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hoaxes
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Crime
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hoaxes
Criminals
Peter Braunstein Won't Make The Mediabistro Christmas Party
Peter Braunstein, the former WWD writer who went psycho and turned into a rapist on the run a couple years back, has been sentenced to 23 years in prison in Ohio. That's after he finishes his 18-to-life bid in NY. He called himself a "Hamlet character," complained about the "absurdist quality" of the trial, and promised to orchestrate his own murder in jail, preferably before Christmas. So, still crazy. [NYDN]
investigations
The Magazine Industry's Dirty Little Secret
The business of selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door is surprisingly shady. It consists largely of crews of young people—some under 18—recruited by (often) criminal characters who haul them around the country in vans, releasing them only to make their way through neighborhoods, using any lies necessary to tug the heartstrings of people enough to get them to buy something. Then all the kids are rounded up again, given their meager cut of the profits, and they all go do drugs. Sometimes they rape people, or drive off cliffs. The Houston Press just put out a monster investigation of the industry, and it shows a long but clear path from the offices of Conde Nast out to the wild kids hustling in the hinterlands. And there are some true horror stories: More »
journalismism
Renault Can Shut Down Magazines In France
The government of France has officially forfeited all the liberal cred it's earned over the past 500 years: yesterday, French prosecutors raided the office of an auto magazine, confiscated its computers and files, and arrested a reporter for the crime of publishing a scoop. A scoop about autos, the subject of the magazine! Because in France, freedom of the press must take a back seat to the concerns of the almighty Renault corporation. More »
lou pearlman
Boy Band Hustler Needs To Make License Plates Faster
Who knew that robbing the Backstreet Boys could have so many financial rewards, on top of the emotional satisfaction? Lou Pearlman, the sleazebag boy band promoter who managed Backstreet and N'Sync, among others, has been ordered to repay $300 million to hundreds of people that he swindled in a Ponzi scheme that played out for decades. But uh, according to our forensic accounting, he might have a little trouble making full restitution: More »
ad remixes
"Poster Boy": Artist, Vandal, Maker Of Funny Things
The New York subway poster art vandal, despite receiving widespread acclaim from the cognoscenti who determine who's hot these days, continues to work just as hard as when he was not yet being compared to Banksy (who, let's face it, is totally over now that we know who he is, maybe). He's retained his "ironic sloganeering" theme, and is moving strongly into "messing with faces," as well. Here are five of the anonymous subway vandal's latest ad remixes; steal them immediately, as investments: More »
bloggers in peril
Blogger Shot in DC
Yikes. Media Consortium blogger Brian Beutler was shot in Washington DC last night, a block away from my old apartment. Or pretty much directly in front of Andrew Sullivan's apartment. He is expected to make a full recovery. And next time, thanks to the Supreme Court, he will be able to shoot back. [DCist, Photo]
race-baiting
John McCain And Coke-Slinging Gangster Are Best Friends!
Republican presidential candidate John McCain has the affectionate support of a man accused of buying several kilos of cocaine in Atlanta from the vicious Black Mafia Family gang! McCain "was seen embracing" his close friend and confidante Young Jeezy, a rapper also known as "Snowman." Because he loves dealing cocaine! The passionate meeting of like minds occurred on the set of Saturday Night Live last month, when McCain was hosting and Jeezy was the musical guest. Here's what the thug rapper has to say about his soul-stirring connection with the Arizona Republican, who greeted Jeezy "like a god": More »
billionaire pervs
Happy New Jeffrey Epstein Mugshot Day!
Looks like you won't see former Radar (v. 2.0) investor and theoretical billionaire Jeffrey Epstein at Peggy Siegal's next party. The financier who surely doesn't have much time to finance what with all the massages and alleged raping he's doing is behind bars in Florida. He pleaded guilty to hiring underaged girls for sex and he'll spend 18 months in a Palm Beach jail (followed by a year under house arrest). The plea deal means the federal investigation against Epstein will be dropped, but now he is officially a registered sex offender. So now he'll only be allowed to expose himself to women procured by his assistant who merely look 14. [TSG]
con men
Why Follieri's Scam Was Different
Joshua David Stein and Page Six Magazine got lucky this week—con man and Anne Hathaway-dater Raffaello Follieri (at left, with Bill Clinton) was arrested just as Stein's long profile of him went to press! It's an entertaining read, and while it answers lots of questions about how Follieri's big con worked, it raises a bunch too. Like how the hell did such a ridiculous scam work for so long? And how much of his own insane hype did Follieri believe? He had to be convinced of his rightness (and righteousness) to keep the lifestyle going after getting exposed so many times by the billionaires he conned. So despite lawsuits and gradual exposure as a fraud, he soldiered on. More »
psa
Hateful Scum Threaten Pride Weekend
After the Pride Parade and all the happy partying that will follow, ride the trains in groups this evening because a man was attacked by gay-bashing thugs last night on the 2/3 train near the Christopher Street stop after volunteering at a Pride event. He says the police haven't caught his attackers. "The guy kept asking us to move because he didn't like us and [said] that we made him sick. There was no place else for us to go. He started hitting me and then his girlfriend started clawing me with her nails...I took a cab to St. Vincents, filed a police report and got two black eyes, 7 stitches, multiple chipped teeth, broken glasses." [Gothamist]
rafaello follieri
Anne Hathaway's Ex Linked To "Waste Management"
Gawker's own Josh Stein has a big article coming out in Page Six Magazine Sunday about Anne Hathaway's scuzzyupstanding ex-boyfriend, Italian con mangentleman philanthropist Rafaello Follieri. The Post gave a brief preview of the article today, stating that Follieri Group vice president Vincent Ponte used to co-own of "one of the largest waste-management firms in New York." Not sure why the Post picked that particular fact to highlight. So Follieri's associate came from waste management. Sounds like just the gig for a legitimate businessman looking to make an honest living, at least until he is convicted of racketeering due to being unfairly stereotyped as an Italian American. From the same article, but surely unrelated: Follieri's "friend" says Hathaway should come pick up her pretty little dog from Follieri's apartment, because it would be a shame if something nasty were to somehow happen to it. [Post]
Brooklyn Blog Narcs On Crack House
"'At the end of the day, it was about putting aside anonymity, putting aside the HTML and physically showing up,' said Jason Miller, 37, the pet shop owner, better known to many as PetShopBoy, his login name on BayRidgeTalk.com." [Times]
"'At the end of the day, it was about putting aside anonymity, putting aside the HTML and physically showing up,' said Jason Miller, 37, the pet shop owner, better known to many as PetShopBoy, his login name on BayRidgeTalk.com." [Times]
rumormonger
Did Ron Burkle Set Up Rafaello Follieri?
There was an interesting line in Wednesday's front-page Wall Street Journal story on alleged Italian con man Rafaello Follieri. Follieri, you'll recall, has been accused, among other things, of squandering $50 million from a partnership involving supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle and former President Bill Clinton, in part on lavish personal luxuries. The Burkle-Clinton swindle is at the heart of the criminal case that got Follieri arrested this week. And yet, the Journal said, Follieri and the partnership "recently settled the [parallel] civil case on undisclosed terms, and Mr. Follieri has begun spending time again with Mr. Burkle, say people familiar with the matter." Wow, Follieri blew millions of dollars of money entrusted to Burkle by his best buddy Clinton, and yet suddenly all was forgiven? I don't suppose Burkle was doing any surreptitious recording during his buddy-buddy time with Rafaello, like he did with Post gossip Jared Paul Stern? More »
scandals
The Complete Raffaello Follieri Roundup
We can remember the innocent time just two weeks ago when we were urging innocent actress Anne Hathaway to dump her loser boyfriend, the swindling young con man Raffaello Follieri. How things have progressed since then! The Follieri coverage is almost too much to keep track of; after the jump, a handy link roundup of everything you need to know, up to right this minute: More »
magazines
"Let's talk about your boyfriend, Raffaello Follieri. What does he do?"
The question in the headline is from InStyle's interview with actress Anne Hathaway in its upcoming issue. And we have a scan of it! To recap: Hathaway broke up with Follieri last week, and yesterday he was arrested on wire fraud and money laundering charges. So it must be so weird for her to have this interview coming out in which she gushes about cooking pasta for Follieri and throwing awesome dinner parties with him (not any more though, cause of the whole house arrest thing). Such unfortunate timing. Click through for a large version of the awk-ward InStyle page: More »
Crime
Arrested Anne Hathaway Ex Still Collecting Donations
Federal prosecutors did not snare Raffaello Follieri's charitable foundation yesterday when they had the Italian businessman arrested for fraud and money laundering. The case against Follieri, at present, focuses on his alleged crimes against private, profit-seeking investors and not the Follieri Foundation he chairs, which supposedly vaccinates children in third-world countries. But the Feds' fraud and money-laundering charges against Follieri Group raise questions about the trustworthiness of the foundation to which it is so closely tied — questions made all the more acute by the fact that Follieri Foundation is itself under investigation by New York's attorney general after apparently failing to file U.S. tax disclosure forms. The foundation, [formerly] directed by Annie Longon, pictured at left via her Facebook profile (via same name/university/city as her Follieri-linked LinkedIn profile), is still raising funds, on the off chance you trust Follieri bookkeeping: [UPDATE: Longon wrote in to say she left Follieri companies in early 2007. For whatever reason, the foundation had not yet removed her name from its website at the time of publication.] More »
dynasties
