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Madoff's yacht, 2 smaller boats on auction block
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2009/11/16 01:46
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| pA vintage 55-foot yacht named Bull and two smaller boats that once belonged to imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff are headed for the auction block, along with an even bigger yacht once owned by Madoff's right-hand man./ppMadoff's 1969 Rybovitch sportfisher, a wooden boat meticulously restored, is the prize offering at Tuesday's private auction. As of Monday, 29 people had put up a $100,000 deposit for the opportunity to bid and more were expected to register, according to the U.S. Marshals Service./ppPeople have heard of it. It's a piece of history, said Bob Toney, president and CEO of National Liquidators, which is handling the auction for the government./ppAlso for sale are Madoff's 38-foot Shelter Island runabout, named Sitting Bull, and a 24-foot Maverick center console named Little Bull. Then there's Madoff's black 1999 Mercedes-Benz CLK 320 convertible, which has just 12,800 miles on the odometer, and a 61-foot Viking fishing yacht formerly owned by Madoff's ex-chief financial officer, Frank DiPascali./ppTogether, the vessels and car could fetch several million dollars, but officials don't want to put a price tag on any particular item before the auction. Madoff's notoriety could also boost the final sales prices, said Jennifer Crane of the Marshals' asset forfeiture division./p |
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Lawsuit Alleges KFC Causes Cancer, Customers Shrug
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2009/10/26 09:37
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A national doctors group filed suit against KFC last month in San Francisco, alleging that the fast food chain’s new grilled chicken product contains carcinogens and should be required to come with a warning.
“This is an issue of alerting the public to the danger,” said Dan Kinburn, general counsel for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. “We’re not suing for damages. We’re suing for warning labels. We want people to know about this risk.”
An advertisement for KFC's grilled chicken inside the Mission restaurant.
An advertisement for KFC's grilled chicken inside the Mission restaurant.
The group collected 12 samples of chicken from six KFC locations in the Bay Area. Analysis from an independent testing lab found all the samples contained PhIP, a chemical classified as a carcinogen by the federal government and the state of California.
KFC advertises its grilled chicken as a “better-for-you option for health-conscious customers,” according to its web site.
Unaware of the lawsuit, customers streamed into KFC/Taco Bell last week at the corner of Duboce Avenue and Guerrero Street in the Mission District. Behind the counter, employees grilled sizzling chicken and sprayed condiments into burritos from what looked like industrial caulking guns.
“I think anyone that eats here already understands that they are eating such unhealthy food that one more carcinogen is sort of a drop in the bucket,” said 24-year-old Nick Namoto, who comes to the restaurant because it’s quick and cheap.
“Is it fair that you poison people with food? Not really. But people are eating here willingly,” he said, “and people that don’t know that they’re eating poison here are idiots.”
While it might be common knowledge that fast food is far from wholesome, the physicians group said they are targeting KFC because the company has been marketing its grilled chicken products as a healthy alternative to its fried foods.
He said the suit hopes to set a precedent by requiring warning labels that will be applied to other products containing PhIP beyond the poultry empire built by Colonel Sanders.
Numerous studies conducted over decades have shown eating PhIP significantly increases the risk of developing various forms of cancer, Kinburn said.
According to California’s Proposition 65, passed in 1986, businesses must warn customers if they are exposing them to chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects.
While the lawsuit targets KFC, Kinburn said PhIP isn’t limited to chicken prepared by the fast food chain. He said the chemical is produced anytime chicken is cooked above 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Whether you do it in a fast food restaurant, in sit-down restaurant, in your own oven or on a barbeque grill, you’re going to get PhIP,” he said. “Actually, all animal flesh cooked hot enough and long enough will create PhIP. That includes shrimp and fish.” |
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Court won't review Fla. Pledge of Allegiance law
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2009/10/05 14:30
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| pThe Supreme Court has rejected an appeal to review a Florida law that requires public school students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance each day unless they have their parents' written permission excusing them./ppThe justices declined Monday an appeal filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida on behalf of a high school student removed from his math class because he remained seated during the pledge./ppA federal appeals court upheld most of the law. The ACLU said that ruling, if left undisturbed, would undermine the Supreme Court's 1943 ruling that schoolchildren could not be forced to salute the flag and say the pledge./ppFlorida argued that the law, by giving parents the right to have their children excused, does not violate the First Amendment./p |
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Madoff trustee sues Madoff family for almost $200M
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2009/10/02 15:46
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| pPresident BaracBernard Madoff's brother, sons and a niece used the family finance business like a piggy bank, a court-appointed trustee charged Friday as he demanded in a lawsuit that they return almost $200 million in money to be distributed to cheated investors./ppThe trustee, Irving Picard, sought $198.7 million from Madoff's brother, Peter, who had worked at Madoff's Manhattan investment company since 1965, and sons, Mark and Andrew./ppAlso sued was Shana D. Madoff, Bernard Madoff's niece and Peter Madoff's daughter./ppLawyers for the Madoff's brother and sons did not immediately return a phone call for comment. A message for comment left at Shana Madoff's East Hampton home was not immediately returned./ppLawyers for Picard said in papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan that Madoff's family-run business was operated as if it were the family piggy bank./ppThey said each of the family members withdrew huge sums of money to fund personal business ventures and to pay for expenses ranging from multimillion dollar homes, cars and boats to monthly credit card charges for restaurants, vacations and clothing./ppThe lawyers said $141 million identified as fraudulent proceeds were received by the family members in the six years before Madoff surrendered and revealed his plot last December while at least $58 million was received in the last two years./p |
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