Juicio a la falsa heredera

Como en las mejores telenovelas, un hombre y una mujer lucharon por la herencia de un argentino millonario.

Argentine false inheritance case

A court in northern Argentina is hearing the case of a woman who invented a new identity in order to falsely inherit a $35million fortune. However she only enjoyed the inheritance for a short while.

This report from Daniel Schweimler:

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Jose Antonio Reggiardo died following a helicopter crash in July Nineteen-Ninety-Eight, leaving a thirty-five million dollar fortune and no known children. But as he lay dying in hospital, in rushed Maria Angelica Godoy screaming: "That's my father." And she went on to produce the paperwork to prove her case - and to enjoy her new-found wealth.

But then, up stepped Mario Calderon who'd been told by an aunt that he was the son of the landowner - who had had a brief affair with his mother, who worked on the estate. The mother drowned in a boating accident while Mr Calderon was a baby.

A year after the landowner died, Mr Calderon got a legal order to disinter the body and carry out DNA tests. They proved that he was the child of Jose Antonio Reggiardo. Maria Godoy carried out a similar test which proved that she wasn't.

While Mr Calderon now enjoys his father's wealth, Ms Godoy and the two lawyers who allegedly helped her to produce the false documents, are being prosecuted for fraud.

Daniel Schweimler, BBC News, Buenos Aires

 Listen to the words

no known children
sin herederos o sin hijos

to produce the paperwork to prove her case
presentó documentos para autentificar o comprobar su caso

new-found wealth
riquezas recientemente adquiridas

up stepped
apareció o se presentó (de manera inesperada)

had a brief affair
tuvo un corto idilio amoroso (con su madre)

drowned
(la madre) se ahogó

disinter the body
desenterrar o exhumar el cadáver

carry out DNA tests
realizar pruebas de ADN - "ADN" es la abreviatura del ácido desoxirribonucleico (en inglés, DNA: Deoxyribonucleic Acid)

allegedly
supuestamente

prosecuted for fraud
(Godoy y sus abogados se les está) procesando por fraude

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