Legal
Britney Spears’ Ex-Husband Jason Alexander Ordered to Stand Trial on Felony Stalking Charge
A California judge found Monday (June 27) that there is enough evidence against a man once briefly married to Britney Spears who showed up uninvited at the pop star’s wedding to go to trial on a felony stalking charge. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news After a two-hour preliminary hearing, Ventura County Judge David Worley ruled that 40-year-old Jason Allen Alexander should be held to answer on the charge, along with misdemeanor counts of trespassing, vandalism and battery, court records showed. Not-guilty pleas to all the charges were entered by an attorney for Alexander, who did not attend and remains jailed. Spears married longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari at her home in Thousand Oaks, Calif., on June 9, in front of several dozen guests i...
R. Kelly Supporter Arrested for Threatening Prosecutors, Accepting Payments for Ammunition
An Illinois man has been arrested for threatening federal prosecutors involved in the New York criminal case against R. Kelly, a representative for the U.S. Department of Justice tells Billboard. Christopher Gunn, a resident of Bolingbrook, Illinois, was arrested on Saturday and made an initial court appearance on Monday (June 27) before Magistrate Judge Young Kim in Chicago. He was ordered to remain detained without bond pending a detention hearing Wednesday; the Department of Justice is seeking his removal in custody to New York. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted. In a court document obtained by Billboard, Gunn is charged with “knowingly and intentionally transmit[ing] in interstate and foreign commerce communications containing threats … that would result in the death or ...
Nipsey Hussle Murder Trial Marked by Witnesses’ Reluctance to Testify
A judge issued a warrant Thursday for an eyewitness to the shooting death of rapper Nipsey Hussle for failing to appear to testify at the trial of the man charged in the slaying, and in his absence a police detective testified on the reluctance of witnesses that has marked the case. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Evan “Rimpau” MacKenzie, a close friend of Hussle’s who was a pallbearer at his funeral and was standing next to him when he was shot, has repeatedly ignored subpoenas ordering him to appear and testify for the prosecution, resulting in Judge H. Clay Jacke II issuing a bench warrant with $500,000 bail. “Mr. Mackenzie, did he express a reluctance to testify?” Aaron Jansen, attorney for defendant Eric Holder, asked Los...
Here’s Why Dua Lipa Can Be Sued for Posting Photos of Herself
For the second time in a year, Dua Lipa is facing a lawsuit over posting a paparazzi picture of herself to her Instagram account. In a suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in California, New York-based photographer Robert Barbera claims that the singer committed copyright infringement by posting pics he took of her to the platform in July 2018. On the surface, it might seem odd that a celebrity can be sued for posting a picture of themselves on social media. But in these cases, the law is fairly clear on what rights stars have when it comes to this corner of the intellectual property world. “Generally, under U.S. copyright law, the person who ‘authored’ a work is the copyright owner,” reads an explainer article posted by the business/entertainment Romano Law firm on the subject in N...
Dua Lipa Sued (Again) for Posting Paparazzi Photos of Herself to Instagram
Dua Lipa is being sued for posting paparazzi photos of herself to Instagram for the second time in a year, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in California. This time, a New York-based photographer named Robert Barbera is claiming the singer committed copyright infringement after posting photos he took of her in July 2018 to the social media platform. “Without permission or authorization from Plaintiff, Defendant volitionally selected, copied, stored and displayed each of Plaintiff’s copyright protected Photographs,” the complaint, written by attorney Craig Sanders, reads. The photos in question, which were also taken in July 2018 and attached as an exhibit to the suit, show Lipa wearing a black sweater bearing the word “HEROES” in large capital letters. As in the pr...
DEL Records CEO Angel del Villar Arrested for Working With Mexican Promoter Tied to Cartels
DEL Records CEO Angel del Villar was arrested by FBI agents on Tuesday (June 14) and is being charged with “conspiring to violate the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act,” according to an official statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Luca Scalisi, CFO of DEL Entertainment, was also arrested. According to the U.S. Attorney, del Villar and Scalisi were charged for “conducting business with a Guadalajara-based concert promoter with ties to Mexican drug cartels.” A third defendant named in the complaint is Mexican music promoter Jesus Perez Alvear, who leads Gallistica Diamente (Ticket Premier) and until March 2019 promoted concerts in Mexico for DEL Entertainment. Perez and Gallistica Diamante are listed as “Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers” under the Kingpin A...
Britney Spears’ First Husband Jason Alexander Charged With Stalking Her at Her Wedding
A man once briefly married to Britney Spears was charged Monday (June 13) with felony stalking after showing up at the pop star’s wedding to longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari. Jason Alexander, 40, pleaded not guilty in Ventura County court to the charge, along with misdemeanor counts of trespassing, vandalism and battery. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Alexander remained jailed, and appeared in court via video conference. A judge set his bail at $100,000 and issued a restraining order requiring him to stay at least 100 yards from Spears for three years. Alexander was Spears’ first husband. The two were married for less than three days in 2004 before an annulment. Spears, 40, and Asghari, 28, were married Thursday at her home in Thousand O...
Halsey Responds to Nanny’s Wrongful Termination Lawsuit, Calls Claims ‘Baseless’
Halsey is facing a new lawsuit that claims the star fired their nanny after she requested time off for a medical procedure, but the singer is calling the case “baseless.” In a complaint filed Thursday (June 9) in Los Angeles court, former nanny Ashley Funches claims the “Without Me” singer forced her to work “around the clock on consecutive days with little to no day of rest” and failed to pay overtime – and then fired her when she sought time off for medical care. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Plaintiff sent defendants a text message informing defendants that plaintiff may need to undergo a medical procedure that would require her to take a leave of absence from work,” attorneys for Funches wrote in their complaint. “A few days late...
R. Kelly Should Get 25 Years in Prison, Federal Prosecutors Say
Federal prosecutors in New York told a judge Wednesday (June 8) that R. Kelly should go to prison for more than 25 years following his conviction last year on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. The singer, they said, “avoided punishment for them for almost 30 years and must now be held to account.” Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news After decades of accusations of sexual misconduct, Kelly was convicted in September on nine counts related to accusations that the singer orchestrated a long-running scheme to recruit and abuse women and underage girls. He plans to appeal the verdict, but not before he’s sentenced on June 29. In a brief filed Wednesday, prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn urged Judge Ann M. Donnelly t...
Mariah Carey Accused of Stealing ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ in $20M Lawsuit
Mariah Carey is being sued for $20 million by a Mississippi artist who claims the singer stole her perennial holiday blockbuster “All I Want for Christmas is You” from him and denied him his rightful profits from the song. In the complaint, which was filed on Friday (June 3) in Louisiana district court by attorneys Douglas Schmidt and Andrew Abrams, Vince Vance (née Andy Stone) says Carey and her “All I Want” co-writer Walter Afanasieff willfully infringed his copyright of the song and have been unjustly enriching themselves ever since. Afanasieff and Sony Music, which released “All I Want for Christmas is You” on Columbia Records, are named as co-defendants in the suit, along with Sony Corp. of America. Described as a “self-employed artist,” Vance says he co-wrote the song of the same nam...
Sevenn Files Copyright Claims Against Alok in Brazilian Court
Dance music producers Sean and Kevin Brauer are formally pursuing copyright claims for 19 songs they say they worked on for the Brazilian DJ Alok over five years, for which they say they were denied proper credit. In a filing in a São Paulo civil court last month, the Brauer brothers, who have performed as the dance duo Sevenn, say they want the court to initiate a technical review of the authorship of the releases, which include some of Alok’s better-known songs, including “Favela” featuring Ina Wroldson, Alok and his brother Bhaskar’s “Fuego,” and a remix of Mick Jagger’s “Gotta Get A Grip.” The songs were produced while the Brauers — who are Brazilian-American dual nationals — were living mostly in Brazil, but their Rio de Janeiro-based attorney Eduardo Senna says that the brothers coul...
Gibson Wins Jury Verdict Against Dean Over Guitar Shapes
A federal jury mostly sided with Gibson Brands on Friday (May 27) in a lawsuit that accused rival Dean Guitars of copying the shape of the company’s guitars like the Flying V, though the jurors awarded Gibson just $4,000 in damages. The verdict came after more than three years of litigation and two weeks of trial over whether Dean parent company Armadillo Enterprises infringed trademark-protected design elements of several Gibson guitars, including the Flying V, Explorer, ES, SG and the Dove Wing. In a key win for Gibson, the jurors rejected arguments by Dean that those designs had become so commonplace that they’re now “generic” and free for all to use. And with that finding, the jurors also said Dean had infringed those designs by selling look-alike guitars. But the jury also found that ...
