Seriously? OMG! WTF?

Two cousins who admitted stealing more than $1 million from the Songwriters Guild of America could soon be singing "Jailhouse Rock."The cousins, Anthony Ray, 33, of Providence, R.I., and Nicole Williams, 27, of Brooklyn, admitted the theft last week when pleading guilty to conspiracy charges in Newark Federal Court. They face up to five years in prison.Authorities said that from August 2001 to June 2005, the cousins received a total of $1.2 million embezzled from the guild by a third relative, a royalties manager who was hired in 2001 to oversee its Weehawken, N.J., office.The unidentified manager allegedly funneled the money to Ray in a series of guild royalty checks, investigators with the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Postal Service found.Ray ultimately deposited a total of $802,721 in a Providence bank. The manager has not been charged and is still under investigation.The Songwriters Guild of America collects and distributes songwriting royalties for Quincy Jones, the estate of Ray Charles and other stars.Investigators said the theft was not immediately discovered because the funds came from an escrow account set aside for songwriters the guild has not located.The investigation began after the bank notified the IRS of large deposits by Ray – banks are required to report transactions over $10,000.Authorities said the IRS quizzed the royalties manager, who stalled them, and in the meantime, the three allegedly bought property in upstate New York in an attempt to hide the money.Guild President Rick Carnes, reached at his Nashville home, said, "They hid it well. Once we discovered the money was missing, we had to spend a fortune on accountants trying to trace it. We were sitting down for 18 months putting this thing together. But Anthony Ray couldn’t account for the money, so that brought the FBI in.""If any active songwriters hadn’t been paid the money due them, we would have found out sooner," said Carnes. "We had a system of checks and balances in place but since the accounts were dormant, no one noticed for awhile. We’ve got an ironclad method for avoiding this in the future, though."Charles Sanders, a lawyer for the guild, said, "We’re remaining hopeful that the money will be recovered. Cash reserves have been set aside for nonrecovered funds but we’re hoping it won’t be a large amount."In addition to the prison terms, Ray and Williams each face $250,000 in fines. And Ray faces an additional $100,000 fine on his guilty plea to tax evasion. The duo will be sentenced in December.

NY Daily News (Thanks Dad!) 

I bet they were taking money from the dead songwriter’s who no have estates to give the money to.

US soul singer Ronald Isley has been jailed for tax fraud.The Isley Brothers frontman has been sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay more than $3.1m (£1.62m) to the US tax service for "pathological" evasion, reports the BBC.The court heard that the 64-year-old, whose band won a Grammy in 1970 for their hit ‘It’s Your Thing’, cashed royalty cheques belonging to his late brother O’Kelly and spent millions of dollars made from undeclared performances on a yacht and two homes.Despite suffering a stroke last year and a battle with kidney cancer, US District Court Judge Dean Pregerson refused to give Isley a lesser sentence on the grounds of ill health.The three Isley Brothers began their career in the 1950s, which continued into the 1970s as the line-up expanded with other family members.
They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Isley and his younger brother Ernie also scored a chart-topping album with ‘Body Kiss’ three years ago. Isley and his current wife Kandy are expecting a baby in early 2007.

NME

With all his hardships and to still be jailed, he must’ve really pissed of the Judge. 

Mos Def was arrested last night for disorderly conduct outside the Radio City Music Hall, where the MTV Video Music Awards were taking place.The rapper was performing an impromptu version ‘Katrina Clap’, a song which criticised George Bush. The rapper had showed up in a flatbed truck at 10pm for an impromptu show.Authorities asked Mos Def and members of his entourage to shut down their operation due to crowd conditions and the overall safety of everyone involved, MTV News reports. When this did not happen police began arresting members of his entourage and the rapper himself.Mos Def’s publicist Carleen Donovan said: "Mos Def was unjustly arrested tonight…was not out to break any laws."His only goal was to heighten the awareness of a serious situation that still exists in our country."He does not want people to forget that although it’s one year later, the people and cities hit by the hurricane still need the help of the American people."Mos Def was released early this morning . It is as yet unclear whether he has been charged with any offence.

NME

That is more exciting than the VMAs!

The star of the hit TV show ‘How Clean Is Your House?’ Kim Woodburn could face a prison sentence after she revealed she buried her still born baby in a park in Liverpool.In her new autobiography ‘Unbeaten’, Woodburn revealed that in 1965, when she was 23, she delivered a premature still born baby boy and buried him using a spoon to dig his grave in a park.Police have become involved and after questioning the blonde bombshell warned her that she could face two years in prison.Speaking to First magazine Kim said: "I was interviewed by the Merseyside Police last week and although they were terribly nice, I sobbed throughout the interview,""It brought it all back you see, all the details going down on tape."I know the offence carries a two-year prison sentence, but do you know what? I don’t care. I really don’t care. I don’t want to go to prison, but if it has to be, it has to be.”

Entertainment Wise 

I doubt she will go to jail, but I am sure her career is over.

Caprice is planning to sell her car on auction website eBay, after being banned from driving for 12 months for drink-driving on Friday. The 34-year-old was arrested in central London on December 10 last year and subsequently failed a test, which showed her to have more than the legal limit of alcohol in her blood. The model now wants to auction the Mercedes SLK car she was caught drink-driving in, as she has no immediate use for it. She hopes the luxury vehicle will sell for around €45,000.

IOL

If it wasn’t for The Surreal Life, I would not know who she is. 

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