Buster Archive

The alleged stalker of Mark Zuckerberg claims that his life has been threatened in the wake of the filing of a restraining order against him by the Facebook CEO. In a phone interview, Pradeep Manukonda, 31, declined to say who was responsible for the purported threats.

Manukonda, who is due in court next Tuesday for a hearing on Zuckerberg’s petition, this afternoon sent an e-mail to a TSG reporter offering a “public apology” for his actions, which he nonetheless chalked up to “miscommunication between us.” Manukonda, an Indian citizen, noted that, “I am ready to leave this country,” but added that “i am getting good offers from” Facebook’s competitors.

To do what is unclear.

Below you’ll find Manukonda’s letter, which claims that he first wrote to Zuckerberg at the direction of a Facebook project manager. An unnamed Facebook project manager.

Hi  William

I don't know how the news is creeping  into media , about  me leaving USA before I take any  decision , i want to clear all the  apprehensions arise  between me and mark

I am security analyst my profession, and i was working for a project of mine when i gave a interview at facebook there are very much impress with my project and ask me submit my work to them which i do, later one of the project manager ask me to write a letter to mark asking him to help in your work I was mislead by some of the person who i met Know there are saying that i hacked there networks and its their project .I never hacked into any of there networks . Infact My computer is hacked ! In order to explain the my situation , I  tried to contact mark.But Its leads to miscommunication between us

About the court restraining order, i have to attain the court this month feb 22 but i know things are going to  change we came to mutual understanding and we are making out of the court settlement. I was offered a very good amount for my work , which i declined Know i am feeling  very insecure and  threatened !

I Have no complaints on anybody , I  am ready to leave this country ,eventhough i am getting good offers from their competitors I dreamt of coming to usa , to fulfill my dreams , i never thought that my name is going to associated with a person , who i admire  the most in this way if I  my actions hurts anybody  , in any sense , i am making a  public apology to  all of  them

I know it too late for me to say anything about  this issue , if i keep silent , people are writing there own story ! I don't want to make any further controversial on this issue

Thanks

Pradeep

The recent explosion in the distribution of “bath salts,” the designer drug of the moment, apparently is being driven by the unmatched markup prices realized by dealers.

In a sworn affidavit, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent details the whopping return on investment that can be banked by “bath salt” distributors. The affidavit, excerpted here, was filed as part of a court application to search the office of an Ohio man accused of distributing the drug.

According to DEA Agent Stacie Modesitt, the suspect paid $9000 to Kamud Drugs, a Mumbai, India firm, for 10 kilograms of mephedrone, the hallucinogenic stimulant resembling cocaine that is often referred to as “bath salts.” Modesitt noted that the “intended, legitimate use” for mephedrone “is as an ingredient in plant fertilizer.”

After the 10 kilograms was repackaged into “packets” that are often sold at headshops, the 22 pounds of mephedrone would yield a street value of $1.6 million, Modesitt reported. So, the rate of return on a $9000 investment would be a tidy 17,800 percent.

A recent spate of “bath salt” overdoses across the U.S. has prompted several states to ban the substance. Although it has not yet been scheduled as a controlled substance, the DEA has named “bath salts” as a drug of concern. In a statement last week, White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske called “bath salts” a “serious threat to the health and well-being of young people and anyone who may use them.” He added that, “the marketing and sale of these poisons as ‘bath salts’ is both unacceptable and dangerous.”

When the Wall Street Journal published a story in mid-November about a major FBI insider trading probe, Donald Longueuil sprung into action.

Longueuil, 34, was managing director of Empire Capital Management and apparently believed that he could be a target of federal investigators examining hedge fund practices. So, according to a criminal complaint unsealed today (click here for an excerpt), Longueuil sought to destroy external hard drives and a USB drive.

In a conversation with colleague Noah Freeman--who happened to be wearing an FBI wire--Longueuil gave a detailed account of how he “chopped up everything,” stuffed the shredded electronics into “four separate little baggies” (which he placed inside his North Face jacket) and then walked the streets of Manhattan at 2 AM to find four garbage trucks in which to throw “the shit in the back of.”

When Freeman said, “I can see the Feds trying to find” the discarded material, Longueuil responded, “It’s all fuckin’ ripped apart…Everything’s gone.” When FBI agents checked surveillance video from Longueuil’s East Side condominium (where he owns a $1.725 million apartment), they spotted him on the morning in question departing his building at 1:52 AM and returning 41 minutes later. He appeared to be wearing a North Face jacket.

Longueuil, a former speed skater, is pictured in the above photo. Charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, and obstruction of justice, Longueuil was arrested this morning by FBI agents and is due this afternoon for an appearance before a magistrate judge.

The college professor arrested this week for using Facebook to stalk and threaten a New Orleans cop created a phony profile stocked with photos of a journeyman hockey player best known for his epic on-ice brawls, The Smoking Gun has learned.

“Michael LovesMayhem,” the phony online persona allegedly created by suspect Gary O’Bireck featured photos of a barrel-chested tattooed man toting a rifle and bayonet. Posing as the strongman, O’Bireck sent e-mails to an officer he accused of once raping his girlfriend, according to a felony criminal complaint.

In fact, as pointed out by a TSG reader (apparently with an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure minor league hockey players) Mr. LovesMayhem is actually Mike Sgroi, a 6’ 4”, 240-pound forward currently playing for the Texas Brahmas of the Central Hockey League. In ten CHL games this season, the 32-year-old--who also competes as a mixed martial arts fighter--has accumulated 51 penalty minutes and one goal.

Sgroi, who can be seen scrapping in this YouTube video, is pictured above.

In an interview, Sgroi said that he was unaware that his photos had been hijacked and placed on the fake Facebook page central to the case against O’Bireck. Sgroi said that he does not know O’Bireck, adding that he believed the photos of him were lifted from his actual Facebook page, which boasts over 2000 friends.

Though he initially seemed amused that his image had been misappropriated, Sgroi did express some concern that O’Bireck’s victim (and his cop friends) could come after him because of the photos. “Facebook has become more trouble than it’s worth,” he said.

A federal judge today unsealed a lawsuit filed against the owners of the New York Mets by the trustee representing victims of Bernard Madoff’s multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme.

In the 373-page complaint, Irving Picard accuses Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz of improperly profiting from Madoff’s criminal operation and alleges that the businessmen knew (or should have known) that the disgraced investor was running a fraud ring.

A PDF copy of Picard’s lawsuit can be downloaded here. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court complaint, filed in early-December, was originally sealed at Picard’s request in a bid to expedite settlement negotiations.

In the complaint, Picard alleges that Wilpon and Katz realized $300 million in “fictitious profits,” money that the trustee wants the men to disgorge (Picard refers to the $300 million withdrawn as “other people’s money”). Additionally, Picard is seeking hundreds of millions more from the duo since they allegedly “willfully turned a blind eye to substantial indicia of Madoff’s fraud.”

The complaint also reveals that Wilpon & Co. opened “coveted” Madoff accounts for 178 friends, business associates, and employees. These unnamed investors, Picard charges, “withdrew approximately $67 million in Fictitious Profits” from their Madoff accounts.

The document became public after Picard yesterday filed a letter requesting that the complaint be unsealed. That move was not opposed by the defendants, who have complained bitterly about media leaks concerning the substance of the lawsuit. The parties are scheduled for a court appearance next week before federal Judge Burton Lifland, who today ordered the Picard complaint unsealed.