All posts containing the tag: "Pleasant Bridgewater"
Posted Oct 22nd 2009 4:07PM by TMZ Staff
The Bahamian buffoon who blew the whole John Travolta extortion trial is about to have his own day in court ... because the judge in the case wants him to explain himself in person.
Lawmaker Picewell Forbes has been summoned to appear before the judge, so he can explain why he blurted out that one of the extortion defendants was found not guilty ... before the jury had even made their decision.
Forbes' colossal screw-up was made at a convention for the Progressive Liberal Party last night -- in front of hundreds of people and multiple recording devices.
Forbes' attorney said the lawmaker was just repeating a rumor he hadn't actually verified himself -- which somehow makes him look even dumber than before.
The PLP has since apologized ... guess that didn't cut it.
Filed under: John Travolta
Tags: john travolta, JohnTravolta, judge, mistrial, picewell forbes, PicewellForbes, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, progressive liberal party, ProgressiveLiberalParty, tarine lightbourne, TarineLightbourne
Posted Oct 22nd 2009 12:27PM by TMZ Staff
TMZ has obtained audio of the moment when Bahamian lawmaker Picewell Forbes blew the entire John Travolta extortion case -- screaming out at a political convention last night that "Pleasant Bridgewater is a free woman!!!"
Big mistake: Because when the judge found out the announcement had been made before the jury had come to a decision in the Travolta case -- the judge declared it a mistrial, believing someone in the jury could have been "communicating" with the lawmaker.
FYI -- Pleasant Bridgewater is a former Senator from the Progressive Liberal Party -- and the announcement was made at a PLP convention.
The PLP released the following apology for their monumental blunder:
"Last evening in the course of an address at our National General Convention, it was announced that former Senator Pleasant Bridgewater had been acquitted. The announcement was incorrect. We give an unqualified apology. This was not intended to interfere with the administration of justice."
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta, Exclusives
Tags: extortion, extortion plot, ExtortionPlot, john travolta, JohnTravolta, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater
Posted Oct 22nd 2009 12:25AM by TMZ Staff
The judge in the John Travolta extortion case has declared a mistrial, reportedly because of jury misconduct.
Justice Anita Allen released the jury and declared a mistrial after learning that a member of Parliament announced at a political convention that defendant Pleasant Bridgewater -- a former Senator -- had been acquitted by the jury.
It's unclear if jurors had actually reached a verdict. There's an unconfirmed report that one of the jurors may have communicated information to the Parliament member who spoke out.
No word on whether the jury may have reached a verdict on Tarino Lightbourne.
Story developing ...
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta
Tags: extortion, jett travolta, JettTravolta, john travolta, JohnTravolta, judge, mistrial, parliament, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, Tarino Lightbourn, TarinoLightbourn
Posted Oct 14th 2009 3:00PM by TMZ Staff
The paramedic/defendant who allegedly hatched the extortion plot against John Travolta just told the jury the whole thing was an evil plot to set him up ... and he just played along.
Tarino Lightbourne -- and defendant Pleasant Bridgewater -- opted not to take the witness stand today, instead standing in front of the jury with prepared statements.
Tarino said Travolta's lawyer, Michael McDermott, called him up randomly one day and offered $15 million for the "Refusal of Transport/Treatment" document -- which had John Travolta's signature on it.
Tarino said he had kept a copy of the document for his autograph collection -- but he never explained how McDermott found out he had it in order to make an offer.
Tarino said he thought McDermott was setting him up ... so he decided to play along. Tarino also said he didn't even know what extortion was ... and still doesn't.
Pleasant also claimed she was innocent -- but never really explained why.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta
Tags: john travolta, JohnTravolta, michael mcdermott, MichaelMcdermott, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, suspect
Posted Oct 8th 2009 2:00PM by TMZ Staff
A Bahamas cop just testified defendant Pleasant Bridgewater admitted to giving key evidence in the case the dead goldfish treatment ... flushing it down a toilet at her home on the island.
Det. Sgt. Debra Thompson testified today about what went down on January 22 when they arrested Bridgewater -- who allegedly helped broker the extortion deal between paramedic Tarino Lightbourne and John's lawyer.
Thompson said the day of the arrest, they searched Bridgewater's office at her law firm ... with Bridgewater in tow.
At the office, Thompson said Bridgewater told them they weren't going to find what they were looking for -- a copy of the extortion document -- because she burned it with a candle and then flushed it down one of the toilets at her house.
Thompson said they then escorted Bridgewater to her home, where she actually showed them the candle in question -- so they took photos of it.
Thompson didn't say if they also took pics of the commode.
UPDATE: The prosecution is through calling witnesses -- they'll all be back in court on Tuesday. Stay tuned!
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta
Tags: document, evidence, extortion, john travolta, JohnTravolta, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater
Posted Oct 6th 2009 12:55PM by TMZ Staff
John Travolta's lawyer just dropped a huge bombshell in open court -- dude just spit out a movie quote from "A Few Good Men."
It all went down after the people accused of extorting Travolta tried to turn the tables -- claiming Travolta's lawyer was the person who actually hatched the extortion plot.
But Travolta's lawyer, Michael McDermott, was furious -- and fired back, "You can't handle the truth! You can't handle the truth!"
The lawyer for the alleged extortionists replied, "You've watched 'A Few Good Men,' huh?"
The drama continues...
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta
Tags: extortion, jett, john travolta, JohnTravolta, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, tapes, tarino lightbourne, TarinoLightbourne
Posted Oct 5th 2009 3:15PM by TMZ Staff
Transcripts of taped conversations between alleged extortionist Pleasant Bridgewater and John Travolta's attorney, Michael McDermott, have just been released ... and it feels like Howie Mandell could step in at any time and say, "Deal, No Deal?"
The documents show Bridgewater -- attorney for defendant Tarino Lightbourne -- haggling with McDermott over how much the Travoltas should pay for the "Refusal of Treatment" document ... at one point, McDermott offers property instead of cash, complaining how hard it would be to raise $25 million in cash.
Bridgewater says Lightbourne believed the doc was worth hundreds of millions of dollars ... but was willing to accept $25 million. McDermott countered with an offer of only $250,000 ... saying the Travoltas could go as high as $1 million if Lightbourne would accept property.
At one point McDermott, recognizing the absurdity of the negotiations, says, "We can do a little rug merchant negotiations here." At another point he complains Tarino's demands of $25 million require Travolta to come up with "like a pickup truck full of money."
Click here to read the full transcript.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta
Tags: john travolta, JohnTravolta, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, tapes, tarino lightbourn, TarinoLightbourn, transcripts
Posted Oct 5th 2009 11:25AM by TMZ Staff
One of the people accused of attempting to extort John Travolta apparently felt guilty while she was trying to execute the plan.
Audio and video tapes from the police sting operation which targeted Pleasant Bridgewater and Tarino Lightbourne are being played in open court today.
In the tapes, Travolta's attorney can be heard telling the suspects that John couldn't pay the $25 million asking price because "John doesn't have that kind of bread ... not even lying around."
On another tape, Bridgewater can be heard telling John's lawyer, "I just want to get this over with ... I don't want to hear about it again ... I feel so badly about the whole thing."
Travolta claims the suspects threatened to release a "refusal of treatment" document John signed after his son Jett was found unconscious in The Bahamas last year.
Filed under: John Travolta
Tags: blackmail, extortion, jett travolta, JettTravolta, john travolta, JohnTravolta, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, plot, traino lightbourne, TrainoLightbourne
Posted Oct 1st 2009 6:00PM by TMZ Staff
John Travolta's lawyer just testified the alleged extortionists were willing to get paid in installments over four years.
Michael McDermott testified that after a number of phone calls, Pleasant Bridgewater dropped the asking price for the alleged extortion document from $25 million to $15 mil ... but the Travoltas ended up agreeing to $10 million. McDermott testified he would be paid $2.5 million a year for four years.
McDermott said this was all a setup, because he gave police permission to tap his cell phone and set up a sting operation at a hotel room.
McDermott said after he met with both Pleasant and Tarino Lightbourne at the bugged hotel room, he got an email from Pleasant saying, "Please see wire instructions as requested."
Filed under: John Travolta
Tags: 10 million, 10Million, 15 million, 15Million, 25 million, 25Million, john travolta, JohnTravolta, money, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, tarino lightbourne, TarinoLightbourne, wire
Posted Oct 1st 2009 12:01PM by TMZ Staff
John Travolta's lawyer just testified the whole extortion plot was hatched because one of the defendants was starstruck.
Michael McDermott testified he got the call from Pleasant Bridgewater ten days after Jett died. He said Pleasant told him her client had a "Refusal of Transport/Treatment" document signed by Travolta and felt it was worth a lot of money.
Now get this: McDermott said Pleasant said her client, paramedic Tarino Lightbourne, had kept the document instead of turning it in ... because it was "signed by a celebrity."
McDermott said Tarino shopped the document -- which Tarino proved Travolta either intentionally killed his son or recognized he was negligent in the supervision of the child.
Tarino thought the doc was firm evidence Travolta wanted to flee the jurisdiction with his son's dead body.
McDermott said Pleasant told him ... "put it this way, the doc can be John's or the world's."
McDermott says Bridgewater acknowledged it was extortion, but Tarino didn't care.
Filed under: John Travolta
Tags: document, jett, john travolta, JohnTravolta, lawyer, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, tarino lightbourne, TarinoLightbourne, testify
Posted Sep 29th 2009 12:05PM by TMZ Staff
Sort of a stunning development a few minutes ago in the John Travolta extortion trial.
One of the key players who was involved with the secret taping of conversations between Travolta's lawyers and Pleasant Bridgewater just told the court -- although he was in the room next door listening to the conversations, he never heard anyone demand money in return for keeping documents secret.
The testimony is in conflict with the actual tapes, so what Detective Inspector Sean Saunders said in court is a mystery.
The judge just cleared the courtroom.
UPDATE: They're on a lunch break now.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta
Tags: bahamas, extortion, jett travolta, JettTravolta, john travolta, JohnTravolta, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, secret video, SecretVideo
Posted Sep 29th 2009 10:20AM by TMZ Staff
The two defendants in the John Travolta extortion case are in deep trouble today -- the jury will see and hear the secret tapes which authorities say is the smoking gun.
Authorities say the secret police video shows the $25 million extortion plot in all it's glory.
Lawyers for Tarino Lightbourne and Pleasant Bridgewater tried keeping the video from the jury but the judge saw it differently.
We'll let you know how it goes down.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta
Tags: bahamas, extortion, extortion trial, ExtortionTrial, jett, jett travolta, JettTravolta, john travolta, JohnTravolta, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, tarino lightbourne, TarinoLightbourne
Posted Sep 24th 2009 1:00AM by TMZ Staff
Secret police videos have captured the alleged extortionists in the John Travolta case in deep conflict ... with one defendant accusing the other of trying to settle way too cheap -- this according to law enforcement sources.
As we first reported yesterday, authorities have at least two videos of paramedic Tarino Lightbourne and attorney Pleasant Bridgewater demanding millions of dollars from John Travolta's lawyers, in return for not making a document public.
Our sources say Bridgewater is caught on tape demanding many millions of dollars, but another video shows Lightbourne outraged that Bridgewater demanded what he considered such a paltry sum. His demand was exponentially higher than hers, law enforcement sources tell TMZ.
We're told the videos show them haggling over money -- and although it's been reported the pair allegedly demanded $25 million, we're told they finally agreed to $15 mil.
We're also told lawyers for Bridgewater and Lightbourne will make a motion today to suppress the videos, on grounds they were illegally recorded.
And there's a sticky problem -- we're told one of the key Bahamian cops in the video sting was seriously injured "under suspicious circumstances" and is unable to testify.
Travolta has not finished testifying. We're told he has left the Bahamas and will return next week to complete his testimony.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, John Travolta, Exclusives
Tags: bahamas, extortion, extortion plot, ExtortionPlot, jett, john travolta, JohnTravolta, millions, money, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, secret video, SecretVideo, tarino lightbourne, TarinoLightbourne, testimony, video
Posted Sep 22nd 2009 12:01PM by TMZ Staff
The first witness has taken the stand in the John Travolta extortion case and testified John initially wanted to take his son Jett to an airport instead of a local hospital.
Police inspector Andrew Wells testified paramedic/defendant Tarino Lightbourne told him John signed a form releasing medical professionals from liability in order to take the dying 16-year-old boy to the airport.
As we previously reported, John thought it would take just as long to put Jett on a plane to Florida -- where he could get better care than at a Bahamian hospital. John had a change of heart en route and Jett went to the hospital, where he later died.
Prosecutors claim Lightbourne and former state senator Pleasant Bridgewater tried extorting Travolta, demanding $25 million in return for not making the release form public.
John is in the Bahamas and could testify later today or tomorrow.
Filed under: John Travolta
Tags: andrew wells, AndrewWells, extortion case, ExtortionCase, john travolta, JohnTravolta, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, tarino lightbourne, TarinoLightbourne
Posted Sep 21st 2009 1:41PM by TMZ Staff
Three men and six women decide if John Travolta was the victim of attempted extortion in the death of his son Jett.
A jury is now in place in the case against paramedic Tarino Lightbourne and former senator Pleasant Bridgewater. Prosecutors say the defendants threatened to go public with a document that protected emergency responders from liability. Ironically, the document was irrelevant in Jett's death and it's baffling why the pair allegedly would think Travolta would pay $25 million to keep it under wraps.
Travolta will testify -- probably either tomorrow or Wednesday. We're told John's testimony will focus on his interaction with Lightbourne as they tried to save Jett and on his reaction to the alleged extortion demands.
Lightbourne and Bridgewater have both pleaded "100% not guilty" -- legal trivia: OJ Simpson pleaded "absolutely 100% not guilty" in his murder trial.
Filed under: John Travolta
Tags: extortion, jett travolta, JettTravolta, John Travolta, JohnTravolta, pleasant bridgewater, PleasantBridgewater, tarino lightbourne, TarinoLightbourne
