Indian billionaire involved in alleged murder plot married to Peabody Essex Museum board member

SALEM - Indian billionaire Amil Ambani, in the world news spotlight this week following allegations that someone sabotaged his helicopter in a murder attempt, has local ties. His wife, former Bollywood movie star Tina Ambani, is the only international member of the Peabody Essex Museum Board of Trustees.

Amil Ambani told police in Mumbai that pebbles and gravel were found in the chopper's engine and, had the aircraft lifted off, the debris could easily have severed vital parts and caused a fatal crash. The intrigue was soon compounded when the technician who discovered the pebbles turned up dead along railroad tracks in suburban Mumbai. Investigators described Bharat Borge's death as a suicide but the man's family believe he was murdered.

Ambani is among the world's richest men. His wife, the former Tina Munim, was elected last September to the Peabody Essex Museum's Board of Trustees because of her strong support for Indian art.

"Tina Ambani's passionate commitment to traditional, modern and contemporary Indian art makes her an ideal person to serve as PEM's first international trustee," Richard Carlson, the museum board chairman, said last fall.

A social philanthropist and patron of the arts, Ambani established the Harmony Art Foundation, an institution that supports India's emerging and known artists. She put her film career on hold to pursue her education in the United States. Upon returning to India, she married the wealthy industrialist, with whom she has two sons.

Upon accepting the PEM trusteeship, she said, "There is a tremendous synergy between the Peabody Essex Museum and Harmony Art Foundation based on our belief in Indian art and our genuine commitment to bring it to the global stage. It's time that the art world looks beyond the current fads and market trends to establish an
abiding interest in the incredible power and potential of Indian art."
The PEM began collecting
Indian art in 1799.

Spielberg raises $1.3b to take back DreamWorks

Steven Spielberg raised $1.3 billion to reestablish DreamWorks SKG as an independent film studio and break away from Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, people familiar with the director's efforts said.

The new studio is backed with a $550 million equity investment by Indian billionaire Anil Ambani and $750 million in debt financing lined up by JPMorgan Chase & Co., according to two people familiar with the arrangements.

The investment by Ambani's Reliance Entertainment Pvt. allows Spielberg, 61, to leave Viacom, where he clashed with Paramount studio chief Brad Grey. Paramount said it will let Spielberg and DreamWorks chief Stacey Snider join the new company immediately. The two sides will have to negotiate the projects Spielberg can take, said Bill Mechanic, former head of News Corp.'s Fox studios, said.

"If they leave behind all their projects, starting up will be a harder process," said Mechanic, who now heads Beverly Hills-based Pandemonium Productions. "Your success in this business is determined by the quality of projects you have in development."

With the release from Paramount, the new DreamWorks may be up and running as early as January. The studio will make about six films a year, according to the people familiar with the plans.

A DreamWorks spokesman declined to comment, as did Amit Khanna, chairman of Reliance Entertainment. The people declined to be identified because the terms aren't public. The Wall Street Journal reported the accord earlier.

DreamWorks founders Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen sold the studio to Viacom for $1.6 billion in 2006.

Source: Boston.com

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley in talks with Kuwaiti billionaire

Billionaire Kuwaiti businessman Nasser Al Kharafi is latest name linked with a possible takeover bid for Newcastle.

According to reports on Tyneside, an intermediary working on his behalf that Al Kharafi is interested in taking the club off sports retail tycoon Mike Ashley’s hands and becoming Newcastle’s new owner.

Al Kharafi, 64, has a background in construction and engineering and is said to be the 48th richest man in the world with an estimated fortune of £7 billion.

“Nasser Al Kharafi has the money to buy the club, but the way Mike Ashley is going about things is wrong,” the intermediary said. “He is actually putting off any interested buyers with the price and his refusal to negotiate. If he genuinely wants to sell he is going about it the wrong way.

“At the last estimate Nasser was worth around US$12bn, but he still won’t pay over the odds for the club.

“Mr Ashley seems to think he can ask what he wants because he is dealing with people who are multibillionaires, but that simply isn’t the case.

“As things stand he will be returning to England without a buyer.”

Earlier this week it emerged Ashley, the Sports Direct mogul, had slapped a staggering £481 million price tag on Newcastle just 16 months after he bought the St James’ Park club for £134.4 million.

Ashley has been in Dubai with Newcastle director of football Dennis Wise to sell Newcastle after putting the club up for sale on Sunday following a fierce backlash prompted by the resignation of Kevin Keegan as manager.

There is talk of Keegan making a dramatic return to Newcastle should Al Kharafi buy the club from Ashley who reportedly snubbed talks with an unidentified prospective buyer in Dubai and instead drank cocktails.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

American Billionaire Joins Arsenal Board

Stan Kroenke, the billionaire owner of the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, and Colorado Rapids, has joined the board at Arsenal. Just over a year ago, the boys over in London were up in arms when Kroenke started buying shares of the club. They more or less told him where he could shove his American money. Now they are falling all over themselves in an attempt to get that same American to protect them from a different potential takeover.

Russian billionaire, Alisher Usmanov, is gunning to take over Arsenal. In his corner is former Arsenal Chairman David Dein, who is heading up Usmanov’s company Red and White Holdings. Currently Usmanov owns 25% of Arsenal’s shares, but appears to be making a move for a hostile takeover.

Enter Kroenke. The American sports tycoon already owns a 12.5 % stake in the company, and current Arsenal Chairman Peter Hill-Wood - who recently just finished the largest plate of crow ever served up - has welcomed Kroenke’s money with open arms.

Kroenke is allowed to purchase up to a 29.9% stake in the club only if it is deemed that it’s necessary to block a takeover bid from Usmanov.

Arsenal is currently the only member of the big four that is traded publicly. Manchester United is owned by the Glazier family in America, Liverpool is owned by George Gillette and Tom Hicks, two American billionaires, and Chelsea is owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

Source: www.90soccer.com

MILLIONAIRE SHOPLIFTER JAILED

A conman who lived the lifestyle of a millionaire by forging till receipts for DIY equipment has been jailed for more than two years.

Police dubbed Kevin Castle the Millionaire Shoplifter after he earned up to £1,000 a day from refunds at stores across the country.



He used the cash to fund his luxury London flat and eat in the finest restaurants. He booked a 28-night stay at Claridge's Hotel in London and dined at Gordon Ramsay's award-winning restaurant.

At first, he got away with it by using a variety of disguises, such as posing as a electrical engineer, alarm fitter and property developer, before he was finally caught out.

But the 43-year-old of Stapleford, Nottingham, was finally caught in the act as he tried to exchange a packet of doorknobs at the Homebase branch in Altrincham.

Peter McNaught, prosecuting, said this led to police investigating the financial affairs of Castle and his then-partner, Elaine Rogers.

She earned just £70 per fortnight as a shop assistant but her account showed a number of large deposits.

Sentencing him Judge Phillip Sycamore said: "You have an appalling record of offending, almost exclusively for offences of dishonesty".

He said Ms Rogers was given a suspended sentence because she had no knowledge of Castle's criminal activity but in his case a custodial sentence was "inevitable".

Castle was sentenced to 20 months for the converting offence and eight months for the 11 counts of fraud.

He buried his head in his hands when the sentence was delivered and then shook his head.

source: www.itv.com

BILLIONAIRE JOKES

Before You Meet With God
A billionaire died and went to The Judgment. St. Peter met him at the Gates of Heaven and said, "Before you meet with God, I thought I should tell you -- we've looked at your life, and your really didn't do anything particularly good or bad.
We're not at all sure what to do with you. Can you tell us anything you did that can help us make a decision?"
The billionaire thought for a moment and replied, "Yeah, once I was driving along in my ferrari and came upon a woman who was being harassed by a group of bikers. So I pulled over, got out my tire iron, and went up to the leader of the bikers. He was a big, muscular, hairy guy with tattoos all over his body and a ring pierced through his nose. Well, I tore the nose ring out of his nose, and told him he and his gang had better stop bothering the woman or they would have to deal with me!"
"I'm impressed," St. Peter responded, "When did this happen?"
"About two minutes ago," came the reply.

Heaven Cafeteria
A billionaire dies and goes to heaven. St. Peter meets him at the Pearly Gates and checks him in.
After he's registered, St. Peter says to him, "Look at the time: you must be hungry! Heaven Cafeteria is serving lunch, why don't you get yourself something to eat?"
The billionaire goes to the cafeteria and notices the long line. He immediately cuts in at the front, only to hear loud protests. "I'm a billionaire" he says, "I'm a busy man, I don't have time to wait in line."
The others say, "You're in heaven now, we're all the same here, get to the back of the line and wait your turn!"
A few weeks later, waiting patiently on line for lunch, the billionaire notices a man come dashing in wearing a 3 piece suit and accompanied by a 6 man entourage. He butts in at the head of the line and no one utters a peep.
"Hey," he says to the guy in front of him, "Who does that guy think he is?" "Oh, that's God," says the guy, "He likes to play billionaire."

Genie With A Catch
A guy found a bottle on the beach. He rubbed it and, sure enough, out popped a genie.
"I will grant you three wishes," said the Genie. "But there's a catch." "What catch?" he asked.
The genie replied, "Every time you make a wish, every politician in the world will receive double what you asked for."
"Well, I can live with that! No problem!" replied the elated man.
"What is your first wish?" asked the Genie. "Well, I've always wanted a Ferrari," he said. POOF! A Ferrari appeared in front of the man. "Now, every politician in the world has two Ferraris," said the genie.
"Next wish?" "I'd love a billion dollars," replied the man. POOF! One billion dollars appeared at his feet. "Now, every politician in the world has two billion dollars," said the genie. "Well, that's okay, as long as I've got my billion," replied the man.
"What is your final wish?" asked the genie. The man thought long and hard, and finally said, "Well, you know, I've always wanted to donate a kidney."

VW v. Rolls Royce

A man from Texas, driving a Volkswagen Beetle, pulls up next to a billionaire in a Rolls Royce at a stop sign. Their windows are open and he yells at the billionaire, "Hey, you got a telephone in that Rolls?"
The billionaire says, "Yes, of course I do."
"I got one too... see?” the Texan says.
"Uh, huh, yes, that's very nice."
"You got a fax machine?" asks the Texan.
"Why, actually, yes, I do."
"I do too! See? It's right here!" brags the Texan.
The light is just about to turn green and the guy in the Volkswagen says, "So, do you have a double bed in back there?"
The billionaire replies, "NO! Do you?"
"Yep, got my double bed right in back here," the Texan replies.
The light turns and the Volkswagen takes off.
Well, the billionaire is not about to be one-upped, so he immediately goes to a customizing shop and orders them to put a double bed in back of his Rolls.
About two weeks later, the job is finally done. He picks up his Rolls and drives all over town looking for the Volkswagen beetle with the Texas plates. Finally, he finds it parked alongside the road, so the billionaire pulls his Rolls up next to it.
The windows on the Volkswagen are all fogged up ...
(it's OK to continue ... it's a clean joke.)
... and he feels somewhat awkward about it, but the billionaire gets out of his newly modified Rolls and taps on the foggy window of the Volkswagen.
The man in the Volkswagen finally opens the window a crack and peeks out.
The billionaire says, "Hey, remember me?"
"Yeah, yeah, I remember you," replies the Texan, "What's up?"
"Check this out...I got a double bed installed in my Rolls."

The Texan exclaims, "YOU GOT ME OUT OF THE SHOWER TO TELL ME THAT!"

Billionaire Gaydamak to be tried in France

Jewish billionaire Arcady Gaydamak will be tried in France on charges of illegal gun-running to Angola.



French media reported Thursday that the prosecutor has refused to close the case, according to news reports.

Gaydamak, who is suspected of shipping arms to Angola during the 1990s, left France for Israel in 2000 in part to escape the charges. A warrant for his arrest was renewed last week. The trial is scheduled to begin in October.

Gaydamak announced his candidacy for mayor of Jerusalem on Wednesday.

Hours after Gaydamak threw his hat into the ring, Israeli prosecutors told him that they had launched an investigation into allegations of vote-buying at a private meeting in his home earlier this year.

He is also facing indictment in Israel over allegations of money laundering and fraud. He was questioned over those allegations in May.

Source: www.jta.org