Legal news
Elvis Estate Blocks Vegas Wedding Chapels from Using His Likeness
Update: In a statement to Billboard, Authentic Brands Group said they don’t intend to ban Elvis impersonators, but are instead requesting that chapels get licenses to continue their schtick. The Las Vegas tourist industry is taking a pretty big hit this week, as the licensing company that handles Elvis Presley’s estate has blocked the city’s wedding chapels from using his likeness in their ceremonies. As the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports, Authentic Brands Group (ABG), the company that oversees all Elvis-related merchandise, sent cease-and-desist letters to multiple Sin City chapels in May, arguing that unauthorized use of “Presley’s name, likeness, voice image, and other elements” constitute trademark infringement. The company counts “Elvis, “Elvis Presley,” and “The King of Rock and Ro...
Johnny Depp Wins Defamation Case Against Amber Heard
The verdict is in. After six grueling weeks of testimony, cross-examination, and scandalous allegations levied by both sides, a jury has found Amber Heard guilty of defamation against ex-husband Johnny Depp. The jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and an additional $5 million in punitive damages. But in the state of Virginia where the trial was held, punitive damages are capped at $350,000, and after the jury’s ruling was read out, Judge Penney Azcarate lowered the punitive damages to match. Depp’s total award is then $10.35 million. He had sought $50 million. The jury also weighed in on Heard’s $100 million countersuit, elements of which were awarded in her favor. The jury granted Heard $2 million total, all for compensatory damages, with no punitive damages assessed. Ad...
Kate Moss Undermines Amber Heard’s Testimony, Says Johnny Depp Helped Her After Falling Down Stairs
Kate Moss took the stand virtually on Wednesday in the $50 million Johnny Depp–Amber Heard defamation trial, pushing back against a rumor that her ex-boyfriend had shoved her down the stairs and undermining Heard’s testimony on the incident. The supermodel only spoke for a few minutes, with Heard’s defense team declining to cross-examine her, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline reported. “He never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any kind of stairs,” Moss said via video link from Gloucester, England. “As I left the room, I slid down the stairs and I hurt my back. And I screamed because I didn’t know what happened to me, and I was in pain. He came running back to help me and carried me to my room and got me medical attention.” Advertisement Related Video Depp and Mo...
Johnny Depp’s Former Agent Says “Unprofessional Behavior” Hurt His Career, Not Amber Heard
The ongoing Johnny Depp–Amber Heard defamation trial centers on Depp’s claim that Heard’s abuse-detailing Washington Post op-ed hurt his career, but according to the actor’s former agent, Depp did much of that on his own. In her testimony, United Talent Agency’s Tracey Jacobs claimed that Depp’s “unprofessional behavior,” including lateness and substance abuse, made Hollywood studios reluctant to cast him in recent years. Though Depp long reigned as “the biggest star in the world,” “His star had dimmed due to it getting harder to get him jobs given the reputation he had acquired due to his lateness and other things,” Jacobs said. At one point, the actor even began relying on an earpiece to have his lines fed to him. “Crews don’t love sitting around for hours and hours waiti...
Elon Musk Paid $250,000 to Flight Attendant Who Accused Him of Sexual Misconduct: Report
Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX paid a flight attendant $250,000 as part of a severance agreement after she accused the founder of sexual misconduct, Business Insider reports. The flight attendant, who worked on a contract basis as a member of the cabin crew SpaceX’s corporate jet fleet, says she was encouraged to get licensed as a masseuse so that she could give Musk massages. In 2016, she was providing the businessman with a massage in a private cabin on his Gulfstream G650ER when he allegedly exposed his erect penis to her, rubbed her leg without consent, and offered to buy her a horse in exchange for performing a sexual favor. She told a friend about the incident, and the friend described it in a signed declaration reviewed by Insider. According to the declaration, when the unname...
Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli Released from Prison Early
Martin Shkreli, the infamous “pharma bro” who raised the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000%, went toe-to-toe with the Wu-Tang Clan, and found himself sentenced to seven years in prison for defrauding investors, has received an early release after less than five years served, according to his attorney. “I am pleased to report that Martin Shkreli has been released from Allenwood prison and transferred to a BOP halfway house after completing all programs that allowed for his prison sentence to be shortened,” Ben Brafman, his lawyer, said in a statement to The Washington Post. According to a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, he’ll remain in the halfway house until mid-September. Shkreli had been accused of taking stock from his biotechnology firm Retrophin and u...
Fyre Fest’s Billy McFarland Released Early from Prison
Fyre Fest co-founder Billy McFarland has been released early from prison and is currently living in a halfway house, according to Billboard. McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison in 2018 for the fraudulent festival, which promised attendees a luxurious Bahamas experience complete with catered meals, luxury villas, and performances from the likes of Migos and Blink-182. Instead, guests were stranded in a tent city offering little more than school lunch food. McFarland pleaded guilty to bank fraud, wire fraud, and lying to investigators. In October 2020, the con artist was placed in 23-hour-a-day solitary confinement after recording a tell-all podcast from prison. Six months later, he was released from solitary in Lisbon, Ohio’s FCI Elkton prison and transferred to FTC Oklahoma City...
Mac Miller Drug Dealer Sentenced to 17.5 Years in Prison for Fentanyl Sale
Stephen Walter, one of the three men charged in the overdose death of Mac Miller, has received a 17.5-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to federal charges of distribution of fentanyl, reports Rolling Stone. The sentence came after US District Judge Otis D. Wright, II rejected a plea agreement that Walter struck with federal prosecutors in October 2021 for a flat 17-year sentence. Since prosecutors claimed Walter continued to sell cocaine and counterfeit oxycodone pills even after Miller’s untimely passing, Judge Wright said he couldn’t accept the deal’s terms. “The court has elected not to accept that plea agreement. So, sir, if you want, at this point, you can withdraw your guilty plea and go to trial,” Judge Wright said. “I may as well lay it out, okay. When you continue to enga...
Young Thug, Racketeering, and RICO, Explained
Musical superstar Young Thug, his close associate Gunna, and 26 others have been charged with violating Georgia’s criminal racketeering laws. In a 56-count indictment, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleged that Thugger’s label Young Stoner Life Records acted as a criminal street gang with ties to the national Bloods organization. He was arrested on Monday, while Gunna was booked Wednesday morning. The defendants have been charged with conspiracy to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO Act, which was closely modeled on the federal RICO Act. To make those charges stick, the DA’s office will have to prove that Young Thug served as the head of a criminal enterprise whose illegal activities came as part of an organized scheme. RICO Acts are...
Andy Dick Charged with Felony Sexual Battery, Arrest Caught on Livestream
Andy Dick has been arrested in Orange County, California on suspicion of felony sexual battery. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that police were called this morning, May 11th, to a campground in O’Neill Regional Park in Trabuco Canyon after a man alleged he was sexually assaulted. Dick, 56, was arrested, and the victim was taken to a hospital for examination. According to TMZ, Dick and a group of live streamers had been living in the RV park. The arrest was broadcast on creator Captain Content’s RV YouTube channel. Related Video This is far from the first time Dick has been accused of sexual misconduct. In 2019, the actor and comedian was accused of groping his Uber driver, and before that, he was fired from the films Raising Buchanan and Vampire Dad for “groping people’s genitals, u...
Young Thug Facing Seven Additional Felony Charges After Guns and Drugs Found in Home Raid
After being arrested on gang activity and racketeering charges in Atlanta earlier this week, Young Thug (born Jeffery Lamar Williams) is facing even more legal trouble. A search of Fulton County jail records has revealed seven more felony charges stemming from guns and drugs that were found in a police raid of his home in the Buckhead area of Atlanta. Specifically, the charges include Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute; Possession of a Schedule III, Iv or V Controlled Substance with Intent to Distribute; Possession of Firearm During Commission of a Felony; and Possession of Sawed-Off Shotgun, Sawed-Off Rifle, Machine Gun, dangerous Weapon, or Silencer. There are also three separate charges of Unlawful for Person Employed By/Associated with Criminal Street Gang to Conduc...
Mario Batali Found Not Guilty of Sexual Misconduct
Mario Batali has been found not guilty of indecent assault and battery charges dating back to May 2019. The verdict was delivered on Tuesday, May 10th, in Boston Municipal Court by Judge James Stanton after the celebrity chef waived his right to a jury decision. Judge Stanton made the ruling after a day and a half of testimony, primarily from the woman who accused the former Food Network personality of groping and kissing her without consent at a Boston bar in April 2017. “It’s an understatement to say that Mr. Batali did not cover himself in glory on the night in question,” the judge said (via The New York Times), while acknowledging the accuser “has significant credibility issues.” Batali did not testify. He was facing up to two and a half years in jail and would have been required to re...
