Marc Rich is dead. It’s a little hard to believe considering how completely evil he was. Reports say he died in Lucerne, Switzerland after a stroke. He was 78. Back in January 2001, Rich made international headlines when he received an unwarranted presidential pardon from Bill Clinton. Rich — a billionaire with absolutely no ethics– had fled the United States in 1983 and became a federal fugitive over not paying millions in taxes.

Over the years he’d made enemies all over the world. But the working theory back in 2001 was that Rich had feared George W. Bush would be elected president. The result would be the appointment of Paul O’Neill, the former head of Alcoa, as Treasury Secretary. O’Neill despised Rich and would attempt to bring him to justice. So Rich used his socialite ex wife, Denise, to get the Clinton pardon. She entertained Clinton, raised money for Al Gore, and donated $450,000 to the Clinton library fund.

It all worked. On January 20, 2001 Clinton issued the pardon for Rich. A firestorm ensued. Denise Rich, a songwriter and popular New York hostess, was called before Congress. But in the end nothing came of the questioning. Marc Rich was free to roam around the world but with a caveat: if he set foot in the United States, the IRS could have him arrested for hundreds of millions owed in back taxes.

Last year, Denise Rich surprised everyone when the Boston-born New York institution gave up her U.S. citizenship and joined her married daughters in Europe. There was speculation that she did so over paying high taxes. But the United States had entered into an agreement with Switzerland making it possible to look into Swiss bank accounts. And Marc Rich’s many secrets might be revealed.

I wrote a lot about Marc Rich back in 2001. It turned out that the whole time he was banned from doing business in the United States and was a fugitive, he was in fact doing business right here. Reagan, Bush and Clinton had turned a blind eye to Rich’s massive international shipping business, letting him make billions. The company was based 45 minutes from New York, in White Plains, in an industrial park on the Cross Westchester parkway. It was kind of remarkable. I’m going to dig out those stories and post them in a few minutes…

Kanye West’s “Yeezus” album debuts at number 1 this week with 328,800 copies sold. Kanye squeaked out a win over J. Cole, another rapper, whose “Born Sinner” album came in at number 2 with 297,922. Both albums are through Universal Music and Jay Z’s Roc Nation. Universal would have the entire top 5 this week, and 7 of the top 10. Amazing. However: J Cole’s Roc Nation album is still part of Jay Z’s deal with Columbia. Numbers 3, 4, and 5, respectively, are Mac Miller (his Rostrum label is through Universal), plus Kelly Rowland on Motown, and Black Sabbath’s brilliant comeback on Republic.

Wait: Kelly Rowland from Destiny’s Child? That’s right. Beyonce doesn’t get to have all the fame and money. You go, Kelly.

Singer Chris Brown has just seen the world unravel since his incident with Rihanna four years ago. The latest: he’s been charged with a misdemeanor in Los Angeles, for an alleged hit and run. The specifics don’t matter right now–the girl driving the other car says she was hurt, her car was damaged. Brown says he gave her the proper info. But the authorities say he was driving without a valid license.

Now Brown is having a Twitter meltdown. He just cited the Bible: “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

He also said that he was contacting his lawyers, he “won’t stand for bullying and yellow journalism.” TMZ keeps changing its mind about whether he’s guilty or not. It’s sort of funny, and very sad.

19-24 years of age. I don’t have all the answers and you can’t show me a person that age who has it figured out.We live and grow.Let me live

— Chris Brown (@chrisbrown) June 25, 2013

It's not a hit and run if u get out the car, exchange information (who has NO DAMAGE to either cars).This is really ridiculous

— Chris Brown (@chrisbrown) June 25, 2013

I’m getting a lot of mail, and there’s a lot of discussion about Friday’s movie, “White House Down.” Those who’ve seen it are quick to point out its many similarities to “Olympus Has Fallen,” the Antoine Fuqua thriller that made $98 million domestically this past March for Millennium Films. Here’s one insider’s take on the back story: it turns out that the “Olympus” script went around in January-February 2012. Sony and Millennium each wanted it. Millennium won the rights because they promised to make it right away. And they did. By July they were in production with Gerard Butler starring in it, and Fuqua directing.

Almost simultaneously, they say, Jamie Vanderbilt– who had written scripts for Sony– offered a script about a terrorist takeover of the White House. Sony and Paramount went after it, and Sony won.

“At the time,” a source says, “they probably figured Butler wasn’t a big star, and Fuqua was cold. So they could afford to be the ‘second movie.'”

Millennium moved fast, made the movie, and readied it for March 2013 release. They were way ahead anyway, but things just clicked, a source says.

“Olympus Has Fallen” is pretty much the same movie as “White House Down.” The main difference is in tone. No one can figure out why “WHD” becomes so jokey about half way through the story. It gets very glib. Roland Emmerich seems to lose control. A “21 Jump Street” jivey-ness comes in.

“It could be,” says one observer, “that when they saw how serious but similar Olympus was, they had to do something to change it.”

“Olympus” cost $60 million, and will do $200 mil total internationally. “WHD” is said to have cost $170mil-$200 mil. Abroad, a second movie about blowing up the White House will probably still have power. But domestically: the rule of thumb is, first movie on a subject wins. Sony and Millennium will be paying close attention this Friday.

It’s the fourth anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death. So of course there’s a lawsuit. Richard Arons, Joe Jackson’s original partner and lawyer, has sued Sony Music. Arons managed Michael Jackson with his father, Joseph, signing the last of his management agreements in 1976. Now Arons is 75 years old and says he’s not getting paid for the pre-“Thriller” albums. It’s an 87 page complaint filed in Los Angeles by a Century City law firm. The lawsuit goes back to the beginning of the Jackson 5, and the subsequent move from Motown to Columbia Records, followed by Michael’s solo career with “Off the Wall.”

Does Arons have a case? Could be. During the days of Walter Yetnikoff’s reign at Columbia-Sony, the music business was like the Wild West. More importantly, the Jacksons have never been particularly loyal to the people who helped them in the early days. I will never forget my visits with Bill Bray, the trusted security guy and surrogate father to Michael, on his death bed in 2005. The Jacksons simply ignored him. That same year, Michael had also unceremoniously dumped Bob Jones, his long time — lifelong, actually– p.r. man, who’d covered up Michael’s many odd episodes.

Arons signed a settlement agreement with the Jacksons in 1978, but it was breached. The agreement was reaffirmed in 1981, giving Arons 7.5% on all Jackson master recordings at Columbia, then CBS Records. The company was supposed to pay him from Michael’s royalties. In 1990, Michael cut Arons off. A new Settlement Agreement was arrived at, with Arons getting his 7.5% on all Michael Jackson releases at CBS-Sony through and including “Thriller.” But he says that Sony–which inherited the deal after it bought Columbia Records– stopped paying him in 2011.

Now Arons wants his money. His lawsuit has all the agreements attached as exhibits, and they have all the Jackson signatures including Michael’s. What’s kind of interesting is that the 1981 agreement only covered the Jacksons’ CBS recordings and “Off the Wall.” By 1990, the new agreement included “Thriller.” Michael was represented in that agreement by Lavely and Singer, not John Branca, his once and future attorney and now executor. Lavely and Singer are supposed to be real sharks. But they gave Arons a stake in Michael’s biggest moneymaker for all time.

Uh-oh. It does look like Mariah Carey is postponing the release of her new album. It was due for release on July 23rd, with the single “#Beautiful.” But Carey just announced on Twitter that she’s not ready. Whoops. Island Def Jam had been poised for the release.

All day I was trying to get three different people on the phone– not about this. They were all weirdly tied up. Now I see that their respective silences all had to do with this. There had been a big problem with this album. No title. Every time I asked, there was a vague answer. I actually suggested, as a joke, “Meezus.” Anyway a title went viral on Twitter but the label told me it wasn’t correct.

Hmmm….Keep updating. This is going to get interesting. This is just a guess but I do think that Mariah wants to keep singing hip hop while others around her are imploring her to sing more songs like “Beautiful.” They would be correct. What Mariah doesn’t have his an album that showcases her voice a la “Vision of Love.” “#Beautiful” is a step in that direction. She needs to– as they say– throw down. There is no record of her doing classics, whether American songbook (Ella, Sarah) or R&B (Aretha, Gladys). The time is now.

While making this album, I got so immersed in the creative process that I just don’t feel I would be doing it justice to release it on 7/23.

— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) June 25, 2013

I’d rather not exclude meaningful songs. I want to give you this album as it’s meant to be heard.When I’m ready, you’ll be the first 2 know!

— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) June 25, 2013

 

Show him the money: Cuba Gooding, Jr. is changing agents. After a long run with CAA, Gooding today is joining ICM Partners, where the legendary Boaty Boatwright and the intrepid Adam Schweitzer will be guiding his career. Gooding won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1997 for “Jerry Maguire.” His memorable role as football player Rod Tidwell featured the now classic line “Show me the money.”

Flash forward to 2013, the 45 year old Gooding is on Broadway in the hit revival “The Trip to Bountiful” with Tony winner Cicely Tyson and gorgeous Vanessa Williams. In August Gooding stars in Lee Daniels’ “The Butler,” in which he plays an integral role alongside Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey. Is he hot right now? I’d say so. And word is Gooding is so happy in New York, he’s considering a move to the East Coast. His eldest son starts at a top university here this fall.

PS Did you know that Gooding got the part of Rod in “Jerry Maguire” after a reading with Robin Williams, not Tom Cruise? Williams did the reading as a favor. And Gooding’s break came when two other actors couldn’t or didn’t show up.

“Mad Men” went out with a bang last night. The show scored its highest season finale rating ever with 2.7 million viewers. That’s more than all the other seasons so far including last year’s brilliant closer with Don getting hit on at the bar. And last night was action packed for “Mad Men,” with a few cliffhangers designed to keep us chomping at the bit for more in March 2014. It’s hard to believe that “Mad Men” will end, but Matt Weiner is determined to wrap it up in 14 hour long episodes.