Big Picture
Kim: Workout Wonder Plus, Jessica Alba shops and Courteney Cox steals a smooch. Get the latest pics!
MORE PHOTOS +Most Commented
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: Vote in the Final Round! (2036)
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: This Round Is Closed, Please Stand By (974)
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: This Round Is Closed, Please Stand By (696)
- Afternoon Mail! Are Gleeks Having More Sex Than Vamps? (586)
- TV's Top Couple Tournament: And the Winner Is... (482)
- Beyoncé and Jay-Z Share First Photos of Baby Blue Ivy! (394)
- Whitney Houston Dead at 48 (394)
- Morning Mail! Is Lea Michele Ready to Walk Like an Egyptian? (286)
- Life After Breaking Dawn?! Maybe, Says Studio Head! (226)
- Blind Vice! Nevis Divine's Sad Past (214)
Top 10 Stories
- Whitney Houston's Hotel Death Room Already Booked? Not So Fast...
- Chris Brown Plays Victim, Claims Media Out to Get Him
- Bobbi Kristina Godmother CeCe Winans Hopes to Be "Very Involved" in Her Life, Says Source
- Lindsay Lohan Evades Federal Taxes…Again! Working Out "Acceptable Arrangement" With IRS
- Khloé Kardashian Odom Talks Kim and Reggie Reports: "I Love the Bush and the Tush"
- Bobby Brown: Bobbi Kristina "Doing Much Better" as Whitney Houston Funeral Approaches
- Up All Night First Look: Watch Alanis Morissette and Maya Rudolph Perform a Curse-Filled Duet
- Did Sony Try to Cash In on Whitney Houston's Death? Label Apologizes for Pricing "Mistake"
- Whitney Houston Death Probe: Doctors, Medical Records Sought in Investigation
- So True? So False? Did Billy Bob Thornton Use Bizzarro Relationship With Angelina Jolie as Basis for New Movie?!
Fashion Police
Leighton's Valentine's Look Plus, Ashlee Simpson and Cate Blanchett. Rate the highs and lows!
MORE PHOTOS +
Our Partners
Dion Extortionist Sent to Prison
Like her heart, Celine Dion's blackmailer will go on--to prison.
A Las Vegas judge on Thursday sentenced a California minister to a minimum of 28 months in prison for attempts to extort millions of dollars from Dion's manager-husband, Rene Angelil.
Ae Ho Kwon, 52, was convicted in March on charges of conspiracy, extortion and soliciting a bribe for threatening to go public with claims that Angelil raped Kwon's wife in a Sin City hotel in 2000 unless Angelil forked over hush money.
Kwon, a Pasadena-based Presbyterian minister, could have faced up to 12 years behind bars and deportation back to his native South Korea. Instead, District Court Judge Jackie Glass let Kwon off with a relatively light term and did not require him to pay restitution.
The preacher's partner, Yun Kyeong Kwon Sung, was found guilty in October and sentenced to a similar term--at least 28 months and no more than five years in the Big House (depending on a parole board's findings) for her role in the scheme.
After the hearing Kwon's attorney, Lisa Rasmussen, indicated she planned to appeal, saying she was never allowed to question Angelil on the witness stand about the alleged rape incident.
"It denied my client's constitutional right to confront and cross-examine a witness against him," Rasmussen told reporters, adding that she was also hamstrung by not being able to compel a DNA sample from Angelil that might have aided her client's defense.
Kwon and the missus were collared in January 2003 after their lawyers allegedly tried to coerce $13.5 million out of Angelil. Otherwise, they vowed to go to the tabloids about the purported March 2000 incident in which Sung claimed Angelil sexually assaulted her at the Las Vegas Strip's Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino.
While Angelil steadfastly denied the rape claim, per his attorneys, he did agree to pony up $2 million to the couple anyway to settle a civil suit in 2000. He even underwent a blood test to screen for HIV, because he was afraid the allegations might harm his and Dion's public image.
Two years later, once Sung broke a confidentiality agreement, filed a police report and took her story to the media, Angelil turned to authorities for help.
Investigators eventually came to believe Angelil's account. Once the minister and his wife refused to turn over a dress that supposedly had Angelil's DNA on it, police initiated a probe of the couple.
Reps for Angelil could not be reached for comment--not that he and Dion have had much to say. They've remained mum on the case, preferring to let their attorneys do the talking.
Meanwhile, in happier Dion news, the Canadian warbler donated more than $1 million in proceeds from last Sunday's Mother's Day performance of her Vegas show, A New Day, to UNICEF's Tsunami Recovery Fund.
0 Comments
Now loading...