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New York Times – The United States is building criminal cases against more than 150 American clients of UBS as part of a crackdown on tax evasion now made easier by a deal over access to secret account information.
U.S. prosecutors gave their first official confirmation of the initial number of criminal investigations in a filing on Tuesday with a federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The number of criminal probes is widely expected to mushroom soon, Reuters reported.
In the same court document, the prosecutors requested a sharply reduced prison sentence for ex-UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld, a key informant in the ongoing U.S. prosecutions of wealthy American clients of UBS.
Huffingtonpost.com – I’m told that screenwriter Allan Loeb (21, Things We Lost In The Fire) will hand in his second draft of the long-awaited Wall Street2 to 20th Century Fox later this week. (Although the great Stanley Weiser and his film school pal Oliver Stone were credited as writers of the original pic, Stephen Schiff was first to script the sequel.) I heard Loeb’s first draft was "so great" that Stone didn’t feel the need to touch it — yet. But no one expects the director to keep hands off on the second draft since principal photography starts on August 10th. The film’s release is now planned for February 2010. So here’s the oh-so-secret plot of Wall Street 2 and who’s playing what:
Michael Douglas, as everyone already knows, reprises his Best Actor Oscar-winning role as Gordon Gekko. But what hasn’t been reported is that, as the movie begins, it’s 21 years later and Mr. Greed Is Good has finished serving his prison sentence. He finds himself on the fringe of the financial community. ("Kinda like Jim Cramer or Mike Milken after their disgrace," an insider with the pic tells me.) Gekko is cautioning Wall Street that the "end is coming" — but nobody is listening. So Gordon is obsessed with trying to repair his ruptured relationship with his daughter. That juicy actress role isn’t cast yet. (But I’d love it if Oliver had the balls to bring back Sean Young as Mom in spite of their notorious falling out during the filming of the original.)
Union-News & Sunday Republican – The girlfriend of hedge fund swindler Samuel Israel III, already accused of helping him skip out on a prison sentence, tried to send him $300 in jail, officials said Wednesday.
The cash was "secreted in the pages of a magazine" mailed to Israel last month at the Westchester County jail, county police spokesman Kieran O’Leary said. He did not know the name of the magazine.
The money was discovered during routine screening and did not reach Israel, O’Leary added. Prisoners are not permitted to receive cash.
The magazine was traced to the girlfriend, 45-year-old Debra Ryan of Armonk, and she was arrested on Friday, O’Leary said. She is due in local court later this month.
