***taken from lukeisback.com***



She was arrested in Palm Beach County, FL, for cocaine and paraphenalia possession.

She’s made the $3,000 bail.

She’s been the subject of a federal investigation.

Michelle’s been the bigggest procurer of porn girls in the prostitution industry for more than a decade.

I guess much of her business will now go to her competitor Nicole at TheGirlOfYourDreams.com.


-- Modified on 10/17/2007 10:28:09 PM

If she gets prosecuted for tax evasion, everything will be ok for anyone who has used her.

However a recent federal law makes it an offence to withold an encryption key when required by the feds. This means everyone in their database could be called upon, not a good sign.

But I'd expect it'll go down the E2K route and she'll just get tax evasion and close up shop.

Was she actually "the" owner of Bellamodels? or was it someone else? Because I heard that it was the latter.

Well, having used them a bunch in the past, I'm sorry to see this happen.  Sandy used to the be bomb.  She'd pretty much tell you who was worth seeing and who wasn't, and any specifics you wanted to know.  I can't find anyone else like that, so it was always worth the cost.

...a spin off of Nici's Girls which she did own but she only worked with us as a consultant for the time that it took to transition the models and clients. That position has now expired. Besides that this bust was for a "usable" amount of cocaine and marijuana (a la Lindsay Lohan) which is a personal matter and had nothing to do with business? If you have any questions please email us. We do know many of you still contact Nici directly (and since she can obviously book many of the same girls this may be where the confusion lies) but if you want to contact Bella Models please do so at (888) 299-7681.

-- Modified on 10/17/2007 4:52:18 PM

She is absolutely the owner!  You can go to alexa.com and find that both bella models and nici's girls are both registered to the same owner and are hosted on the same server. (Katz Global Media)The usuable amount was obtained by local Boca Raton authorities while they were assisting FBI agents in the execution of a FEDERAL search warrant of Michelle Braun's home. Her husband Farrell Kellener was also arrested and charged. Anyone interested in confirming that this warrant was served and executed should contact the Los Angeles FBI filed office and ask for the media department. They cannot disclose the details of the warrant because they are sealed.

-- Modified on 10/17/2007 8:29:18 PM

As far as I know the constitutionality of this law has yet to be tested. This has been a subject of  an extensive and ongoing discussions by civil libertarian groups and there are a number of legal authorities that believe such laws are not constitutional. There are also a number of groups who would fund the appeal process as far as necessary. IMHO its doubtful that either side would pick this as a test case.

 That said - The state's need to force someone to provide a key presupposes that the key didn't turn up in the search of the premises or the system itself and that it wasn't compromised by surveillance prior to the arrest.

Not a lawyer so this opinion is worth what you paid for it. If there has been a recent court decision on this issue I'd appreciate the pointer.
-J

I'm unsure if it's been tested in the US, in the EU it's been used succesffully in 3 trials.

I also doubt this will be a test case, but I wouldn't be surprised if the key is stored on one of the computers.

I doubt it matters either way, they're not going to prosecute anyone other than her. Perhaps maybe a few witnesses but I'd expect them to be providers.

From what I hear the case is going to be based solely on tax evasion.

If you guys have any specifics on this law or any articles, can you please post them?

If you are talking about an encryption key an individual holds, I don't see how that is any different from a bank account number or other password. LE can already petition courts for warrants to obtain this data from computer systems owned by the defendant. If you mean encryption tools that a third party service provider providers - like an ISP - likewise the ISP can be served a warrant and forced to decrypt information (assuming it can do it) and provide it to LE.

I'm guessing that this issue focuses on the 5th Amendment's prohibition against self-incrimination - that an argument can be made that a person producing an encryption key is eseentially the same as a court-compelled admission. Is this what the issue was about?

She is a very nasty bit of work.
Her claim to fame was to hack into competitors computers and steal their client list and then to blackmail them into using her service.
She has now learnt a very valuable lesson in life - which is - don't fuck with people!!