However, Aoki soon became angry with the agreement, and in 2006, he sued four of his seven children over the dispute around the Benihana fortune. Naming his eldest children, Kevin, Grace, Echo, and Kyle, in the suit, he accused them of trying to “wrest control” of the company away from him. “I want to help my kids, but I want my children to crawl, to walk, then run on their own. Then I help them. But they can’t even crawl. They just collect money and do nothing. What else they want? Can’t wait till I’m dead?” he told New York. Calling them “disloyal and incompetent,” Aoki disinherited the four children named in the suit and amended his will to give Ono almost complete control of his estate.
However, the lawsuit was never settled, and contentious legal battles continued between Ono and Aoki’s children following his death in 2008, per the Daily Mail. In 2014, Aoki’s heirs eventually regained legal control of their father’s estate, but Ono, as a trustee, still retained significant control over their 50 million dollar inheritance.
