| The Purple Book |
[Mar. 7th, 2008|01:13 am] |
Well, Orinakin and Bade are an old married couple now. Time to shuffle them offstage and let someone more interesting take over.
I'm kidding. Bade and Orinakin plan to stick around for the rest of "In This Land." But, as you may know, "In This Land" is actually a series of eight books, one for each of the Seven Siblings, and the first book, The Purple Book, is about to come to an end. In April, the next book begins, and a different brother gets to run the major storyline.
Hmm. I wonder which brother's book is next?
(The Purple Book will be for sale soon, in bound editions, for anyone who wants a print copy to flip through. Trust me, it's cheaper and easier than printing out seventy-seven parts yourself.) |
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| Boy band news |
[Mar. 7th, 2008|05:49 pm] |
First, Lou:
Boy band impresario Lou Pearlman pleaded guilty Thursday to swindling more than $300 million from banks and investors.
As part of a deal with federal prosecutors to avoid even more heinous charges, the 53-year-old Pearlman pleaded guilty in an Orlando courtroom to two counts of conspiracy for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme, along with single counts of money laundering and making false claims in a bankruptcy filing.
"I'm accepting full responsibility," the portly music svengali told U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp, who quizzed him about the details of the fraud for almost an hour.
Sentencing was set for May 21, and he faces up to 25 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
But prosecutors said they will seek a shortened prison term for Pearlman, depending on how much he cooperates with prosecutors, bankruptcy trustees, the FBI, the IRS and state regulatory agencies in tracking down unnamed coconspirators and help recover the loot to repay investors.
Pearlman is accused of bilking nearly $200 million from 1,800 investors by selling worthless stock in bogus companies. He also managed to bilk an additional $140 million in fraudulent bank loans using phony financial statements and tax returns supplied by a nonexistent accounting firm.
The feds were clued into the scheme by several victims, who claimed they gave the persuasive Pearlman money for high-yield savings accounts only to later discover that the he and his various corporate entities pocketed the money.
That sparked a probe by the FBI and IRS, who raided Pearlman's Orlando offices early last year. Pearlman subsequently disappeared during a European tour with his latest teenybop creation, US5, and went on the lam, turning up in Israel, Russia, Panama and Brazil before finally being collared in Bali, and carted back Florida.
Pearlman admitted to Sharp that he lied to investors on numerous occasions, such as when he claimed he had a German investment associate with a $50 million line of bailout capital, or when he alleged his Transcontinental Airlines had 41 planes in its fleet, when in reality there were only two.
Pearlman also copped to using the signature of a late associate, Harry Milner, who died in 2003, to avoid repayments.
Next, Justin:
The pop star is teaming with Reveille, the production company behind Ugly Betty and The Office, to bring the hit Peruvian comedy My Problem with Women to the Peacock net, NBC confirmed Friday.
Timberlake will serve as an executive producer on the project, which is based on Peru's Mi Problema con las Mujeres, a show that launched in July and has since been sold in 20 countries.
...
In other Timberlake news, Mr. SexyBack will be inducting none other than Madonna into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday. The duo recently collaborated on the Queen of Pop's upcoming album, Hard Candy, which is due out on Apr. 28.
Up ahead, Timberlake stars in the comedy The Love Guru, opposite Mike Myers and Jessica Alba. The film is slated for a June 20 release.
He is currently filming the drama The Open Road, opposite Jeff Bridges and Kate Mara. |
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