Australian heiress asks 50 strangers to help divide her $27m wealth

Marlene Englehorn, a millionaire heiress, supporter of “Tax the rich,” asked 50 random strangers to distribute her wealth citing that the “inherited wealth elevated me to a position of power simply by the virtue of my birth and which contradicts every democratic principle.”

The Austrian scioness inherited the wealth from her grandmother, Traudl Engelhorn-Vechiatto, after her death in September 2022.

Marlene then later sent out requests to 50 randomly-selected Austrian nationals to help distribute her wealth, reported the New York Times.

The 50 chosen people met over six weekends and held meetings with experts from different areas, including those from poverty research and law, amongst others.

The decision was then shared by the group "Good Council for Redistribution" to the heiress on how she could re-distribute the wealth, Business Insider mentioned in a report.

It suggested awarding the money to 77 charities over several years. These charitable initiatives include women's shelter associations, children-related charities, and climate crisis organisations.

The largest share of the wealth was designated for the environmental organisation Naturschutzbund Osterreich, with other potential beneficiaries including the World Inequality Lab, Reporters Without Borders, and charity Caritas.

All of these participants were given travel fares as well as childcare.

Marlene is a vocal advocate for wealth redistribution. She has, in the past, supported being in favour of inheritance tax being instated into law.