MIA aka Edgar Bronfman’s Daughter-in-Law: Phony, Yet Catchy
I can’t overemphasize how much I loved Lynn Hirschberg‘s piece on rap singer M.I.A. in the May 25th New York Times Magazine. It is a must read. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/magazine/30mia-t.html?pagewanted=1
Maya Arulpragasam is depicted as a conniving, calculating, manipulative, aggressive, ambitious pathological liar who has crept into the American culture by presenting herself as a Madonna in waiting. Lady GaGa has nothing nothing on her. It is interesting though that Madonna has spawned these two daughters. And they each come from Interscope Records, where Jimmy Iovine has made survival in a dying business in art form. The tension levels in his offices must be off the charts, but the records are on them so what the hell?
The greatest thing about this story is what Hirschberg only hints at: Maya has inveigled herself into the very wealthy Bronfman family, of Seagram’s fame. She’s technically the daughter in law of Edgar Bronfman, Jr., the man who bought and wrecked Warner Music. (Her boyfriend and father of her child is Bronfman’s eldest kid, Ben.) I have often criticized Bronfman about how he’s handled WMG. But but now I feel some pain for him. You never know what’s going on in someone’s family. Edgar has a grandchild whose mother is a walking billboard, made herself a target for no reason to Sri Lankan terrorists, lies about her background and parentage, and still has a taste for posh Brentwood, California and Givenchy.
Hirschberg is a killer. She gets to the worst parts of a subject’s inner life, unless, of course, she’s obsessed with them (Jerry Seinfeld, Sofia Coppola, hello). Hall & Oates were nearly destroyed by her. The late Bernie Brillstein probably lived on Mylanta for a month after she executed him. But Hirschberg is an artist, and her M.I.A. piece should be framed. I had to lie down after reading it. Her next subject should be Justin Bieber.
As for Maya, it turns out her music is pretty good. Hirschberg depicts it as being constructed by many producers and musicians. Maya is more of a supervisor. Whatever she is, there’ s denying that the new songs “Born Free” and “XXXO” are catchy and well made. The irony is that she’s signed to Interscope, which is part of Universal and not Warner Music. She’s exactly the kind of artist Bronfman’s WMG never developed but needed so desperately. Like all else in the Edgar Bronfman world, she’s spending his money, not making it. I’d love to be a fly on the wall at Thanksgiving.
PS Maya, of course, is not happy about the Times piece. Check out her blog at http://neetrecordings.com/blog/node/50
the locust file
LIFE UNDER THE STARRS
May 29, 2010
Buried beneath the quasi-encrypted federal complaint filed against business manager Ken Starr may be clues to the transparent media spin blanketing this story.
A cursory search of the media shows that Dan Klores Communications has represented Fusion Telecommunications, whose Chairman is Marvin Rosen. Fusion has also been repped by Howard Rubenstein. Superstar publicist Ken Sunshine represents Starr/Rosen company Diamond Edge Capital. With all those media experts on hand there is little surprise to the trajectory of the media roll out on this story. Some interesting details in the charging documents are being buried and the focus diverted.
Marvin Rosen, known only in the Starr complaint as Associate #3, is described cryptically as “a former national official of a major political party.” The complaint is laced with references to Rosen’s company Marose LLC . According to the indictment, Marose LLC was one of the alleged recipients of funds from Starr .
An SEC 10-Q quarterly report for Fusion Telecommunications dated November 16, 2009 and certified by Fusion CEO Matthew Rosen and CFO Barbara Hughes states that FUSION received a loan from the Marvin Rosen controlled entity Marose LLC, an alleged recipient of Starr funds.
The SEC filings reads:
On May 21, 2009, the Company borrowed $125,000 from Marose, LLC, of which Marvin Rosen, Chairman of the Board of Directors, is a member. This loan is evidenced by a promissory note, which matures on July 20, 2009 and bears an interest rate of eight percent (8%) per annum. In the event that the note is not repaid by the maturity date, the note will automatically convert to a demand note and the principal sum and all accrued interest for that note will be payable in full upon ten (10) days notice from the lender. The note also grants the lender a collateralized security interest in the Company’s accounts receivable. On July 20, 2009, the note became a demand note and at September 30, 2009, this note remains outstanding.
Another entity with ties to Rosen is Jinta, a Chinese internet company that sealed a “strategic partnership” with Rosen’s Fusion Telecommunications. Jinta is mentioned in the complaint as one of myriad investment opportunities Starr was pitching to his clients with great anticipation of high returns.
An 2006 SEC filing by Fusion states:
On August 21, 2006 , Fusion issued a press release entitled “ FUSION AND CHINESE COMMUNITY SERVICES SITE JINTI ENTER INTO STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP .
The press release attached the the SEC filing was attributed to Rubenstein Associates.
It is unclear if Mr. Rosen is perceived of as a potential subject or target of the investigation, a cooperating witness or merely an unfortunate associate who will no doubt claim plausible deniability. He may also turn out to be a victim but that seems unlikely. The government will now look to seize assets that were “fraudulently conveyed.” This could result in civil “clawback lawsuits” as we witnessed in the Bernie Madoff case. It is unclear if any of the funds conveyed to Marose LLC. Fusion, Diamond Edge or other entities named or referenced in the complaint will be on the hook for these lawsuits. The prosecutor on the case, William Harrington implied at Starr’s bail hearing that he anticipated more participants would be charged.
Jonathan Bristol, Starr’s lawyer who had been working at Winston Strawn at the time of the arrest, is presumed to be the lawyer referred to in the complaint as Associate #4
” a lawyer from a prominent national law firm”. Bristol’s name was summarily removed from the Winston Strawn website within hours of Starr’s arrest. He was replaced last Friday as Starr’s attorney by Joshua Klein triggering rumors that he had been fired from Winston and may be a person of interest in the ongoing case.
In addition to Associate # 4 (“lawyer from a national law firm”) another cryptic Law Firm #1 , was mentioned as the recipient of funds that were later used to buy the Starr’s condo. This “Law Firm #1″ has yet to be identified.
The Main Distraction
The media has already begun to distract readers from the potential backlash for Starr’s associates. In typical fashion the media is focusing on the Hollywood glamor aspect of the story by naming all the movie stars involved and anyone who ever knew Starr is distancing themselves or in street parlance, throwing him under the bus. But the main distraction is Diane Passage, Mr. Starr’s “former stripper” wife who has not been indicted.
A story in the New York Daily News is titled:
“Diane Passage knew just how to hook him: Rich men like Kenneth Starr are easy prey for strippers”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/05/29/2010-05-29_dancers_have_the_guys_by_the_youknowwhat.html#ixzz0pKuQqkNY
The article refers to the current Mrs. Starr as “a raven-haired stripper half his age” and, in typical fashion, the PR machine behind Starr and associates is slanting the stories to blame Diane Passage for inducing or rather, seducing Mr. Starr to commit financial crimes to please her. Other media stories depict Passage as the evil woman who lured Starr into leaving his sick wife.This is a typical strategy; blacken the woman and blame her for the tragic fall of the otherwise “good man.” Of course, Mr. Starr was hiding in his closet when the feds came to arrest him so he could very well be as meek when it comes to Passage.
It is not surprising that the “stripper made him do it” spin stories are mostly appearing in the The New York Daily News. The paper is owned by Mort Zuckerman who is a close personal friend to Starr and both are tied to Dan Klores.
Mr. Klores’ professional relationship to Starr dates back to at least a 2002 lawsuit filed by Sylvester Stallone against Starr for breach of fiduciary duty involving Planet Hollywood. Klores’ other client, legendary attorney Bertram Fields was the lawyer for Starr on the Stallone suit. Juicy tapes between Starr and private investigator Anthony Pellicano surfaced during the Pellicano trial in 2008 and were the subject of a New York Times leak investigation. Starr discusses his former client Mort Zuckerman in the first few lines of the tape recording.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allison-hope-weiner/pellicano-trial-exclusive_b_96067.html
Stallone’s lawyer, Lawerence Nagler, testified against Pellicano. Starr had been rumored to be cooperating with the investigation, and was listed on the initial government witness list; although he was never called as a trial witness.
Mr. Fields was not indicted, nor was Starr, nor was Klores.
Mr. Pellicano, on the other hand, was convicted and sentenced to an unprecedented 15 years and is serving time in a federal prison while his appeal is pending because he does not have the money for bail pending his appeal. Mr. Pellicano is 66 years old; a 15 year sentence could amount to life in prison.
Mr. Klores may be also feeling some heat given that the time frame for the alleged illegal activities of the accused business manager occurred between January 2008 to April 2010. In April of 2008, the Brooklyn Academy of Music held a gala opening night event called “Under the African Stars.” Paul Simon headlined this event at the behest of his longtime friend and publicist, Klores, who also represents BAM. The event could have been subtitled
“Under the Starrs” given that the producers of the event were none other that Ken Starr and his wife Diane Passage.
However, the unbearable heat Klores’ should be feeling is tied to his numerous dealings with Associate #3, Marvin Rosen, who was a former partner at the Greenberg Traurig law firm. You know, the one where imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff used to work. And no surprise, Abramoff was a client of Klores. But there may be another former client of Klores tied to Greenberg Traurig who is causing Klores…. and Rosen sleepless nights.
Part 2 on Tuesday.
jeal
looks like Lynn has some agenda… for sure.
but looking at the photos, it seems the guy is the lucky one. his music career is so/so despite being from ‘wealth’, while MIA already had hit albums and made it when she met him. she’s gorgous and a star.. when she met him,, is this right??
MIA frankly seems no different than the Amy Winehouse and Britanney Spears of the day… except she sings about politics while they sing about nonsense…
so who’s really lucky.. maybe it was he who got lucky.. or maybe they’re both lucky. ppl are hung up over the fact that she’s ‘marrying into wealth’… like she was a little waitress and the guy had to ‘make her into a star’..