Extortion

An Arizona man has been arrested on suspicion of seeking $1 million from Tom Cruise in exchange for not publishing photos of the actor's wedding to actress Katie Holmes, the FBI said Thursday. David Hans Schmidt is accused of seeking the money from Cruise's representatives last month. Authorities allege that the photos were stolen, according to several sources who spoke on the condition that they not be named because the case file had been sealed.

FBI officials announced Friday that a second man has been arrested in connection with an alleged attempt to extort $1 million from actor Tom Cruise in exchange for returning thousands of stolen photographs of Cruise's private wedding in November to actress Katie Holmes.

USC joined in a federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday, that alleged a developer of off-campus student housing was trying to squelch competition with intimidation, extortion and fraud. Conquest Student Housing, a firm that owns numerous apartments in the neighborhoods near USC, is illegally trying to stop construction of a rival's project, University Gateway, that would house more than 1,600 students and include retail stores, a fitness center and a parking structure, according to the suit.

Federal authorities Thursday charged a rookie San Francisco lawmaker with fraud for attempting to extort $80,000 from a group of fast-food proprietors who had business permit troubles with the city. The felony charge stems from an FBI sting that included owners of a tapioca drink shop delivering a $40,000 payment to Supervisor Ed Jew in marked $100 bills earlier this year, and promising to deliver the rest of the money later.

The shooting death of a 23-day-old baby has sparked what officials hope will be Los Angeles' most vigorous crackdown yet on gang members charging "rent" to merchants and vendors, a practice authorities believe is thriving despite an overall drop in crime. Los Angeles police detectives and prosecutors say gangs have long charged "taxes" and "rent" to those working in underground economies: street vendors, prostitutes, drug dealers, some residents and immigrant business owners.

Murrieta City Councilman Warnie Enochs was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of extortion and forgery after falsifying a lien against his house to cheat his wife in a divorce settlement, according to the Riverside County district attorney's office. Prosecutors allege that between September 2002 and February 2005, Enochs, 56, committed conspiracy, forgery, extortion and subornation of perjury by persuading a man to record a false $48,000 roofing contract for work at his Murrieta home.

A Stanton towing company owner and two employees have been arrested on suspicion of illegally towing cars off private property and charging the owners for their return, prosecutors said Thursday. Adam's Towing owner Marianne Thanhminh Lai, 36; her husband and employee, Jaime Abel Chan Ramirez, 32; and employee Jose Rodrigo Torres-Diaz, 22, were arrested Wednesday.

An Orange County attorney who filed frivolous lawsuits against hundreds of small businesses in four counties has been jailed for ignoring a judge's order to stop. Harpreet Brar, 34, has made a career of suing in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties and collecting thousands of dollars in settlements from nail salons, liquor stores, real estate firms and video stores reluctant to fight the suits. Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter J.

A former Los Angeles police sergeant invoked his 5th Amendment rights Friday, refusing to answer questions about an alleged scheme to extort $100,000 in exchange for dropping a bookmaking investigation. During a court hearing on Eric Portocarrero's petition to overturn his bookmaking conviction, former Sgt. Mark Arneson refused to answer half a dozen questions, including whether he used his position to "interfere with the administration of justice" in the case.

Stepping into the hypercompetitive arena of New York gossip, Jared Paul Stern wasn't afraid to spew a little poison. As a writer for the New York Post, he described Melanie Griffith and Goldie Hawn as "cryogenic freeze jobs gone awry," called Elton John "too old, fat and short to look ironically hip in ugly sweatsuits," and once mused that "whenever you see a beautiful girl, it pays to remember that somewhere, someone is sick of her."