Artist Accuses Former Boy Toy of $2M Shakedown
A successful New York artist who shacked up in the Hamptons with a younger man he met online brought a lawsuit Thursday, claiming that he was the victim of a humiliating extortion attempt.
Read moreExtortion
Texas Woman Gets 7 Years for ‘Virtual Kidnapping’
A federal judge sentenced a Texas woman to 88 months in prison Thursday for her role in a scheme to extort money from dozens of people in three states by falsely representing via prepaid phones that their children had been kidnapped.
Read moreMan Accuses Car-Rental Business of Extortion, Planting Pot in Car
A Miami man sued Advantage Rent A Car in a Colorado state court Monday, claiming that an employee rented him a Toyota Camry at the Denver International Airport packed with 40 pounds of pot in the trunk.
Read moreOnline Extortion
Reflex Media accused five businesses in a federal complaint of setting up fake accounts on its Seeking Arrangement dating site to get personal information about users that they use to extort the men by threatening to post the information online with false claims of child predation.
Read moreAnkle Bracelets
A federal class action accuses Alameda County and Leaders in Community Alternatives of racketeering, for allowing Leaders to “extort money” by charging $25.50 a day for court-ordered GPS or alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelets.
Read moreNY Corruption Crackdown Ends in Ex-Senator’s Conviction
Completing an anti-corruption crusade that swept New York’s government, a federal jury found the state’s former Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son guilty on all counts at a retrial on Tuesday.
Read moreAlleged Co-Owners of Mugshots.com Charged With Extortion
Two men alleged to be the co-owners of Mugshots.com had their own booking photos taken on Wednesday after South Florida police arrested them following a warrant issued by California’s attorney general.
Read moreMan Charged With Attempting to Extort Kevin Hart
Prosecutors in Los Angeles on Wednesday charged a man they say tried to extort money from comedian Kevin Hart by threatening to sell a sexually suggestive video of him with a woman in Las Vegas to celebrity news websites.
Read morePot Shop Shakedown Lands SoCal Man in the Soup
A former staffer for a member of Congress faces up to 18 years in prison after a federal jury on Thursday convicted him of bribery and attempted extortion for taking $5,000 to protect a Compton marijuana store from closing.
Read moreBefore Closings, Count Dropped Against Ex-Aide to NY Governor
Charged with accepting more than $300,000 in bribes, the former deputy of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo won dismissal of an extortion count ahead of closing arguments set to begin Tuesday.
Read moreRepublican State Senator Charged With Video Voyeurism, Extortion
A Rhode Island state senator under investigation by state police since January was arrested Friday on charges of video voyeurism and extortion.
Read moreGay Porn Actor’s Extortion Conviction Affirmed by 9th Circuit
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a gay porn actor’s conviction for blackmailing a Florida tech tycoon, ruling that fear of repetitional harm supported the government’s federal extortion charges.
Read moreLatest Sex Scandal Involves Governor of Missouri
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said Thursday she will launch a criminal investigation into whether Governor Eric Greitens blackmailed a former mistress.
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Parents Say Proselytizing Teacher Got Their Son Falsely Jailed
Parents of an autistic child sued a Texas school district this week, claiming that when he resisted a teacher’s efforts to “save” him through religion, she falsely reported him for making a terrorist threat and got him thrown in jail.
Read more‘Prominent Public Figure’ Calls Porn Site’s Tactics Extortion
A prominent member of the LBGT community claims an adult entertainment company tried to extort him and other subscribers by falsely accusing them of pirating its content on file-sharing sites, and demanded thousands of dollars to settle the cases out of court.
Read moreTeamsters Acquitted at ‘Top Chef’ Extortion Trial
The four Teamsters who crashed a “Top Chef” shoot with shouting and slurs won acquittal on federal extortion charges Tuesday.
Read moreJury Deliberations Kick Off in ‘Top Chef’ Union Trial
A jury weighing federal charges against four Teamsters who antagonized the Boston set of the popular reality show “Top Chef” in 2014 began deliberations Thursday after six days of testimony.
Read more‘Top Chef’ Stars Testify Against Arrested Teamsters
Testifying against a group of Teamsters who crashed the set of Bravo television series “Top Chef,” stars Padmi Lakshmi and Gail Simmons said the ordeal terrified them.
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Ex-Congressional Staffer Accused of Extorting LA Pot Shop
A former congressional staffer who worked for current LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn has been charged with taking $5,000 in bribes from a marijuana dispensary.
Read moreProsecutors in ‘Top Chef’ Extortion Trial Say Teamsters Threatened Host
In opening statements of the union members’ extortion trial, prosecutors said Tuesday that a quintet of Boston Teamsters terrified Top Chef star host Padma Lakshmi with a threat to “smash your pretty little face.”
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