Liz Barrett is an award-winning writer whose work has been internationally syndicated by the New York Times. She has been a special guest on National Public Radio.

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Showing entries for Category: Money-Doesnt-Talk-It-Swears

Jay Leno's co-defendant in car-swindle lawsuit commits suicide

6 comments

October 23, 9:27 AM

by Liz Barrett, Celebrity News Examiner

Dennis Ricca (left) was one of Jay Lenos' co-defendants in a car-swindle lawsuit.
[ Photo of Ricca: Victor Alcom/NY Post | Photo of Leno: AP ]

Manhattan parking garage executive Dennis Ricca killed himself the day after the New York Post reported that he and Jay Leno are being sued by the estate of deceased Macy's heir John Straus for illegally auctioning off two of his rare antique cars, according to Page Six.

Ricca shot himself in the head on Friday. His mourners are saying that the lawsuit is what caused him to do it, the Post says.

Straus, who died in May 2008, had been storing the two cars — 1931 Duesenberg Model J valued at $1.2 million and a 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom convertible valued at $500,000 — in the Windsor Garage on the Upper East Side (where Ricca was one of the execs) for around 50 years and was more than $20,000 behind in storage fees, Ricca claimed. (The estate's lawyers deny that.)

According to the Post, the suit filed on Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court alleges that:

Straus, who was in his 80s and beginning to suffer from dementia, sent in a check for the $22,000 bill, but the garage sent it back to him, saying he now owed $36,000.

Ricca then auctioned off the cars for non-payment of fees.

Jay Leno, who reportedly had been trying to get the Deusenberg for years, bought the $1.2 millon car for $180,000 (see pic below) and Ricca got the Rolls-Royce for the roundest of all numbers: $0.

Even if the auction was technically legal — which is a matter of dispute — it just doesn't seem right. The suit alleges:

Leno was far less concerned with the bona fides of the underlying purported auction and sale, than with achieving his long awaited purchase of this one of a kind Model J."

We have to ask Jay: Was it worth it?

[ Photo: Bitten&Bound ]

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Topics: Money Doesn't Talk (It Swears)

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The boku bucks express: Lindsay Lohan sued for holding three men hostage during July 2007 wild ride

3 comments

October 22, 9:53 AM

You have to wonder how three grown men were allegedly kidnapped by Lindsay Lohan (she's 5-foot-5 and weighs about as much as a small celery stick) — not mention why they didn't file suit until a year and three months after the incident supposedly... Read More
Topics: Money Doesn't Talk (It Swears)

Heath Ledger's life insurance company won't pay $10M until they rule out suicide

4 comments

September 29, 11:17 AM

Trustees for Matilda Ledger are suing ReliaStar Life Insurance Company, because it won't pay out $10 million policy that her father, Heath Ledger, purchased six months before he died. The company claims they are still investigating Heath's death to... Read More
Topics: Money Doesn't Talk (It Swears)

Nicole Kidman tops Forbes list of Hollywood's most overpaid movie stars

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September 12, 6:06 AM

It's out! Forbes' second annual list of the most overpaid movie stars hit the web earlier this week — topped by Nicole Kidman, whose films gross (not net) only $1 for every $1 she makes.Editors used a complex formula that would make the average... Read More
Topics: Money Doesn't Talk (It Swears)

'Harry Potter' author JK Rowling wins in court: NY judge halts 'Lexicon'

1 comment

September 8, 12:19 PM

After months of legal dispute, a federal judge ruled today in New York that an unauthorized encyclopedia violates Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's creative rights and may not be published.The Harry Potter Lexicon was to be a print version of the popular... Read More
Topics: Money Doesn't Talk (It Swears)

R. Kelly denies involvement in South African scam

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August 26, 6:56 PM

The last thing R. Kelly needs is another scandal — but he's got one. Police are investigating a South African scam in which a woman is accused of bilking investors out of more than $130,000 that was supposedly being raised for an R. Kelly concert... Read More
Topics: Money Doesn't Talk (It Swears)

FBI seizes Anne Hathaway's diaries in raid of ex Raffaello Follieri's home

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July 24, 8:48 AM

It was a headline waiting to happen: "FBI grabs Princess' Diaries." The FBI confiscated Anne Hathaway's intimate diaries during another raid on Raffaello Follieri’s $37,500-a-month Trump Tower apartment, according to the Daily News.Anne's... Read More
Topics: Money Doesn't Talk (It Swears)

Forbes: Will Smith, Cameron Diaz top Hollywood earnings list

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July 23, 7:07 AM

Men still get paid twice as much as women in Hollywood, but we're not feeling super sorry for alpha female Cameron Diaz, who had to make do with a $50 million salary last year, according to Forbes. Will Smith was the alpha male with $80 million.The top... Read More
Topics: Money Doesn't Talk (It Swears)

Feds charge Wesley Snipes $217,363 for court costs

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June 19, 7:55 AM

Federal prosecutors don't just want Wesley Snipes to pay his taxes. They want him to pay what it cost them to convict him — and that's a lot of dough. Here's the full story from the Orlando Sentinel: The government recently sent a "cost of... Read More
Topics: Money Doesn't Talk (It Swears)

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1 comment

June 17, 8:52 AM

Some people are saying that his wife's spending habits are the reason Ed McMahon is losing his house. TMZ says Pamela McMahon is literally spending him onto the street. We hear she's completely "oblivious" to the late night legend's cash... Read More
Topics: Money Doesn't Talk (It Swears)