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Topic: Smurfs guru Stuart Ross jailed in $11M plot
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Smurfy1For2
Smurf
Member # 1224
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posted 06-09-2010 08:41 AM
Smurfs guru Stuart Ross jailed in $11M plot to extort son-in-law David Blitzer
from nydailynews
Stuart Ross and the Smurfs
Papa Smurf is broke - and behind bars.
Lawyer Stuart Ross made millions introducing the little blue Smurf cartoon characters to the U.S. in the 1980s. Now he stands accused in a twisted plot to extort as much as $11 million from his rich son-in-law, Blackstone Group exec David Blitzer - and unable to make his $200,000 bail, due to "bad investments". Ross plans to represent himself at a trial hearing on June 28.
Ross, 73, concocted a scheme that would make the evil Smurf nemesis Gargamel blush.
He threatened to smear Blitzer's reputation - and drag his good name through the mud. Ross even started threatening his own daughter, Allison Blitzer.
The attempt to bilk Blitzer fell apart two years ago as the threats escalated, which is when law enforcement was called in.
Ross, and his co-defendant Stuart Jackson, his former lawyer, were indicted in 2008 for grand larceny and attempted grand larceny .
"These threats escalated to a point where Ross, through his attorney, defendant Jackson, told Blitzer's attorney, Roger Stavis, that for $5.5 million, Ross would not try to visit his daughter or grandchildren and would stop harassing Blitzer and contacting his business," State Supreme Court Judge Bonnie Wittner wrote in legal papers.
Other court documents mentioned figures as high as $11 million coming from Jackson.
At yesterday's bail proceeding, Ross - laid out a sob story about his failing health. "I have leukemia," he said. "Almost every month I was in the hospital."
Ross once owned the North American rights to the Smurfs, investing in the blue cartoon figures from Belgium in 1976, before they hit it big.
The Smurfs are bound for a new round of popularity: A live action movie starring Neil Patrick Harris, Katy Perry, Hank Azaria and Alan Cumming is due out next year.
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u wished u rocked as i
Posts: 1352 | From: Fairfield, VA | Registered: Nov 2005
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Squeaky Smurf
Hering Smurf
Member # 2416
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posted 06-10-2010 07:35 PM
My goodness, such a disagreeable situation, Smurfy... ![[Frown]](frown.gif) ![[Eek!]](eek.gif) So was he the responsible for presenting the Smurfs to American market, before Mr. Silverman releasing them in HB cartoons via NBC? I'm asking this question because I have an American edition of a Smurf comic, "The Astrosmurf" (Random House, New York, 1978). Could he have any relation with Smurf comics launch in the USA?
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Keep on always smurfin'!!
Posts: 1999 | From: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Registered: Jul 2008
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