Posted Oct 10th 2008 4:36PM by TMZ Staff
Helio Castroneves is going halfway around the world while he awaits trial on tax evasion charges. Good idea?
A Federal judge is letting H go to Australia for a race on October 26. The same judge allowed him to race last Saturday in Atlanta, just a day after his indictment hearing. Not too shabby, all this travel.
Amusingly enough, the judge said if he tries to go on the lam, Helio would be "dancing with the U.S. marshals." Ah, jurist humor.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice
Posted Oct 10th 2008 3:19PM by TMZ Staff
Hugh Hefner's new twin GFs don't just beat the living crap out of other people -- they also kick the s**t out of each other.
We've learned Karissa Shannon was arrested just two months before she and sis Kristina were pinched for aggravated battery back in January. In this case, however, she was popped for kicking her own twin sister in the face. Lovely.
Here's the blow-by-blow, according to the charge report: When cops showed up, Kristina was lying on the ground outside their apartment "wearing only blue jean pants" and "bleeding from her nose," while Karissa was standing over Kristina asking who had done this, "as if she had no idea what had happened."
Best part: a neighbor said he witnessed the one twin kicking the other twin in the face, though "he could not identify which sister was which." Karissa eventually fessed up.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice
Posted Oct 10th 2008 12:10PM by TMZ Staff
If the guy who played Dr. Evil's henchman is guilty of the brutal rape charges he's facing -- then the vicious punishment his balls received in this ferocious 1994 UFC fight suddenly doesn't seem that bad.
WARNING -- NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!
Filed under: Celebrity Justice
Posted Oct 9th 2008 8:22PM by TMZ Staff
TMZ has learned the actor who played Random Task in the first "Austin Powers" movie has been charged with a vicious gang rape.
Joe Son's arrest has been all over newspapers in the O.C., but no one connected the dots -- that the suspect is actually Dr. Evil's henchman -- until now.
Here's how it all went down. Son pleaded guilty back in May to felony vandalism. The plea required him to fork over a DNA sample. Investigators ran his sample and found Son's DNA connected him to an unsolved gang rape back in 1990, where a woman was pistol-whipped, raped, threatened with death and eventually blindfolded and released naked.
Son has been charged with five felony counts of rape, two felony counts of forcible sodomy, two felony counts of sodomy in concert by force, seven felony counts of forcible oral copulation, and one felony count of sexual penetration by foreign object by force.
Son faces a maximum sentence of 275 years to life if convicted.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice
Posted Oct 9th 2008 5:23PM by TMZ Staff
Hugh Hefner, 82, likes 'em young, blonde ... and bad.
Turns out Hef's 19-year-old handpicked twin successors to the throne of Holly, Bridget and Kendra come with a checkered past. Karissa (left) and Kristina Shannon (right) -- who have recently moved into the Playboy Mansion -- were both busted by St. Petersburg, Fla. police for felony aggravated battery back in January. They both received probation and were ordered to pay restitution to the two victims.
Karissa also has a misdemeanor battery charge on her record from 2007. Atta girl!
Playboy had no comment.
UPDATE 6:40 PM PT: We just talked to a relative of one of the victims and here's what they tell us went down. The twins went out after work with one of their Wing House co-workers, Erica Civello, to a house party. Kristina allegedly started arguing with Erica, and Karissa came up behind her and hit Erica over the head with a bottle of beer and they both "jumped her." Erica suffered a concussion.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice
Posted Oct 9th 2008 3:37PM by TMZ Staff
Lindsay Lohan is worried about a possible video of her hitting the Internet -- and surprisingly, it's not a sex tape. Sorry, ladies.
Quick catch-up: Samantha Ronson is suing her former lawyer, Martin Garbus, for malpractice after she lost a defamation case against blogger Perez Hilton -- who claimed Lohan's 2007 coke bust was all her fault.
Lohan is now being called to testify by SamRo's former attorney, but she is demanding her deposition not be videotaped. In a motion filed yesterday, Lindsay says she is worried because Garbus intends to question her "about the details of the drugs allegedly found in the car and of her alleged romantic relationship with Ronson."
LiLo fears if the tape is released it will hit the Internet big time (who, us?) and cause her "unwarranted annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, undue burden and expense."
Linds is so worried about her testimony, she is requesting a private location for the depo, minimal witnesses to her testimony and a sealed transcript that would only touch the hands of a few key players in the case.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Lindsay Lohan
Posted Oct 9th 2008 2:38PM by TMZ Staff
Christie Brinkley asked for, but was denied, a restraining order against ex-hubby Peter Cook -- and we're hearing it has to do with Pete's infamous "20/20" interview.
Sources tell us CB's lawyers tried to get the TRO for this weekend because it's Pete's turn to see their two kids. In the "20/20" interview with Barbara Walters that airs Friday, Pete supposedly blames Christie for their marital problems -- and we're told Christie doesn't want the kids to see the show. Can ya blame her?
The TRO for this weekend didn't fly in court, and a hearing was scheduled for the end of the month.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice
Posted Oct 9th 2008 9:31AM by TMZ Staff
Sometimes even when you win, everybody loses.
Hustler printed 25-year-old nude pictures of Nancy Benoit in its March 2008 issue, ten months after she was killed by her husband, wrestler Chris Benoit. Her family had sued the mag, claiming it was a violation of privacy.
But yesterday, a federal judge tossed the case, saying the photog and the mag had the right to publish the pictures -- even if the pics were "offensive and distasteful."
Nancy's family is still considering filing a wrongful death suit against the WWE.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Talk Sports
Posted Oct 9th 2008 5:00AM by TMZ Staff
So your neighbor decides he's going to widen a road that leads to the home of an elderly woman. Why? Because that's how he rolls.
But what happens when he rolls right over your fence and starts building a retaining wall on your property without your permission? If you're Kathy Griffin, you do more than stand-up -- you call the city and put an immediate stop to the illegal incursion.
While the seemingly well intended, do-it-yourself neighbor claims he's only trying to make room for the inevitable arrival of emergency vehicles, Kathy is holding firm.
TMZ has learned Griffin was informed by friends while out of town that her fence had been laid to waste, and has since issued an official "stop work" notice. We've also been informed that notice or no notice, construction continues.
Our advice? Don't piss off a woman that can shred you in front of a national audience for years to come.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice
Posted Oct 8th 2008 3:10PM by TMZ Staff
A couple guys who say they bent over backwards to make a record for Lil' Kim -- and boy did they ever -- are pissed because they're the one who got the shaft.
Bigshot producers Trackmasters claim in a lawsuit they did virtually everything they could for the rapperista: Helped pay her $200K debt to Kim's ex-record label, started a company with $1.6 mil called Brookland just for her, moved their offices near her NJ mansion, and on and on.
She recorded a few tracks... but then wanted to rip up and redo her contract with Brookland, demanding that Akon and Wyclef get into the act. When producers balked, she threatened to jack five tracks and take them to another label.
Kim's peeps didn't immediately comment.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Music
Posted Oct 8th 2008 2:45PM by TMZ Staff
So we just told you the LAPD is investigating whether Gerard Butler kicked a paparazzi's ass yesterday. Well, there's more to this story.
Sources tell us witnesses have now come forward with a very different account. They are saying the papper was tailing Gerard for hours. And, they say, the photog was driving "recklessly" as he "chased" Butler's limo, almost hitting several pedestrians. The photog says he endangered no one.
The witnesses say after Gerard allegedly got out of the limo and struck the photog in the face, the photog continued following Butler for more than an hour before going to the hospital. But the agency the photog works for says Gerard struck the dude at 1:45 AM and he was at the cop shop at 2:10 AM.
And, we're told, the photog spoke with a civil lawyer before contacting cops.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice
Posted Oct 8th 2008 1:11PM by TMZ Staff
We've learned Gerard Butler is under criminal investigation for allegedly assaulting a photog.
It allegedly went down early Tuesday in L.A. Gerard was leaving Crown Bar at 2:00 AM and got into his limo. The photog claims he was following Gerard's limo in a car, when the limo suddenly stopped. Gerard supposedly got out of the limo, approached the photog and asked why he was tailing him.
To that, the photog says he responded, "Hey, that's my job." Gerard allegedly then reached in the car, grabbed the photog's throat and and punched him three or four times. Butler allegedly then kicked the car and again punched the photog three or four times -- close-fisted -- for good measure.
The photog went to the hospital for stitches and then filed a police report. The LAPD confirms they're looking into the case and plan on interviewing Gerard.
No immediate comment from Gerard's people.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice
Posted Oct 8th 2008 12:48PM by TMZ Staff
The biggest case since Manson was tried was played out today in an L.A. County criminal court.
Britney Spears, about to go on trial for the heinous crime of driving without a valid California license, was offered a deal to make the case go away -- a $150 fine, and 12 months probation.
Britney's lawyer, Michael Flanagan, told TMZ ... no way Jose. He's not going to cop a plea to a criminal offense.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Britney Spears
Posted Oct 8th 2008 12:00PM by TMZ Staff
With her sex tape ancient history, it looks like Jordan is trying a new mount.
The British supermodel, real name Katie Price, has been riding horses since the age of seven. Now she hopes to turn that hobby into in an Olympic medal in 2012. In other news, the Brits are petitioning for a new "smoking hot chick on horse" category.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice
Posted Oct 8th 2008 7:43AM by TMZ Staff
Nick Nolte thinks his printer may have sparked the fire that caused $2 million worth of damage to his house.
We broke the story on Tuesday that Nolte tried in vain to put out an electrical fire at his Malibu home. Neighbors tell TMZ after the fire department did its job, Nolte bitterly complained to them the printer in his office malfunctioned and he believed that's what started the blaze.
Nolte told neighbors he might sue the printing company.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice
