3 men were being charged Tuesday in an alleged conspiracy to market stolen manuscripts from the Eagles, which included 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 sell extra than 100 web pages of handwritten notes — valued at above $1 million — despite recognizing founding Eagles member Don Henley was trying recuperate 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 assertion Tuesday. Azoff stated the indictment “exposes the fact about songs memorabilia revenue.”
“No a person has the right to provide illegally attained home or profit from the outright theft of irreplaceable parts of musical history,” Azoff reported. “These handwritten lyrics are an integral component of the legacy Don Henley has established above the training course of his 50-furthermore-calendar year career.”
Horowitz, a rare guide dealer, is alleged to have purchased the pages from an unknown man or woman in 2005 and to have afterwards bought the webpages to Inciardi and Kosinski, the prosecutor’s business office mentioned.
Prosecutors say the individual who marketed the documents to Horowitz was an author who experienced been hired to publish a biography about the Eagles and stole the files. The writer told Horowitz about having been provided the internet pages but did not bear in mind who presented them, prosecutors stated.
The a few suspects tried out to provide the handwritten notes and lyrics from 2012 to 2017, even although they understood Henley was hoping to regain possession of the stolen house, the district attorney’s business office said. The adult males went so considerably as to lie and falsify info to financial gain on the sale, prosecutors allege.
When Henley discovered out about the attempted sale, he submitted police reviews and alerted the suspects that the files ended up, in truth, stolen, the district attorney’s office environment mentioned.
Prosecutors allege that e-mails provided in the indictment Tuesday display the gentlemen tried using to promote Henley the manuscripts in pieces. An electronic mail from Horowitz to the creator dated 2012 stated Henley can’t “demonstrate a single detail” in reaction to the theft allegations.
“Henley’s law firm at first appreciated the concept of Henley purchasing these pages back again,” the electronic mail reported. “Henley decided to be a bully and that is all that’s taking place.”
The indictment also features e-mail alleged to have been exchanged with staff who expressed concern at Sotheby’s auction dwelling above Henley’s objections to the sale and questioned the documents origins.
New York authorities retrieved the documents from Sotheby’s through a search warrant in December 2016. An email from Horowitz to the particular person alleged to have bought him the documents in February 2017 indicated that Horowitz had been speaking to prosecutors and questioned the writer to title who gave him the paperwork.
The trade discovered that Horowitz experimented with to exploit the latest death of founding Eagles member Glenn Frey to reduce prison prosecution, prosecutors say.
“Back in 2012 you mentioned you weren’t even sure the human being was even now alive,” the email in the indictment go through. In an “before interaction you at the time advised Frey was the human being from whom you bought the doc.”
“If Frey, he, alas, is lifeless and determining him as the the supply would make this go away the moment and for all.”
In March 2017, Horowitz advised associates of the district attorney’s business office that the creator accused of thieving the files bought them from Frey, whom he was seeking to safeguard, according to the indictment.
Lawyers for Horowitz, Inciardi and Kosinski reported in a joint assertion after the men’s arraignment Tuesday: “The DA’s office environment alleges criminality the place none exists and unfairly tarnishes the reputations of nicely-respected specialists. We will battle these unjustified charges vigorously. These adult males are harmless.”
Each of the three gentlemen is charged with a depend of fourth-diploma conspiracy. Inciardi and Kosinski are also charged with first-diploma felony possession of stolen house.
Horowitz was also billed with first-diploma tried criminal possession of stolen house and two counts of next-diploma hindering prosecution.
Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg explained in a news launch that people today working in “cultural artifacts must scrupulously observe the law.”
“These defendants tried to maintain and sell these distinctive and beneficial manuscripts, irrespective of understanding they had no suitable to do so,” Bragg reported. “They made up tales about the origin of the files and their proper to possess them so they could flip a income.”
Diana Dasrath contributed.