• William Ginsburg, who represented Monica Lewinsky, dead at 70

    Tim Sloan / AFP-Getty Images File

    William Ginsburg, who represented Monica Lewisnky for six months during the Clinton sex scandal, has died.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    William Ginsburg, who rocketed to fame as Monica Lewisnky's attorney during the Bill Clinton sex scandal, has died at his Los Angeles home after a battle with cancer. He was 70.

    The obituary notice in the Los Angeles Daily News didn't even mention the six-month gig that made him a household name, focusing instead on the meat of his practice: swimming pool injury lawsuits, a dispute over Liberace's remains and right-to-die cases.

    It was through Ginsburg's medical malpractice work that he met Lewinsky's radiologist father, who tapped him to represent the White House intern in 1998 after her affair with the president became public.


    He brought a fatherly air to the case as he locked horns with special prosecutor Kenneth Starr. He didn't shy from the limelight, once appearing on all five Sunday morning news shows -- a feat that is still known as "the full Ginsburg."

    His handling of the case drew mixed reviews. When he was replaced, he wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post in which he noted he had kept Lewinsky out of the grand jury and away from indictment for six months and insisted the parting was amiable and mutual.

    "A person apparently needs a passport to get into Washington, and that the city is one where even the natives eat their young," he wrote.

    "It is a disgrace that our governmental city is so insular and out of touch with the people of the country they govern. I am not a Washington insider but a hell of a trial lawyer, with an innate sense of right and wrong and up for any fight, even with an anti-constitutional monster."

    Ginsburg's obituary said that in 45 years of work he tried more than 300 cases in 21 states. He is survived by his wife, three children, two grandchildren, his mother and a brother.

     

     

  • Zumba prostitution case heads to trial after plea deal fails

    Rich Beauchesne / Reuters file

    Alexis Wright 29, of Wells, Maine, is accused of running a prostitution business in Kennebunk.

    By Vignesh Ramachandran, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A closed-door plea deal failed Friday for a Maine man accused of working alongside a dance teacher in running a prostitution business from a Zumba studio.


    A judge ruled Friday that Mark Strong Sr., 57, will face trial on Tuesday on charges related to the prostitution operation he is accused of running with dance teacher Alexis Wright in her Kennebunk, Maine, Zumba studio, Seacoastonline.com reported.

    Strong faces 59 counts of promotion of prostitution and invasion of privacy, while Wright faces 106 counts that also include tax-related charges, according to Seacoastonline.com. The two have pleaded not guilty.

    Earlier Friday, Strong's lawyers had met with prosecutors and a judge about a possible plea deal. Now that the deal failed, jury selection for the trial begins Tuesday in York County Superior Court in Alfred, Maine.

    The judge also ordered Strong's lawyer, Daniel Lilley, to stay on the case. Lilley asked to withdraw based on claims that his client can't afford to pay for a legal defense or to hire expert witnesses, The Associated Press reported.

    At least a third of the 200 people that authorities say paid to have sex with Wright have been identified publicly. The release of the names caused an uproar in and around Kennebunk, a city of 10,000 about 85 miles north of Boston.

    Wright is accused of using cameras, laptops and external hard drives to secretly record the encounters. A lawyer for Wright and a lawyer for Strong separately told NBC News earlier this month that there is no evidence to support claims of extortion.

    An official told Seacoastonline.com last month that Wright's case was on a trial list for May.

    NBC News correspondent Katy Tur contributed to this report.

    From the archives, October 2012:

  • Secret Service puts limits on alcohol, hotel guests for trips abroad

    NBC's Mike Viqueira reports.

    By Reuters

    Heavy drinking and bringing foreign nationals back to hotel rooms on trips abroad is now banned by the U.S. Secret Service in the wake of a growing scandal over allegations that agents consorted with prostitutes in Colombia this month.

    The new rules of conduct issued on Friday also ban visits to "non-reputable establishments," presumably including strip clubs, and say staff must obey U.S. laws even while abroad. A copy was provided to Reuters by the Secret Service, and a spokesman said they were effective immediately.

    The new rules were issued two weeks after the scandal erupted over allegations that Secret Service agents and military personnel brought prostitutes to their hotels during a night of drinking and carousing in the Colombian city of Cartagena, just before President Barack Obama arrived for a summit.

    The Secret Service this week began looking into allegations of similar misbehavior before a 2011 presidential trip to El Salvador, a report that would appear to contradict official government arguments that the Colombian episode must have been an aberration.

    The rules were issued as the agency sought to close a chapter in its worst case of alleged misconduct in decades, which embarrassed the United States and overshadowed Obama's participation in the Summit of the Americas.

    The new rules issued on Friday say that "foreign nationals, excluding hotel staff and official counterparts, are prohibited in your hotel room."

    Alcohol limits
    "Alcohol may only be consumed in moderate amounts while off-duty on a TDY (temporary duty) assignment, and alcohol use is prohibited within 10 hours of reporting or duty," the rules say.

    Furthermore, alcohol may not be consumed at all at the hotel where the person being protected by the Secret Service is staying once that person has arrived.

    From now on, a member of the agency's professional responsibility section will accompany staff who travel on "car planes," and give staff ethics briefings before they leave, the rules say. The employees in Cartagena were support personnel who came over on the plane to Colombia that brought the president's armored vehicles. 

    Secret Service investigates new report of debauchery

    Twelve Secret Service employees were implicated in the Colombia matter. Eight have left the agency, three were cleared of serious misconduct and one is being stripped of his security clearance. Twelve members of the military were also implicated and that investigation is ongoing.

    House may send investigators to Colombia
    Earlier, a senior lawmaker said his committee is considering sending investigators to Colombia in the coming weeks to gather information in an expanded probe of the misconduct.

    Representative Peter King, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said his staff will move to a "full-scale" investigation after it receives answers to 50 questions the panel posed to Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan about this month's incident.

    Neither King nor another senior House lawmaker, Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, said they saw a weakening of support for Sullivan in Congress despite reports of other Secret Service misbehavior.

    "In my estimation, he is doing all he can do. ... Rumors are coming in and he's following each one of them. He's looking into every single rumor that comes in," Cummings told Reuters.

    Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which also is looking into the matter, said Sullivan plans to have 100 top Secret Service employees participate in a "very intense" ethics course next week.

    'Morality cop'
    "I'm not into being a morality cop, but what happened in Colombia was clearly wrong because it put security at risk," King said outside the House chamber, adding that his committee "probably in the next few weeks" would send investigators to Colombia as part of the probe.

    The Secret Service so far has not been able to validate the allegations about El Salvador made in a report Thursday by KIRO-TV news in Seattle, King said. The station is part of the CBS-Cox media group.

    "They have gone through the trip file, and spoke with some of the people who were on the trip, the supervisors, and so far it's nothing," King said. "And they are talking to the reporter and trying to find out who his sources are."

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  • Sandusky's wife: 'I continue to believe in Jerry's innocence'

    Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky left jail Thursday after posting a $250,000 bail. His wife came to his defense, saying no child was forced to stay in the basement of the Sandusky residence. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

     

    By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news service reports

    The wife of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky says she's "shocked and dismayed" by the child molestation charges against her husband but continues to believe he is innocent, NBC Philadelphia reported.

    Dorothy "Dottie" Sandusky broke her silence on Thursday, issuing a statement on the same day her husband was released on bail and placed under house arrest.

    After spending the evening in jail, Sandusky posted bail using $200,000 in real estate holdings and a $50,000 certified check provided by his wife, according to online court documents.

    Read NBC Philadelphia's complete coverage

    Sandusky was arrested Wednesday and charged with 12 new sex abuse counts involving two new alleged victims. He has maintained his innocence. In all, he faces more than 50 charges.  

    The latest accusers are the ninth and 10th alleged victims who in grand jury reports that claim Sandusky befriended and then molested boys he met through his Second Mile charity for troubled youth. A grand jury document released Wednesday echoed an earlier report, saying Sandusky gave the boys gifts while also making sexual advances toward them.

    One of the new accusers said Sandusky kept him in a basement bedroom during overnight visits to Sandusky's home, forced him to perform sex acts and assaulted him.

    According to the grand jury report, "the victim testified that on at least one occasion he screamed for help, knowing that Sandusky's wife was upstairs, but no one ever came to help him."

    Dorothy Sandusky vehemently denied that allegation.

    "No child who ever visited our home was ever forced to stay in our basement and fed there. All the kids who visited us ate with us and our kids and other guests when they were at our home," she said in her statement.

    NBC Philadelphia provided Dorothy Sandusky's full statement:

    I want to thank our children, our family, our extended family of former Second Mile participants, and all our friends for standing by us through these difficult times. Jerry and I want to express our sorrow for all the hurt that has come to those who have supported us and our beloved Penn State and State College Communities.

    I have been shocked and dismayed by the allegations made against Jerry, particularly the most recent one that a now young man has said he was kept in our basement during visits and screamed for help as Jerry assaulted him while I was in our home and didn’t respond to his cries for help.

    As the mother of six children, I have been devastated by these accusations. I am also angry about these false accusations that such a terrible incident ever occurred in my home. No child who ever visited our home was ever forced to stay in our basement and fed there. All the kids who visited us ate with us and our kids and other guests when they were at our home. Our children, our extended family and friends know how much Jerry and I love kids and have always tried to help and care for them. We would never do anything to hurt them. I am so sad anyone would make such a terrible accusation which is absolutely untrue. We don’t know why these young men have made these false accusations, but we want everyone to know they are untrue. 

    I continue to believe in Jerry’s innocence and all the good things he has done. Jerry’s many success stories with his Second Mile kids and positive memories of those kids keep me going. I am asking everyone to please be reasonable and open-minded until both sides of this case are heard, and Jerry has the opportunity to prove his innocence.

    I would like to thank all those individuals who continue to support Jerry and hope they will continue to support us through the conclusion of this very sad time in our lives.

                                                                                                                          Dottie Sandusky

    Sandusky was charged last month with abusing eight boys, some on campus, over 15 years. The allegations that were not immediately brought to the attention of authorities even though high-level people at Penn State apparently knew about them.

    The scandal resulting from Sandusky's arrest led to the ouster of school President Graham Spanier and longtime head football coach Joe Paterno.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Earlier: Sandusky freed on bail after night in jail

    Read more content from msnbc.com and NBC News: 

  • Judge delays hearing in Sandusky sex abuse case

    By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

    BELLEFONTE, Pa. – A preliminary hearing for former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, accused of sexually abusing eight boys, has been delayed.

    The hearing, set  for Tuesday, was resceduled for Dec. 13 in the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa., according to court records. The change was made “to accommodate the logistical needs involved in the hearing,” a posting on the courthouse website read.

    Messages seeking comment from Sandusky’s attorney Joe Amendola and the state attorney general's office weren't immediately returned to msnbc.com or NBC News.

    Sandusky is accused of molesting eight boys beginning in the mid-1990s. Authorities say some assaults happened on Penn State's campus and were reported to administrators but not to police agencies.

    Hearings for Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, the two former Penn State administrators accused of failing to properly report suspected abuse and of perjury before a grand jury, was set for Dec. 6 in the Dauphin County Courthouse in Harrisburg. Both maintain their innocence.

    The sex-abuse allegations have stunned Penn State and altered the image of its legendary college football coach, Joe Paterno, who was ousted amid the scandal.

    Here are other developments in the case:

    Frankie Probst, 24, described being friended, mentored and coached by Jerry Sandusky as a child. Between the ages of 10 and 16, Probst frequently spent the weekend with Sandusky, but says that Sandusky never abused him. Natalie Morales reports.