War on art! A famous Japanese pop artist was doing just a little bit of vandalism down in the subways, and was arrested. Why doesn't Mayor Bloomberg just let people draw in the streets?
Meet Officer Vaughan Ettienne, the bodybuilder who learned the hard way you shouldn't write like a thug online, or a jury might just suspect you of mistreating a suspect.
Bernie Madoff is expected to plead guilty to 11 criminal charges on Thursday, reports the Journal: "At a hearing Tuesday, Ira Lee Sorkin, Mr. Madoff's lawyer, said his client expects to plead guilty to a criminal information, or charging document that outlines the allegations against him, filed by the government with the court on Tuesday. 'Do you expect Mr. Madoff to plead guilty on Thursday?' asked U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan. 'That's a reasonable expectation,' Mr. Sorkin said."
She may be nearly six feet tall and have a very square, masculine jaw, but we're pretty sure that Kelly Killoren Bensimon is a woman. But that's not what cops at the Fifth Precinct marked down when the "Real Housewife" turned herself in after allegedly pummeling her 30-year-old boyfriend, Nick Stefanov. She was listed as a male. (She's also 145 pounds, apparently.) While you wait for Bensimon's lawyer to jump all over this case of shoddy police work and have the charges against her dismissed on a technicality, you can review the complete criminal docket for yourself after the jump.
A Swiss man has confessed to extorting $10 million from Susanne Klatten, a billionaire German heiress to the BMW fortune, in a bizarre revenge attempt for her family's involvement with the Nazi regime.
As Chris Brown negotiates a plea deal, the R&B singer is making it known Rihanna struck him first that infamous night in Los Angeles. Why does he think it matters?
It's increasingly likely Bernie Madoff will plead guilty when he appears in court next Thursday. One of the disgraced financier's attorneys, Daniel Horwitz, said today that Madoff will waive a grand jury indictment when new charges are filed against him by prosecutors next week. The Journal explains:
TD Bank revealed last week that it planned to continue expanding across the city. One person who isn't so thrilled to see the former Commerce Bank take over NYC: Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who sent off an angry letter to TD management this week because he says the company doesn't do enough to prevent robberies. Case in point: Robbers have hit 11 TD branches so far this year and in one of the more recent incidents, the bandit only managed to successfully rip off TD after he failed at three Chase branches beforehand. Kelly is now demanding the bank install barriers in front of tellers' windows, eye-level cameras, and "countertops designed to leave clear fingerprints." (Creepy!) Also: Holding up banks seems to be turning into a popular recession-time activity: Bank robberies jumped 57% in 2008 and are up 26% through March 1 of this year.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a Bernie Madoff plea deal may be in the works. Prosecutors filed a notice this morning that they will file a new criminal information against him if he decides to waive indictment. "Often, new criminal informations are filed in connection with a plea deal, but not always." [WSJ]
We cannot imagine why, but Paris authorities decided, of all the weeks in the year, to pick Fashion Week for a series of drug raids! Even more surprising, the chief executive of Elite Models' parent company Elite World, Bertrand Hennet, has been arrested for buying, possessing, and transporting cocaine. Police said that the 35-year-old "openly admitted that he had just bought £120 worth of cocaine, but consumed it before we got to him." The true mark of a dedicated junkie: When police are hammering at the door, don't throw your stash down the toilet, just snort it as quickly as possible!
That $50 billion that Bernie Madoff allegedly stole from investors? Yea, well, it seems he lied about that, too. Although it was Madoff who provided the figure to the authorities after he was arrested, "it is becoming increasingly clear that the number may be as fictitious as the sprawling fraud that he allegedly ran." No one seems to know what the real number is yet, but "some believe it's less than $20 billion." [AP]
Sure the economic collapse is hurting jobless poors or whatever but you know what's really tragic? That celebrities no longer get offered quality swag, so they have to steal it. Take Kristian Laliberte.
