Tag: celebrities

Allison Mack, actress convicted in NXIVM case, released from prison

Former television star Allison Mack, who provided “slaves” to NXIVM leader Keith Raniere for his secret group that blackmailed calorie-starved and sleep-deprived women into sex acts and subjected them to physical branding on their pelvic areas, has been released from federal prison.

The 40-year-old Mack, formerly of Halfmoon, pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy in 2019 in a deal that required she cooperate with federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. She was released from custody on Monday, according to the website of the federal Bureau of Prisons. 

Two years ago, Senior U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis sentenced Mack to three years in prison, calling her “an essential accomplice” to Raniere. One female victim likened Mack’s role assisting Raniere in the secret group — Dominus Obsequious Sororium, or DOS, which translates in Latin to Lord/Master of the Obedient Female Companions — to that of convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in her assistance to late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

Mack is the first NXIVM defendant who received a prison sentence to complete their term. Former NXIVM president Nancy Salzman, 68, of Halfmoon, who pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and received a three-and-a-half year sentence, is scheduled to be released in July 2024. NXIVM operations director Clare Bronfman, 44, the Seagrams’ heiress who lived in Manhattan and Clifton Park, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants for financial gain and fraudulent use of identification and received an 81-month sentence, is expected to be released in June 2025.

Two other defendants — NXIVM education director Lauren Salzman and bookkeeper Kathy Russell, both of whom lived in Halfmoon — received probation.

Keep reading

Remains found in California mountains where actor Julian Sands went missing

Hikers have found human remains in Southern California’s Mount Baldy wilderness, the mountainous area where British-born film actor Julian Sands went missing in January, local authorities said late on Saturday.

The hikers contacted Fontana Station officials at about 10 a.m. on Saturday to report the discovery of the body, which was taken to the coroner’s office for identification, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.

Sands was reported missing on Jan. 13 after he had gone hiking alone in the Baldy Bowl area of the San Gabriel Mountains, about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Los Angeles.

A search was immediately launched in the area, but ground teams were pulled out a day later due to avalanche risks and poor trail conditions.

The Baldy Bowl, a large sloping area below the crest of the Mount Baldy ski area, is a popular destination for skiers, climbers and backpackers. Sands was believed to be an experienced hiker, officials said at the time of his disappearance.

Keep reading

Ohio Cops Raided Afroman’s House Looking for a Dungeon Because of a Bizarre Confidential Informant Tip

When sheriff’s deputies in Adams County, Ohio, raided Afroman’s house last year, they were looking for more than just marijuana, which the rapper is famously fond of. The deputies were searching for evidence of outlandish claims from a confidential informant that the house contained a basement dungeon.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) executed a search warrant on Afroman’s house last August on suspicion of drug possession, drug trafficking, and kidnapping. Afroman was not charged with a crime, and the kidnapping angle was never explained. But now, public records obtained by Arthur West, a public records advocate, and provided to Reason shed more light on the raid, which has since led to a bitter legal battle between Afroman and the ACSO deputies.

According to the search warrant affidavit, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from a confidential informant that Joseph Foreman, better known as Afroman, was not only trafficking large amounts of marijuana, but he also “has a basement, referred to as ‘the dungeon’ in which he…keeps women locked in, forcing them to urinate and defecate in a bucket as punishment for upsetting or disobeying him.”

Keep reading

Danny Masterson’s lawyers leaked discovery material to Church of Scientology

The ex-lawyers of “That ’70s Show” actor and convicted rapist Danny Masterson were sanctioned Wednesday for leaking confidential discovery material about his victims to the Church of Scientology — which has been accused of harassing the women for several years.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo ruled that defense attorneys Tom Mesereau and Sharon Appelbaum sent discovery from Masterson’s criminal case to Church of Scientology lawyer Vicki Podberesky in violation of a court order and a law protecting victims’ personal info, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Podberesky is representing the church in a civil suit filed by Masterson’s victims, former members of the church who say they were threatened by the organization’s officials not to report their attacks.

The discovery materials contained sensitive information about the sexual assault victims, including their addresses and correspondence with police.

Masterson, a practicing Scientologist, was convicted last month of raping two of the women at his Los Angeles home in the early 2000s.

Keep reading

The Jeffrey Epstein Files: Trove of never-before-seen emails and calendars gives unprecedented insight into late pedophile’s network of power and influence that includes Chris Rock, Peter Thiel, Richard Branson and Irina Shayk

A vast trove of Jeffrey Epstein‘s private calendars and emails are being revealed today by DailyMail.com.

The hundreds of pages in the files give an unprecedented insight into the late pedophile’s extraordinary network of power and influence. 

Among the revelations is that Epstein appeared to know personal details about the marriage of Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melissa – while magician David Blaine had numerous dinners with the financier.

Presidents, prime ministers, royalty and famous names previously not linked to Epstein are also featured in the hundreds of pages of documents.

They show that Epstein courted the world’s elite even after serving 13 months in jail for having sex with underage girls – and being labeled a registered sex offender.

As he sought to rehabilitate his image, dozens of powerful people were scheduled to meet him including Irina Shayk, Chris Rock, Wendi Murdoch and Richard Branson.

Tech billionaire Peter Thiel, early Facebook investor Sean Parker, artist Jeff Koons, JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon and music industry executive Tommy Mottola, who used to be married to Mariah Carey, are also among those who appear in the documents.

The files were handed over by Epstein’s estate to the government of US Virgin Islands, where he owned two private islands during its investigation into his sex trafficking operation. The pedophile hanged himself in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial.

Just like Epstein’s notorious ‘Black Book’ of contacts, the schedules contain personal numbers and email addresses that allowed him to access his associates whenever he wanted.

Here, DailyMail.com takes you through the records in depth, broken down by each figure involved.

Keep reading

German Police Investigate Roger Waters Over Nazi-Like Costume

German police are investigating Roger Waters after the former Pink Floyd frontman wore a Nazi-inspired costume during his recent performance in Berlin.

The concert in question took place on May 17 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Waters, who has become a lightning rod of controversy thanks to his outspoken opposition of Israel, wore an SS-style uniform during his performance of “In the Flesh.” His attire included a long leather jacket, gloves and a seemingly Nazi-inspired red armband, which featured a crossed-hammers symbol, rather than a swastika.

As Waters performed, an inflatable pig – adorned with graffiti including a Star of David – floated above the audience. On large screens, the names of famous victims of persecution were shown, among them, Anne Frank.

Keep reading

Russian porn star added to Ukrainian ‘kill list’

A notorious Ukrainian government-linked website that tracks purported enemies of the state has added Russian-born porn star Eva Elfie to its “hit list.” According to the Mirotvorets database, the adult film actress is guilty of “legitimizing the occupation of Crimea.”

Mirotvorets publishes profiles of public figures and private citizens whom it considers to be enemies of Ukraine, marking those have died by any causes as “eliminated.” It is also known to dox its targets whenever it obtains their personal data. Some of the people blacklisted by Mirotvorets have been murdered.

The website took issue with Elfie, whose real name is Yulia Romanova, traveling to Crimea for a photo shoot 2018, just as her adult entertainment career was taking off. The Siberian-born actress’s popularity was given a boost in 2021, when she received the ‘Best New Foreign Starlet’ accolade at the adult movie industry’s prestigious AVN Awards.

According to an anonymous Mirotvorets editor, Elfie was blacklisted after she became “the number one porn actress in the world.”

A screenshot posted by Elfie in November of her Pornhub profile showed that she was ranked first on the adult website, with over 870 million views and 1.9 million subscribers. In April, she received a Pornhub award for ‘Most Popular Female Performer Chosen by Women’.

Keep reading

Jeffrey Epstein, Woody Allen Made Plans to Socialize Every Month from 2014 to 2015

Jeffrey Epstein and Woody Allen reportedly made plans to socialize together every month from 2014 to 2015 — a time when Epstein was already a registered sex offender who had been sentenced to jail for soliciting a minor for sex.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week on a trove of documents belonging to the late Jeffrey Epstein including diaries and personal schedules showing the disgraced financier was also friendly with Lawrence Summers, who served as Treasury Secretary under former President Bill Clinton, and later was president of Harvard University.

Epstein also hung out with billionaire LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, who has been a major donor to President Joe Biden.

Woody Allen’s spokesperson told the Journal the filmmaker was always accompanied by his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, when socializing with Epstein.

Keep reading

Hollywood and left-wing foundations behind climate charity quietly bankrolling extremist protest groups

A little-known climate change advocacy organization heavily funded by celebrities and influential left-leaning foundations has been quietly dishing out grants to various activist groups deploying unorthodox and extremist methods across the world to protest fossil fuels, documents reveal.

Anti-fossil fuels groups have been ramping up protests in the United States and overseas as part of a coordinated campaign to bring awareness to climate change by vandalizing fine art, blocking major roads, and even gluing themselves to sports cars. Many of these activist hubs are being bankrolled by Climate Emergency Fund, a Beverly Hills-based charity linked to Hollywood celebrities and top liberal nonprofit organizations aiming to shape the Democratic Party’s agenda, according to tax forms and other documents reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

“Climate Emergency Fund has quickly become the ATM that radical environmental activists turn to fund their latest disruptions,” Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of the conservative watchdog Americans for Public Trust, told the Washington Examiner. “And as their destruction increases, so should the scrutiny on who is bankrolling the Climate Emergency Fund and their ties to more mainstream environmental groups that might disagree with these over-the-top and dangerous tactics.”

Last week, an entity called Declare Emergency that calls fossil fuels reliance “genocidal” and “criminal” took credit for smearing paint on the display case of a sculpture at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Just Stop Oil, a group that made headlines in October 2022 for splattering tomato soup on a Vincent Van Gogh painting estimated to be worth $84 million at London’s National Gallery, has been blocking traffic for days in the United Kingdom.

These groups and those like it are either funded directly by Climate Emergency Fund or are part of coalitions backed by CEF, which touts on its website how it has “trained” tens of thousands of activists since being founded in 2019. Both Declare Emergency and Just Stop Oil are part of a coalition with almost a dozen climate protest groups called the A22 Network, which is primarily funded by CEF.

And, unlike the typical run-of-the-mill charity, CEF boasts a star-studded cohort of financial backers and board members, including Rory Kennedy, daughter of the late senator Robert F. Kennedy, Aileen Getty, the billionaire philanthropist and heiress of the Getty family fortune earned in the petroleum industry, and even Hollywood’s Adam McKay, who pledged it $4 million in September 2022 and directed the 2021 climate allegory film Don’t Look Up.

Keep reading