Archive for October, 2009

Madoff & Company

Posted in Finance, Fraud, Suicide on October 26, 2009 by R.

According to WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – An autopsy is planned for a man accused of making more than $7 billion off the investment schemes of jailed financial manager Bernard Madoff.

The result of the role that Picower’s charitable giving played in all of this is the amount Picower withdrew for his foundation is separate from the quarterly withdrawals for his personal accounts. During the 1995-2008 time span, Picower took out about $291 million from Madoff for the foundation account. During the same period, the foundation doled out more than $235 million in donations, according to tax forms.

Now, Jeffry Picower (PICK’-ow-er) was found by his wife Sunday at the bottom of a pool at the couple’s sprawling oceanside Palm Beach mansion. He died a short time later at a nearby hospital.

The 67-year-old was No. 371 on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans, with a net worth of $1 billion.

Police are investigating the death as a drowning, but haven’t ruled anything out. Palm Beach County authorities planned an autopsy Monday.

Some victims of Madoff’s vast Ponzi scheme say Picower was the fraud’s biggest beneficiary. In a lawsuit to recover assets, trustee Irving Picard demands he return the allegedly bogus profits.

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Cocaine as a Sign of Creative Genius

Posted in Drugs, Movie TV Music on October 22, 2009 by R.

The erratic behaviour is not a sign of creative genius but of addiction to the class A drug, said Sarah Graham, who has worked for BBC Radio 5, Children’s BBC and Channel 4′s The Big Breakfast. No wonder that is. If you remember Children’s television actress Natasha Collins died after taking a “very significant” amount of cocaine, sleeping pills and vodka at a party with her fiancee, fellow children’s presenter Mark Speight. Speight, 42, found her dead in the bath with 60 per cent burns at their London flat in January 2008. Richard Bacon was sacked after the News of the World revealed: “Blue Peter goody-goody is a cocaine snorting sneak”. BBC children’s programming chief Lorraine Heggessey appeared on the show to announce his downfall, telling viewers: “I believe that Richard has not only let himself down . . . but he’s also let all of you down badly.” Aged 21 when he was sacked, Bacon has not been out of work since. He popped up shortly afterwards on Channel 4’s Big Breakfast and returned to the BBC to front Top of the Pops. Going on to forge a career in radio, he is now on Radio 5 Live. Kevin Greening, a former Radio 1 DJ, died of a heart attack in 2007 after taking cocaine, ecstasy and GHB, following a bondage session on the eve of his 45th birthday.

“We were celebrating the end of a live show. I had a few glasses of champagne and I was asked if I would like to go to the toilet and do some cocaine,” Miss Graham recalled. “I’m ashamed to say I didn’t really know very much about cocaine beyond the hype – celebrity, glamour, success – that goes with it and I unfortunately went to the toilet and took cocaine and I believe that changed the course of my life from that point on.” Miss Graham said.

That evening was the beginning of a decade-long addiction for Miss Graham, 40, who was admitted to a rehab clinic in 2001. She is now a Harley Street drugs counsellor and a spokesman for Frank, the Government’s drugs information service.

She added: “There is a culture within the media and within the celebrity world that is very relaxed around the use of cocaine. It’s seen as something that is socially acceptable in certain areas, in industries where this ‘work hard, party hard’ ethos exists.

“The hype about drugs is that all these successful people are doing drugs… I bought into the showbiz myth of cocaine being part of that success.”

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Sex Offender is Dead

Posted in Kidnapping, Murder, Sex Offender on October 13, 2009 by R.

According to AP a convicted sex offender on death row for kidnapping, raping and burying and murdered 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford and buried her alive behind his sister’s trailer alive has died of natural causes Wednesday at a Jacksonville hospital. The 51-year-old had been sentenced to death in 2007.

Because Couey was a convicted sex offender who was not registered with the local police at the time of Jessica’s disappearance, the case became a catalyst for the strengthening of sex offender laws in several states, with Jessica’s father, Mark Lunsford, lobbying for the tougher laws across the country.

“I never dreamed it would happen like this,” Mark Lunsford told reporters. “I never thought I would live long enough to see Couey put to death because of the appeals process. “To me, death is sad, but her death, Jessie’s death, has been redeemed … I’m relieved. I’m glad it’s over with.”

Jessica Was Buried Alive

On Feb. 23, 2005, Jessica was abducted from her bedroom in her grandmother’s home where her and her father were living. Her body was found three weeks later in the backyard of Couey’s half-sister who lived within site of the Lunsford home.

Jessica’s body was placed in plastic garbage bags and her hands were bound with speaker wire. She punched holes in the garbage bag with her fingers, indicating that she was still alive when she was placed in the shallow grave.

Sources said Couey’s death was not unexpected, he had been ill for some time.

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