Monthly Archives: September 2016

Blog, Divorce, Family, Legal News

Angelina dumped Brad after private eye uncovered Marion Cotillard affair

September 20, 2016 | 11:13am

Angelina Jolie has filed for divorce from Brad Pittafter learning he was cheating on her with his sexy co-star, a well-placed source told The Post on Tuesday.

“She hired a private eye because she felt that he was fooling around with her on the set, and it turns out, he was. And that was the final straw,’’ the source said.

Pitt, 52, had been rumored to have been cozying up to his “Allied’’ co-star Marion Cotillard, 40, for months during the pair’s filming of the World War II drama in London.

The PI discovered that Pitt was cheating on his wife of two years with Cotillard — while also partying like a single guy on a mission, the source said.

“The atmosphere [off-set] was full of hard drugs and Russian hookers, and Angie was told Brad got caught up in it,’’ the source said.

“He’s in the throes of some insane midlife crisis, and Angie is fed up.”

But a source close to Cotillard denied the Pitt affair rumors and insisted she is still with her long-term partner, French actor and director Guillaume Canet.

“They are still very much together. They have been a couple since 2007 and have one child but have never married,’’ the source said of Cotillard and Canet.

The source could not confirm French reports that Cotillard is pregnant with her second child with Canet.

Read Full – http://pagesix.com/2016/09/20/angelina-dumped-brad-after-private-eye-uncovered-marion-cotillard-affair/

Blog, Civil Rights, Legal News, Personal Injury

Bobbi Kristina Brown’s Boyfriend Found ‘Legally Responsible’ for Her Death

From Marie Claire

More than a year after the untimely death of Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter of Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston, a judge has found her boyfriend, Nick Young, “legally responsible” for her death. WXIA-TV reports that her estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Gordon, accusing him of assault, battery, and intentionally causing her emotional harm.

Gordon failed to appear in court twice in the case, so the judge said anything the Brown estate claimed is admitted through omission. The Browns wanted $50 million in damages, but a jury will ultimately decide how much Gordon will have to pay. Gordon has not been charged with any crime.

“In court today, we finally finished a long journey for justice for Bobbi Kristina Brown,” R. David Ware, a lawyer for Brown’s conservator, told reporters. “The court agrees with us, by striking Mr. Gordon’s answer that he is legally responsible for her death. The only thing left to prove is the value of her life. We intend to do that.”

“I am pleased with the outcome of today’s court proceedings. All I ever wanted was answers relating to who and what caused my daughter’s death,” Bobby Brown said in a statement. “Today’s judgment tells me it was Nick Gordon. Now I need to process all the emotions I have and lean on God to get me and my family through this.”

Brown had been found unconscious in her bathtub in January of 2015, and was placed in a medically induced coma for months before her death. Her cause of death was revealed to be a mix of drugs, alcohol, and drowning, all of which caused the pneumonia that killed her at 22 years old.

Gordon insisted he did nothing wrong in an interview on Dr. Phil in April. He denied any claims against him in the lawsuit. “That is not true,” Gordon said. “I got so tired of that lawsuit, I just stopped paying attention to it. It’s designed to make me look bad.” He said that the two of them did drugs “socially,” but that Brown’s problem got “really bad” after her mother died. Finding her unconscious was “literally a nightmare all over again,” Gordon said. His attorneys have said in the past that he tried to save her life.

Blog, Criminal, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

Man admits to role in $103M illegal gambling ring allegedly linked to Mafia, Hells Angels

Adrian Humphreys | September 12, 2016 10:36 PM ET

TORONTO — The man accused of running Internet services for a $103-million illegal sports betting ring that police say was linked to the Mafia and the Hells Angels pleaded guilty Monday.

Gordon Baird, 59, admitted he was the administrator of the Platinum Sports Book, a sophisticated betting operation in Ontario that set up its computer servers in Costa Rica.

The police probe of Platinum was first revealed in spectacular fashion when officers raided a lavish Super Bowl party north of Toronto in 2013, a catered event with an open bar for 2,700 guests who vied for expensive door prizes including a motorcycle and Sea-Doo.

It was a party thrown annually by Platinum as a customer appreciation event. Court heard it cost more than $100,000 to run.

The cost, however, was a drop in the bucket of what money organizers were bringing in, court heard.

With computer servers in Costa Rica, toll-free phone lines, a smart-phone app for gamblers to bet on all major sporting events, the operation was technologically savvy, sophisticated and lucrative.

Based on police wiretaps, it is estimated that Platinum employed hundreds of bookies servicing thousands of clients within the Toronto area. The bookies signed up their own clients, collected their debts and paid out their winnings on a weekly basis. The money flowed up the pyramid, court heard, with the top acting as “the bank.”

A financial audit of seized betting records show that between 2009 and 2013 Platinum grossed more than $103 million. Police seized $4.6 million in cash during its probe.

In 2012, $1.3 million in cash was found in the backpack of Erwin Speckert as he boarded a bus from Winnipeg to Vancouver. The source of the money was never revealed, but Monday’s court proceedings confirmed it was Platinum money being couriered west. Speckert was sentenced last year to three years for money laundering.

“The operation is best viewed as a highly sophisticated and organized pyramid-type structure. The pyramid structure involved a number of ‘cells’ consisting of bookies and their sub-agents signing up bettors/clients,” says an agreed statement of facts in Baird’s case.

“These cells in turn are all connected to the top of the pyramid structure by those managing the organization.”

The top — which Baird was not a part of — was not discussed in his proceeding. At the time of arrests, the RCMP said Platinum Sports Book was linked to members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and the Mafia.

Full Article – http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/man-admits-to-role-in-103m-illegal-gambling-ring-allegedly-linked-to-mafia-hells-angels

Blog, Business Law, Criminal, Drug Companies, Legal News

Arizona Drug Firm Insys Makes Synthetic Pot Compound, Spends Big to Defeat Legal Pot

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 AT 2:53 P.M.
BY RAY STERN
A Chandler-based drug firm under investigation for its aggressive sales of a lethal painkiller claims that the large donation it made to a group that opposes marijuana legalization was an attempt to protect the public’s safety.
A Chandler-based drug firm under investigation for its aggressive sales of a lethal painkiller claims that the large donation it made to a group that opposes marijuana legalization was an attempt to protect the public’s safety.
A Chandler-based drug firm under investigation for its aggressive sales of a lethal painkiller claims that the large donation it made to a group that opposes marijuana legalization was an attempt to protect the public’s safety.
Prop 205 “fails to protect the safety of Arizona’s citizens, and particularly its children,” according to a statement Insys provided to New Times on Thursday in response to a message left for CEO John Kapoor. “Our stance is consistent with our company’s goals. We strive to develop pharmaceutical products for the supportive care of patients while taking patient safety very seriously. To that end, we believe that all available medicines should meet the clinical standards set by the FDA.”
Yet while Insys holds itself out as the savior of Arizonans’ health, the company is reportedly under investigation in four states, including Arizona, for marketing practices related to Subsys that have allegedly resulted in patient deaths.
Full Article – http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-drug-firm-insys-makes-synthetic-pot-compound-spends-big-to-defeat-legal-pot-8628614
Blog, Civil Rights, Family, Legal News, Supreme Court

New York Women Can Now Get Legal Late-Term Abortions in More Cases

By Christina Cauterucci

New York medical practitioners can now provide abortions after 24 weeks of gestation in more cases, thanks to an opinion released by Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman on Wednesday. In response to a query from the state comptroller’s office, Schneiderman wrote that the state’s current abortion law runs counter to Supreme Court rulings by criminalizing abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy except to save the pregnant woman’s life.

Drawing from multiple Supreme Court decisions, the opinion concludes that, to stay within constitutional lines, New York must also make exceptions to the 24-week limit if the pregnant woman’s health is at risk and if the fetus becomes unviable. The state law, passed in 1970, will remain in effect until the state legislature decides to ax it, but the New York Times reports that Schneiderman’s opinion will allow hospitals and other abortion providers to perform late-term abortions without fear of prosecution.

 An OB/GYN at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center told the Times that hospitals have previously had to seek wisdom from ethics committees and sometimes wait until a pregnant woman’s health got so bad that her life was definitely at risk, just to give doctors “institutional cover to do what we thought was right all along.” Legislation proposed in 2013 would have modified the state’s abortion law to fit with court precedent, but Republicans in the state legislature blocked it.
Full Article – http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/09/09/new_york_women_can_now_get_legal_late_term_abortions_in_more_cases.html