Fosse/Verdon: Michelle Williams named for Fosse/Verdon at SAG Awards
21 January, 2020
Michelle Williams was named best female actor in a TV movie or miniseries for her role in Fosse/Verdon at the 26th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards
[January 7 2020 accepts The Golden Globe ]
“I’ve tried my very best to live a life of my own making,” she continued, “not just a series of events that happened to me but one that I can stand back and look at and recognize my handwriting all over, sometimes messy and scrawling, sometimes careful and precise, but one that I had carved with my own hand. And I wouldn’t have been able to do this without employing a woman’s right to choose.” The progression—from artistry to agency to electoral urgency—was as beautifully angled as a Bob Fosse pose. Our political could take notes on fusing the personal and the political.
[December 11 2019 SAG, Golden Globes 2020: nominations ]
Screen Actors Guild Nominees For 2020
Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
Michelle Williams, Fosse/Verdon
Golden Globes 2020: nominations
Best limited series or TV film Fosse/Verdon
Michelle Williams, Fosse/Verdon
Sam Rockwell, Fosse/Verdon
[September 22 2019 lit the world? ]
[June 6 2019]
Michelle Williams is expected to receive an Emmy nomination for Fosse/Verdon when they are announced next month. It would be her first. The show, though, hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire the way Murphy’s shows are pop culture centerpieces, and it lags behind “Fargo” in critical acclaim, standing at a serviceable 68 on Metacritic. But “Fosse/Verdon” did have its best episode of the season with the seventh hour, which focused on Bob Fosse (Rockwell) and Gwen Verdon‘s (Williams) original production of “Chicago” and featured a dynamite turn from Williams. Yahoo Entertainment/Goldderby.com
*5/31/19 update: The series came to a natural conclusion so it’s clear that there won’t be a second season of Fosse/Verdon.
4/9/2019 01-01 0.13[18-49 demo] 0.614[Viewers(mil) ]
4/16/2019 01-02 0.10[18-49 Demo] -23.08% 0.425[mil] -30.78%[%mil change]
4/23/2019 01-03 0.13 30.00% 0.453 6.59%
4/30/2019 01-04 0.13 0.00% 0.429 -5.30%
5/7/2019 01-05 0.07 -46.15% 0.312 -27.27%
5/14/2019 01-06 0.12 71.43% 0.364 16.67%
5/21/2019 01-07 0.07 -41.67% 0.367 0.82%
5/28/2019 01-08 0.11 57.14% 0.495 34.88%
Actress Michelle Williams, now starring in FX’s ‘Fosse/Verdon,’ has separated from musician Phil Elverum, her husband of less than a year. The news of their split follows rumors of trouble after Williams went sans wedding band at two recent public outings
Harvey Weinstein: another complainant leaves settlement
19 January, 2020
Dominique Huett will remove herself from the Harvey Weinstein settlement in order to pursue her own claim. Huett has retained a new attorney, Douglas Wigdor, who represents two others who have opted out. Wigdor believes the $500,000 Huett was offered was “not fair”. This is a suit for the alleged assault under New York’s recently enacted Child Victims Act, which extends the amount of time a victim has to bring a claim (until their 55th birthday in some cases). Wigdor represemted Nafissatou Diallo, the hotel housekeeper who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attacking her in his suite, https://wp.me/pEe9-kz
[December 21 2019 Harvey and the Polish model with lawyer ]
Douglas H. Wigdor, attorney for three women, Kaja Sokola, Wedil David and Jane Doe – a pseudonym for the same woman who will testify against Weinstein when he is tried next month on charges of rape, predatory sexual assault and criminal sexual act – claim, like many before them, that Weinstein assaulted them. This filing points to a split in approaches. Newly enacted child victims legislation, which extends the age at which a victim can bring a claim for past crimes to 55.
[December 18 2019]
Kaja Sokola alleges she was assaulted in 2002. Harvey Weinstein asked her to lunch in the interest of helping her pursue an acting career. She agreed but alleges his driver brought them to Weinstein’s apartment instead. There, she claims “he terrified and sexually abused her.”Her attorneys, Douglas Wigdor and Kevin Mintzer: “While others may have decided to settle, albeit under some of the most offensive and one-sided terms, we hope that the filing of this complaint encourages other victims and the New York Attorney General to join us as we continue our efforts at holding Harvey Weinstein and his enablers accountable.”
They’re bringing a battery suit for the alleged 2002 assault under New York’s recently enacted Child Victims Act, which extends the amount of time a victim has to bring a claim (until their 55th birthday in some cases).
.
The jury includes six white men, one black man, two black women, a Latino woman, and two white women
[January 6 2020 presiding Justice James Burke will outline ]
Arrives
On the first day, Jan. 6, presiding Justice James Burke will outline an approximate schedule for the trial. Jury selection will begin on Tuesday and is expected to last about two weeks.
[December 6 2019 further medical issues unsympathetic ]
Harvey Weinstein’s bail was increased from $1 million to $5 million on December 11 2019 over allegations he violated bail conditions by mishandling his electronic ankle monitor. Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi told the court that the person monitoring Weinstein does not believe the problems due to were technical glitches. While the monitoring now appears to be working, Illuzzi said she thought that was because of the threat of new bail. Weinstein will be undergoing back surgery on December 12 2019. “If you have any further medical issues, the court will not be terribly understanding,” Judge James Burke said.
[ December 6 2019 Barbara Ziv, Deborah Davis, Elizabeth Loftus, will testify ]
Harvey Weinstein violated his bail conditions by mishandling his electronic ankle monitor, which left his whereabouts unrecorded for hours at a time,. Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi accused him of leaving home a piece of the monitoring technology that keeps the ankle bracelet activated. Defense attorney Donna Rotunno denied it was deliberate. Decision is deferred until next week.
[December 3 2019]
Weinstein is due to appear December 6 2019 at a bail hearing necessitated by changes that go into effect Jan. 1.
[November 29 2019]
New York judge James Burke on November 26 2019 issued an ominbus ruling that declined Weinstein’s request to unseal the names of two complaining witnesses, one of which is reportedly Sciorra, and made several other rulings on witness testimony.
Barbara Ziv, an expert on sexual assault and rape trauma syndrome, will be allowed to testify over Weinstein’s objections. Weinstein’s experts on human memory, Deborah Davis and Elizabeth Loftus, will also be allowed to testify — but they won’t be allowed to provide testimony on issues of memory specifically tied to sexual interactions and “the phenomenon known as ‘voluntary unwanted sex.'”
Weinstein asked the court to dismiss two counts of Predatory Sexual Assault, arguing that it requires that the defendant had committed an “underlying crime” and had engaged in an “aggravating crime.” Here the underlying crime is alleged to be a July 2016 rape and the aggravating crime is an alleged rape during the winter of 1993-1994, and Weinstein argued the alleged aggravating crime happened before the Predatory Sexual Assault statute was enacted in 2006 and therefore the two counts that relied upon it should be dismissed. Alternatively, he argued that they should be dismissed because the alleged victim of the mid-’90s rape can’t further narrow down when it happened. The producer also asked the court to dismiss the superseding indictment as a whole on procedural grounds.
Burke denied all three requests.
[October 3 2019 motion to move trial denied ]
2009
On October 3 2019, a New York state appeals court denied Weinstein’s motion to move the trial to a different location, ruling that it must stay in the city,
[Seprember 7 2019 lots of accusers – consolidation ]
Judge James Burke on September 6 2019 approved consolidating two indictments against the fallen movie mogul and permitted prosecutors to replace two older predatory sexual assault charges with new ones.The case to be taken to trial on Jan. 6, assuming no other changes between now and then, now involves the same two original accusers, plus Sciorra, plus a number of other accusers of Weinstein who will be testifying as “prior bad acts” witnesses, or Molineux witnesses as they are known in New York.
[August 26 2019 Jan.6 was firm, “Not really” ]
There’s a grand jury indictment against Harvey Weinstein, pushing his trial back to 2020 but allowing one of his alleged victims to testify against him. The new indictment gets around statute of limitations issues pertaining to Annabella Sciorra’s testimony,
Judge James Burke told them the new trial date of Jan. 6 was firm. To make the point, he stared at the defendant and asked, “Mr. Weinstein, do you want to go to trial?”
“Not really,” Weinstein quipped.
Weinstein, 67, who’s free on $1 million bail, has denied all accusations of non-consensual sex.
https://wp.me/pEe9-13e
[August 22 2019 Sep. 9 trial brings motions ]
A new and sealed grand jury indictment was issued August 22 2019 against the fallen movie mogul and accused sexual predator.
[August 20 2019]
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon said in a letter to the judge and defense attorneys on August 13 2019 that prosecutors would re-present their case to a new grand jury starting on August 16 2019 in order to include the testimony of a woman who claims Weinstein raped her at her apartment in New York in the winter of 1993-1994.
Such changes in an indictment give the defense up to six weeks to respond, which would postpone the already pushed back trial start. Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala has moved for a change of venue on August 16 2019. Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office declined comment August 20 2019 on the new filing. A response is expected to be formally filed in the next few days.
[August 19 2019]
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office planned to present another alleged victim of Weinstein’s to a grand jury to support predatory sexual assault charges against him, according to court filings.
The accuser is Annabella Sciorra, the actress known for her role in “The Sopranos” who says Weinstein violently raped her in 1993, Prosecutors directed Weinstein to appear before the grand jury August 15 2019 if he wanted to testify, court records show. The grand jury must vote on a new indictment before its term ends Aug. 26, just two weeks before the scheduled start of Weinstein’s trial on Sept. 9, the filings indicate.
[July 28 2019]
Justice James Burke said in a one-line decision on August 7 2019: “The request for a change in bail conditions is denied.” He refused to allow Harvey Weinstein to travel to Europe to consult on a stage production of Cinema Paradiso, a 1988 film that he was involved with that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 62nd Academy Awards.
Weinstein is set to go to trial on September 9 in New York for rape and could spend the rest of his life in prison if found guilty. Thus, the pleas from his attorneys to allow him to travel to Italy and Spain was quickly turned down. Weinstein wanted to travel Aug. 12 through Aug. 22 for the project.
Justice James Burke refused to allow testimony from Annabella Sciorra, who accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in 1993, but also refused Weinstein’s legal team’s bid to toss out some counts, Burke rejected prosecutors’ argument that language in the predatory sexual assault statute gave them “leeway” in terms of introducing “additional persons” at trial, and granted the defense motion to exclude Sciorra from the case.
[July 28 2910 Daryl Hannah on Weinstein ]
Daryl Hannah in Rome January 2014
See October 31 2017 below
https://www.axios.com/the-allegations-against-harvey-weinstein-and-their-fallout-1513306092-662e5326-9c61-42ec-8665-2f571e309382.html
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/weighing-the-costs-of-speaking-out-about-harvey-weinstein
[March 10 2019 stars in “Papa” ]
Papa:June 15, 2018 (Laemmle Monica Film Center)
[11 April 2018 Daryl Hannah weds Neil Young ]
Daryl Hannah and Neil Young outside a San Francisco courthouse where they were supporting a man with cancer who was suing Monsanto.
Daryl Hannah in Kill Bill
Neil Young and actor Daryl Hannah are said to have married on Young’s yacht near the San Juan islands to the north of Puget Sound in Washington state, adjacent to Canada’s Vancouver Island.
[October 31 2017 on Harvey Weinstein ]
Daryl Hannah on Harvey Weinstein trying to get in.
[June 26 The Slider 2017 release; “Sense8” cancelled ]
The Slider (2017)
Drama
“Sense8” an edgy sci-fi drama is gone after two seasons, “Sense8” Created by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski (of the “The Matrix” fame) followed a small group of people around the world who were hunted by a mysterious organization because they shared a mental connection that allowed them to tap into one another’s thoughts and skills.
[June 20 2015 stars in Sicilian Vampire ]
Sicilian Vampire (2015), Thriller | 10 September 2015 release(Canada)
[June 9 Daryl Hannah: Sense8 downloaded by pirates, left-handed praise]
Daryl Hannah “persecution, bigotry and fear.”
Sense8 – season one, 5 June
“Eight people. Eight cities. One mind.” in a schoolyard premise that holds enough intrigue to call viewers back, has been downloaded by pirates more than half a million times less than three days after its release.
[January 26 Daryl Hannah stars in Death Squad [ 2047 – Sights of Death (2014)]]
![Daryl Hannah in Death Squad. Death Squad [ 2047 - Sights of Death (2014)] perhaps 2047 Sights of Death isn't really designed for theatrical release.](https://i2.wp.com/i153.photobucket.com/albums/s213/RedCarlisle/hannahd_zps38944566.jpg)
Daryl Hannah in Death Squad. Death Squad [ 2047 – Sights of Death (2014)] perhaps 2047 Sights of Death isn’t really designed for theatrical release.
The state of California filed a $62,622,tax lien against Daryl Hannah on March 24th with the EL Lay County CA Recorder of Deeds, said to get cleaned up.
On August 25, Daryl Hannah joined the film Michael to play Deborah, who runs a Colorado Buddhist retreat where Michael goes to find solace.
[Jun 29]
Daryl Hannah (“Kill Bill”)joins the international cast. of the upcoming 10-episode Netflix sci-fi series “Sense8” . Sense8 will follow a group of people who are somehow physically linked and find themselves on the run from an unknown force because of their “unique gift,” which is an “evolutionary leap, which was caused by technology.” Major themes of the series will reportedly be “persecution, bigotry and fear.” The cast has signed for all 5 Seasons of the show (should they be made).
[May 14]
[February 21]
Daryl Hannah in Rome January 2014
Blade Runner 1982
Principal photography will commence this month in Rome on the action thriller in which Major Anderson (Daryl Hannah) and some unscrupulous mercenaries led by Lobo (Michael Madsen), do the dirty — both just out of “Skin Traffik” where they did the same in Britain.
AMBI Pictures, the Italy-based film development, finance and production company run by Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi, today announced that Danny Glover (“Lethal Weapon” series, “Saw” “The Color Purple”), Daryl Hannah (“Kill Bill” “Blade Runner” “Splash”), Rutger Hauer (“Blade Runner” “Sin City” “Batman Begins”), Stephen Baldwin (“The Usual Suspects” “Born on the 4th of July”) and Michael Madsen (“Reservoir Dogs” “Kill Bill” “Donnie Brasco”) have signed on to star in the action thriller “Sights of Death” / “S.O.D,” which will be directed by Alessandro Capone (“L’amore nascosto” “Superstition 2”).
Monika Gomez del Campo Bacardi, Lady of Bayfield Hall, better known as “Monika Bacardi,”
is the widow of drinks magnate Lord Luis Bacardi. The pair set up AMBI Pictures late last year.
[February 19]
Director Ara Bradley Paiaya: his debut ‘Hollywood’ feature film is ‘Skin Traffik’ . Rugby League player Keith Mason is set to appear on screens in just a few months’ time alongside Mickey Rourke and Daryl Hannah in Skin Traffik, directed by Ara Paiaya (The Suppressor, Maximum Impact). The film is a dark tale set in the world of human trafficking, with a jaded hit man regaining his humanity amidst a brutal underworld, in which daily survival is not so much a skill, but an instinct. The cast is headed by British action star, Gary Daniels and sees Michael Madsen, Mickey Rourke and Darryl Hannah all popping up to phone in performances. Skin Traffik is due out in the UK at the end of Summer 2014, maybe.
German banks: $63.4 billion saved or tax evaded? €2.4bn recovered
17 January, 2020
The German Finance Ministry is investigating 500 cum-ex arrangements to the value of some €5.5bn. Some €2.4bn has already been recovered. Cum-ex trades involved bankers, lawyers and traders all across Europe.
It is believed that around 100 banks are being investigated by the German authorities, including big names such as Bank of New York Mellon, Deutsche Bank AG, and Societe Generale SA.
[ September 4 2019 ]
The two British citizens, Martin Shields, 41, and Nicholas Diable, 38, are accused of having defrauded the German state of €447.5m (£405m) from London’s banking district with so-called cum-ex trading schemes. The trial, which is scheduled to last until January next year, is being followed with great interest across Europe because many more investment bankers, working for clients including Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Sweden’s SEB, are suspected to have practised cum-ex deals between 2001 and 2012, when legislators closed the loopholes that made the practice possible.
[Novmber 2018]
At least 10 other European countries beyond Germany have been affected by German banks tax fraud practices, and the damage caused to state treasuries could be as high as €55.2 billion ($63.4 billion). Contrived “dual ownership” allowed both parties to claim tax rebates even though both were not entitled to it. With the process having gone undetected for years, billions in tax went uncollected by the German state, mostly in the form of rebates which should never have been paid out at all. Industry experts say the practice went on for decades before it was properly grappled with. The scandal came to light in 2016 when it emerged that several German banks had exploited a legal loophole which allowed two parties simultaneously to claim ownership of the same shares.
Hanno Berger, the central suspect in the investigation, now lives in exile in the Swiss Alps. He advised the Australian bank Macquarie, another caught up in the scandal, on cum-ex trading but claims he was not paid for it. He says the scheme was based on a legitimate legal loophole. “They (the German state) cannot punish others for their mistakes,” he said.
Lindsay’s Dina Lohan, crashes car, denies drunk driving
16 January, 2020
Dina Lohan appeared in Nassau County court for a hearing on January 15 2020 at which Judge Patricia Harrington adjourned the case until Feb. 27 “to investigate possible dispositions and programs that might be available to you.y
[January 12 2020]
Dina Lohan, the mother of actress Lindsay Lohan faces drunk driving and other charges after she crashed her car Saturday night, January 11 2020 in Nassau,
She pleaded not guilty Sunday morning at her arraignment in First District Court in Hempstead and released. She is due back in court Jan. 15.
Dina, who was driving a 2016 Mercedes, was taken into custody after refusing to take a breathalyzer test.
[October 27 2018 Lindsay’s Dina Lohan, 56, filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy Sept. 24 ]
It’s not clear from the docs how Lohan blew all her money. Dina Lohan, 56, filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy Sept. 24. Court docs show she owes over $1 million — and makes only a little more than $2,000 a month.
[December 27 2017 Lindsay Lohan taxes, 2010 to date ]
According to a recently filed tax lien, Lindsay Lohan owes Uncle Sam $100,710.55 in taxes from the years 2010, 2014 and 2015. [2010] Larry Rudolph has officially signed on to save Lindsay Lohan‘s career. [2010] former manager, Jenni Muro, [2011] Lindsay Lohan is to split with her business manager, Lou Taylor. [2012]Lohan reportedly owes $233,904 in unpaid taxes for 2009 and 2010 to the IRS, and Sheen offered in September to pay off the first tax lien, according to TMZ. Lohan initially turned him down, but she later changed her mind. Last week, her business manager received a check from Sheen, and they applied the money to pay off nearly half her tax bill. [2012] The Internal Revenue Service has filed a tax lien for nearly $94,000 against actress Lindsay Lohan for unpaid taxes dating back to 2009. She was unaware of the unpaid taxes and had recently replaced most of her business team. The federal tax lien was filed in Los Angeles County.
The Internal Revenue Service has filed a second tax lien against troubled actress Lindsay Lohan.
The latest tax lien adds in unpaid taxes from 2010 on top of the previous amount of nearly $94,000 that she owed from her 2009 taxes . The total amount is now $140,203.30. Her business manager “is working out an acceptable arrangement with the IRS and hopes to have the matter solved shortly.” However, as Forbes reported, Lohan may now be liable for approximately $35,000 in income taxes on Sheen’s $100,000 payment to her.
[December 12 2013 Elisabeth Shue, Lindsay Lohan in the jet set ]
December 3 2011
Elisabeth Shue is returning to Las Vegas! The 48-year-old actress, who earned an Oscar nomination for her role in Leaving Las Vegas, has been tapped to replace Marg Helgenberger on CSI beginning in February,
[Nov.13]Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $6,043
Domestic Summary
Widest Release: 2 theaters
In Release: 14 days / 2 weeks
Lindsay and Harvey: LiLo returns as trial starts
1 January, 2020
I want to really focus on me and everything that I can do in my life, and come back to America and start filming again, which I’m doing something soon in this new year,” said Lindsay Lohan, who lives in Muscat, Oman.
Lohan is slated to star in Among The Shadows, which hits theaters on March 5, 2020.
[October 13 2017 draw of despot ]
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/lindsay-lohan-harvey-weinstein-and-the-draw-of-the-despot
Lindsay Dee Lohan
July 2, 1986 (age 31)
Lindsay Lohan extends remarks: “I encourage all women who believe Harvey harmed them to report their experiences to the relevant authorities.”
[July 7 2013 Lindsay Lohan: Born: July 2, 1986 (age 28), New York City, NY ]
Born: July 2, 1986 (age 28), New York City, NY
[June 8 2013]
LiLo, producer and financier Randall Emmet
LiLo clubbing at Sundance
The 27-year-old announced that she will produce and star in a film called “Inconceivable,” set to start shooting in March.
She was joined by producer and financier Randall Emmett, who called Lohan “one of the greatest young actresses of her generation.”
Lohan said she is grateful to be at Sundance and back in the movie business.
“I’ve never had the honor of coming here before … to bring something to the table, which is starting fresh for me,” said Lohan, smiling broadly.
Reporters were told that if they asked personal questions, they would be escorted out.
Emmett said Lohan found the script and insisted they make it together.
[June 8 2013]
“I think there are celebrities who create a brand and create a business and a whole job, a whole life, out of other people’s interest in their lives,” she told a press conference in Cannes.” Emma Watson at Cannes 2013
Lindsay Lohan: “She is upset that her parents are turning this into a circus and making money from TV appearances while she is in rehab.
more
Lindsay on Red Carpet
Same borrowed dress cut mini later
[March 23]
Lindsay Lohan will not face charges for allegedly punching a psychic in a New York nightclub.
The troubled actress, 26, who was recently sentenced to 90 days in rehab, will not be prosecuted after a security camera outside the club captured Tiffany Mitchell falling and sustaining the same injuries she said were caused by Lindsay
[March 1]
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. — Lindsay Lohan’s attorney returns to court March 2 for a hearing in the actress’s latest criminal case, as discussions continue about a possible plea deal before trial.
The 26-year-old isn’t required to attend the hearing.
The hearing is intended to take care of any issues before a March 18 trial on misdemeanor charges that Lohan lied to police about a June car crash and was driving recklessly.
Attorney Mark Heller also plans to meet with prosecutors Friday to try to negotiate a plea deal. He wants to delay the case so Lohan can pursue psychotherapy and perform community service.
Lohan was on probation at the time of the accident and she faces jail time if a judge determines she violated her sentence in a 2011 theft case.
[February 21]
Lohan is in serious financial straights after the IRS seized her bank accounts in December. With few if any acting jobs lined up, she is getting by on red carpet appearance fees for parties and products, which can pay in the six figures. She is back living in North Merrick.
[May 6 2010]
North Merrick
Berlusconi: Francesca Pascale on ‘sardines’
21 December, 2019
” I look with interest at the sardines, I find there elements and that freedom that were typical of Berlusconi’s liberal revolution”.I hope that the ” sardines”, in order not to lose their independence and to ensure that the message they are sending does not lose their authenticity, change their mind about becoming a structured movement or political party. ‘m not only from Forza Italia, I’m Berlusconi. Nobody is more so than me!”
[April 9 2019 sentence-rigging charge dropped ]
Rome, April 5 – Rome prosecutors requested the shelving of a probe into ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi on alleged sentence-rigging at the Council of State, Italy’s highest administrative court.
Last month the three-time former premier and media magnate was placed under investigation for alleged corruption in legal procedures.
The case concerns a ruling on March 3, 2016, by the Council of State, Italy’s top administrative court, that annulled the obligation for the ex-premier’s holding company to sell a stake held in financial services group Mediolanum.
Berlusconi’s lawyer Niccolo Ghedini told media outlets that he was sure the case would be dropped.
[June 3 2018 Forgive $296 billion of Italian debt? ]
Arguing it is “time to abandon many taboos” on the euro, newly-appointed finance minister Giovanni Tria said it is now necessary to find “alternative solutions” to how the eurozone is being regulated.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said while cohesion among members of the single currency bloc was important, “solidarity among euro partners should never lead to a debt union, rather it must be about helping others to help themselves.”
The Chancellor made the remarks when asked about a media report that Italy’s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and far-right League had planned to ask the European Central Bank to forgive 250 billion euros ($296 billion) of Italian debt.
[May 29 Cottarelli gets Berlusconi backing ]
Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi says he’s open to running for office in Italy’s next parliamentary election as part of the same center-right bloc that won 37 percent of the vote March 4. “I cannot believe I am writing these words, but faced with the alternatives, Berlusconi might not so bad after all.” Esme O’Keeffe
Rome, May 28 – League leader Matteo Salvini that the centre-right coalition will collapse if Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia backs an interim government led by former spending review chief Carlo Cottarelli [Carlo Cottarelli, a former official at the International Monetary Fund].
[ May 13 Berlusconi rehabilitated, may run ]
Pascale looks on
Berlusconi may run for office. The ban on the former prime minister seeking or holding public office was due to expire next year but the tribunal ruled that he already had been “rehabilitated”.
[ March 5 2018 Salvini not Berlusconi to lead? ]
Salvini and Berlusconi – heading for almost 18 percent and 14 percent respectively – appeared to have dominated the wealthier north, with the center-left squeezed into a narrow stretch of central Italy. The League emerged as the senior partner. The role reversal marks a bitter personal defeat for the billionaire media magnate.
[November 12 2017 Berlusconi: “It’s time to put Italy first again” ]
Silvio Berlusconi, an 81-year-old, arrived at his political homecoming party on the posh island of Ischia last month aboard a fancy yacht alongside his 30-year-old live-in girlfriend Francesca Pascale and his closest advisors. The Sicilian election held on Nov. 5 marked a strong political comeback for Silvio Berlusconi, handing government of the island to a center-right bloc backed by the four-times prime minister. Berlusconi brought his Forza Italia party to a somewhat astonishing victory in regional elections in Sicily when his candidates outperformed expectations on a platform for change which, for the longest-serving elected prime minister in modern Italian history, is a curious promise. But he also embraced an anti-immigration stance promising that Italy would no longer be the welcome mat for migrants. He promised his party would cut taxes and renegotiate some key trade deals, which, as a businessman only he has the smarts and the power to do. “It’s time to put Italy first again,”
[February 28 2016 Silvio Berlusconi and 21-year old Roman Lavinia Palombini and a furious Francesca Pascale ]
[June 21 $6.3 billion from Italy shipped to China for sneakers ]
[
More than 4.5 billion euros ($6.3 billion) in proceeds from counterfeiting, prostitution, labour exploitation and tax evasion had been sent to China in less than four years though a money-transfer service called Money2Money. Close to half the €4.5bn, transferred between 2007 and 2010, went through Bank of China branch in Milan. The Bank of China received €758,000 in commission for the transfers. The bank had an exclusive contract with Money2Money. Investigators said they got nowhere when they tried to appeal to Chinese authorities for help. Once the money left Italy, it vanished behind China’s great legal firewall. The case is now stalled in Italian courts, as prosecutors try to notify nearly 300 hard-to-find defendants, most of them Chinese. Prosecutors in Florence have filed a 170-page document to be reviewed by a judge, who will decide whether to file formal charges.
Money laundered through Money2Money was used to buy counterfeit goods in China, which were then smuggled back to Europe, a large import-export firm called the Wenzhou Cereals Oils and Foodstuffs Foreign Trade Corporation, sent tens of thousands of fake Converse sneakers to the United States and Croatia is suspected.
[March 12 Silvio Berlusconi’s acquittal in “bunga bunga” final – Francesca thumbs up]
The President of the current session of the Court of Cassation Antonio Esposito reads the judgment
The Rome court Corte Suprema di Cassazione, in a ruling that is now definitive, rejected an appeal by Milan prosecutors to overturn the acquittal and to hold a new trial. It upheld Silvio Berlusconi’s acquittal in his infamous “bunga bunga” case.
[February 12 Berlusconi raises 392 million euros ($447 million)]
– Fininvest, the holding company controlled by the family of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ,78 years (September 29, 1936), said February 12 it will sell a 7.8% stake in broadcaster Mediaset SpA.. The firm controls a 30% stake in bank Mediolanum , a 50% stake in publishing firm Mondadori and will continue to be the largest investor in Mediaset, with a 33.4% stake. It also controls soccer team A.C. Milan and other activities. But both Mediaset and Mondadori have been struggling with their finances.
The stake is worth 392 million euros ($447 million) at February 12’s closing price. Fininvest said the profits from the sale could also contribute to “investments aimed at portfolio diversification.” In 2005 the company had cut its stake in Mediaset to 34.3 percent from 51 percent.
[February 6 Berlusconi good behavior allows a higher-profile role]
The friends of Gianpaolo Tarantini
Silvio Berlusconi will not have to serve the final 45 days of a one-year community service on good behaviour grounds. Berlusconi will also regain his freedom of movement, which was restricted under the order, enabling him to resume a higher-profile role in national politics, despite still being banned from public office.
In a trial in Bari this week, businessman Gianpaolo Tarantini and six other people are charged with having promoted prostitution because, between 2008 and 2009, they organised for 26 different young women to attend parties in various Berlusconi residences.
To a certain extent, this trial involves a replay of the infamous Rubygate trial which in June 2013 found Mr Berlusconi guilty of “abuse of office” and having underage sex with Karim “Ruby” El Mahroug, then aged 17.
That judgment was later overturned by a January 2014 appeal court ruling which acquitted the media tycoon.
At issue then and now is the exact nature of Mr Berlusconi’s parties. Were they, as his defence always claimed, “elegant dinner parties” or were they, as various participants have reported, “bunga, bunga” nights of multiple sexual encounters?
[January 31 Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party in disarray]
former shop assistant
Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party appeared in disarray after the vote for President on January 31, a political victory for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.. Berlusconi ordered his party to cast blank ballots after accusing Renzi of betraying what he said was a promise to give him a role in choosing the candidate. Instead, more than 30 refused, opening a wound in the party.
[December 31 Passion spent: Francesca Pascale, in Madrid, to study languages, Berlusconi in Arcore]
All is not well between the media mogul and Francesca Pascale, a former shop assistant and member of the Berlusconi fan club.The couple spent Christmas apart, with Mr Berlusconi at his principal home, Villa San Martino in Arcore. Ms Pascale, meanwhile, was settling into her a new apartment in Madrid, where she hopes to study languages. His legal travails continue as he faces charges of inducing a pimp to commit perjury and of bribing a senator to swap sides in parliament, which he denies.
[September 24 Berlusconi redux, tax case appeal granted]
The Prime Minister met with predecessor Silvio Berlusconi
The European Court of Human Rights has agreed to hear an appeal by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi against his conviction for tax fraud in August 2013, to examine Berlusconi’s argument that he had been denied a fair trial in the case. A date had been set for the appeal to begin.
[August 6]
Rome, August 6 – Former premier Silvio Berlusconi met August 6 with Premier Matteo Renzi to discuss reforms to Italy’s discredited electoral law, now being debated in parliament. The session in the premier’s office marked the third such meeting between Berlusconi, head of the center-right Forza Italia (FI) political party, and Renzi, who leads the center-left Democratic Party (PD).
The Prime Minister met with predecessor Silvio Berlusconi August 6 in a bid to rally parliamentary support for his reform bill, which was presented with nearly 8000 amendments on its first day in parliament.
“Italy never got out of the recession. If you look at the figures it has stagnated for years,”.
[July 18 Ruby case overturned: Silvio Berlusconi sentence can be restored on appeal]
A Milan appeals court overturned a conviction of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of paying for sex with an underage girl and then abusing his power in trying to cover it up. Italian prosecutors can appeal the July 18 decision to Italy’s highest appeals court. The final decision by the country’s highest appeals court isn’t likely to come before next year.
Mr. Berlusconi—who was then prime minister—phoned a Milan police station asking for information about a Moroccan woman, Karima El Mahroug, an underage nightclub dancer nicknamed Ruby Heart-Stealer, who had been detained for allegedly stealing cash. Ms. El Mahroug has always denied the allegations
The billionaire politician was sentenced to seven years in prison as a result of the guilty verdict last year. Mr. Berlusconi, who was also banned from public office and ousted from Italy’s Senate as a result of the tax fraud conviction, has always denied the charges in the sex case, which dates back to May 2010.
Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Berlusconi pressed the police to release the woman, thus constituting abuse of power. They also argue that Mr. Berlusconi sought to have her released to cover up the fact that he had paid her for sex when she was 17. Berlusconi claims that he never had sex with her and that, anyway, she told him she was twenty-four. He admits that he gave her thousands of euros at the end of her first evening at Arcore, and tens of thousands more later, but insists that these were innocent acts of generosity. He instructed the police to release her from custody, he says, because he thought that she was a niece of the former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and he wanted to avoid straining diplomatic relations. (Mahroug, who was born in Morocco and grew up in Sicily, is not related to Mubarak.)
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/06/06/110606fa_fact_levy?currentPage=all
http://online.wsj.com/articles/silvio-berlusconi-underage-sex-conviction-overturned-1405682830
[June 13]
Arriving at Fiumicino airport in Rome, former senator of Forza Italy was assigned to the medical facility inside the prison
Marcello Dell’Utri was arrested last month on an Interpol warrant in Beirut
Marcello Dell’Utri, 72, landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on June 13 accompanied by Interpol officials and was handed over to the Italian police, airport authorities said.
An Italian court has sentenced Dell’Utri, who comes from Sicily, to seven years in jail for acting as a go-between for the mafia and the Milan business elite, including Berlusconi’s companies, from 1974 to 1992.
Lebanon extradited Dell’Utri to Italy on June 13 who fled to Beirut in April just before being found guilty of dealings with the Sicilian mafia.
Shares in Berlusconi’s Mediaset rose 3.5 percent on June 12 after reports that Telefonica (Madrid: TEF.MC – news) would make an offer to buy the Italian broadcaster’s stake in Spanish pay-TV group Digital Plus.
[May 13]
Supreme Court of Cassation in Rome has confirmed the sentence imposed on 72-year-old Marcello Dell’Utri by Palermo’s Court of Appeal in March last year.
The longtime ally of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi is facing extradition to Italy after his arrest last month on an Interpol warrant in Beirut for allegedly fleeing a likely conviction from the supreme court for Mafia association.
“In the period of time we’re talking about a continuous crime,” said prosecutor Aurelio Galasso. Silvio Berlusconi – Italy’s former Prime Minister and one of the world’s most recognisable politicians – did business with the mafia for nearly two decades via his conduit and former senator Marcello Dell’Utri. Judges sentenced Dell’Utri to seven years for mafia association. Three-time premier Berlusconi, 77, has always denied rumours that mob links were behind the large and opaquely sourced investments used to kickstart his construction and media businesses in the 1970s and 1980s. But Supreme Court judges accepted prosecutor Aurelio Galasso’s claim that “for 18 years, from 1974 to 1992, Marcello Dell’Utri was the guarantor of the agreement between Berlusconi and Cosa Nostra”.
[April 15]
Former Prime Minister and current friend Francesca Pascale
In the first sentence against him ever confirmed by Italy’s highest court, former Premier Silvio Berlusconi must spend at least four hours a week in the service of the elderly to repay society for his tax fraud convictionBerlusconi was sentenced to four years for tax fraud, reduced to one year for a general amnesty. The one-year community service order may eventually be reduced by 45 days.
The state prosecutor supported the petition for community service, but asked the court to consider revoking it if Berlusconi insults judges while serving — something he has frequently done as he has fought numerous prosecutions over the years, mostly related to his business dealings.
The media mogul is on trial for political corruption in Naples and under investigation in Milan for witness tampering in trials relating to sex-fueled parties at his villa near Milan. His appeals trial for a conviction for having paid for sex with a minor and using his influence to cover it up is scheduled to open in June. He was sentenced to seven years in jail and given a lifetime political ban, but that has yet to be confirmed.
[December 4 2013]
Marcello Dell’Utri was the ” contract broker” of an agreement between Cosa Nostra and Silvio Berlusconi,
Italian Finance Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni says the sidelining of the longtime conservative leader leaves the government led by Prime Minister Enrico Letta “more cohesive and…more determined in the implementation of our program.”
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Mr. Berlusconi—whose threats earlier this fall to bring down the Letta government made it exceedingly hard for the young coalition to govern—was stripped of his Senate seat because of a conviction for tax fraud.
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Mr. Letta is under intense pressure to step up the pace of reforms aimed at freeing up Italy’s sclerotic economy.
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The premier is hoping the government will survive until 2015, giving it time to cut taxes, ease labor laws and lower unemployment.
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Mr. Saccomanni said Italy’s economy is slowly on the mend after what he described as a “deep depression.” The Italian economy has contracted for nine quarters in a row, and the government expects little more than anemic growth next year.
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With a stronger majority in Parliament, the government should “operate with a more medium-term perspective than the one we have been obliged to have until now,” .
After months in which the Letta government teetered on the brink of collapse, European policy makers have publicly fretted over the ability of Rome to enact serious overhauls and keep its debt—currently more than 130% of gross domestic product—under control. Some regard chronic instability in Italy, the euro one’s third-largest economy, as the major threat to the currency bloc.
EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said that Italy has “no margins [to] maneuver.” He also expressed skepticism as to whether Mr. Letta’s government would manage, for instance, to achieve its ambitious privatization program.
[November 5]
Italian Senators will vote on November 27 on whether to expel center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi from parliament following his conviction for tax fraud, officials from the main parties said on Tuesday.
[October 23]
Italian ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi has been ordered to stand trial for the alleged bribery of a senator.
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Berlusconi is accused of paying the left-wing senator 3m euros ($3.9m) to defect to his party in 2006 and help bring down the government.
The senator, Sergio De Gregorio, was sentenced to 20 months on October 23 at a plea bargain hearing in Naples.
[October 19]
The Court of Appeal of Milan ruled on October 19 that former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi should be barred from holding public office for two years following a conviction for tax fraud.
However, since Berlusconi is a senator, the court’s decision will have no immediate effect and his expulsion from the Senate will depend on a separate vote in the upper house of parliament, expected to take place next month.
Bulgarian actress, producer and director Michelle Bonev has described her nights at his Arcore home. “This is how it works. At the end of the party, each girl has a request to make to him because she came to get something – a part in a film, a python handbag, a… to pay the rent, the electricity, the gas. He would stay in the room. We all went out and sat on the sofas. Then he would listen to what we wanted, one by one like the godfather”
The appellate court was ordered by Italy’s highest court to determine the length of the political ban accompanying his tax fraud conviction and four-year jail term after prosecutors conceded sentencing errors in the original five-year ban.
[October 3]
Prime minister Enrico Letta, the centre-left leader of the government won the Italian senate confidence vote with a sweeping majority. Only 70 of 305 MPs voted against; 235 MPs voted for. Berlusconi – the man who triggered the crisis and spent days clamouring for the government’s downfall – was one of them. Berlusconi been forced into a humiliating climbdown by a rebel faction of his own MPs, 32 senators voting with their leader, 24 absenting themselves, and 25 against him. He is scheduled for expulsion from the senate and the enforcement of his commuted one-year sentence, at the moment.
[September 29]
“In the end it’s all up to the PDL, I think there’s a deep debate taking place within the PDL.” Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta
20 senators of Berlusconi’s People of Liberty, or PDL, are ready to form a breakaway group if the ex-premier doesn’t back down on his confrontation with Letta, perhaps. Letta needs 24 votes in the Senate to secure a new majority without Berlusconi. To do so, the 47-year-old premier must win over opposition lawmakers or convince members of Berlusconi’s People of Liberty party to abandon their leader.
[September 23]
Silvio Berlusconi was forced from office at the height of the euro zone debt crisis in November 2011. 54th Prime Minister of Italy Mario Monti ‘s efforts to deregulate services and labor laws were squashed by the parties that propped up his government before Italians gave him a resounding thumbs down at an election in February 2013 which produced no clear winner.
The resulting left-right coalition government led by Enrico Letta has bickered from the moment it took office and prospects for both growth and the debt have continued to worsen.
The economy shrinking 1.7 percent this year, down from a 1.3 percent contraction forecast in April, and it cut 2014 growth to 1.0 percent from 1.3 percent. Most analysts see growth of 0.7 percent at best next year.
Italy’s political situation has made no more progress than its economy, dimming prospects for the reforms needed to turn things around.
Italy’s medium term growth potential is now close to zero due to its failure to reduce costs and bureaucracy, tackle corruption or reform the justice system.
Since the days of the deepest crisis (in 2011) Italy has done nothing to improve its competitiveness, As a result its prospects for sustained debt reduction are non-existent.
Letta cuts a far more sober and reassuring figure than Berlusconi, but his ruling coalition is just as unruly and is deeply divided on economic policy.
Speculation has risen that there will be a new election in spring and on September 22 Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni threatened to resign as the government squabbled over whether to suspend a hike in sales tax due to take effect in October.
[September 17]
Fininvest, The family holding company of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was ordered on Tuesday to pay 494 million euros in damages stemming from the disputed purchase of publisher Mondadori.
The final ruling by Italy’s top appeals court was a fresh blow to Berlusconi, 76, already reeling from a supreme court verdict which confirmed a four-year jail sentence last month, commuted to one year, for massive fraud at his Mediaset television empire.
[september 7]
Marcello Dell’Utri was the ” contract broker” of an agreement between Cosa Nostra and Silvio Berlusconi,
The judges of the Third Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal of Palermo in the written judgment in which the former senator of the PDL was sentenced on March 25 to seven years in prison for collusion with the Mafia. The Court has also found payments solicited by the Mafia to Berlusconi “as the price of protection,” and that according to the judges began in 1974, with a request for 100. million lire
Disgraced ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi made a 20-year pact with Mafia bosses to whom he paid millions of euros in exchange for protection and help with his business empire, according to a judicial report.
The tycoon’s deal with the mob was described by judges of the Palermo Appeals Court as part of their 476-page reasoning, released on September 5, behind the jail sentence for his Mafia association given to Berlusconi’s close friend Marcello Dell’Utri.
The judges say that Dell’Utri, a Palermo-born former senator in Berlusconi’s PDL (People of Freedom) Party, was the mogul’s go-between with the Cosa Nostra for 20 years, up until 1992, the year in which the Mafia assassinated two prosecutors in bomb attacks.
[August 24]
How was the play, Mrs. Lincoln
But while the crisis is leaving the Letta government’s prospects dim, Berlusconi’s Mediaset seems to have shrugged off the news. The shares have been on a tear so far this year, nearly tripling in value from their all-time low of €1.16 ($1.52) set in December by the end of July (the Supreme Court ruling was Aug. 1). They’ve been mostly flat since then, but they have still outperformed the Italian Stock Exchange’s blue chip index over that period, closing trading Friday at €3.36 ($4.40). Several investment banks have upgraded Mediaset’s ratings in recent weeks, judging that the tycoon’s political and legal woes are likely to have limited impact on the company’s day-to-day operations.
[August 14]
“Any definitive sentence, and the subsequent requirement to apply it, must be accepted,” Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said August 13 in an e-mailed statement. “That goes for the case at the center of attention today as with every other one.”
Napolitano noted that Silvio Berlusconi would not be expected to go to jail. Because of his age, the billionaire businessman is likely to serve the sentence under house arrest or doing community service.
Five Star Movement Founder Beppe Grillo, head of the biggest opposition party in parliament, said Napolitano was too lenient with Berlusconi and called on the president to resign.
[August 6]
Berlusconi already has a successor lined up — his daughter Marina. Marina is Berlusconi’s oldest daughter from his first marriage and has always been her father’s favorite. Despite having dropped out of university, Marina was installed as the chief executive of her father’s media company at the tender age of 30, making her — according to Forbes — the most influential woman in Italy.
On Facebook and fansites, she presents herself as a friend of Silvio’s fiancée Francesca Pascale. Marina, who is approaching her 47th birthday, doesn’t seem to mind the age gap. Her father’s new belle is only 27. In recent days, Marina has been a part of all high-level party meetings, a noticeable change from the past. Indeed, Berlusconi used to be fond of saying that he didn’t want his daughter to have to suffer as he has. Now, according to various Italian media outlets, Berlusconi has confided in a select few that his daughter should stand in the upcoming election. Berlusconi-owned “Il Giornale” has also predicted that Marina would perhaps throw her hat into the ring in her father’s place. The affection between father and daughter is clearly mutual. Despite marrying a ballet dancer and having two children of her own, Silvio remains his daughter’s main man. She refuses to tolerate even the slightest criticism of him. And there are other similarities as well: Marina and Silvio both enjoy a good dye job and the occasional surgical intervention. She is the daughter of Silvio Berlusconi with his first wife Carla Elvira Lucia Dall’Oglio, and is the elder sister of the businessman Pier Silvio Berlusconi. She is married to Maurizio Vanadia.
Marina Berlusconi Vanadia, 47 year-old university dropout
[August 4]
On August 1 Berlusconi was ordered to serve four years in prison, a sentence that has been commuted to one year under a 2006 amnesty and will consist, due to his age, of detention under house arrest or community service rather than jail.
The five judges of the court of cassation ordered another part of the previous sentence – a ban on public office – to be re-evaluated by a lower court. “If there is not a reform of the justice system we are ready for elections,” he told his followers. “This alliance is now unsustainable. The PD should draw up an exit strategy,” Pippo Civati, a centre-left MP, was quoted as saying. “Let’s pass the electoral law, then go straight back to the polls.” Whatever the government’s fate, Mr. Berlusconi isn’t about to start serving his sentence or lose his seat. He has until mid-October to decide whether to serve the year’s sentence at home or perform some socially useful service. And Senate procedures to strip him of his post will likely take months.
[July 10]
The Court of Cassation has decided to schedule an appeal in the media mogul’s tax fraud trial for July 30, months earlier than expected. The high court said it moved up the date to prevent the statute of limitations from expiring on one of the charges on Aug. 1. A high court decision could see former Premier Silvio Berlusconi banned for years from public office.
Although Berlusconi isn’t in the government himself, steady support from his center-right People of Freedom party is necessary to keep Premier Enrico Letta’s 10-week-old government alive, since Letta’s center-left Democratic Party doesn’t have enough support in Parliament to control both houses.
[June 25]
On June 19, Italy’s Constitutional Court rejected a procedural challenge related to Berlusconi’s October conviction for tax fraud. The tax-fraud conviction, upheld on appeal last month, carries a four-year prison sentence and five-year ban from public office. The final appeal for that case, involving Berlusconi’s related to the acquisition by his media company Mediaset SpA of television and film rights almost a decade ago., is underway. Mediaset, Italy’s dominant private television broadcaster, bought U.S. film and television rights at inflated prices, allowing the company to fraudulently lower its tax bill. Mediaset itself wasn’t charged. Separately, Mr. Berlusconi has appealed his conviction and the four-year jail term handed down by the lower court. Both were upheld last month by an appeals court, but a standard second appeal is pending.
Berlusconi has, according to his own estimate, been the subject of some 2,500 court hearings. But, incredibly enough, the former prime minister has yet to serve a sentence:
• 1990: Berlusconi is found guilty of perjury for providing false testimony regarding his membership in Propaganda Due, a subversive and illegal Masonic lodge. Amnesty granted in 1989 saves him from actual sentencing.
• 1994: Berlusconi faces corruption charges over subsidiaries of his company Fininvest paying bribes totaling $240,000 to tax inspectors. In 1998, he is sentenced to 33 months in prison, which he never serves because the statute of limitations expires during an appeal.
• 1995: Berlusconi is found guilty of falsifying documents during Fininvest’s acquisition of the Medusa film company. In 2001 he is acquitted, and thus never serves a mandated 16-month prison sentence.
• 1998: In his second conviction in a week, Berlusconi is sentenced to 28 months in jail for using an offshore company to bribe former Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi. An appeals court throws out the charges a year later because the statute of limitations has expired.
• 2002: The Italian Parliament passes a bill allowing defendants to appeal for a change of venue if there is “legitimate suspicion” that the judge involved in a case is biased. Berlusconi uses the legislation to his advantage by dragging charges out past the statute of limitations (he will go on to evade false accounting charges through other laws passed by his government).
• 2013: An appeals court upholds charges of tax fraud against Berlusconi after he is initially sentenced to four years in prison and banned from public office for five years in 2012. Berlusconi is now appealing the verdict to Italy’s highest court, which has yet to issue a final verdict.
aka Ruby
A Milan court on June 24 convicted former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi of paying for sex with an underage prostitute during infamous “bunga bunga” parties at his villa and then using his influence to try to cover it up.
Berlusconi, 76, was sentenced to seven years in prison and barred from public office for life — a sentence that could mean the end of his two-decade political career. However, there are two more levels of appeal before the sentence would become final, a process that can take months.
[October 14 2011]
Le Monde publishes excerpts from DSK explanation
Given the “lack of sufficient elements of proof” uncovered by the police, “an investigation into attempted rape cannot be undertaken,” the public prosecutors’ office said.
The leader of the UMP Jean-Francois Cope held Monday “pathetic and sad” the intervention of Dominique Strauss-Kahn yesterday on TF1, saying “shocked” hints at a possible conspiracy. 7sur7
The leader of majority party said he was “deeply” shocked by the assumption of a trap that could have been stretched to DSK. figaro
google translation
