Scandalous $10 Million Bat Mitzvah - CEO, DHB Industries Arrested for Embezzling Company Funds...

[bridgit]

'No, it wasn't the Grammys, it was 13-year-old Elizabeth Brooks' birthday party -- a $10 million mega bat mitzvah. Aerosmith alone was paid a $1 million to perform -- flown in on her father's company jet.

Her father is David Brooks, who was then the CEO of DHB Industries, the leading body armor provider to U.S. soliders in Iraq. And he had his company pick up the tab for the party two years ago, according to investigators.

This week, the former CEO was indicted on 21 counts of alleged securities fraud, insider trading, tax evasion and obstruction of justice. Authorities say he inflated his company stock and bilked his firm out of tens of millions of dollars to bankroll his fairy tale lifestyle.'

http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3784213&page=1

[bluestateguy]

1. Why do I fear that he'll spend less time in jail than Genarlow Wilson?

This guy should be water-boarded and renditioned off to some secret prison--if, and when he is found guilty.

[bridgit]

2. oh, to be sure, if & when, though he'll likely show up with a $15M lawyer...

and a handful of personal endorsements from no-less than: Kristol, Netanyahu, Leiberman, Rumsfled, Cheney & Rove

[Red Zelda]

3. This country

is disgusting. This entire civilization is digusting.

[bridgit]

4. there seems no bottom to these dregs agreed: disgusting!!

[VP505]

5. Sounds like

greed gone wild, I guess for some people there is no such thing as enough money.

[bridgit]

6. i've been wondering if it's even possible to convince war profiteers they're wrong...

they receive tons & mountains of no-bid crony contract money out from under any oversight whatsoever, and the crates of money just keep rolling in...how will they ever be able to see that what they are doing is wrong in a country where money = monarchy, and the end justifies the means?

[Robbien]

13. The guy who got caught in the Cunningham swindle

said that he saw everyone around him grabbing up all the cash and perks so he decided he needed to get his share.

The crooks up in Alaska are as bold as brass and labeled themselves The Crooked Bastards Club and even made up t-shirts and baseball hats.

The corruption these days is so pervasive, I believe to those in power circles not getting involved in graft means you are odd man out.

[bridgit]

14. hearing bush asking for an additional $46B above his $150B in such a climate...

only makes me wonder who is standing on the dock back there in Iraq just waiting for money that will never be accounted for, in the end a disgusting display of cowardice imo

[Robbien]

15. Makes me wonder who isn't standing on that dock

:shrug:

[bridgit]

18. a fair point...

or if the all money even gets to the dock of which we may be referring :shrug:

a billion here a billion there and the next thing you know...some other bush crony/donor gets rich :thumbsdown:

[The Backlash Cometh]

32. Temptations that no one can resist.

No doubt about it. It's everywhere. People making bad decisions, and expecting their neighbors to hold the line on honesty.

[williesgirl]

7. Throw his ass in jail, sell off his assets and set a true example of him - rec'd

[bridgit]

8. stop war profiteering...

:thumbsdown:

[ljm2002]

37. "sell off his assets"

You know, that could be the one thing that would help. If anyone is convicted of embezzlement, sell off all their assets and remit what was stolen to the organization they stole from, and the rest right into the government coffers.

Put them in jail, of course. If this draconian approach leaves their spouses and children penniless, well so be it. It is what they risk when they embezzle.

I like it!

[Solar_Power]

9. More example of greedy CEOs robbing this nation

[bridgit]

12. greed indeed...

[Emit]

10. Feds say Brooks should be held without bail as a danger to the community ...

Oct. 27--Federal prosecutors say in court papers that David H. Brooks, the indicted former head of DHB Industries, should be held without bail as a danger to the community because he has threatened people and has had close ties to a recently murdered member of the Genovese organized-crime family.

There is no suggestion in the court papers filed Thursday by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Martin that Brooks was involved in the April murder of Genovese family member Frank Lagano.

Rather, Martin argued that Lagano is the type of individual that Brooks was referring to when he claimed, according to unidentified witnesses, "to 'have guys' who could take care of his adversaries." Martin did not provide examples of Brooks' actually being responsible for any physical attacks on any individuals.

Brooks was arraigned in U.S. District in Central Islip Thursday on charges of bilking his company and its investors out of almost $200 million to pay for a lavish lifestyle.

Lagano, 67, of Tenafly, N.J., was shot once in the head in April outside a diner he owned there. The crime has not been solved. Lagano was under indictment on racketeering and gambling charges at the time.

Martin said in the court papers that Lagano was a friend of Brooks who had "received several large cash payments from DHB classified as 'outside services' for which no business purposes could be ascertained." The amount of the payments was not given.

~snip~

Continued at http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/news/article.asp?docKey=600-200710270734KRTRIB__BUSNEWS_32736-0FOQ6QB9LMS13OUAE1V21T0885×tamp=10/27/2007%207:34%20AM%20ET&headline=Feds%20say%20former%20DHB%20chief%20is%20a%20danger%20to%20community%20%5BNewsday%2C%20Melville%2C%20N.Y.%5D&docSource=Knight%20Ridder/Tribune&provider=ACQUIREMEDIA&symbol=DHBT.PK">LINK

Edited to add, DHB also changed it's name earlier this month:

... On Oct. 2, the business changed its name to Point Blank Solutions, Inc., and it's now based in Pompano Beach, Fla., after moving from its Westbury headquarters last year...

Full story at LINK

[bridgit]

11. thanks for the links, bush has said repeatedly he would clean this shit up...

but it's more like shit just falls out of his mouth

[tabasco]

16. When Bush says the economy is booming,

he means guys like this. Bush's base. War profiteers.

[bridgit]

19. yep, that's bush-speak for, "Me and my people period"

[ellisonz]

17. Treason?

[bridgit]

20. a form of imo...

[begin_within]

21. Some photos of the soiree are here...

http://tabloidbaby.blogspot.com/2005/11/exclusive-photos-mitzvahpalooza.html
http://gawker.com/news/photos/bat-mitzvah-picture-proofs-140079.php

[bridgit]

22. posh, very posh...almost chic; if it weren't so tacky...

[begin_within]

29. I don't see where all the $10 million went.

[bridgit]

30. good question = a mil for Aerosmith, a mil for a blood diamond tennis bracelet...

for the princess, a mil for a solid gold/ruby encrusted punch bowl full of diet Pepsi still leaves a bucket of ducats :thumbsup:

[AwakeAtLast]

23. My Iraq War Veteran husband is sitting next to me and seething

I feel physically ill reading this. Gee, 13 million for his daughter while my daughter couldn't even have her father present for two of her birthdays?

The "armor" in question won't even stop rifle rounds. They had to re-issue the armor when it was found to be defective. :grr: :nuke: :grr:

There is not a hot enough place in hell for that so-called human.

edit: clarification

[bridgit]

25. oh yes, ma'am, these kinds of people will not be denied, please thank your husband...

for his service on behalf of no-less than this household :patriot: :hug: for you :hug: for him :hug: :hug: for you & yours :hi:

[AwakeAtLast]

36. Thanks!

Mr. WMU gets so tired of hearing about the next big Swindler - thank you for your kind words! :hug:

[Rex]

24. But series, the working class has it good.

Not 10 million good, more like dollar menu item good. 10 million for a birthday party, kinda makes ya wonder what happen to the pitchforks and torches.

[bridgit]

26. sure i got'cha, many still have access to broadband, and Levi's made in China...

so what's the prah-belum already B-)

[Rex]

27. Chinese proverb down in Texas,

Why eat steak when you can have lobster?

[bridgit]

28. heh-heh...

:)

[Pachamama]

31. Bet that was one hell of a party and Elizabeth may have been indoctrinated....

:eyes:

Damn...Aerosmith playing at my Bat Mitzvah at age 13....I surely would have lost my virginity to Steve Tyler.... :eyes:

[SalmonChantedEvening]

33. Doo doo doo Dude looks like a Convict...

:smoke:

[lonestarnot]

34. A war profiteer life is not what it is cracked up to be unless you can get away with it.

[sakabatou]

35. Oy vey...