street mogul neglected to do so.
When Marina got engaged, her mother asked Jakobson for a gift to which he allegedly reaffirmed that she ‘would receive money under his will.’
His will however includes money for his first and second wives, three surviving children and stepdaughter, but not for Marina.
In her court filings she said that the price of her silence was ‘extraordinary’ and that she missed out on the opportunity to build a relationship with her alleged father and was denied ‘any relationship whatsoever with her half-siblings’.
Despite these claims, Jakobson’s widow Joan says she was unaware of the existence of her late husband’s alleged love child.
‘I’m not aware of it at all. She said she was John’s daughter? This has all hit me, like, I don’t know – a snowstorm,’ she said to the Post.
Jakobson’s lawyers have said that Marina’s allegations have ‘no basis in fact or law’
Lawyers added that even if Marina could prove that Jakobson was her father, she lacks written evidence of his promise to leave her money in his will, Marina pictured on Chicago PD
The mogul’s widow Joan Jakobson says she was unaware of his alleged love child
The bombshell news led the Squerciatis to reach out to his estate in September to inquire whether Marina was named a beneficiary, according to court papers.
Nicholas Jakobson, the executor of his father’s estate, has ‘devoted substantial time and …considerable legal expense in analuzing the claim’.
Court filings by the estate say Marina’s allegations have ‘no basis in fact or law’ and ‘amounts to nothing more than an avaricious attempt to enforce an alleged, vague oral promise made to [her] mother, rather than to herself, and which resulted in no legally recognizable injury to her’.
Lawyers added that even if Marina could prove that Jakobson was her father, she lacks written evidence of his promise to leave her money in his will, saying she had ‘ample opportunity as an adult’ to have her father put his word in writing.
Marina was offered a $50,000 settlement by the Jakobson lawyers.
‘She may have wished to avoid the opprobrium, which, although unfair and unjustified, is often cast upon nonmarital children,’ lawyers said in court filings.
‘As a successful actor, [she] may have been especially sensitive to this given her public persona and position in popular culture,’ they added.
The Squerciati family is yet to respond to the case and Marina is yet to address it on her social media.