York Post

SEC accuses Hoffenberg of fraudSteven Hoffenberg, the would-be New York Post buyer and self-proclaimed champion of "ordinary citizens," was accused yesterday by the Securities and Exchange Commission of cheating widows, retirees and thousands of other investors out of scores of millions of dollars over nearly four years.The SEC said that Mr. Hoffenberg took in more than $215 million by selling notes after he fraudulently inflated the income and net worth of his Towers Financial Corp., the debt-collection business that he once said he would use to buy the struggling newspaper.

Recently I called a local radio talk show, not to blast President Barack Obama or ridicule Mitt Romney but to chide the conservative host and his conservative guest for their tiresome narrative about liberal bias in the "mainstream media.'" They directed me to unspecified recent studies by the Pew Research Center, a widely respected non-partisan social science and polling group that they said supported their perception of liberal media bias. The most recent Pew study does suggest that, by a large margin, the public perceives that there is bias in the media.

So now Stacy Keibler and George Clooney aren't just dating -- they're collaborating. According to the New York Post, the couple stars together in a little film to promote Clooney's Casamigos brand of tequila. Their buddies Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber are also in it. The promo is only about a minute long and isn't exactly sporting a name that will roll off Oscar's lips. It's "It Could Happen, Please Drink Responsibly," the Post says. Apparently it was filmed at one of Clooney's houses and -- gasp -- involves a story line where the stars hop into one another's beds.

The price tag for being host of the Olympics just got heavier for the New York group trying to win the U.S. bid for 2012. The New York Post reported that it obtained financial documents placing the potential facilities cost at $6.5 billion, far exceeding the $2.4 billion initially cited by NYC 2012. Less than three weeks remain until the U.S. Olympic Committee selects San Francisco or New York as its candidate city for the 2012 race. New York's construction costs almost lost the city a spot among the two finalists in August when the U.S. bid city list was trimmed from five.

Admirers of Yankees most eligible bachelor Derek Jeter could be cheering a World Series victory in November -- then mourning his marriage a few days later. The New York Post reports Sunday that the star shortstop and girlfriend Minka Kelly will be married Nov. 5 on Long Island. Acting on a tip, a reporter posing as a bride-to-be spotted an entry reading "JETER wedding" on the calendar for the Oheka Castle in Huntington, N.Y. Sales manager Rick Bellando insisted that a celebrity wouldn't be listed under his real name when the reporter pointed it out. The Oheka Castle is the second-largest private residence in the United States and recently hosted the wedding of one of the Jonas Brothers.

The baseball world believes the Orioles will be better in their first full season under manager Buck Showalter. One baseball scribe, Mike Puma of The New York Post , thinks the Orioles are improved enough to make the playoffs, and he even he has them advancing all the way to the American League Championship Series. In The N.Y. Post's 2011 baseball staff predictions , the Mets beat writer prognosticated that the Orioles will take the American League wild card, pick up a series win the Divisional Series and lose to the Red Sox, his World Series champions, in the ALCS.

It's end of a golden era, ladies and gentlemen. Attempt to contain your grief over this news. Baltimore's own Olympic legend, Michael Phelps, has parted ways with longtime girlfriend Nicole Johnson, the New York Post reports . Phelps and Johnson, a former Miss California, had dated off an on over a span of several years. Johnson had gone with Phelps to July's FINA world championships in Shanghai, according to the Post. Phelps didn't make the same kind of waves (terrible pun intended)

We have gotten used to Gov. Martin O'Malley's fondness for cable talk shows and the national media. But New York tabloids? Spotted! Our governor splashed across the pages of New York Post's Page Six, seen dining at the swank Upper East Side eatery Casa Lever with Baltimore bred actor Josh Charles and Brian Ellner, who led the New York push for same-sex marriage. But our sources say there were two others at the table. Longtime O'Malley fundraiser Colleen Martin-Lauer was there, we hear.

"Only in America: The Life and Crimes of Don King," by Jack Newfield. New York: William Morrow. 342 pages. $23 With his trademark electric hair and irresistible celebrity, the world has dismissed Don King as little more than a bright, self-promoting eccentric who dresses garishly, misquotes Shakespeare and jokes about his past as a one-time Cleveland bagman and convict.Now, thanks to four years of tenacious research and a masterful job of storytelling by Jack Newfield, a longtime boxing fan and New York Post politics columnist, we get to see another side of this remarkably resilient rascal, who has virtually dominated boxing for two decades.

The Lakers' Kobe Bryant suffered a broken finger on his shooting hand in Friday's win over the Timberwolves. He wore a splint on his index finger in the second half of the Lakers' 11th straight victory. He hurt himself reaching for a pass late in the first quarter, and he played through it briefly before leaving in the second quarter to get X-rays. It's not his first avulsion fracture, in which a small piece of bone tears away near a ligament or tendon. Bryant started as the Lakers, an NBA-best 18-3 after playing 17 of their first 21 games at home, began a five-game trip Saturday in Utah.