Van der Sloot Was Paid $25,000 By the FBI in Sting
According to the NY Post, murder suspect Joran Van der Sloot was paid $25,000 in a sting operation by the FBI in exchange for the location where he buried American student Natalie Holloway’s body.
Holloway went missing during a senior class graduation trip to the Arubas on May 30, 2005. Van der Sloot was the prime suspect in that case from the beginning. He was arrested twice but Aruban authorities didn’t have the evidence to make a charge stick.
The case was revived in April after Van der Sloot contacted a lawyer for Hollyway’s family and requested $250,000 to tell them where her body was buried. The FBI sent 10-12 agents to Aruba to conduct a sting operation, according to the AP.
“He wanted to come clean, but he also wanted money,” said private investigator, Bo Dietl, who was hired by the Holloway family.
John Kelly, the lawyer for Holloway’s family, met with Van der Sloot in a Aruba hotel where he was videotaped accepting a $25,000 cash down payment. He was told he would receive the balance of the $250,000 when Holloway’s body was found.
Van der Sloot told Kelly on tape that he pushed Holloway down and she hit her head and died. Van der Sloot said after Holloway died, he contacted his father who helped him bury the body. His father passed away of a heart attack in January of this year.
After taking the money, Van der Sloot led Kelly to a location on the island, but no body was found.
Van der sloot then traveled to Peru where he met 22-year-old Stefany Flores Ramirez at a casino. Ramirez’s body was found a day later in a Peru hotel room registered to Van der Sloot. Her neck was broken and she was badly beaten. Van der Sloot allegedly confessed to killing Ramirez, but his attorney now says his confession was coerced.
Celebs Out & About
Actor Shemar Moore was spotted leaving his doctor’s office in Beverly Hills today. This makes the second time in recent months that Shemar has been seen leaving a doctor’s office. Why would a strapping, seemingly healthy young man like Shemar need to visit the doctor so frequently?
Singer Mario and Amber Rose’s side pice Dez showed up at Lil Jon’s album release party at Playhouse Hollywood in LA last night. I guess Dez is trying to follow in Amber’s footsteps by aligning herself with gay men in the industry that she doesn’t have to worry about putting out for? I’m just guessing.
Edited to add this picture of actor Larenz Tate and producer Jermaine Dupri at his Hip Hop Honoree party at the Gold Room on Monday (June 7). More pics in a minute.
Tabloid Publishes Gary Coleman Hospital Deathbed Photos
A tabloid has published graphic photos showing brain dead actor Gary Coleman with his ex-wife Shannon Price leaning over him. Coleman’s head is swathed in bandages and a breathing tube from a ventilator machine is inserted in his throat.
The tabloid headline blares “IT WAS MURDER” — which is interesting considering the tabloid allegedly paid Price $10,000 for the pictures.
Coleman suffered a serious head injury during a fall at his home shortly after leaving a dialysis clinic on May 26. He passed away two days later at a Utah hospital after being removed from life support once doctors determined his brain was no longer functioning.
Price gave doctors permission to turn off a ventilator that was breathing for Coleman and to stop IV nutrition and meds that were keeping him alive.
Price and Coleman were divorced in 2008, but Coleman had previously named her in his living will giving her the authority to make life and death decisions for him.
According to TMZ.com, the hospital staff knew Price and her family were inside the ICU taking pictures of Coleman:
A rep from Utah Valley Regional Medical Center tells us, “We were aware that Shannon and her family were inside taking pictures … we made notes that the family was taking pictures.”
Shannon’s rep — who had previously doubted the existence of the photos — now tells us, “Shannon and her family did take pictures but they were never meant to get out.”
Ever since the news broke about the existence of the pictures, Price and her rep have denied accusations that she is attempting to profit off of Coleman’s death.
Photo source: CA
Lawsuits: Failing Newspapers Declare War On Bloggers
It had to come to this: failing newspapers all over the country are filing lawsuits against bloggers (big and small) who republish large chunks of their stories on their blogs.
We’re not talking about your usual run-of-the-mill cease & desist letters or DMCA take down notices either. According to the LA Times, one newspaper has already filed 30 lawsuits against websites and blogs, including a small cat blog that has no ads.
Reporters and editors get understandably peeved when they see paragraph after paragraph of their work reprinted by competitors — regurgitation so extensive that there’s no reason for the reader to seek out the original, even when a link is provided. [LINK]
If you’re a small blogger who generously helps yourself to entire news stories from other media outlets, you should pay attention because you might be next.
“It took some blood, sweat and tears to get this material,” said Mark Hinueber, general counsel for Stephens Media. “It’s just wrong to then have some guy in his basement taking this stuff wholesale, selling ads around it and making money.” [LINK]
Newspapers are laying off staff and shutting down all over the country. The few remaining papers are hemorrhaging money and they have decided something has to be done about the little upstart bloggers who are stealing their hard work.
The LA Times article provided tips for bloggers who wish to avoid future litigation: “…don’t republish more than three paragraphs. Always name your source. Always link to the original.”
Alicia Keys and Swizz Beaks in London’s Heathrow Airport
Alicia Keys and her sperm donor Swizz Beaks were spotted in London’s Heathrow airport this morning.
You can tell Swizz really loves her because this is what she looks like in the morning when she wakes up. Those die hard pimples are still hanging in there years after being hit with the best pimple medicine on the market.
Celebs Out & About
Beyonce and Jay-Z (not pictured) were seen leaving Mr. Chow’s restaurant in London last night. Former Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland is also in London where she might be a bigger star than Beyonce. Coincidentally, Kelly is staying at the same hotel (May Fair) that Usher checked out of over the weekend. I’m just sayin’.
One loyal reader emailed me to ask why Beyonce and Kelly haven’t met up yet if they’re both in London. He also wondered if I thought the recent get-together by Beyonce and Kelly in NYC was just a rumor manufactured by Bey’s dad/manager Matthew Knowles. Honestly — and I don’t mean to sound harsh here, but I couldn’t care less.
Twitter FAIL: Don’t You Wish This Really Was Lil Kim’s Twitter Account?
Last night, during the boring game 3 of the NBA Finals, I logged into my Twitter account to check my DMs and I noticed a few “tweets” debating if a certain celebrity Twitter account was real. The fake account was in the name of the Queen Bee, Lil Kim.
When I checked the page, I saw that she had about 26,000+ followers, but her tweets were extremely juvenile. So I tweeted other celebrities on Twitter, Monica (@MonicaMyLife) and Free (@MissFree), to see if the account was legit. But neither of them knew.
Finally, J.Peak of Peak Publicity (@PeakPublicity) got in touch with the Queen herself via text and she denied the account was hers.
But wouldn’t it be truly awesome if that account really was her and she really was going in on other celebrities? Twitter would have experienced a melt down similar to the one that the Boston Celtics experienced on their home court when they lost to the LA Cry Babies.
Two weekends ago, I had drinks with industry insiders at a local bar. Everyone at the table agreed that it really was a young, confused Nicki Minaj in this video claiming she ate Remy Ma’s box.
Though she will never admit it (and we don’t really need her to since it’s been confirmed) — it shows just how easily Nicki can morph into different personalities like she changes her underwear.
