WENN

It has been almost a month since Chris Lighty passed away from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound after an argument with his wife. Although it was ruled a suicide, we know from previous reports that his family wasn’t too confident in the ruling. Mostly because of the fact that they didn’t believe he would ever get to the point where he found that taking his life was the only choice he had left. And especially since he left his children behind to do so. Because of that, Lighty’s mother and family decided to reach out to 50 Cent of all people to help them get some answers. Lighty was 50′s business manager and good friend. The rapper spoke with Fox 5 in NYC about why he got involved and his fond memories of Lighty. He said that if the tables were turned and something like this had happened to him, Lighty would do the same for him. So yes, he has his doubts.

“To be honest with you, there was too much planning to move forward to accept right away that he just shot himself.” To be specific, the two had just signed a contract to do an international tour in 2013 that would have easily pulled Lighty a cool $4 million, so to the rapper doesn’t believe that even with divorce proceeding and debts he owed, that Lighty was THAT strapped for cash. These feelings were the same that the late manager’s mother had, and she brought them to 50 for help, so he offered to pay for an investigation. ”I couldn’t tell her no,” he said. “At that point she kind of needed closure and there were so many gray areas and conversations they discussed that surprised me.”

If that wasn’t enough, Lighty’s will also has the family confused. Why? Well, because aside from a $1.6 million trust for his children, everything else the manager owned, including homes and more, was left to his wife, Veronica Lighty (who was soon to be his ex-wife before he passed). The will was put together in 2007, so some are thinking that if he planned to take his life, he would have amended the will.

Before the interview ended, 50 Cent made it clear that he wouldn’t be where he is now without Lighty. From endorsements with Vitamin Water to just helping him get his career off the ground, Lighty was there from day one in 50′s career. ”He’s been a part of everything I can make reference to as successful for me. For music, period.”

Investigators are on the case for Lighty’s mother and 50 says he will back the effort until they can obtain conclusive evidence.

What do you think about his family seeking an investigation into Lighty’s death? Could you see where they’re coming from? 

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Source: The New Republic

It took much longer than it should have, but the outrage over the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin has finally caused the FBI and the Justice Department to open a formal investigation into the teenager’s death. In a statement, the Justice Department said:

“The department will conduct a thorough and independent review of all of the evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation.”

The victim’s family lawyer, Ben Crump, said public pressure was behind an earlier promise by the Justice Department to review the case. Some 533,000 signatures have been gathered on a petition on change.org calling for the arrest of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman who shot the unarmed teenager in a gated Florida community. Over the weekend, 911 tapes of witnesses to the shooting, including one where the victim and the shooter can be heard screaming in the background, sparked many to action, including a number of celebs. Spike Lee and Wyclef Jean sent out tweets encouraging their followers to sign the petition, and it seems the move is working.

Zimmerman initially escaped arrest under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, dubbed “shoot first, ask questions later” by opposers, which allows a potential victim who is “in fear of great bodily injury” to use deadly force in public places. Crump says that defense is ludicrous.

“It’s illogical, you can['t] claim self defense after you chase and pursue somebody,” he said. “That’s a courtroom defense. That’s not something the police accept on the side of the street.”

Hopefully it’s not something the FBI or the defense department will accept either and George Zimmerman will be arrested as he should have been on Feb. 26.

Have you signed the petition at Change.org?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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It only took breast cancer giant Susan G. Komen for the Cure, three days to have a change of heart—or get sick of the backlash—regarding it’s controversial decision to cut breast-screening grants to planned parenthood.

Komen CEO Nancy Brinker just released a statement outlining it’s reverse decision, saying in part:

“We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives…

“Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair…

“We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants,while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.”

Initially, it was assumed that the Komen Foundation withdrew its funding due to the fact that Planned Parenthood is under government investigation, but yesterday, the Komen Foundation said the real cause for their initial decision was that Planned Parenthood does not directly provide mammograms.  As the Washington Post points out, Nancy Brinker’s statement doesn’t address that concern at all, presumably leaving open the possibility that the foundation may reject Planned Parenthood’s future grant applications.

We’ll have to see if this latest decision sticks.

What’s your stance on the Komen Foundation? Were they wrong to withdraw funding in the first place? Do you think this reversal makes things right or are they still sketchy?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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By Charlotte Young

The House Ethics Committee may have been trying to investigate Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, but now it seems they will be requiring additional investigations.

As pressure rises from allegations of probe irregularities, the Committee is forced to hire an additional attorney. The Washington Post reports that Billy Martin, a prominent DC attorney, will be brought in as outside counsel as the investigation continues.

This news came shortly after the watchdog groups Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington voiced their concerns with the committee’s conduct to House Speaker John A. Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The watchdog groups expressed their desire to see the case be handed over to an independent counsel on Monday.

Previously the Washington Post reported that the Committee’s investigation was deeply disrupted and undermined by infighting. Accusations declared that former attorneys on the committee may have compromised the investigation by “improperly communicating with Republican committee members.” Former chairman of the panel, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, “suspended the two lead lawyers in the investigation, former federal prosecutors Morgan Kim and Stacy Sovereign, over a dispute with the committee’s top attorney, Blake Chisam.” The current chairman, Rep. Jo Bonner, then accused Lofgren of attempting to dismiss Kim and Sovereign without cause. Since the dispute, Chisam has also left the Committee.

Maxine Waters has been facing investigation since 2009 when she was accused of arranging federal assistance for OneUnited, a minority-owned bank in which her husband holds a large financial investment.

Her trial was scheduled to take place last November but was postponed after the Committee revealed it had uncovered new evidence in the investigation.

Due to the irregularities, Water’s attorney had been pushing for a dismissal of the entire case. A press statement by Waters says that the addition of outside council is, “a recognition by the committee, that its investigation of me was misguided.” The statement continues that Waters is now confident that the counsel’s review of the committee’s misconduct will find that her rights were indeed violated and there will be no need for further investigation.

By Charlotte Young

In Mississippi, a state with a past of racial violence, it’s hard to believe a black man found hanging from a tree was a case of suicide. After new information bringing the state’s deputy medical examiner’s record into question, a family has more inquiries on the death of a loved one, and state authorities are again reviewing the case.

According to Black America Web, Frederick Jermaine Carter was found hanging from a tree last December near Greenwood, Mississippi. Carter was said to have a history of mental illness and suicide attempts. Local law enforcement and the coroner agree that he hanged himself. Dr. Adel Shaker, the state’s medical examiner, says that Carter died by hanging, but did not call it suicide as the manner of death is “determined by the coroner.”

The Carter family’s lawyer raised questions of Shaker’s credibility, as information recently surfaced that he falsified information concerning a British woman’s death in Kenya in 1998. Shaker’s report said her death was caused by wild animals to cover up her murder. Shaker blames the false report on his former boss in Kenya and claims that top officials were also involved in the cover up.

The Mississippi Department of Public Safety began its investigations on Monday, shortly after the allegations surfaced against Shaker, but say they are only investigating the Carter case.

Shaker, who is also black, says that the family simply wants a scapegoat for Carter’s death and should not pick him.

The family wants Shaker’s entire autopsy file on the case, which is not available for public record without a court order. They plan to give the information to an independent examiner and discover the truth behind Carter’s death for themselves.

‘Supporters of Sarah Palin have 90 days to return nearly $400,000 in donations raised by her legal defense trust after an investigator ruled the fund ran afoul of state ethics laws,’ according to CNN.

Read the rest of this entry »

(Fast Company) — We were relieved last week when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into BP’s involvement in the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. But our relief may be unwarranted, according to Scott West, the former special agent-in-charge at the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division. That’s because West believes there isn’t actually an investigation.

Read More…

(NYTimes.com) — It was like a hidden passage on Wall Street, a secret channel that enabled billions of dollars to flow through Lehman Brothers. In the years before its collapse, Lehman used a small company — its “alter ego,” in the words of a former Lehman trader — to shift investments off its books.

The firm, called Hudson Castle, played a crucial, behind-the-scenes role at Lehman, according to an internal Lehman document and interviews with former employees. The relationship raises new questions about the extent to which Lehman obscured its financial condition before it plunged into bankruptcy.

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(Reuters) — After the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, Switzerland’s largest bank was teetering. UBS, which was more than three times bigger than Lehman in terms of assets, had to write down some $50 billion during that tumultuous period.

Investors the world over breathed a sigh of relief on October 16 when the Swiss government rescued UBS. But unbeknownst to them at the time, the bank faced a potentially devastating crisis on a very different front.

Read More…