Tag: hollyweirdness

New York jury awards US$1.68 billion to women who accused writer and director Toback of sexual abuse

A New York jury on Wednesday awarded US$1.68 billion in damages to 40 women who accused writer and director James Toback of sexual abuse and other crimes over a span of 35 years, according to lawyers representing the plaintiffs.

The decision stems from a lawsuit filed in Manhattan in 2022 after New York state instituted a one-year window for people to file lawsuits over sexual assault claims even if they took place decades ago.

It marks one of the largest jury awards since the advent of the #MeToo movement, as well as in New York state history, said attorney Brad Beckworth, of the law firm Nix Patterson LLP, in an interview. The plaintiffs, he said, believe such a large verdict will send a message to powerful individuals “who don’t treat women appropriately.”

The court had not yet released documentation of the verdict as of Wednesday night. Beckworth said the verdict included $280 million in compensatory damages and $1.4 billion for punitive damages to the plaintiffs.

“This verdict is about justice,” Beckworth said in a statement. “But more importantly, It’s about taking power back from the abusers — and their and enablers — and returning it to those he tried to control and silence.”

Beckworth said the abuse took place between 1979 and 2014.

Toback was nominated for an Oscar for writing 1991’s “Bugsy,” and his career in Hollywood has spanned more than 40 years. Accusations that he engaged in years of sexual abuse surfaced in late 2017 as the #MeToo movement gained attention. They were first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

In 2018, Los Angeles prosecutors said the statutes of limitations had expired in five cases they reviewed, and declined to bring criminal charges against Toback.

The plaintiffs then filed a lawsuit in New York a few days after the state’s Adult Survivors Act went into effect. The lawyers said they discovered a pattern of Toback attempting to lure young women on the streets of New York into meeting him by falsely promising roles in his films and then subjecting them to sexual acts, threats and psychological coercion.

Mary Monahan, a lead plaintiff in the case, called the jury award “validation” for her and the other women.

“For decades, I carried this trauma in silence, and today, a jury believed me. Believed us. That changes everything,” she said in a statement. “This verdict is more than a number — it’s a declaration. We are not disposable. We are not liars. We are not collateral damage in someone else’s power trip. The world knows now what we’ve always known: what he did was real.”

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One Label Under Blackmail: The Early Intersections of Diddy and the Epstein Network

Beginning in late 2023, a series of startling and unsettling allegations against Sean Combs –– a record executive and rapper known over the years by stage names like “Puff Daddy,” “P. Diddy” and presently “Diddy” –– have emerged. As the allegations and lawsuits facing Combs have snowballed, so, too, has public interest in the case. The sheer amount of accusations suggests that Combs, in addition to being very sexually and physically violent, filmed many assault encounters and orgies that occurred at his now notorious “Freak Off” parties, sometimes with hidden or security cameras. He also now stands accused of “operating an empire of sexual crimes,” with federal agents having alleged that several of Combs’ victims were of “barely legal” or “barely illegal” age at the time of their abuse. Combs’ apparent documentation of these events strongly suggests that he was interested in keeping these records for more than his perverse enjoyment, as either a form of a protection or as a means to control those who appeared in these films, i.e. blackmail.

As a result, speculation has grown about who is allegedly on the “list” of people filmed by Combs in this way, prompting comparisons to the alleged “list” of sex trafficker, pedophile and intelligence asset Jeffrey Epstein. The comparisons between Epstein and Combs have only grown, with even the homeland security agents who raided Combs’ Miami home suggesting that Combs was “as bad as Epstein.”

However, as has long been a theme of Unlimited Hangout’s Epstein-related reporting, including the book One Nation Under Blackmail, the Jeffrey Epstein case has been poorly explored by the federal government, mainstream media outlets, and even many independent media outlets. A deeper examination of the Epstein case makes it clear that Epstein was not the sole mastermind or sole beneficiary of the sex trafficking and blackmail operation in which he engaged. Instead, Epstein served as an operator for a larger, monied network of oligarchs with extensive organized crime connections in addition to significant affiliations with intelligence agencies. He was also more than a sex trafficker for this group, having aided this network extensively in arms trafficking, money laundering and other crimes (many financial) that fall outside of the focus on his sex-related offenses.

It should come as no surprise upon closer examination of Sean Combs that, like Epstein, he was operating on behalf of a larger network that he did not ultimately control. Instead, it arguably controlled him. As this three-part series from Unlimited Hangout will endeavor to show, Combs was acting on behalf of an oligarch network that directly overlaps with that of Epstein. However, Combs used to influence a different industry and a different community for the benefit of these intelligence and organized crime-connected oligarchs. 

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Hollywood Actor Jean-Claude Van Damme Named in Romanian Sex Trafficking Scandal — Actor Accused of Sleeping with Five Victims He Knew were Trafficked

Action movie star Jean-Claude Van Damme has been named in a criminal complaint filed by Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT).

The 64-year-old Belgian-born star, known for his high-octane roles in Bloodsport, Kickboxer, and Street Fighter, is accused of knowingly engaging in sexual acts with five Romanian women who were allegedly victims of a human trafficking ring.

The allegations claim the incidents took place roughly a decade ago at an event in Cannes, organized by Van Damme himself.

According to reports from CNN affiliate Antena 3, the women—presented as photo models—were offered to Van Damme as a “gift” by a criminal group already under investigation for pimping and trafficking, led by Romanian businessman Morel Bolea.

Attorney Adrian Cuculis, representing one of the alleged victims, told the news outlet, “The person who received those benefits knew their condition,” suggesting Van Damme was fully aware the women were exploited.

The complaint alleges the actor’s actions violated Romania’s strict laws against human trafficking and exploitation, potentially implicating him in a broader network of cross-border crime.

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Judge Who Granted P Diddy Win in His Case Rules Against Kari Lake Saving Taxpayers Money

A federal Judge in New York has halted the White House and US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) advisor Kari Lake’s efforts to deliver government efficiency to the leftwing agency that oversees the government’s international broadcaster, Voice of America.

Obama appointee James Paul Oetken was the first openly gay man to be confirmed as a federal judge in 2011. Earlier this week, he dismissed racketeering allegations in a $30 million sexual assault lawsuit against rapper P. Diddy involving allegations of sexual assault, harassment, and sex trafficking.

On Friday, he granted a temporary restraining order, enjoining them from implementing the President’s March 14 executive order, titled “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy.”

This comes after a lawsuit by from six leftist VOA reporters backed by Reporters Without Borders and several labor unions, who alleged First Amendment violations over attempts to dismantle the broadcasting agency by firing current staff members.

According to the New York Times, “A separate lawsuit, brought by the director of Voice of America, Michael Abramowitz, is also pending.”

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New Gene Hackman mystery as wife’s doctor claims: She called me 24 hours AFTER police say she died

Mystery grew over the death of Gene Hackman‘s wife Betsy last night after a doctor revealed she had called his private clinic 24 hours after police claim she died.

The Santa Fe medical examiner claimed a post-mortem examination showed Betsy died of hantavirus, a rare rat-borne respiratory disease, on February 11 – a full week before her Oscar-winning husband died of heart failure combined with Alzheimer’s disease.

But last night Dr Josiah Child, a former emergency care specialist who now runs Cloudberry Health in Santa Fe, New Mexico, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Mrs Hackman didn’t die on February 11 because she called my clinic on February 12.

‘She’d called me a couple of weeks before her death to ask about getting an echocardiogram [heart scan] for her husband. She was not a patient of mine, but one of my patients recommended Cloudberry to her. She made an appointment for herself for February 12. It was for something unrelated to anything respiratory.’

He added that two days before she was due to see him, she cancelled her appointment, saying her husband was not well.

Dr Child said: ‘She called back on the morning of February 12 and spoke to one of our doctors who told her to come in that afternoon.

‘We made her an appointment but she never showed up. She did not show any symptoms of respiratory distress. The appointment wasn’t for anything related to hantavirus. We tried calling her a couple of times with no reply.’

The doctor’s revelation that Mrs Hackman could have been alive for at least a day longer than the coroner has claimed casts further mystery over her death.

The 65-year-old was found on the bathroom floor of the couple’s isolated Santa Fe home surrounded by pills with her husband on the floor of a utility room 20ft away.

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Former Las Vegas Officer Who Led Route 91 Shooting Investigation and Maui Police Chief During Lahaina Fires Named as Co-Defendant in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sexual Assault Lawsuit

On October 1, 2017, shots rang out all over the Las Vegas Strip as concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival fled to safety.

In total, 59 people were killed and over 500 injured during the chaos that erupted from above on the country music gathering.

John Pelletier, then a captain with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, was the incident commander and was tasked with managing the extensive crime scene.

After an incredibly controversial investigation, it was determined that Stephen Paddock, 64, was the lone gunman who opened fire on the crowd from the Mandalay Bay hotel, positioned adjacent to and above the music venue.

The assessment was woefully inadequate, seemingly omitting hordes of evidence including 911 calls and evidence that suggested multiple shooters and suspicious circumstances regarding aircraft overhead before and after the events.  Several helicopters began hovering over the event 10 to 15 minutes prior to the shooting before turning off their transponders while another helicopter appeared on radar as a Southwest Airlines commuter jet.

Vegas-local Mindy Robinson put together an incredible documentary exposing the inadequacies of the investigation.  You can view that documentary here.

Following the events in Las Vegas, Pelletier moved to Maui, Hawaii and was named police chief on December 15, 2021.

Again, tragedy would find Pelletier as he was the head law enforcement officer during the August 8th, 2023 Lahaina Fire, which claimed 102 lives.

Once again, numerous claims of mismanagement arose following the fire.  They included a lack of planning, ineffective or unavailable advanced warning systems, and potential evacuation routes blocked by debris and, in many cases, police officers.

While he remained as the Maui Police Chief following the Lahaina Fire, there are now calls for him to be placed on administrative leave, including from the Maui mayor.

The calls for administrative leave are in conjunction with him being named as a co-defendant in a federal lawsuit levied against disgraced hip-hop mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.  Trouble certainly seems to follow this man wherever he may go.

The lawsuit was originally filed in October 2024 by Ashley Parham along with an anonymous man and woman.  On March 7th, that complaint was amended to include Chief Pelletier, as well as many other notable figures including former NFL star Odell Beckham, Jr., singer Jacquelyn “Jaguar” Wright, and Keith Lucks aka “Big Homie CC,” among others.

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From Epstein To Diddy: Spotlight Shines On James Comey’s Prosecutor Daughter

Speaking Jeffrey Epstein and things being kept under wraps (more on that later), a prosecutor with a famous last name quietly joined the sex trafficking case against Sean “Diddy Combs late last year…

In a thinly covered news story from December that’s suddenly relevant again (read on), New York Prosecutor Maurene Comey – whose father James Comey famously refused to prosecute Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information & then participated in the Russia collusion hoax – joined the prosecution against Combs. The younger Comey has previously worked as lead prosecutor on both the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases, as well as that of former Epstein cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione. More on that below…

Combs is currently facing multiple serious legal charges, including sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation for purposes of prostitution. These charges stem from allegations that, from at least 2008 to the present, the impresario led a criminal enterprise aimed at exploiting and abusing women, protecting his reputation, and concealing his conduct. The alleged crimes encompass sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.

Multiple allegations of sexual misconduct involving minors have been made. Last October, attorney Tony Buzbee announced he was representing 120 individuals accusing Combs of sexual misconduct; 25 of these accusers were minors at the time of the alleged incidents – while he’s also been accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in a New York City hotel in 2005 and a 17-year-old boy in 2008 who aspired to be on the reality TV show “Making the Band.”

According to former dancer Adria Sheri English, who claimed she was “pimped out” by Diddy, the embattled rapper would hold sex-crazed “freak offs” that often took place away from the “main party” but were kept a secret.  

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Gene Hackman, Wife BetsyDeaths Called ‘Suspicious’

Gene Hackman‘s death and the deaths of his wife and dog are puzzling authorities, who have labeled his passing “suspicious.”

According to a search warrant, obtained by TMZ, a Santa Fe detective who sought a search warrant wrote in his affidavit, he believes “the death of the two deceased individuals to be suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation because the reporting party found the front door of the residence unsecured and opened, deputies observed a healthy dog running loose on the property, another healthy dog near the deceased female, a deceased dog laying 10-15 feet from the deceased female in a closet of the bathroom, the heater being moved, the pill bottle being opened and pills scattered next to the female, the male decedent being located in a separate room of the residence, and no obvious signs of a gas leak.”

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Diddy Defense Argues He was ‘Singled Out’ Because He Is Black

Defense attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs are reportedly arguing that federal prosecutors “singled out” the disgraced music mogul because he is black, and claim authorities have demonstrated “bad faith” and “racial animus” in handling the case.

Combs’ attorneys made these assertions in a new court filing seeking to dismiss the music mogul’s prostitution charge, according to a report by ABC News.

In their court filing, defense attorneys claimed the charges against Combs are racially motivated, arguing that “no white person has ever been the target of a remotely similar prosecution” under the Mann Act.

“Mr. Combs has been singled out because he is a powerful black man, and he is being prosecuted for conduct that regularly goes unpunished,” defense attorneys Alexandra Shapiro and Marc Agnifilo wrote.

“Count Three should be dismissed because this is a clear case of selective prosecution,” the attorneys added.

The defense attorneys went on to cite former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D), who had “engaged in similar conduct but were never charged under the Act.”

The filing was likely referring to Spitzer having resigned as governor in 2008, amid a prostitution scandal that destroyed his reputation.

The music mogul’s defense team also reportedly argued that the “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” singer had used a popular and well-known escort service to bring people into his sexual activities, which the attorneys suggested is common practice among people of Combs’ status.

“Many couples, including wealthy high-profile couples, involve third parties in their sexual relationships, sometimes for implicit or explicit remuneration,” the filing stated.

“No federal prosecutor, in this district or any other, has targeted the company, its CEO, or its escorts. Nor has any prosecutor previously targeted any customer who purchased escort services from Cowboys 4 Angels,” the attorneys added.

As Breitbart News reported, Combs has been in jail since September 16 following a federal indictment accusing him of more than a decade of abusing, threatening, and coercing women and others, racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes.

The music mogul has been denied bail three times after a New York judge ruled that Combs must remain behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center while he awaits his upcoming sex trafficking trial, set for May 5.

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Ex-Bodyguard Claims He Has Murder Confession Recording …According to Search Warrant

New twist in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman … police claim they have reason to believe they have a recording of O.J. Simpson confessing to the murders.

According to a new search warrant, obtained by TMZ, cops in Minnesota say they have a thumb drive they were told has a recording of O.J. admitting to the double murder of Nicole and Ron.

What’s more, police say they’ve been told the recording also features O.J. implicating an unknown third party.

In the warrant, cops say they seized a backpack containing multiple thumb drives from a man named Iroc Avelli as part of an investigation in a separate case. Avelli is Simpson’s former bodyguard.

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