Five Idiots Tried To Rip Off A Masterpiece; Held Over For Trial

Well, it had to happen. Five men now face trial and jail time in the extortion plot over the DaVinci masterpiece, Madonna with the Yarnwinder. They are formally charged with conspiracy to extort or attempting to extort money from the late Duke of Buccleuch and his son the current Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry in conjunction with the insurers of the painting.

What does all that mean?

They tried to get money for a masterpiece. Not too bright. The four accused are Robert Graham, 56, John Doyle, 59, Calum Jones, 43 and David Boyce, 61, and Marshall Ronald, 52, who has made no plea as of this date. There will be a further preliminary hearing held next month for alleged crimes to extort money between July 18th and October 4th of 2007.

As part of an undercover sting by police officers at Glasgow, the painting was retrieved and these nitwits were charged. Lord Brailsford is judge and has set a trial date for March 30, 2009.

Mamma.com Problems, Insider Trading, Jail?

According to Business Technology, it has to do with insider trading, you know, that thing that sent Martha Steart to jail a while back. Well, it appears that Mark Cuban has similar problems, so Mamma.com may become a great weight around his neck. Here's what Biz Tech had to say about it.

That’s one of the first questions coming up in today’s news, reported by the WSJ’s Kara Scannell, that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban faces insider-trading charges related to the site.

Mamma.com is a Canadian search engine that merged with Copernic Technologies, which also offers search software and online advertising services, in December 2005. It now trades under Copernic’s ticker, CNIC.

Marketed as a “metasearch” engine, Mamma displays results from other sites like Ask and About.com, which it says provides more comprehensive search results. It also sells paid-search listings, which appear above the standard results.

Read more about it here.