3 men charged in scheme to sell stolen Eagles manuscripts, including handwritten ‘Hotel California’ lyrics
A few guys were billed Tuesday in an alleged conspiracy to offer stolen manuscripts from the Eagles, which involved handwritten lyrics from the band’s iconic “Hotel California” album.
Glenn Horowitz, 66, Craig Inciardi, 58, and Edward Kosinski, 59, have been indicted in a scheme to promote much more than 100 internet pages of handwritten notes — valued at about $1 million — despite figuring out founding Eagles member Don Henley was hoping recover them, in accordance to the district attorney’s workplace in Manhattan, New York.
Henley’s manager, Irving Azoff, thanked the prosecutor’s office environment in a statement Tuesday. Azoff said the indictment “exposes the truth of the matter about tunes memorabilia profits.”
“No just one has the suitable to provide illegally attained assets or profit from the outright theft of irreplaceable pieces of musical record,” Azoff stated. “These handwritten lyrics are an integral aspect of the legacy Don Henley has produced over the class of his 50-moreover-yr career.”
Horowitz, a uncommon e-book vendor, is alleged to have bought the internet pages from an unidentified man or woman in 2005 and to have afterwards sold the pages to Inciardi and Kosinski, the prosecutor’s business claimed.
Prosecutors say the person who marketed the documents to Horowitz was an author who experienced been employed to produce a biography about the Eagles and stole the files. The author informed Horowitz about possessing been specified the pages but did not bear in mind who delivered them, prosecutors mentioned.
The 3 suspects attempted to promote the handwritten notes and lyrics from 2012 to 2017, even nevertheless they knew Henley was seeking to get back possession of the stolen home, the district attorney’s business office said. The gentlemen went so considerably as to lie and falsify info to income on the sale, prosecutors allege.
When Henley discovered out about the tried sale, he submitted law enforcement stories and alerted the suspects that the files were being, in simple fact, stolen, the district attorney’s business said.
Prosecutors allege that emails bundled in the indictment Tuesday exhibit the adult males tried out to sell Henley the manuscripts in pieces. An electronic mail from Horowitz to the creator dated 2012 reported Henley are not able to “show a one point” in response to the theft allegations.
“Henley’s attorney initially liked the notion of Henley shopping for these webpages back,” the electronic mail stated. “Henley made the decision to be a bully and which is all which is taking place.”
The indictment also involves e-mail alleged to have been exchanged with workforce who expressed worry at Sotheby’s auction household above Henley’s objections to the sale and questioned the files origins.
New York authorities retrieved the paperwork from Sotheby’s by means of a search warrant in December 2016. An electronic mail from Horowitz to the person alleged to have offered him the documents in February 2017 indicated that Horowitz experienced been talking to prosecutors and asked the writer to name who gave him the documents.
The trade disclosed that Horowitz tried to exploit the current loss of life of founding Eagles member Glenn Frey to avert legal prosecution, prosecutors say.
“Again in 2012 you mentioned you weren’t even confident the individual was continue to alive,” the e mail in the indictment examine. In an “before interaction you once instructed Frey was the individual from whom you got the document.”
“If Frey, he, alas, is lifeless and pinpointing him as the the resource would make this go absent the moment and for all.”
In March 2017, Horowitz explained to customers of the district attorney’s business that the writer accused of stealing the files got them from Frey, whom he was attempting to secure, according to the indictment.
Attorneys for Horowitz, Inciardi and Kosinski claimed in a joint assertion following the men’s arraignment Tuesday: “The DA’s business office alleges criminality the place none exists and unfairly tarnishes the reputations of perfectly-highly regarded gurus. We will struggle these unjustified fees vigorously. These adult males are harmless.”
Every of the a few males is billed with a depend of fourth-degree conspiracy. Inciardi and Kosinski are also billed with initially-diploma criminal possession of stolen house.
Horowitz was also charged with to start with-diploma attempted legal possession of stolen property and two counts of next-degree hindering prosecution.
Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg reported in a information launch that men and women working in “cultural artifacts must scrupulously observe the legislation.”
“These defendants tried to keep and offer these exceptional and precious manuscripts, in spite of understanding they experienced no correct to do so,” Bragg said. “They created up tales about the origin of the paperwork and their right to have them so they could switch a revenue.”
Diana Dasrath contributed.