Thaindian News

Washington, June 13 (ANI): Senator Ted Kennedy was paid nearly two million dollars last year as an author’s advance for a new autobiography.

Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group (USA), has paid in advances for his yet untitled autobiography.

Ted Kennedy, the veteran Massachusetts Democrat who is battling brain cancer, was paid the huge sum part of an author’s advance for a new autobiography, according to financial disclosure reports made public on Friday.

But Kennedy, like many Americans and affluent lawmakers, saw a steep decline in his personal wealth during 2008, according to his latest financial disclosures, Politico reports.

Family trust funds that Kennedy had reported as worth at least 45 million dollars in 2007 now have a minimum value of 14 million dollars. Kennedy earned at least 1.5 million dollars in income from those trusts last year.

Kennedy’s overall net worth, at a minimum, declined from nearly 48 million dollars to 15.7 million dollars in the last year, the documents show. But since disclosure reports only include a range of asset and liability value, his true worth is likely to be far higher.

Kennedy also was given a 5,000 dollars painting from Jamie Wyeth, son of the famous American painter Andrew Wyeth, who died in January. The Senate Ethics Committee, according to the disclosure report, approved the gift. (ANI)