Thursday, August 14, 2014
Advisor Ted Simon Jumps Ship? With Legal And Financial Woes Will The Other Paid Help Stay?
Posted by Peter Quennell
Paid help Robert Barnett, Linda Kulman, Carlo Dalla Vedova, and Luciano Ghirga
Knox seems to badly need several kinds of professional help.
But Ted Simon simply parroting the foolish Steve Moore and the foolish Bruce Fischer was not really what we had in mind. If Ted Simon really is Knox’s ex-lawyer what a legal and financial mess he leaves behind.
In America there is a common legal remark on TV: that the coverup is often worse than the crime. It is often for the coverup that perps get sentenced to the longest time - often that is the only sentence they get.
Had the Knox and Sollecito forces been smart enough to take the route Dr Mignini hinted at in 2007 - that this was a hazing with sexual humiliation that spiraled out of control - and shown remorse as Guede to some extent did - the two might have faced lesser charges, been out early, and brought to an early end some of the terrible agony inflicted on Meredith’s ailing family over nearly seven years.
The paid and unpaid help might now be doing just fine.
But of course the smart route was ignored. The coverup for Knox seems totally on the rocks. Italy holds all the cards. As described in the past several posts, legal and financial nightmares for the Knox and Sollecito paid and unpaid help could be ahead. For one thing, they could all end up unpaid.
- Remember, the prosecution case presented at trial in 2009 was powerful and decisive, and the defenses were so demoralised in the summer and fall that two defense lawyers were said to have nearly walked.
- Remember, the Knox forces never tell you this, as Steve Moore etc make inane charges about corruption on the prosecution side, but the ONLY known corruption in the case was on the defense side.
It is openly known in Italy that the judicial appointments to the 2011 appeal court were corrupt. It was a hijacked court.
Judge Chiari and Prosecutor Comodi both publicly made this quite plain, Dr Galati said Cassation would set things right, the CSM edged Judge Hellmann into retirement (where he still waffles on with trademark incompetence) and the Supreme Court did set things right, with the unique ferocity that we saw.
Knox’s serial lying in her own coverup was very well known (after all, it was for lying that she served three years) but the flashmob attempts at coverup based on her invented claims went on regardless, even escalated in the past several years with the arrival of new dupes. Saul Kassin and John Douglas and the seriously out-to-lunch Jim Clemente come to mind.
The Knox book bizarrely parrots Steve Moore and Bruce Fischer, presumably with Ted Simon’s okay. Now it has put her paid help’s problems on steroids. All of them including Ted Simon could be legally and financially liable in several different ways. The past several posts described some of those.
Take for example this statement Knox puts into the public domain about her Perugia lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova, in which she is accusing him of all people of falsely accusing police and prosecutors of crimes:
Carlo [Dalla Vedova], who’d never sugarcoated my situation, said, “These are small-town detectives. They chase after local drug dealers and foreigners without visas. They don’t know how to conduct a murder investigation correctly. Plus, they’re bullies. To admit fault is to admit that they’re not good at their jobs. They suspected you because you behaved differently than the others. They stuck with it because they couldn’t afford to be wrong.”
Really? He said that?
Read all the transcripts at trial and Mr Dalla Vedova’s public statements nowhere near resemble that. They were careful, honest and respectful, to say the least. He had numerous opportunities to complain. But he didnt, not once.
As we’ve remarked in the posts just below, back in 2008 he and Mr Ghirga had to publicly advise Knox to please not keep inventing things. So to this claim of Knox, when her book comes up for trial, what can Mr Dalla Vedova say?
Either he committed a new crime or his client did?
There is a good reason Giulia Bongiorno is not defending Sollecito for his own radioactive book. On that, she has already jumped ship.
Last one out the door, please turn off the lights.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 08/14/14 at 03:24 PM in Defendants in court, Amanda Knox, Hoaxes Knox & team, 13 AK persona hoax, Hoaxers from 2007, Knox-Marriott PR, Heavey, Bremner, Bruce Fischer, Steve Moore, John Douglas
Comments
Well, well, well. Once again, Mr. Quennell, you were 100% accurate in predicting this months ago:
Now who will Knox hire as her new extradition attorney? Anne Bremner? :D
Posted by Johnny Yen on 08/14/14 at 04:41 PM | #
Honorable Mr Yen:
There is lots of amazing sharp eyes here, as you know. With all the money in the world, it is almost impossible to put together a team as good as this.
I thought the world was pretty well cooked; now I am not so sure.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 08/14/14 at 05:07 PM | #
@Johnny: Simon has not been *that* successful in extradition cases. He represents Kevin Dahlgren—who will be tried in absentia if he succeeds and is being detained in a US prison until then. AK’s situation is even more perilous since her conviction will have been confirmed at each level of the Italian system.
I think Simon’s chief role so far has been to parrot the FOA line for the benefit of a sympathetic US media. He may also have been involved in the book deal since he and Bargain Bob have a history. That too was a financial disaster.
It’s still too early to tell whether or when Knox will engage Simon again but it won’t make much difference. If she has any cash left he’ll take it, wave his arms a lot, and watch from a respectful distance as the marshals load the murderer onto the plane back to Italy.
Posted by Stilicho on 08/14/14 at 11:29 PM | #
Thank you kind sir!
We recently figured this out, and all of the blood money is gone. She had to pay ordinary income tax on the four million book advance earlier this year. At a minimum rate of 35%, that tax bill came to 1.4 million minimum. And they went public with the 4 million bloody bills story. So any of that would be nearly impossible to hide anywhere in the world. Therefore, we are pretty sure that she paid the federal government 1.4 million minimum.
She says she paid her parents and grandmother back on the million plus they leveraged with the bank loans on their houses. So that’s 2.4 million. Seven years of legal fees were somewhere around one million or more. And that is a very, very conservative estimate. So that’s 3.4 million or more. Then there are all the payments to Marriot and his tribe. Indeed, the blood money is now all gone and she is living off of donations to her site and some very, very meager book sales. This is the first and main reason why Ted “The Bagman” Simon has dropped out. As it has been said here and on other sites that if the money is gone, then he is gone.
The second reason why he is gone is that he knows that once the extradition request is made, Knox will be immediately incarcerated and he won’t be able to bail her out. He won’t get the Habeus Corpus writ and the extradition hearing will be very brief and very limited. Here is another ongoing story that is very similar here:
Philippine police: ex-Marine, murder weapon linked
May. 9, 2013
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — More than 20 months after the bodies of a retired Northern Ireland police officer and his girlfriend were found in a Philippines bedroom littered with bullet casings, authorities seeking the extradition of a former U.S. Marine say they have linked him to guns used in the killings and recovered blood-splattered jeans he tried to have burned.
Timothy Kaufman, 35, was arrested last month near his grandfather’s upstate New York home. He faces extradition proceedings in a federal court in Albany to answer to murder charges in the Philippines. A date for the extradition proceedings has not yet been set.
Continued…
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/court-ex-marine-accused-philippines-murders
The authorities are now waiting for John Kerry’s signature to send Kaufman back to justice in the Philippines.
The third reason why Simon is gone is that he is not willing to go down in history as the lawyer who lost the notorious Amanda Knox extradition case. No way. Will any other experienced lawyers be willing to wear that glowing neon sign around their necks for the rest of their careers?
Posted by Johnny Yen on 08/15/14 at 12:06 AM | #
About those figures, which may not be too far out.
The Republic of Italy has quite a buffet of American laws to select from to get Knox back in prison and the ill-gotten gains of herself and all those who also made money off the crime seized and directed to making amends.
The Knox-Mellases may prove to have been very foolish to have arranged the PR and the book deal if they are made to pay back what Knox paid them. Maybe their houses could be at risk, nobody made them spend all that cash.
The book came out after the Supreme Court ruled and if Ted Simon and Robert Barnett didnt warn anyone about the federal and state Son of Sam laws, then they were derelict and could be made to pay too.
Ted Simon surely saw the way the wind was blowing here. Better to leave with half a loaf and hope it isnt taken away. Its a long time since anyone heard from Bob Barnett.
If you were Knox would you re-hire Simon, or would you sue him and Barnett too? Maybe that depends on what Knox told them, that overrode a sensible hold on the publishing after Cassation ruled.
Bob Barnett was reported to have escorted Knox to a Washington function for VIPs as a trophy; can anyone find that report? Photos would be very nice too.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 08/15/14 at 12:44 AM | #
On Anne Bremner, hard to have much sympathy as she helped to start the PR hard line with nothing but contempt for Italy and officials involved.
The police patrol which came upon her that night found her driving home on rims with four flat tires. Police-station CCTV showed her trying to wriggle free as she was frogmarched though the precinct.
She worked hard to purge all of that but she’s been downhill since then. On TV pro-guilt ex-prosecutor Wendy Murphy who is part Italian totally ties her up in knots.
Her brother Doug is maybe the meanest FOA poster on the case. He barks at the Kerchers all the time. Anne Bremner apparently said he should desist and like her has a bipolar condition.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 08/15/14 at 12:54 AM | #
Hi Peter & Johnny Yen,
If this is indeed true, then this is bad news for Knox, the ship is starting to sink and the rats are deserting U.S.S. Knox. Ted Simon has always struck me as a hawk and a predator who would only be around as long as the money was still there. So, if he’s gone now we need the Moore’s, Fischer, Heavey, Douglas, Bremner, and Hampikian to bail on Knox.
Thank you. Peter your posts are great.
Posted by forres on 08/15/14 at 01:05 AM | #
Some of think that this will be the same judge that Amanda Knox will face in her upcoming extradition proceedings:
Judge Denies Release for Yelm Couple Accused of Tax Evasion, Money Laundering
March 20, 2014
A U.S. District Court judge denied a motion on Thursday for Diana Nemes’ release, saying there was “substantial” evidence Nemes posed a flight risk.
Radu and Diana Nemes were arrested by the FBI on Tuesday for extradition to Romania, where they face tax evasion charges.
The Nemes’ lawyer appeared in district court on Thursday arguing Diana Nemes should be released because she is approximately five months pregnant, which she argued constitutes a “special circumstance” allowing for release on bail. Nemes also has two young children she needs to care for, the lawyer said.
She argued her client was not a flight risk and that the evidence against her client was weak.
Judge Karen Strombom said there is no presumption of release in extradition cases, unless the person being extradited can show to the court that they are not a flight risk, not a danger to the community, and had other special circumstances.http://www.yelmonline.com/news/local_news/article_47ec9ea6-b082-11e3-972b-001a4bcf887a.html
The Honorable Karen L. Strombom is a magistrate of the Western District of Washington. Knox is a flight risk as she previously stated that she would become a fugitive, she is a danger to society and there are no special circumstances. So, without a doubt, AK will be incarcerated soon in Seatac.
And, of course, the above noted case is for tax evasion.
Tax evasion.
Justice is coming soon!
Posted by Johnny Yen on 08/15/14 at 05:12 AM | #
I sometimes do volunteer work at the local palliative care hospital which on occasion entails an overnight shift.
This morning about 4:00 I watched a program on CNN during which it was suggested that perhaps Bowe Bargdahl during his five years of captivity let something slip which contributed to the present ISIS aggression in Iraq. This was just conjecture of course.
However what was not conjecture was the discussion as to whether Edward Snowden’s traitorous disclosures led to the present Russian aggression towards the Ukraine. Further to which, it was agreed upon that it was without question true.
Therefore, since that is the prevailing attitude, it gives more credence to have Snowden extradited back to the USA to stand trial.
Further bad news for Knox because even if she had any wriggle room left at all, then even that faint hope is rapidly fading away, since obviously it is even more reason to not attempt to block her extradition, leaving Anne Bremner Bruce Fischer Michelle and Steve Moore whistling past the graveyard.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2014/04/17/edward-snowdens-cowardice-on-russian-tv/
http://www.aei-ideas.org/2014/03/how-snowden-is-helping-putin-in-ukraine/
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/snowden-helped-russia-invade-ukraine/
http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2014/03/snowden-supporting-in-an-odd-way-russias-crimea-incursion-185571.html
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 08/15/14 at 12:11 PM | #
Hi Graham
Great point. Majority opinion now as in the links I added that Snowden has become a fullblown traitor costing many Ukrainian lives. And yet he still goes about his smug ways in Moscow denying he helps them.
In his case his psychology has been much studied to try to prevent recurrences of this among other analysts. The NSA was merely collecting metadata (no names) about American phone patterns and it had been approved by Congress.
But he felt superior to the democratic process, and has done mammoth collateral damage.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 08/15/14 at 04:06 PM | #
Iconic image: Anne Bremner driving home drunk on rims with four flat tires.
The cartoon version: crawling home drunk on all fours.
Posted by Patrizio on 08/15/14 at 05:40 PM | #
Steve Moore claims he was trained as a sniper. Well apart from camouflage (always cover your boots first) it’s really not that difficult.
Namely..
(1)Round in chamber.
(2)First pressure, second pressure on trigger.
(3)Squeeze trigger don’t pull.
This is after you have a good grouping of rounds on the target, depending upon range, about 300 meters should give you roughly a grouping of about 6 inches.
Then your weapon has to be zeroed in to your sights since the grouping has to move to a kill zone on whoever your aiming at.
This is without the benefit of a scope of course.
Point is, this training should take about three hours depending. Of course the other aspect is getting to the place where this is to take place which after you get there could mean not moving for a considerably long period of time but that’s not training to shoot.
So, since Steve Moore lists this as some kind of esoteric ability it’s just smoke and mirrors with him trying to impress people. Standard stuff to all para military personnel.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 08/16/14 at 12:35 AM | #
Patrizio, the “official guess” is that she drove head-on into a curb somewhere and the tires exploded, but the cops had to chase her and maybe laid out those spike things. I wish now I’d captured the YouTube of the frogmarch, she once or twice tried to slip out of the grasps of two cops and head the other way. It sure had Seattle laughing.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 08/16/14 at 03:26 AM | #
Thanks Grahame:
Three hours?! Peter Hyatt would love that one. Nobody we know thinks he was trained in court procedure or the collection of evidence and analysis of crime scenes.
In Italy there have been various sarcastic commentaries (to which he seems quite impervious) like this one which I linked to on an earlier thread.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 08/16/14 at 03:32 AM | #
I forgot
In my continuous desire to teach all things
I forgot to mention that as you squeeze the trigger breath out. This steadies the body so that the muzzle will not shake even a little bit. I didn’t remember, but then when you do something a couple of thousand times it becomes automatic and only when you have to think about it, what you do has to be remembered.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 08/16/14 at 03:36 AM | #
Ahem Johnny Yen, but you might to register at http://www.perugiamurderfile.net where I posted this:) http://www.perugiamurderfile.net/viewtopic.php?p=121441#p121441
AN EXTRADITION PRIMER FOR AMANDA KNOX
Post Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 7:10 pm
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“Ahem, and apropos of nothing 😊 I don’t think Judge Karen Strombom, chief magistrate judge of the US court in Washington will be hearing the case of Amanda Knox vs United States. According to How the Federal Courts Are Organized “Unlike district judges, bankruptcy and magistrate judges do not exercise “the judicial power of the United States” but perform duties delegated to them by district judges” and I really think Knox being a US citizen and all the case will be heard at the District Court level here United States District Court for the Western District of Washington by an article III or senior judge, and then after that, if appealed, to United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Here, from the Meredith Kercher Wiki, is the most excellent and accurate Extradition Process Flowchart which details the process that will follow upon confirmation of the conviction by the Rome Supreme Court.
Just to add: The United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. The current district attorney is Jenny A. Durkan. Are Jenny Durkan’s party ties an ethics issue?
Given the composition and high legal reputation of the listed judges and US Attorney I do not expect the likes of (retired) Judge Michael Heavey, Ted Simon, Anne Bremner and assorted WA politicians to have much impact on the eventual outcome, which is that Amanda Knox will be extradited to Italy.”
Posted by Ergon on 08/16/14 at 05:19 AM | #
Here’s another gem by your truly 😊 right after http://www.perugiamurderfile.net/viewtopic.php?p=121448#p121448
Ergon Post subject: Re: XXVIII. MAIN DISCUSSION, SEPT 30 -
Post Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 7:33 pm
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“Someone claiming to be Amanda Knox posted the following on the ABC news site: Amanda Knox’s Co-Defendant Finds Himself Innocent in College Thesis
Quote:
Amanda > Guest • 4 hours ago
This article was fake.
Why do people like you make up such stories?
I never planned to accuse Raffaele.
Period.
And I see your post everywhere, aren’t you tired?
I am really tired of all this talk about this article which was taken down by the way!
We are both innocent. I did not kill my friend.
I will not accuse Raffaele, and he will not accuse me either, we are both working with the Italian court.
If R. was accusing me of something, I would defend myself and he would lose everything and he knows it. We are working side by side.
The Italian court made a mistake last time, that was not a fair trial, the judge was unfair. There is no evidence against us, we are both innocent
I believe we will get a fair trial and a fair judgement this time.
I am certain that the Italian Supreme court is not as corrupt as the previous court.
I was found innocent before, and we will be found innocent again.
That’s all I can say for now.
â–³ â–½
•
Reply
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It quacks like a threat.”
Posted by Ergon on 08/16/14 at 05:23 AM | #
Hi Ergon
Your first post above. Previous posts on extradition jibe with that. My experience is if anything “effective” is done it will be highly behind the scenes, someone’s understanding might be addled which interferes with the paper chain.
Italy has its politics too and as we know not every politician there likes to see justice doing fine. Several posts just below describe how Italian justice has several ways to apply the screws, reassuring for us all to know.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 08/16/14 at 02:13 PM | #
Thank you very much Mr. Ergon! :D
I am very honored by your invitation and now a very proud card carrying member of your great site! I will try to contribute to the main discussion soon.
Also, thank you for the clarification on the extradition proceedings in regards to the possible judges involved. It’s good to see that Knox’s extradition will be handled from the top down.
Also that statement by Amanda was actually a reply to me about Ted Thomson’s legendary article on AK’s possible accusation of RS. Of course, she deleted that comment, but not before I framed it right here for eternity:
I also disalbed my old account from that comment board. This is good to do while battling in the comment trenches with The Crazies(â„¢). One of their desperate strategies is that they (she) write(s) to site moderators in an attempt to get anti-Knox posters banned and have all of their comments removed.
Anyway, if you have not yet done so, please post Amanda’s death threat of Raffaele anywhere and everywhere. It’s public domain so anyone can use it anywhere they want to at anytime. I would love to see someone make a gigantic billboard out of it and hang it on Seattle’s Space Needle! :D
Thank you again!
Posted by Johnny Yen on 08/16/14 at 05:01 PM | #
Old British political saying
“In Defeat Create Malice
In Triumph Create Revenge.”
Or to quote Richard Nixon
“Once you have them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow.”
I will never forgive and will never forget the Gogerty Marriot method of blame the victim. It would have been far wiser for Curt Knox/Chris Mellas/Bruce Fischer et al to just shut up. But they saw a method of making money upon the murder of Meredith and used that. Now those chickens are coming home to roost.
Speaking of which it never occurred to me just how similar South Africa and parts of the US are in the promotion of apartheid. This was brought home to me in the latest news from Ferguson Mississippi. “Got to keep the colored races in their place you know.” Hence Knox view of anyone who is not of the Aryan Nation or a card carrying member of the KKK.
If this sounds bitter then it’s true. That is why myself and people like me will never stop until justice is served.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 08/16/14 at 08:29 PM | #
Hi, Johhny Yen, of course I remember you from when we battled the ‘crazies’ all across those boards. You will be pleased to know that not only did I post Amanda Knox’s comment on NET as soon as it appeared on the ABC site, but Nell posted the screen grab as well. The consensus on NET is that indeed is Amanda Knox captured so well, even though her followers denied that afterwards on Twitter.
Posted by Ergon on 08/17/14 at 03:39 AM | #
TomM set me straight on the book advance tax reporting. It’s not straight income but instead reported as royalties and that’s taxed at a considerably lower rate.
The problem is that there really was no $4 million pay envelope. That’s a number promoted by the publisher and the lawyers to create interest in the product. It’s fairly obvious that the woman got nothing even close to that amount and HarperCollins has been not-so-curiously silent on the subject. There was no extended book tour either.
Even Colin Thatcher went on a cross-country tour promoting his book and he was paid only a $5K advance.
Posted by Stilicho on 08/18/14 at 08:51 PM | #
Hi, Grahame, speaking of apartheid, I would not rush to judgment. See this:
Tevlin’s father went to school with one of my colleagues.
The suspect, interestingly enough, “done” some bad deeds in Seattle before heading to New Jersey.
Posted by Bjorn on 08/18/14 at 09:45 PM | #
Thanks Stilicho
You may well be right though I’m hearing differing rumors from inside the industry.
It was a highly competitive bargaining situation, and according to people who work for publishers here in NYC who withdrew and then talked, Robert Barnett really had the whip hand.
He had up to half a dozen publishers bids to chose from, and was strongly insisting that the bids be firm.
Other publishers seem to have heard that Rupert Murdoch (ultimate owner of HarperCollons) took a bath and was none too pleased.
As I said, still only rumors, and if the bloodmoney is gone after as I hear it will be, we might get accounting to warm your heart!
Posted by Peter Quennell on 08/18/14 at 10:47 PM | #
Hi Bjorn
Yes OK But you have to admit that there is a difference, at least from a perspective point of view, between NJ and any Southern State of your choice. In some states they are still fighting the civil war and the perception of a vast difference between black and white is endemic to the culture, (If I can use that term) The difference being that the darker a persons skin the more inferior they are. This I believe is the view of Knox and some of her supporters. If you asked them they would deny this of course because their simple reaction is one of tunnel vision when it comes to a view such as this.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 08/18/14 at 11:33 PM | #
Hello Peter that is good news indeed. Once more I have taken a foray into Knox blog territory. It is truly amazing that their main posters actually believe that they can change the mind of the Italian Justice system by cherry picking bits of information. The latest is still banging the DNA drum. It would seem that they have dug up some so called expert in DNA who said something to the effect that it was contamination.
OK well, if I went looking for an expert I bet I could find six or seven who believe the moon is made of green cheese.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 08/18/14 at 11:39 PM | #
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