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Wesley Snipes is Going to Jail

Wesley Snipes is to begin a three-year prison sentence shortly after having been convicted of tax evasion in the State of Florida.

The Hollywood actor best known for his action roles was found guilty of failing to file income tax returns for 1999 through 2001, despite having earned millions from his film roles. Five other felony charges were dismissed in the trial back in 2008, but Snipes (pictured above at last year's Venice Film Festival) recently lost an appeal for a retrial.

Since his request for a second trial was turned down by US District Court judge, Snipes is expected to be remanded to an as-yet undisclosed penitentiary outside the state in the near future.

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Tags: convict, conviction, court, jail, prison, snipes, tax evasion, wesley snipes

Alleged Swindler Scammed Out of $800,000 by New York City Limo Driver

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth, Celebrity Design, Crimes and Misdemeanors

Tony Chan Chun Chuen is allegedly swindled by New York Limo driver.

A New York City limo driver allegedly stole the credit card information belonging to a Hong Kong-based near billionaire and racked up nearly $800,000 in fraudulent charges, according to court documents filed in a Federal Court in Brooklyn.

Astonishingly, the victim is so wealthy, he wasn't even aware he had been defrauded of hundreds of thousands of dollars until it was brought to his attention by the company that had issued the charge card.

It all started when celebrity feng shui adviser, Chan Chun Chuen, also known as "Tony Chan" (seen above), traveled by private jet in July 2008 arriving at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport before being transported to Manhattan by Queens, N.Y.-based driver, Peter S. Rahhaoui. According to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, Rahhaoui later used Chan's American Express card to "receive payment and other things of value". The fraudulent activity allegedly occurred between August 2008 and November 2009 .

U.S. Secret Service Agent Kwame Davis testified that he had been contacted by a fraud investigator working on behalf of American Express who was investigating a pattern of fraudulent activity for a card issued to Chan Chun Chuen. According to Kwame's testimony, a large number of charges were posted on a monthly basis by A&S Limousine Service, for amounts ranging between $4,300 and $19,242. According to court documents, the total amount of these charges was $794,986.

But in a strange twist of events, the victim's own alleged misdoings are now being used as a defense by Rahhaouhi.

Tags: American Express, billionaire, Can Chun Chuen, court, feng shui, fraud, fraud investigation, Hong Kong, legal action, Nina Wang, Tony Chan

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Supreme Court To Decide Fate Of Luxury Items Gray Market: Costco v. Omega

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

This topic is near and dear to my heart because of the legal aspect and the watch aspect. I am not going to present to you a law school style outline of the legal history or implications of this case, but rather what it all means.

Back in 2004 Omega got pissed at Costco for selling Omega watches that it purchased not from Omega as an authorized dealer, but rather from gray market distributors. Costco has some good deals on high-end watches because it legally buys watches from people who have inventory acquired from unsold authorized retailer inventory or otherwise from retailers around the world. Costco is able to buy these slightly older model watches at lower prices. At the same time, they are not bound by Omega's pricing policies that govern authorized dealers.

Omega can't stop Costco from selling the watches because Costco legally bought them from sources that somewhere down the line, legitimately bought them from Omega. So after much bitching and moaning, Omega sued on a copyright claim.

The claim says Costco had no right to sell products with Omega intellectual property without Omega's permission. The first court sided with Costco, and Omega appealed. The second court sided with Omega, and the Costco appealed to the Supreme Court. At this point the Supreme Court doesn't need to hear the case. For the most part, the Supreme Court chooses the cases it wants to hear. Recently, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear the case in the Fall. The case is: Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Omega, S.A., 08-1423.

Aside from being interesting as the parties are companies most people know well, the outcome of the case has some serious implications. On the one hand, the case might strike a serious blow to the life of the gray market, which are lower cost goods that are resold into the market and ultimately sold at lower prices to consumers. On the other hand, the case might validate the gray market, forcing brands like Omega that are highly price sensitive to rethink their business model and reduce their reliance on third party authorized dealers.

The watch world will be looking very closely at the issue, especially as the decision is published in the next year.

Major watch brands are also preempting the gray market issue by making serious changes to the way they do business. This of course also applies to luxury brands that offer products other than just watches. Instead of selling as much product to authorized dealers as possible, the business model of the future for luxury brands may likely be to sell directly to consumers. This strategy would bypass traditional dealer networks altogether.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: case, costco, court, gray market, omega, suit, supreme court