Category Archives: Legal News

Blog, Business Law, Drug Companies, Legal News

Legal Weed Is Hurting Beer Sales

It would appear that citizens of states with legal marijuana are switching out their beers for joints: A study from research firm Cowen & Company into the beer industries of Washington, Oregon, and Colorado asserts that those states’ beer industries are “underperforming.”

Craft beer industry news site BrewBound has some of the report’s details. “Domestic brewers” (that is, Big Beer) have seen the largest drops, with so-called premium brews (Coors Light, Bud Light) going down 4.4 percent in terms of the volume being sold. Economy brews (the regular, “non-fancy” forms of mainstream beers such as Budweiser or Coors) fell 2.4 percent.

Craft beer isn’t totally immune. The report suggests craft beer continues to grow in these three states (all of which are known for their robust microbrewing scenes), but those smaller breweries aren’t doing as well as their peers in other parts of the nation. However, the U.S. craft brewing scene was already slowing down, so that’s not entirely the fault of cannabis.

The epicenter of this trading-beer-for-weed phenomenon has been Denver, where beer volumes dropped by 6.4 percent Strangely, the report notes that import beers are relatively unaffected, indicating that lighting up a joint and drinking a Corona may be a more popular pastime.

Since only three states were studied this perhaps isn’t the most definitive look into the trend — but as marijuana goes on sale in several more states in the near future, there will be plenty of opportunities to see what legal weed might do to the beer industry.

sourced from – http://www.eater.com/2016/12/5/13847656/legal-pot-beer-sales-down

Blog, Criminal, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

Italy police nab mafia fugitive known as ‘The Dancer’

One of the most wanted fugitive bosses of the notorious Calabrian mafia was arrested on Thursday in what the government hailed as a “beautiful” victory for Italy’s fight against organized crime.

Marcello Pesce, the leader of one of the most powerful clans in the ‘Ndrangheta syndicate that controls much of Europe’s cocaine trade, was arrested in a flat in his home town of Rosarno in Calabria in Italy’s deep south.

Nicknamed “The Dancer”, Pesce, 52, was described by prosectuor Gaetano Paci as an intelligent, educated man. Books found in his residence included works by French writers Marcel Proust and Jean-Paul Sartre.

“Today is a beautiful day for Italy: Marcello Pesce, one of the most dangerous mafia figures still at large was brought to justice,” Interior Minister Angelino Alfano posted on Twitter.

Authorities accuse Pesce of being the ruthless head of a family-based clan that controls drug trafficking through the port of Gioia Tauro and also being behind the exploitation of migrant workers employed illegally in the local orange groves.

Former allies have testified to him ordering several killings, including one of an associate who had refused to kill a man blamed for a car accident in which Pesce’s wife died.

Police have been hunting him since 2010, when he was convicted, in his absence, of mafia association and sentenced to 15 years in prison, later raised to 16 years on appeal. Authorities had feared he had fled overseas.

Notoriously ruthless, the ‘Ndrangheta has surpassed Sicily’s Cosa Nostra and the Naples-based Camorra to become Italy’s most powerful criminal organisation thanks to its pivotal role in smuggling cocaine from South America into Europe via north Africa and southern Italy.

The clan-based syndicate has links with Colombian producer cartels, Mexican crime gangs and mafia families in New York and other parts of North America, according to police.

It remains anchored in the rural, mountainous and under-developed “toe” of Italy’s boot but has also bought up legitimate businesses across the country to launder its illicit profits.

The name ‘Ndrangheta comes from the Greek for courage or loyalty and the organization’s secretive culture and brutal enforcement of codes of silence have made it very difficult to penetrate, although authorities claim significant progress in the last two years.

In one notorious 2013 incident an internal feud was settled by a hitman being fed alive to pigs that had been deliberately starved.

Blog, Criminal, Immigration, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

Fake U.S. embassy run by mafia in Ghana shut down after decade

ACCRA, Ghana, Dec. 5 (UPI) — The U.S. Department of State said a fake U.S. Embassy in Ghana that issued illegally obtained legitimate visas for over 10 years was shut down.

The fraudulent enterprise, housed in a pink, two-story building in the capital of Accra, also issued counterfeit visas, and other false identification documents. The business operated three days a week and the fake consular officers who worked there were Turkish citizens who spoke English and Dutch.

“It was not operated by the United States government, but by figures from both Ghanaian and Turkish organized crime rings and a Ghanaian attorney practicing immigration and criminal law,” the State Department said in a statement. “For about a decade it operated unhindered; the criminals running the operation were able to pay off corrupt officials to look the other way, as well as obtain legitimate blank documents to be doctored.”

The operation was shut down during the summer after an informant gave a tip an investigator. Customers who bought the fraudulent services paid about $6,000. The State Department did not disclose how many people may have entered the United States illegally using documents issued by the fake embassy.

Visas and passports from 10 different countries were found during raids on the building. Several suspects were arrested.

“The fake embassy did not accept walk-in visa appointments; instead, they drove to the most remote parts of West Africa to find customers,” the State Department said. “Several suspects remain at large, but Ghanaian police have warrants for their arrest and plan to pursue them. The investigation and search for the Turkish organized crime group is ongoing.”

Bankruptcy, Blog, Business Law, Civil Rights, Legal News, Supreme Court

50 Cent to Receive $14.5 Million in Legal Malpractice Suit

Rapper awarded payout after suing former legal team over botched headphones lawsuit; $14.5 million will go toward bankruptcy settlement

By Daniel Kreps

50 Cent was awarded $14.5 million stemming from a malpractice suit the rapper filed against a law firm that represented him in a headphones lawsuit.

However, it’s unlikely 50 Cent will see any of that award, as most of it will go toward satisfying the $23 million bankruptcy settlement he agreed to in July, pending approval, Forbes reports.

In a 2014 lawsuit, 50 Cent (real name Curtis Jackson) was ordered to pay headphone makers Sleek Audio $16 million after the rapper severed his deal with Sleek to produce his own brand of headphones that a court ruled was “basically the same designs” as his Sleek-branded pair.

Following that decision, 50 Cent filed a malpractice suit against Garvey Schubert Barer (GSB), the law firm who represented him against Sleek Audio, alleging that the firm “didn’t adequately represent his interests in licensing negotiations and arbitration disputes with Sleek Audio.”

“Among GSB’s numerous failures was its inexplicable decision not to call technical and damages experts to rebut expert testimony offered by Sleek — failures relied upon by the arbitrator in crediting Sleek’s experts and entering an eight-figure award in Sleek’s favor,” 50 Cent’s new legal representation alleged in their suit against GSB.

As part of 50 Cent’s Chapter 11 reorganization plan, agreed to in July after he filed for bankruptcy in July 2015, the rapper owed Sleek Audio $17 million, making them 50 Cent’s largest outstanding debt. 50 Cent also owes $7 million in damages after losing a privacy lawsuit over a leaked sex tape.

In a deleted Instagram post following the $14.5 million decision, the rapper wrote, “I just got 14.5 million back from one Law Firm For malpractice. They fucked up so bad, I don’t think they should be practicing Law.”

On Monday, 50 Cent replaced that post with a Photoshopped image of the rapper sitting on a stack of money and a caption that read, “I retract my earlier statements about the legal services provided to me by the law firm of Garvey Schubert Barer. The law firm and I have settled our dispute and I consider the issue closed.”

“With respect to Sleek Audio, the $14.5 million settlement represents significantly more than the $12.5 million payable to Sleek Audio under the Bankruptcy Plan and more than half of the total amount owed under Mr. Jackson’s reorganization plan,” Craig Weiner, one of 50 Cent’s lawyers in the malpractice said, said in a statement.

“We are informed that these proceeds, together with other funds contributed by Mr. Jackson should position the Estate to provide for the remaining obligations to be satisfied in connection with this successful Chapter 11 Reorganization Plan. This is a most significant achievement, especially considering that the Plan was approved less than six months ago and provided Mr. Jackson with up to five years to satisfy all debts. Mr. Jackson is eager to move forward in doing what is best for his estate and creditors, and this settlement brings us one step closer toward that end.”

Sourced From – http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/50-cent-to-receive-145-million-in-legal-malpractice-suit-w453975

Blog, Criminal, Legal News

Justin Bieber Abuses The Lawyer During Deposition — Must Watch

It’s an old video but a classic celebrity legal deposition video featuring Justin Bieber.

Justin Bieber grows restless and curses during questioning and also preens in front of the camera in his deposition on March 6 in Miami flipping his collar up. Justins answers are often very soft spoken and hard to hear for the recording process. Bieber at one point tells the man asking questions ,these seem to be getting really off base these questions,and his lawyer says that they’re silly questions. A woman says to Justin I’m sorry to keep asking but can you please speak up? Justin snaps “Yes and No are fuckin pretty different.” Justin, 20, is being sued by American photographer Jeffrey Binion who claims the singer directed his bodyguards to attack him and steal his memory card.