HOLLYWOOD EXEC SUES EMMYS OVER RED CARPET FALL

Nancy Lesser, executive vice president of media and talent at HBO, has taken legal action against the businesses behind the Emmy Awards for negligence in preparing and maintaining the famed red carpet upon which nominees, winners and guests walk during the awards show. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Lesser alleges she experienced a terrible fall last year when exiting the Microsoft Theater. Her injury, she adds, caused her to miss out on HBO's afterparty and take eight months to rehabilitate.

The complaint targets the Television Academy, Anshutz Entertainment and the City of Los Angeles. Each of the defendants, alleges Lesser, laid out, positioned and erected the red carpet that provided a straight line to and from the theater.

Lesser's suit alleges those responsible for the red carpet knew based on past and present experience with awards shows that "even celebrity attendees to the Emmy Awards could be expected to exit in a throng-like manner, which would create extreme congestion and severely diminish any forward visibility and certainly diminish and preclude visibility of conditions that may exist on the walkway itself."  more

JPMorgan sued over $3.6 billion in mortgage securities

The National Credit Union Administration sued JPMorgan Securities and Bear Stearns & Co on Monday over alleged misconduct in the sale of $3.6 billion in mortgage securities to credit unions that collapsed on losses from the securities. Bear Stearns made misrepresentations in connection with the underwriting and subsequent sale of mortgage-backed securities to U.S. Central, Western Corporate, Southwest Corporate and Members United Corporate federal credit unions, the lawsuit alleged.

New Home Sales hit 2-year High

NEW YORK  -- In another sign of a housing market recovery, new-home sales rose in September to the highest level in more than two years, according to a government report released Wednesday.

Sales sold at an annual rate of 389,000 homes in the month, according to the Census Bureau report, up 5.7% from the 368,000 sales pace in August. The last time sales were at this pace, in April 2010, they were being helped by a short-term home buyer's tax credit.

This time, the new home market has been showing steady signs of improvement. The pace of home building hit a four-year high in September, according to a separate government report. The year-over-year sales improvement in September reached 27.1%.

The improvement in the market is part of a broader recovery in real estate, helped by a number of factors all coming together.

Mortgage rates are near record lows, pushed down by the Federal Reserve's decision to buy $40 billion in mortgages to spur greater economic growth. The low rates, coupled with years of weak home sales, have resulted in affordable housing prices. Recently, home prices have started to rise, which is attracting buyers who were waiting for prices to bottom out.

There has also been a drop in unemployment, a positive development for people looking for mortgage loans.

Foreclosures have fallen to a five-year low, reducing the supply of distressed homes available on the market.

NY Man Faces Charges in Facebook Scam

Paul Ceglia, a wood-pellet salesman from Wellsville, New York, was charged with mail fraud and wire fraud over what the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan said was fabricated evidence to support his claim of a large ownership stake in Facebook. His lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

The businessman sued Facebook and its CEO in 2010 claiming a 2003 contract he signed with Mark Zuckerberg, then a Harvard University student, entitled him to a stake in the social media company. This past March, as part of that case, Facebook released emails sent by Mark  Zuckerberg around the time of the contract to show Paul Ceglia's claims were false.

"Ceglia used the federal court system to perpetuate his fraud and will now be held accountable for his criminal scheme," Orin Snyder, a partner at law firm Gibson Dunn representing Facebook and Mark  Zuckerberg in the civil case, said in a statement.

Paul Ceglia, 39, was arrested at his home Friday morning and was to appear in federal court in Buffalo later in the day, authorities said.

Investigators for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which is conducting the probe, made the arrest following Paul Ceglia's return this week after spending time out of the country, according to a source familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly on the case.

The case is USA v. Paul Ceglia, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.