Florida
Jimmy Buffett’s widow accuses financial adviser of breaching fiduciary duty in $275M trust battle
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Jimmy Buffett ‘s widow has accused her late husband’s financial adviser of failing to administer the singer’s multimillion-dollar trust in good faith and ignoring what she believed were her best interests for the $275 million estate.
Jane Buffett on Monday asked a judge in West Palm Beach, Florida, to stop Richard Mozenter from trying to remove her as a trustee and instead sought an order removing him from overseeing the estate, according to court papers.
Jimmy Buffett, who popularized beach bum soft rock and created a “Margaritaville” empire of restaurants and resorts, died Sept. 1, 2023, at 76.
His widow and Mozenter have since been embroiled in a battle over who controls the trust, with each accusing the other of mishandling funds in lawsuits filed in both California and Florida.
The dispute is similar to another going on with the estate of another beloved singer, Tony Bennett. Two of the late crooner’s daughters sued their brother over his handling of the family trust.
Jane Buffett’s filing on Monday accuses Mozenter of “repeatedly” breaching his fiduciary duty by failing to provide her with basic information about the trust’s assets and its investments while taking “unreasonable fees and costs in the context of the services provided.”
On May 30, Jane Buffett’s lawyers provided Mozenter’s lawyers a copy of a petition they planned to file in Los Angeles Superior Court if he did not resign as cotrustee by June 2, the filing states.
Mozenter’s counsel instead filed a petition June 2 in West Palm Beach, seeking Buffett’s removal as cotrustee, documents show. Jane Buffett’s complaint was filed June 3 in Los Angeles, where Mozenter is managing director at Gelfand, Rennert and Feldman LLC.
“Notably, Mr. Mozenter only brought this (and his other) retaliatory, baseless action after Mrs. Buffett had informed him that, absent his resignation, she would initiate litigation against him to seek his removal as co-trustee,” the complaint said.
Mozenter claimed in his lawsuit that Jimmy Buffett established the trust with Mozenter as an independent trustee because he was concerned about his wife’s “ability to manage and control his assets.”
The complaint filed Monday in Florida says the relationship between Jane Buffett and Mozenter is “untenable,” and asks the judge to remove Mozenter as cotrustee.
“Jane will not play into Mr. Mozenter’s hands by litigating this dispute in two separate courts across the country, which would drain the very trust money that Jimmy specifically set aside for her care,” said attorney Matt Porpora.
“Instead, Jane is bringing the fight to Florida, where she and Jimmy called home. Jane is confident she will prevail regardless of where her claims are heard, and her decision to move her claims from California to Florida illustrates that she is the only co-trustee looking to conserve — not waste — trust assets,” Porpora said.
New York
Man accused of setting fire to 11 NYPD vehicles charged with arson
NEW YORK (AP) — A man with a history of arrests at pro-Palestinian protests was charged Monday with setting fire to 11 New York City police vehicles last month.
Jakhi McCray, 21, of Brooklyn pleaded not guilty to arson in U.S. District Court.
A criminal complaint unsealed Monday said McCray was recorded on surveillance video scaling a fence to a private lot for reserve New York Police Department vehicles in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood shortly before 1 a.m. on June 12. A police officer arrived about a half hour later to find the vehicles on fire and the suspect fleeing through a hole in the fence, it said.
The complaint said a lighter and a pair of sunglasses containing McCray’s fingerprints were found at the scene, along with fire starters that had been placed under some undamaged vehicles.
Police estimated the replacement cost of the vehicles at $800,000.
McCray’s attorney, Ron Kuby, said his client, whom he described as an activist, was ordered released on the arson charge but remained in police custody on a separate misdemeanor count in Manhattan.
After the vehicles were torched, Mayor Eric Adams suggested the suspect was connected to protests in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.
“Setting police vehicles ablaze is not a form of protest — it is a federal crime,” Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a news release Monday.
Massachusetts
Planned Parenthood wins partial victory in legal fight with administration over funding cuts
BOSTON (AP) — Planned Parenthood won a partial victory Monday in a legal fight with President Donald Trump’s administration over efforts to defund the organization in his signature tax legislation.
A provision in that bill ends Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023, even to those like Planned Parenthood that also offer things like contraception, pregnancy tests and STD testing.
But U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston granted a preliminary injunction Monday that, for now, blocks the government from cutting Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood member organizations that either don’t provide abortion care or didn’t meet a threshold of at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in a given year.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many Planned Parenthood organizations and clinics would continue to get Medicaid reimbursements under that decision and how many might not.
Planned Parenthood said in a statement after the injunction that it’s thankful the court recognized “the harm” caused by the bill. But it said it’s disappointed that some of its members will lose this funding, “risking chaos, confusion, and harm for patients who could now be turned away when seeking lifesaving reproductive health care.”
“The court has not yet ruled on whether it will grant preliminary injunctive relief to other members,” the statement added. “We remain hopeful that the court will grant this relief. There will be nothing short of a public health crisis if Planned Parenthood members are allowed to be ‘defunded.’”
The lawsuit was filed earlier this month against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member organizations in Massachusetts and Utah.
Planned Parenthood argued that allowing the provision to take effect would have devastating consequences nationwide, including increased rates of undiagnosed and untreated sexually transmitted diseases and cancer.
“With no reason other than plain animus, the law will prevent Planned Parenthood Members from providing vital — indeed, lifesaving — care to more than one million patients,” they wrote. “This statute is unconstitutional and will inflict irreparable harm on Planned Parenthood Members and their patients.”
Lawyers for the government argued in court documents that the bill “stops federal subsidies for Big Abortion.”
“All three democratically elected components of the Federal Government collaborated to enact that provision consistent with their electoral mandates from the American people as to how they want their hard-earned taxpayer dollars spent,” the government wrote in its opposition to the motion.
The government added that the plaintiffs “now want this Court to reject that judgment and supplant duly enacted legislation with their own policy preferences. ... That request is legally groundless.”
Hours after the lawsuit was filed, Talwani issued a temporary restraining order that prevented the government from enforcing the cuts. That order had been set to expire Monday.
Tennessee
Judge sets February trial for man who faces death penalty in shooting rampage
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee judge on Tuesday set a February trial date for a man who faces the death penalty if convicted on charges of killing three people and wounding three others in a daylong series of shootings in Memphis that was livestreamed on social media.
Shelby County Judge James Jones Jr. scheduled Ezekiel Kelly’s trial for Feb. 9 during a court hearing in Memphis. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to more than two dozen charges, including three counts of first-degree murder, in the September 2022 shooting rampage that led to a citywide shelter-in-place order and a frantic manhunt.
Kelly’s trial had been set to begin July 14, but was delayed after his lawyers asked for more time to review evidence in the case, including investigating about 400 witnesses and more than 300 videos.
Prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty if he’s convicted of first-degree murder. He appeared in court Tuesday with his lawyer, about five months after he told a judge that he wanted to represent himself in the shootings.
Kelly, 22, later reconsidered and his court-appointed lawyer, Michael Scholl, resumed serving as his primary representation. Scholl had been helping Kelly in an advisory capacity until Jones re-appointed him in March.
Along with the killings of Dewayne Tunstall, Richard Clark and Allison Parker, Kelly also was charged with attempted murder, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon and commission of an act of terrorism.
Kelly has until Sept. 16 to change his plea. Scholl told reporters after Tuesday’s hearing that he plans to file a motion to bring in a jury from outside of Memphis to hear the case. Lawyers typically file such change-of-venue motions in cases where there has been extensive pre-trial publicity.
At least three witnesses saw Kelly shoot Tunstall during a gathering at a Memphis home at about 1 a.m. on Sept. 7, 2022, according to a police affidavit. Clark and Parker were shot later that day, authorities said.
Police said three other people were wounded in the shootings, which took place in different parts of the city. A motive for the shootings was not clear. Some were livestreamed on social media platforms.
The shootings led to the shutdown of Memphis’ public bus system, the lockdown of two college campuses and the stoppage of a minor league baseball game.
Kelly carjacked at least two vehicles before he was arrested when he crashed a stolen car while fleeing police, authorities said.
Parker was a mother of three who worked as a medical assistant at a clinic in nearby West Memphis, Arkansas.
Clark worked as a campus safety officer at Christian Brothers University after retiring from a career as a corrections officer.
Jimmy Buffett’s widow accuses financial adviser of breaching fiduciary duty in $275M trust battle
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Jimmy Buffett ‘s widow has accused her late husband’s financial adviser of failing to administer the singer’s multimillion-dollar trust in good faith and ignoring what she believed were her best interests for the $275 million estate.
Jane Buffett on Monday asked a judge in West Palm Beach, Florida, to stop Richard Mozenter from trying to remove her as a trustee and instead sought an order removing him from overseeing the estate, according to court papers.
Jimmy Buffett, who popularized beach bum soft rock and created a “Margaritaville” empire of restaurants and resorts, died Sept. 1, 2023, at 76.
His widow and Mozenter have since been embroiled in a battle over who controls the trust, with each accusing the other of mishandling funds in lawsuits filed in both California and Florida.
The dispute is similar to another going on with the estate of another beloved singer, Tony Bennett. Two of the late crooner’s daughters sued their brother over his handling of the family trust.
Jane Buffett’s filing on Monday accuses Mozenter of “repeatedly” breaching his fiduciary duty by failing to provide her with basic information about the trust’s assets and its investments while taking “unreasonable fees and costs in the context of the services provided.”
On May 30, Jane Buffett’s lawyers provided Mozenter’s lawyers a copy of a petition they planned to file in Los Angeles Superior Court if he did not resign as cotrustee by June 2, the filing states.
Mozenter’s counsel instead filed a petition June 2 in West Palm Beach, seeking Buffett’s removal as cotrustee, documents show. Jane Buffett’s complaint was filed June 3 in Los Angeles, where Mozenter is managing director at Gelfand, Rennert and Feldman LLC.
“Notably, Mr. Mozenter only brought this (and his other) retaliatory, baseless action after Mrs. Buffett had informed him that, absent his resignation, she would initiate litigation against him to seek his removal as co-trustee,” the complaint said.
Mozenter claimed in his lawsuit that Jimmy Buffett established the trust with Mozenter as an independent trustee because he was concerned about his wife’s “ability to manage and control his assets.”
The complaint filed Monday in Florida says the relationship between Jane Buffett and Mozenter is “untenable,” and asks the judge to remove Mozenter as cotrustee.
“Jane will not play into Mr. Mozenter’s hands by litigating this dispute in two separate courts across the country, which would drain the very trust money that Jimmy specifically set aside for her care,” said attorney Matt Porpora.
“Instead, Jane is bringing the fight to Florida, where she and Jimmy called home. Jane is confident she will prevail regardless of where her claims are heard, and her decision to move her claims from California to Florida illustrates that she is the only co-trustee looking to conserve — not waste — trust assets,” Porpora said.
New York
Man accused of setting fire to 11 NYPD vehicles charged with arson
NEW YORK (AP) — A man with a history of arrests at pro-Palestinian protests was charged Monday with setting fire to 11 New York City police vehicles last month.
Jakhi McCray, 21, of Brooklyn pleaded not guilty to arson in U.S. District Court.
A criminal complaint unsealed Monday said McCray was recorded on surveillance video scaling a fence to a private lot for reserve New York Police Department vehicles in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood shortly before 1 a.m. on June 12. A police officer arrived about a half hour later to find the vehicles on fire and the suspect fleeing through a hole in the fence, it said.
The complaint said a lighter and a pair of sunglasses containing McCray’s fingerprints were found at the scene, along with fire starters that had been placed under some undamaged vehicles.
Police estimated the replacement cost of the vehicles at $800,000.
McCray’s attorney, Ron Kuby, said his client, whom he described as an activist, was ordered released on the arson charge but remained in police custody on a separate misdemeanor count in Manhattan.
After the vehicles were torched, Mayor Eric Adams suggested the suspect was connected to protests in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.
“Setting police vehicles ablaze is not a form of protest — it is a federal crime,” Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a news release Monday.
Massachusetts
Planned Parenthood wins partial victory in legal fight with administration over funding cuts
BOSTON (AP) — Planned Parenthood won a partial victory Monday in a legal fight with President Donald Trump’s administration over efforts to defund the organization in his signature tax legislation.
A provision in that bill ends Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023, even to those like Planned Parenthood that also offer things like contraception, pregnancy tests and STD testing.
But U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston granted a preliminary injunction Monday that, for now, blocks the government from cutting Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood member organizations that either don’t provide abortion care or didn’t meet a threshold of at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in a given year.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many Planned Parenthood organizations and clinics would continue to get Medicaid reimbursements under that decision and how many might not.
Planned Parenthood said in a statement after the injunction that it’s thankful the court recognized “the harm” caused by the bill. But it said it’s disappointed that some of its members will lose this funding, “risking chaos, confusion, and harm for patients who could now be turned away when seeking lifesaving reproductive health care.”
“The court has not yet ruled on whether it will grant preliminary injunctive relief to other members,” the statement added. “We remain hopeful that the court will grant this relief. There will be nothing short of a public health crisis if Planned Parenthood members are allowed to be ‘defunded.’”
The lawsuit was filed earlier this month against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member organizations in Massachusetts and Utah.
Planned Parenthood argued that allowing the provision to take effect would have devastating consequences nationwide, including increased rates of undiagnosed and untreated sexually transmitted diseases and cancer.
“With no reason other than plain animus, the law will prevent Planned Parenthood Members from providing vital — indeed, lifesaving — care to more than one million patients,” they wrote. “This statute is unconstitutional and will inflict irreparable harm on Planned Parenthood Members and their patients.”
Lawyers for the government argued in court documents that the bill “stops federal subsidies for Big Abortion.”
“All three democratically elected components of the Federal Government collaborated to enact that provision consistent with their electoral mandates from the American people as to how they want their hard-earned taxpayer dollars spent,” the government wrote in its opposition to the motion.
The government added that the plaintiffs “now want this Court to reject that judgment and supplant duly enacted legislation with their own policy preferences. ... That request is legally groundless.”
Hours after the lawsuit was filed, Talwani issued a temporary restraining order that prevented the government from enforcing the cuts. That order had been set to expire Monday.
Tennessee
Judge sets February trial for man who faces death penalty in shooting rampage
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee judge on Tuesday set a February trial date for a man who faces the death penalty if convicted on charges of killing three people and wounding three others in a daylong series of shootings in Memphis that was livestreamed on social media.
Shelby County Judge James Jones Jr. scheduled Ezekiel Kelly’s trial for Feb. 9 during a court hearing in Memphis. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to more than two dozen charges, including three counts of first-degree murder, in the September 2022 shooting rampage that led to a citywide shelter-in-place order and a frantic manhunt.
Kelly’s trial had been set to begin July 14, but was delayed after his lawyers asked for more time to review evidence in the case, including investigating about 400 witnesses and more than 300 videos.
Prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty if he’s convicted of first-degree murder. He appeared in court Tuesday with his lawyer, about five months after he told a judge that he wanted to represent himself in the shootings.
Kelly, 22, later reconsidered and his court-appointed lawyer, Michael Scholl, resumed serving as his primary representation. Scholl had been helping Kelly in an advisory capacity until Jones re-appointed him in March.
Along with the killings of Dewayne Tunstall, Richard Clark and Allison Parker, Kelly also was charged with attempted murder, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon and commission of an act of terrorism.
Kelly has until Sept. 16 to change his plea. Scholl told reporters after Tuesday’s hearing that he plans to file a motion to bring in a jury from outside of Memphis to hear the case. Lawyers typically file such change-of-venue motions in cases where there has been extensive pre-trial publicity.
At least three witnesses saw Kelly shoot Tunstall during a gathering at a Memphis home at about 1 a.m. on Sept. 7, 2022, according to a police affidavit. Clark and Parker were shot later that day, authorities said.
Police said three other people were wounded in the shootings, which took place in different parts of the city. A motive for the shootings was not clear. Some were livestreamed on social media platforms.
The shootings led to the shutdown of Memphis’ public bus system, the lockdown of two college campuses and the stoppage of a minor league baseball game.
Kelly carjacked at least two vehicles before he was arrested when he crashed a stolen car while fleeing police, authorities said.
Parker was a mother of three who worked as a medical assistant at a clinic in nearby West Memphis, Arkansas.
Clark worked as a campus safety officer at Christian Brothers University after retiring from a career as a corrections officer.
