NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Matt Damon, wife to renew their vows in St. Lucia

SOURFRIERE, St. Lucia

A former top government official in St. Lucia says actor Matt Damon and his wife, Luciana Barroso, are renewing their wedding vows of eight years with a lavish party on the eastern Caribbean island.

The party will take place at the Sugar Beach resort with an invitation list including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Ben Affleck.

A former Cabinet minister and current CEO of a private company that oversees economic development in Soufriere says the party will help boost the island’s weak economy.

Walter Francois of Soufriere Regional Development Foundation said Saturday, however, that people including fishermen and others not allowed near the hotel’s beach for security reasons should be reimbursed.

Convicted NY designer: ‘Truth will surface’

NEW YORK

Fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander has been portrayed as a predator in coast-to-coast cases accusing him of raping aspiring models he lured to his apartment with the promise of fame.

But Alexander sees himself as a skilled designer featured on “America’s Next Top Model” who once worked with the likes of Paris Hilton. A practitioner of yoga. An admitted philanderer. But not a criminal.

The 38-year-old said from his New York jail cell that he believes new evidence will help overturn his conviction on charges he sexually assaulted women and his sentence of 59 years to life.

Alexander was on the brink of fame and fortune, living a fast life of women, celebrities and travel, until allegations surfaced in 2007 that he was preying on wannabe models, some as young as 14, by offering them a window into the industry.

Alexander was convicted in Los Angeles 2008 on more than a dozen counts, including rape and committing a lewd act on a child.

He also is awaiting charges in Dallas and Houston.

Meanwhile, his attorney is working on filing the paperwork with a California judge they hope will overturn his conviction.

His company is on hold. Alexander waits. “The truth tends to surface,” he said.

Associated Press