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A psychiatrist claims that she and her husband invested in a land deal with Holzer and made a "fantastic" profit —but were charmed right out of it. Says she of Holzer: "Adela gave us a check for $100,000. Then she started to cry about how people were harassing her, and her life was in danger, and she was desperately in need of money. So my husband, who is also a psychiatrist, endorsed the check and gave it right back to her."
Holzer, says the wife, sank that money into two land ventures in Spain, for which she raised a reported $1.9 million from more than 50 investors in the New York area. The psychiatrist became suspicious when she did not receive payment checks on schedule. Three weeks ago, she flew to Spain where, she says, she discovered that Holzer's businessman father had bought a small piece of land in his daughter's name for $50,000 or $60,000—nowhere near what was supposedly invested.
For her part, Holzer concedes that there have been problems. She contends that, for example, she has had trouble getting money out of Indonesia because of political turmoil there. As she told TIME Correspondent Mary Cronin: "I know many people have not received profits from last year. But most people have made three or four times their money. They have become very greedy. One day I will write a book about greed."
Holzer vigorously denies accusations that she might have put part of the money into her Broadway productions. Her theatrical ventures have been largely a case of Hair today, gone tomorrow. Since that hit, she has produced or invested heavily in more than a dozen shows, of which only two, Sherlock Holmes and Sleuth, made money. She and other backers lost lavishly on her big productions—for example, $800,000 on Dude and $500,000 on Brainchild. So where has she got the money to cover her losses? She claims that business acumen has pulled her through.
Undaunted, Holzer was talking last week of producing a new musical, Merton of the Movies, and a play, Dirty Jokes. Protesting her lack of guile, Adela says: "I always help people, and I am getting always in problems for helping. But you see. In six weeks, it all be straightened out. Now I have good lawyers."