fraud-related stories
Posted May 11th 2007 9:21AM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Late Night, Video, Web, Celebrities
Almost a year ago, Bob linked to a segment from The Tonight Show in 1973 in which professional "spoon bender" Uri Geller was exposed on national television by Carson and frequent Carson guest and professional debunker James Randi. The clip, via YouTube, was part of a larger documentary about hoaxes.
Recently, citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Geller's company, Explorologist Ltd., demanded the clip be removed for violation of copyright. YouTube suspended the account of the user who posted the video.
Continue reading Uri Geller sued after attempting to remove YouTube clip
Posted May 10th 2007 2:02PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Web, Celebrities
Remember when the General Lee (or one of many versions) went up for auction on eBay recently and someone finally won the auction with a bid of $9,900,500?
Well, the person who made that bid, one William Fisher, has disappeared, along with the alleged $9,900,500 he was supposedly going to pay for the 1969 Dodge Charger owned by actor John Schneider (Bo Duke). The car itself was never used on the original series, but it did appear in the TV movie Dukes Go to Hollywood.
Continue reading eBay bidder fails to pay for General Lee
Posted Mar 10th 2007 10:01AM by Adam Finley
Filed under: PBS, Documentary
Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room, the Academy Award-nominated documentary from 2005 that tells the story of the Enron scandal, will be featured on PBS' Independent Lens showcase on April 24 at 10:00 p.m. The televised version also features a new conversation from January 2007 with co-authors Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, two Fortune reporters who wrote the book The Smartest Guys in the Room, on which the documentary is based.
Continue reading Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room to have TV debut on PBS with new footage
Posted Jan 19th 2006 1:59PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, FOX, Talent, American Idol

Damn. I really liked these two. Terrell and Derrell Brittenum, 28, are accused of stealing a man's identity to buy a
2005 Dodge Magnum last June in Georgia. Terrell has been sitting in jail since January 10, and Derrell is expected to
turn himself in soon on charges of forgery, theft by deception, and financial identity fraud. Wow. That's serious
stuff. The brothers are from Memphis but they auditioned in Chicago last September. I wonder if they drove that stolen
Magnum up for the occasion?
Such a waste of a good talent. Both of these guys sounded spectacular in their
auditions on Tuesday night. And, what I really liked about them was that they "got it". That is, they
auditioned together, as twins, but they also belted out separate songs to show off their individuality. The Brittenum
boys understood that the twin gimmick wouldn't get them very far in the auditions process. They even told Seacrest that
they didn't want to perform together, but against each other. I was really looking forward to a twin face-off.
Posted Jan 11th 2006 9:52AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Talent, Survivor

The very first winner of
Survivor could be headed for prison. Richard Hatch is accused of not paying income
tax on his $1 million prize and on other income. Hatch is also accused of spending money on himself that had been
earmarked for a charity that he helped create. Charges include tax evasion, filing a false tax return, wire fraud, bank
fraud and mail fraud.
Hatch and his youthful-looking
boytoy attorney appeared in court on
Tuesday as the task of jury selection began. Media reports say, when potential jurors entered the courtroom, a lot of
them appeared to recognize Hatch and whispered to each other. I think I know what they were saying: "I've seen
that man naked."
Jury selection continues today, then opening arguments should begin on Thursday. The
trial is expected to last up to three weeks.