newsmakers

newsmakers

Jewish ‘counterfeiters’ portraits donated

NEW YORK

A collection of rarely seen portraits of Jewish prisoners forced to work for the Nazis in a money-forging scheme fictionalized in the Oscar-winning film “The Counterfeiters” is being donated to Israel’s Holocaust museum.

Heirs of the artist who created the 43 portraits formally handed over the works to Yad Vashem at a ceremony Thursday in New York City.

The portraits are by Felix Cytrin, a Jewish engraver forced by the Nazis to help produce fake British pounds in a plot to destroy England’s economy.

The portraits were created while Cytrin was imprisoned at a German concentration camp. They have been in his family’s hands for decades.

Prosecutors worried about Jackson leaks

LOS ANGELES

Los Angeles prosecutors want to delay disclosure of coroner and fire department records on Michael Jackson’s death to parties in a civil suit to prevent media leaks before the trial of his doctor.

The request came in a brief filed Wednesday in a suit by Lloyd’s of London insurance company, which is challenging a claim for $17.5 million by concert promoter AEG Live.

The company, which insured Jackson for his ill-fated “This Is It” concert, says it wasn’t told he was taking drugs before his 2009 death.

Prosecutors say release of records including autopsy photos of Jackson would impact the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. They say leaks of the materials to media would contaminate prospective jurors with exposure to potentially inadmissible evidence.

Murray’s trial starts Sept. 8.

Vindicator wire services