You think someone who built multiple retail empires would give someone power of attorney because they seemed skilled? Power of attorney transfer is for people who are dying or mentally disabled.
Power of attorney can be used for some international tax dodging schemes - laws are inconsistent on which of the two people must pay/report the tax, and by doing that across a country border, you can avoid the tax without anyone breaking the law.
There are also lots of levels of power of attorney. It can be as limited in scope as to a single bank account with limitations. So I question whether this was full on power of attorney or some limited scope that we are lacking details of.