All posts containing the tag: "extortion"
The suspect in the alleged Cindy Crawford extortion plot put his best fingers forward on Tuesday, greeting German photographers outside of court by flipping them two lovely birds.
Edis Kayalar -- who turned himself in to German authorities on Monday -- was denied bail shortly after this photo was taken.
Filed under: Cindy Crawford
Cindy Crawford's alleged extortionist cannot be extradited to the U.S., but he's not out of the woods.
TMZ did some checking and found Edis Kayalar, who turned himself in to German police Monday night, cannot be shipped back to the U.S. for allegedly demanding $100,000 from Cindy and hubby Rande Gerber. Germany does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
So, you ask, why did Kayalar turn himself in? We're told in November, after Kayalar was deported to Germany, he was sending emails to Gerber asking for money that could be transferred into a German bank account. That, German authorities tell us, is a violation of German extortion law.
Kayalar allegedly stole a photo from Cindy's former nanny -- a photo that shows her 7-year-old daughter tied up to a chair and gagged. The nanny says she took the photo as a joke.
Kayalar has been denied bail, because the German judge thinks he's a flight risk.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Exclusives, Cindy Crawford
The 26-year-old German model who allegedly tried to extort $100,000 from Cindy Crawford has turned himself in to the cops.
Edis Kayalar (right), who has been charged with one count extortion, walked into a police station in Germany yesterday.
As we previously reported, Kayalar was threatening to sell a photo of Cindy's daughter which showed her bound to a chair and gagged.
Kayalar faces two years in the slammer. He'll appear before a judge later today.
Story developing ...
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Cindy Crawford
David Letterman's people made a bold statement this weekend -- not every supermarket tabloid story about Dave's marriage is true.
One of Dave's reps flatly denied a recent report in the National Enquirer, which explained how Dave's wife threw him out of their Westchester mansion -- over that whole affair/extortion thing -- and is now living in a loft in Manhattan.
Letterman's rep tells the Daily News, "The National Enquirer has it wrong."
Whatever. That alien is totally pregnant with Elvis' love child.
Filed under: Gossip/Rumors, David Letterman
Police in Germany searched a home in Stuttgart in connection with the Cindy Crawford extortion case -- but they would not confirm the apartment belonged to the suspect, Edis Kayalar.
German authorities confiscated several items from the home, but would not say where Kayalar was or whether or not he had been charged in Germany.
Kayalar allegedly tried to extort Crawford and her husband, Rande Gerber, over a photo of their daughter bound to a chair and gagged.
Kayalar has been charged with one count extortion -- he faces two years in the slammer.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Cindy Crawford
Looking as if they weren't just the victims of a disgusting extortion plot, Cindy Crawford went on a bike ride in Malibu this afternoon with her husband, Rande Gerber, their two children -- Kaia and Presley -- and two other kids.
You know what they say -- the family that gets extorted together, stays together.
Filed under: Paparazzi Photo, Cindy Crawford
Cindy Crawford was targeted for extortion, over a photo of her daughter which showed the daughter bound to a chair and gagged.
Documents were filed in federal court saying that Edis Kayalar, a friend of a former nanny of Crawford and husband Rande Gerber, was threatening to sell the photo of the couple's 7-year-old daughter.
Crawford's rep says the photo was taken as part of a game of cops and robbers, without Crawford's knowledge. The docs say the nanny took the photos as a "prank" and that Kayalar stole the picture from her.
We're told Crawford and Gerber went to the cops, who turned it over to the FBI.
According to legal docs, Gerber paid Kayalar $1,000 for what he thought was the original photo. But Gerber claims Kayalar came back a few days later, claiming he still had a copy and demanded more money.
And this is curious .... according to the documents, Kayalar was arrested by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department on September 16, 2009, placed in federal custody by ICE agents for an immigration violation. He was then deported to Germany.
But it didn't end there ... The Feds say on November 1, 2009, Kayalar called the Crawfords from Germany and said he "had no choice now but to extort the victims for money because they had gotten him deported." He demanded $100,000 or else he'd release the photo to the media.
BTW, someone tried peddling the photo to TMZ approximately 6 weeks ago. We passed.
story developing
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Cindy Crawford
David Letterman's accused extortionist, Robert Halderman, is asking the judge to dismiss the extortion case against him. 
In papers filed with the court, Halderman's lawyer wrote, "The sensationalism surrounding this indictment, fueled by the celebrity of the purported victim and the deference paid to that celebrity by the District Attorney's Office, has swallowed the only pertinent issue ...."
The issue: Whether the grand jury had sufficient facts to support the extortion case.
The lawyer, Gerald Shargel, also states Halderman "discovered evidence that Letterman had created and fostered an environment of workplace sexual misconduct that under any definition, amounted to actionable sexual harassment."
The lawyer says this was not extortion, calling it "a pure commercial transaction." The lawyer says Halderman was merely trying to sell the exclusive screenplay rights to Letterman.
The lawyer says Halderman even insisted on getting a written agreement -- something extortionists generally don't do.
In addition to the motion for dismissal, Halderman's lawyer is asking to inspect the grand jury minutes. And, he wants the items seized from Halderman to be suppressed as evidence.
And there's this ... Attorney Shargel claims the relationship between Letterman and Stephanie Birkitt continued through at least last summer.
Filed under: Exclusives, David Letterman
Robert Halderman -- the guy accused of trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman -- is getting the ultimate vote of sympathy from his friends ... we're told they've chipped in to pay over a quarter of his mega legal bill.
Sources inside CBS tell TMZ friends and co-workers are raising money to help pay Halderman's $200,000 legal bill ... so far they've anted up around $50,000.
We're told some of the staff at "48 Hours" refuse to believe their colleague is guilty of extortion ... and if he is guilty, it's because he cracked over money issues surrounding his divorce.
For Halderman, friends in need are friends indeed. But the jury's out on whether Letterman has any left.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Exclusives, David Letterman
The lawmaker who ruined the John Travolta extortion trial is as lucky as he is dumb -- a judge decided today not to punish him for his monumental mistake.
Senior Justice Anita Allen told Picewell Forbes -- who announced defendant Pleasant Bridgewater was innocent before the jury had come to a decision -- he had been "rightly ridiculed locally and internationally ... It is my opinion that you have suffered enough."
Forbes avoided being charged with contempt of court -- which could have landed him a fine or jail time -- by claiming he was only repeating a rumor he had heard about the verdict.
In case you forgot what it sounds like when an extortion trial gets flushed down the toilet ... here's audio and video of Picewell screaming "Pleasant Bridgewater is a free woman" over and over.
Filed under: John Travolta
TMZ has obtained audio of the moment when Bahamian lawmaker Picewell Forbes blew the entire John Travolta extortion case -- screaming out at a political convention last night that "Pleasant Bridgewater is a free woman!!!"
Big mistake: Because when the judge found out the announcement had been made before the jury had come to a decision in the Travolta case -- the judge declared it a mistrial, believing someone in the jury could have been "communicating" with the lawmaker.
FYI -- Pleasant Bridgewater is a former Senator from the Progressive Liberal Party -- and the announcement was made at a PLP convention.
The PLP released the following apology for their monumental blunder:
"Last evening in the course of an address at our National General Convention, it was announced that former Senator Pleasant Bridgewater had been acquitted. The announcement was incorrect. We give an unqualified apology. This was not intended to interfere with the administration of justice."
More TravoltaFiled under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta, Exclusives
The judge in the John Travolta extortion case has declared a mistrial, reportedly because of jury misconduct.
Justice Anita Allen released the jury and declared a mistrial after learning that a member of Parliament announced at a political convention that defendant Pleasant Bridgewater -- a former Senator -- had been acquitted by the jury.
It's unclear if jurors had actually reached a verdict. There's an unconfirmed report that one of the jurors may have communicated information to the Parliament member who spoke out.
No word on whether the jury may have reached a verdict on Tarino Lightbourne.
Story developing ...
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta
Joe Halderman -- the man accused of trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman -- was spotted at a Connecticut train station this morning, allegedly heading to NYC.
The camera guy asks Halderman how he's doing -- we can't tell if he says "Hey," "Great" or something else.
FYI -- Halderman has pled not guilty to the felony charge of attempted grand larceny in the first degree.
Filed under: Paparazzi Video, David Letterman
A Bahamas cop just testified defendant Pleasant Bridgewater admitted to giving key evidence in the case the dead goldfish treatment ... flushing it down a toilet at her home on the island.
Det. Sgt. Debra Thompson testified today about what went down on January 22 when they arrested Bridgewater -- who allegedly helped broker the extortion deal between paramedic Tarino Lightbourne and John's lawyer.
Thompson said the day of the arrest, they searched Bridgewater's office at her law firm ... with Bridgewater in tow.
At the office, Thompson said Bridgewater told them they weren't going to find what they were looking for -- a copy of the extortion document -- because she burned it with a candle and then flushed it down one of the toilets at her house.
Thompson said they then escorted Bridgewater to her home, where she actually showed them the candle in question -- so they took photos of it.
Thompson didn't say if they also took pics of the commode.
UPDATE: The prosecution is through calling witnesses -- they'll all be back in court on Tuesday. Stay tuned!
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta
John Travolta's lawyer just dropped a huge bombshell in open court -- dude just spit out a movie quote from "A Few Good Men."
It all went down after the people accused of extorting Travolta tried to turn the tables -- claiming Travolta's lawyer was the person who actually hatched the extortion plot.
But Travolta's lawyer, Michael McDermott, was furious -- and fired back, "You can't handle the truth! You can't handle the truth!"
The lawyer for the alleged extortionists replied, "You've watched 'A Few Good Men,' huh?"
The drama continues...
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta
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