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Tag: Law

  • Smurfs promoter Stuart R. Ross charged with extortion

    Stuart R. Ross, the man who brought the Smurfs to America, would seem to be starring in his own made-for-TV production, but it’s hardly a cartoon.

    On Friday, Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau accused Ross, 71, and his lawyer of trying to extort up to $11 million from his son-in-law, David S. Blitzer.

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    Blitzer, 38, a London-based senior managing director with Blackstone LP, the private equity giant, is married to Ross’ daughter, Allison Blitzer.

    According to the district attorney’s office, Allison Blitzer and her father have been estranged for approximately six years and he has never met her children.

    The arrest marks a fall from grace for Ross, a lawyer and entrepreneur who reportedly spotted the little blue cartoon Smurfs in Belgium while vacationing in 1976.

    He purchased the North American distribution rights and then teamed with Wallace Berrie & Co. to distribute Smurfs merchandise.

    NBC then created a television cartoon show based on the characters.

    According to Morgenthau’s office, Ross began making monetary demands on Blitzer in December 2007 when he asked for money to start a business venture.

    Blitzer sent him $15,000 in January. He sent another $50,000 in May, saying that would be the last money he would give.

    In June, Ross demanded another $50,000 to $100,000. In one message, he vowed to “commit open warfare” if Blitzer didn’t send money.

    He also threatened to go to the media with accusations that he said would “damage Blitzer’s reputation, ruin his career and even lead to his arrest.”

    By July, Ross allegedly got help in his efforts from Stuart Jackson, 79, a friend and Manhattan lawyer. Jackson has also been charged with attempted grand larceny in the case.

    At one point, Ross berated Blitzer for not cooperating with Jackson.

    “David, this is your worst nightmare. Your father-in-law Stuart Ross,” Ross said in a phone call, according to the criminal complaint.

    “You have been a discourteous prick to Stuart Jackson. I am going to continue to harass you. I am going to call you every day – four or five times a day – I am going to keep calling – I will continue to harass you.”

    On Aug. 5, Ross allegedly told Blitzer that for $5.5 million he would give up any right he had to visit his daughter or grandchildren. And he said he wouldn’t communicate with Blitzer or anyone at Blackstone.

    On Aug. 6, in a letter to Roger L. Stavis, Blitzer’s attorney, Jackson allegedly said he wanted twice as much, $11 million.

    Stavis contacted the district attorney’s office before getting back to Jackson. On Aug. 21, Jackson and Ross met with Blitzer and Stavis. At that meeting, Blitzer agreed to pay $400,000 to Ross. Blitzer then gave Ross a $50,000 check.

    The next day, police arrested Ross and Jackson, who face up to seven years in prison if convicted.

    On Aug. 22, Blitzer also filed a civil suit against Ross.

    According to Bloomberg.com, the suit states that Ross lost the licensing rights to the Smurfs and then had other setbacks because of “profligate spending, bad business decisions and a drinking problem.”

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  • Judge rules that White House staffers can be subpoenaed (Muckety)

    A setback for the Bush administration came from a Bush appointee and former Kenneth Starr associate today.

    Federal Judge John D. Bates ruled that two Bush staffers, one no longer at the White House, do not have absolute immunity from testifying before the House Judiciary Committee.

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    “The Executive’s current claim of absolute immunity from compelled congressional process for senior presidential aides is without any support in the case law,” Bates wrote in his 92-page decision.

    Bates stresses that his decision is “very limited.” Nonetheless, it contrasts with two earlier decisions, both controversial, in which he sided with the White House.

    In 2002, Bates dismissed the General Accounting Office’s attempt to have Vice President Dick Cheney reveal the names of the members of his energy task force. Bates ruled that the GAO did not have standing to sue.

    In 2007, Bates threw out a lawsuit filed by Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, against Cheney and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s aide.

    Plame had sued on the grounds that Cheney and Libby helped reveal to the press that she was a CIA operative.

    Bates dismissed that lawsuit for jurisdictional reasons, as well.

    If it stands, today’s decision means that Harriet Miers, the former Bush White House counsel, and Joshua Bolton, the current White House chief of staff, have to appear before the judiciary committee.

    They could at that time choose not to respond, Bates wrote.

    The committee subpoenaed Miers and Bolton to testify in the matter of the forced resignation of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006. Democrats have argued that the attorneys were asked to leave for political reasons.

    The White House insisted that Miers and Bolton had immunity because of their positions in the executive branch.

    The judiciary committee then sued.

    Bates, 61, was named to the district court in 2001 by Bush.

    A graduate of Wesleyan University and University of Maryland’s School of Law, he was in the U.S. Army for three years, serving a tour in Vietnam.

    Later, he clerked for a federal judge and was an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

    From 1995 to mid-1997, Bates was deputy independent counsel for the Whitewater investigation headed by Kenneth Starr.

    In 2005, Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court appointed Bates to serve on the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management.

    In 2006, Chief Justice John Roberts, Rehnquist’s successor, appointed Bates to the U.S. Intelligence Foreign Surveillance Court.

    The court decides on requests for surveillance warrants against foreign intelligence agents.

    The White House did not indicate today whether it would appeal Bates’ decision. Earlier news reports speculated that the case would be appealed, regardless of outcome.

    In his ruling, Bates encourages both the White House and the judiciary committee to “resume their discourse and negotiations in an effort to resolve their differences constructively, while recognizing each branch’s essential role.”

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  • Pols and Journalists Flock to Washington Lawyer Robert Barnett

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  • Copied passages cloud judicial nomination of Michael E. O’Neill

    On paper, the nomination by President Bush of Michael E. O’Neill to be a federal judge would seem to have a good chance of being confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

    But O’Neill’s prospects of serving on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia cannot have been helped by a story in Friday’s New York Times.

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    Adam Liptak of the Times reports on concerns about the legal scholarship of O’Neill, a former Supreme Court clerk and counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, who is now a professor at George Mason University Law School.

    Liptak reports that some of O’Neill’s writing contains unacknowledged, nearly verbatim, passages of other scholars’ work.

    In an interview with Liptak, O’Neill, 43, blamed the echoes on “a poor work method.” He said that his writing and the writing of others might have gotten mixed together as he put them into a single computer file.

    “I didn’t keep appropriate track of things,” O’Neill said. “I frankly did a poor and negligent job.”

    The Times looks longest at an article O’Neill published in 2004 in the Supreme Court Economic Review.

    Passages in the article are similar to those in a book review by Anne C. Dailey, a professor at the University of Connecticut. Her review appeared in the Virginia Law Review in 2000.

    O’Neill includes extensive footnotes in his article entitled “Irrationality and the Criminal Sanction.” However, he does not acknowledge Dailey’s review even though some of her language appears in his article word-for-word.

    Dailey called the apparent plagiarism to the attention of the editors of the Economic Review. They, in turn, retracted the article saying that “substantial portions” had been “appropriated without attribution.”

    Daniel D. Polsby, the editor of the review and the dean of the George Mason Law School, told Liptak that he considered the copying to be “negligent behavior.”

    “The idea of O’Neill committing a theft is just impossible,” he said. “It’s just impossible.”

    In an interview, Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that will consider O’Neill’s nomination, told Liptak that he knew of the concerns about O’Neill’s writings.

    “I’ve heard him out on it and put it in the balance of everything else I knew about him,” Specter said. “I believe he is an excellent prospect for the district court.”

    Specter was chair of the judiciary committee from 2005 to 2007. O’Neill served as the committee’s chief counsel and staff director.

    At the time, some argued that Specter, a political moderator who needed conservative support to head the Judiciary Committee, appointed O’Neill chief counsel because of O’Neill’s conservative credentials.

    After Yale Law School, O’Neill first clerked for David B. Sentelle, a conservative, who was then a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and is now the chief judge.

    O’Neill then went on to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, also a conservative.

    During his time as counsel to the Judiciary Committee, O’Neill helped guide the nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. to be chief justice of the Supreme Court to confirmation.

    Similarly, he watched over the successful confirmation of Samuel A. Alito Jr. as an associate justice of the Supreme Court.

  • Muckety This Elizabeth Taylor to Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith

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  • Pellicano Convicted of Wiretapping and Racketeering

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  • Ousted Sierra leaders tie suspension to Clorox criticism

    At the very least, the timing raises questions: The biggest environmental group in the U.S. expelled 27 leaders of its Florida chapter shortly after the state committee accused the Sierra Club’s national directors of betraying their principles to endorse a “green” cleaning line by the Clorox Company.

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    Sierra Club spokesman David Willett denied the suspensions had anything to do with disagreements over the group’s partnership with the Oakland-based Clorox. He said the four-year expulsion, which took effect last week, was the last in a series of steps taken to end bitter infighting that had undermined the Florida group’s work.

    Willett noted another state chapter, Massachusetts, had also criticized the Sierra Club’s decision to endorse the new biodegradable cleaning line, “and no action has been taken against them, and there won’t be. That’s not how the Sierra Club works.”

    First announced in January, the unprecedented partnership between the Sierra Club and Clorox has been hailed by supporters as a way to promote a green marketplace, and denounced by critics as a sell-out to a company most closely associated with Clorox Bleach. Under the deal, the Sierra Club gets an undisclosed percentage of profits from the sale of the new line, marketed under the name Green Works, in exchange for the use of its logo.

    At least some ousted activists don’t buy the assertion that their suspension is unrelated to their criticism. Joy Towles Ezell, former chairwoman of the Florida chapter, told the Guardian that the same weekend in January that the chapter passed a measure condemning the deal, they were told of their impending removal.

    She said that the new Clorox products should be named “Money Works” or “Toxic Works.”

    “Clorox is the bad guy to me,” Ezell said. “. . .You sell your soul when you get involved with something like that.”

    Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope admits he was skeptical when first approached by Clorox. But after reviewing the ingredients of the cleaners, most of which are plant products, and contemplating Clorox’s market reach, he decided to take the gamble.

    “One of the reasons green home cleaning products haven’t achieved much market penetration is if they came from an environmental brand, people had the sense they won’t work … And if it came from someone with a cleaning reputation the reaction was: They can’t be green.”

    Green Works may be an even bigger gamble for Clorox’s new CEO Donald Knauss, who came from Cola Cola in 2006, and who has pushed the company to launch its first new product line in 20 years. Knauss has identified sustainability as one of three core consumer trends with which he wanted to align Clorox products, and hired “green” consultants, who led him to the Sierra Club.

    Green consultant Joel Makower, who worked on the project, calls the launch a watershed:

    It’s an intriguing moment. Green Works enters the marketplace with a near perfect storm of market conditions: growing mainstream consumer demand for green products that don’t require compromise or sacrifice; significant interest from Wal-Mart and other big retailers in pushing greener products to the masses; a product that seems competitive with the leading green brands; and endorsement from Big Green.

    Naysayers, however, predict the endorsement will undermine the credibility of the environmental group, noting that a month before the deal was signed, Clorox was fined $95,000 by the Environmental Protection Agency for donating a mislabeled Chinese version of Clorox bleach to a Los Angeles charity.

    “The Sierra Club has become little more than another corporate front group,”
    said Tim Hermach of Native Forest Council in Eugene, Oregon in a piece in Corporate Crime Reporter.

    Hermach had special animus for the group’s executive director: “Carl Pope has sold out the Sierra Club’s mission of saving nature and now seems proud of his role as an obsequious and professional Uriah Heep. As a result, Sierra Club is getting lots of corporate appreciation, cash and favors.”

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  • Will MTV audience care who rocked the cradle?

    MTV’s Rock the Cradle has kicked off its debut season, but does the average MTV reality show fan even care about these celebuspawn?

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    The nine contestants are the children of musicians of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. Specifically, they are the offspring of band members from Twisted Sister, The Eagles, The Doobie Brothers and the artists MC Hammer, Kenny Loggins, Al. B Sure!, Eddie Money, Bobby Brown and Olivia Newton-John.

    MTV’s website describes the premise of the show, “Yeah, we’re searching for the next superstar, but this isn’t your average, every day singing competition. We’re shining the spotlight on children of rock stars to see who has what it takes to step out of the parental shadow and fulfill their DNA destiny. ‘Cause, really, isn’t everything better when celebrities are involved?”

    But really, how many typical MTV viewers even know the music that made the parents of these contestants famous? Aside from seeing episodes of Being Bobby Brown on Bravo and reruns of the movie Grease on cable, it’s likely that “Hammer time,” would be nothing more than a legend for today’s teens, MTV’s target audience.

    The contestants of Rock the Cradle sing each week, and the one with the highest score from the judges is safe from elimination. The rest have to depend on viewer support to keep them from being kicked off the show.

    The show is judged by Britney Spears’ former manager Larry Rudolph, choreographer Jamie King, and celebrity stylist June Ambrose.

    After the first episode, which aired last week, Lucy Walsh, daughter of The Eagles’ Joe Walsh, received the highest score, which isn’t too surprising. She’s the only contestant who already has a record deal, with Island Records.

    Rock the Cradle may get some success if the contestants can hold audience attention without relying on famous parents. It’s pretty certain that the fans of Kenny Loggins, The Doobie Brothers and Olivia Newton-John aren’t tuning in to MTV regularly.

    Rock the Cradle airs on MTV on Thursday at 10 p.m.

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    ← Cayne, Macklowe keep their condos at The Plaza 
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  • Cayne, Macklowe keep their condos at The Plaza

    Another way the rich are different: They don’t have to pay mortgages.

    A case in point: Days before Bear Stearns chairman James Cayne suffered a dizzying $900-million loss in wealth as a result of the fire sale of Bear Stearns, he purchased two apartments in the storied Plaza for a cool $28 million.

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    But not to worry: Cayne, a onetime scrap-iron salesman and recently retired Bear Stearns chief, bought the adjacent apartments overlooking Central Park with cash, according to city records.

    The 1907 landmark, famous as the home of children’s book heroine Eloise, recently reopened as a mix of luxury condos and hotel units. The development boasts a Who’s Who of corporate chieftains, including New England Patriots boss Robert K. Kraft, Staples Chief Executive Ronald Sargent, Italian racing mogul Flavio Briatore and Dave Barger, chief executive of JetBlue.

    Like Cayne, several have been socked by recent gyrations in the real estate and financial markets. Real-estate mogul Harry Macklowe, who spent $60 million last year to buy up a string of adjacent apartments, is facing a mountain of debt himself as a result of a $7 billion, seven-building buy last year. To stave off cash-hungry creditors, he has been trying to unload the iconic General Motors building, and the office tower at 1301 Avenue of the Americas. So far, though, he’s shown no sign of giving up his dream of a palace on the park.

    Italian businessman Luigi Zunino, meanwhile, is trying to flip the third-floor apartment which he is in contract to buy, according to the Wall Street Journal. Zunino is the CEO of a Milan-based real estate company that lost three-quarters of its value in the last year. While most condos in The Plaza have been selling for between $4,000 and $6,000 per square foot, Zunino is valuing his apartment at $10,000 per square foot.

    If he gets his $100-million asking price, it would set a record for residential real estate in Manhattan. If not, maybe he can start a support group for onetime Masters of the Universe in the Oak Room.

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  • Geoffrey Garin fills Penn’s post in Clinton campaign

    Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton replaced one pollster and a strategist with another Sunday, letting Mark Penn go and filling his place with Geoffrey Garin.

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    In elevating Garin, Clinton gives prominence to a Washington insider who is well connected and seems to carry little of the baggage Penn brought to his role.

    The adjective “well-respected” seems glued to Garin’s name in press accounts. The adjectives “controversial,” “abrasive,” “gruff” and “rumpled” were always pasted on Penn.

    Penn had been serving as Clinton’s chief political strategist until he stepped down Sunday. He is also the chief executive of the Burson-Marsteller, a public relations firm.

    Reportedly, Clinton had been angered that Penn and Burson-Marsteller were working to help the government of Colombia obtain a trade agreement with the United States.

    Clinton opposes the alliance. Penn’s connection to Colombia could have hurt her with voters in the April 22 Pennsylvania primary.

    “The important thing is just to win,” Garin told The Washington Post after he took over for Penn. “My view is the campaign has to focus on the work of April and May and the early part of June and do well at all of that. So on one level, first things first.”

    Garin, 54, who joined the Clinton campaign last month as a pollster, has been president of Peter D. Hart Research Associates since 1984. He joined the company in 1978 as a senior analyst and vice president.

    While at the company, he has worked as a pollster and strategist for several Democratic senatorial candidates. They include Charles Schumer of New York, Dianne Feinstein of California and Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.

    He has also worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers.

    Garin’s connections to unions could help Clinton in Pennsylvania with some of the voters she needs to win the state and slow the momentum of Sen. Barack Obama.

    Evan Miller of The New Argument blog notes that Garin gave some unsolicited advice to the Clinton campaign in February, advice the campaign ignored.

    “If I were Hillary Clinton, the last thing I’d be doing is talking about super delegates, because the voters don’t want to hear that,” Garin said. “She really needs to make the case about why she’s the better candidate to lead the country.”

    In other comments, Garin has emphasized the importance of speaking to the economic issues that are on people’s minds.

    But at this moment in the Clinton campaign, personnel issues may be as important as policy issues.

    Penn was in the middle of months of internal fighting. He seemed to have alienated everyone but Clinton and her husband, Bill Clinton.

    Wolfson and Garin don’t have this history of contention, The Washington Post reported.

    “People like Howard and Geoff,” one campaign aide said. “I presume there will be less strife.”

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    2 Comments

    • #1.   Perry Washburn 04.10.2008

      Found Muckety by accident. Has the TU come back to life?

    • #2.   Carol Eisenberg 04.10.2008

      Hey Perry. No corporate overseer in this iteration.

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