Latest news with #WestHollywood-based
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Family of slain Gulfport teen sues Grindr
A family member of a Gulfport teen who police say was tortured, killed and dismembered by a man she met on Grindr is suing the owner of the platform, alleging that its features and lack of safeguards for minors contributed to the girl's death. The lawsuit, filed last month in federal court against Grindr LLC by a representative of Miranda Corsette's estate, alleges that the 35-year-old man who killed the teen was able to target her through Grindr's app due to its 'lax age verification and hyper-precise geolocation.' 'The trauma inflicted upon M.C. (Miranda) and the irreparable harm to her family are direct consequences of Grindr's reckless disregard for the safety of minor children who are routinely preyed upon by adult predators who use Grindr's platform and design as a trap,' the suit states. The plaintiff is identified in court filings by the initials D.W. and listed as an executor of Miranda's estate. Lorne Kaiser, a South Florida attorney for the plaintiff, declined in an interview to identify the plaintiff or the plaintiff's relationship to Miranda because he didn't have permission from his client to do so. Grindr LLC has not yet filed a response to the suit. The West Hollywood-based company's press office did not respond to two emails from the Tampa Bay Times seeking comment for this story. Launched in 2009, Grindr markets itself as the world's largest social networking apps for LGBTQ+ people, but it attracts a 'sexually diverse' userbase that include people looking to prey on minors, according to the lawsuit. The complaint includes many of the details that have come to light about the investigation that led to the arrest of Steven Gress, 35, and Michelle Brandes, 37, on first-degree murder and other charges. Authorities say that Miranda met Gress on Grindr on or about Feb. 14. Gress went to pick up the teen at or near the Gulfport home where she lived with her grandmother and brought her back to the apartment he shared with Brandes on 27th Avenue North in St. Petersburg. Gress told detectives that he was told she was 21 but later learned she was 16, according to an arrest affidavit. Gress took Miranda back to Gulfport and at some point she returned to the St. Petersburg apartment. Gress said he became convinced Miranda had stolen his ring and, for the better part of a week, 'lumped her up,' the affidavit states. It ended Feb. 23. A witness said Brandes wrapped the girl's head in plastic. Gress told her not to cover her nose, but Brandes did, the witness said. Miranda suffocated. Gress described Brandes shoving a billiard ball into Miranda's throat and covering her face in plastic wrap. He said he couldn't get to her quickly enough to poke holes in the plastic so she could breathe, according to the affidavit. After Miranda died, they drove to Brandes' mother's house in Largo, where Gress used a chainsaw to dismember Miranda's body, according to police. They put the remains in trash bags and the next day left them in a dumpster in Ruskin. Police learned the contents of the dumpster likely went to the county's incinerator. Police said there is no evidence Miranda took the ring, and Brandes later claimed to have found it in Gress's car. Gress and Brandes have pleaded not guilty to murder and kidnapping charges. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty if they are convicted. 'Long before February 14, 2025, it was clear to Grindr that it was only a matter of time before its app, as Grindr marketed it and designed it, would cause the torture, rape, and murder of a child,' the lawsuit states. The complaint says that the app requires only a self-reported birthdate to confirm users are at least 18, with no cross-checking against official documentation or third-party verification at sign-up. Miranda's death 'exposes the platform's gross negligence in relying on a farcical self-reported age verification system,' the suit states. 'This performative gesture, as absurd as a bar or strip club asking teenagers to state their age without checking ID, allowed a minor to access an adult-oriented platform with foreseeable catastrophic consequences.' The company could institute measures such as government-issued identification verification or facial age estimation system but has not done so, according to the complaint. 'The company had the means to keep minors off its platform, but it withheld them to preserve easy onboarding and avoid disrupting user growth, even when the cost is the safety of children,' the suit states. The app's geolocation services 'deliver hyper-precise, real-time geolocation tracking — accurate to within a few feet — designed to facilitate immediate sexual encounters,' the suit states. 'As such, Grindr arranges user profiles based on their distance from other users for instant and spontaneous sexual hookups creating a uniquely hazardous environment for minors.' The lawsuit, which notes that Miranda had a son, alleges nine counts including wrongful death, negligence, infliction of emotional distress, participating in a sex trafficking venture and deceptive and unfair trade practices. It seeks a jury trial and compensatory and punitive damages. The complaint also asks the court to order Grindr to implement more robust age verification measures and to cease what the lawsuit alleges are misleading claims about the app's safety. Kaiser said the lawsuit is meant to hold Grindr accountable for its role in Miranda's death just as prosecutors are holding Gress and Brandes accountable through the criminal justice process. 'Without Grindr, we believe that Miranda would have never met this Steven Gress character, and she'd still be alive,' Kaiser said. 'This was a completely foreseeable event. Grinder has been warned for years and years about children and minors getting on this platform, and it's obviously a dangerous platform for children.'
Los Angeles Times
17-03-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
‘Joker,' ‘Matrix' producer files for bankruptcy protection amid Warner Bros. fight
Village Roadshow Entertainment has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a dark turn for the once-prolific film financing company that backed the 'Joker,' 'The Matrix' and 'Ocean's Eleven' movie franchises. The West Hollywood-based company blamed its ongoing legal battle with longtime partner Warner Bros. for its collapse, according to a Monday filing in U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware. Village Roadshow also conceded that its ambitious push into producing independent films and television programs before the pandemic was unprofitable, exacerbating its financial woes. The breach of contract lawsuit against Warner Bros. came after the studio introduced 'The Matrix Resurrections' in December 2021 on its HBO Max streaming service the same day the film was released in movie theaters. Village Roadshow complained that the Burbank studio's pivot away from an exclusive theatrical release had destroyed the value of a key franchise. Village Roadshow's predicament is a stark example of how the entertainment industry's shift to streaming has upended once vibrant businesses. Since its founding in 1997, Village Roadshow has co-produced and co-financed more than 100 movies that together generated more than $19 billion in worldwide box office receipts, according to court documents. 'A confluence of macro-economic factors have weighed heavily on the company's balance sheet,' Keith Maib, an executive with Accordion Partners who is serving as chief restructuring officer for the Village Roadshow liquidation, wrote in a declaration. The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 writers' and actors' strikes and major entertainment companies' embrace of streaming helped crater the company, Maib wrote. The bankruptcy filing was designed to facilitate 'orderly sales of the debtor's assets,' he said. Village Roadshow is controlled by Vine Media Opportunities, Falcon Strategic Partners and a Canadian limited partnership, 1397225 Ontario Ltd. The company said its assets are worth an estimated $100 million to $500 million. But it has more than 200 creditors and debts of $500 million to $1 billion, according to the filing. Village Roadshow owes more than $11 million to Kirkland & Ellis in Los Angeles for professional services. Its debt to the Writers Guild of America West tops $1.4 million. (The WGA put Village Roadshow on its strike list in December for nonpayment.) The filing also shows that Village Roadshow owes Bryan Cranston's Moonshot Entertainment Inc. $794,000 for development costs and another $250,000 to Sony Pictures Television. Former Sony executive Steve Mosko, who joined Village Roadshow in 2018 as chief executive, left earlier this year. He had attempted to build Village Roadshow into an independent studio that produced its own movies and television shows. But the Mosko-led campaign to remake the company into a full-service studio proved costly and untimely. Village Roadshow put into development 99 feature films, 166 scripted television series and 67 unscripted series. Of those, six movies and seven television series went into production. 'No film or television series that was produced was able to create a profit that could sustain the studio business,' Maib wrote. Village Roadshow's legal battle with Warner Bros. was the last straw. The company's dispute against Warner Bros. remains unresolved in arbitration — more then three years after the lawsuit was filed. In late 2021, Warner Bros. was recalibrating due to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company, then owned by AT&T, was prioritizing gaining subscribers to support its streaming service over its traditional business of releasing movies to cinemas. That's when it placed 'The Matrix Resurrections' on HBO Max. Village Roadshow said it has spent more than $18 million in legal fees to try to resolve the Warner Bros. dispute — fees that remain unpaid. While the firm also worked on movies with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Paramount Pictures, its most valuable assets were produced in conjunction with Warner Bros., including 'Mad Max: Fury Road' and 'The Lego Movie.' The company co-produced and co-financed 91 films with Warner Bros. by arranging some $4.5 billion in financing. Village Roadshow's library assets generate about $50 million a year in revenue, according to Maib's declaration. Last year, Village Roadshow engaged Goldman Sachs Group to sell some library assets, but uncertainty caused by the lingering Warner Bros. dispute scuttled the effort. The company then engaged Sheppard Mullin Richter and Solic Capital Advisors, which came up with a 'stalking horse bidder' to buy the assets following the Chapter 11 process, Maib wrote. A year ago, the company had about 45 employees in the U.S. and Melbourne, Australia. In its move to slash costs, the firm now has fewer than a dozen employees. As of this month, the company's monthly overhead is about $300,000.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Midcentury Marvels: Palm Springs Modernism Week
Architecture , design enthusiasts and preservationists flock to Palm Springs biannually for Modernism Week, a stylish celebration of Midcentury architecture, design and vintage culture. Marking its 20th anniversary this year, the 11-day event running from Feb. 13-23, is filled with unique tours inside notable homes and bus excursions exploring the area's visionary builds. Throughout the week, historic films, presentations and symposiums take place. At night, the desert scene lights up with jazz and martini parties and even dinners at the legendary Frank Sinatra Twin Palms week kicks off with an opening night 20th anniversary extravaganza on Feb. 13. Other highlights include a keynote presentation with Dr. Raymond Neutra on Feb. 15, an Elvis Presley fashion tribute on Feb. 16 —where guests are encouraged to dress like the King of Rock and Roll — and a look at the art and architecture of Midcentury bowling on Feb. 21 with Adriene Biondo and Los Angeles editor Chris in part by Fergsuon— known for its luxury bath, kitchen and lighting gallery — Modernism Week attracts architects and designers from around the world who share their latest innovations. Spotlighted here, three high-profile design firms that will be participating in Los Angeles magazine and Ferguson's Modernism Week event on Saturday, Feb. 15 at GiGi's Palm Springs. Coppel's L.A.-based interior design studio works across four continents. A native of Madrid, her European background drives her work. The studio just completed a 23,000-square-foot home in the Bird Streets, a six-year job that led to a landmark sale. 'Our work embodies modernity through a focus on clean lines, timeless aesthetics and a seamless integration of technology and functionality,' she says. 'Every project reflects a balance between form and function.'543 N. La Cienega Blvd., Ste. 202, West Hollywood, In addition to full-scale home makeovers, Meier also offers handmade, vintage and new home decor. Her company's online shop features items like hand-blown Veronese vases and window and wall coverings for Hartmann & Forbes. 'I believe modernism grew out of the classical,' she says. 'And while it stripped it down of excessive ornamentation, it left what is at the common heart of both: simple and strong forms, proportionality and scale. My work definitely incorporates both.'16903 Avenida de Acacias, Rancho Santa Fe, Partners in business and life, Kalichstein and Rose believe 'good design makes the world a more beautiful place.' Their work combines contemporary elements with state-of-the-art technology to achieve what they call 'seemingly simple, but deceptively complex' designs. Next up are projects in New York and Florida, and collaborations with rug companies Surya and West Hollywood-based Mehraban.5308 Calhoun Ave., Sherman Oaks,
