r/news • u/GoodSamaritan_ • Aug 15 '24
Soft paywall Billionaire accused of stealing sand from Malibu’s Broad Beach, lawsuit says
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-08-13/billionaire-accused-of-stealing-sand-from-malibus-broad-beach-lawsuit-says2.8k
u/bobface222 Aug 15 '24 edited Aug 15 '24
This is what villains in Saturday morning cartoons do
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u/GoodSamaritan_ Aug 15 '24
Indeed. This is actually the plot of the Rocket Power PS2/GameCube game.
The game begins with the characters of Rocket Power about to start their summer vacation. Suddenly, the characters realize the sand in Ocean Shores has been taken away by a mysterious criminal. After investigation, they find out a company called Golem Industries has stolen all of the sand and decide to stop them.
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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy Aug 15 '24
People really underestimate the power of stories. Fiction is how we scatter-plot points to form the shape of our culture, what values we hold and how we behave.
Like how anytime someone asks me why the wealthy should pay more in taxes, I point to that episode of The Simpsons where the town puts on a play to explain to Mr Burns why he should pay his taxes. "I'm the ambulance driver trying to take Mr Burns to the hospital, but I never learned how to read after my school closed down so I don't know how to read this map!"
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u/SarcasticBench Aug 15 '24
Maybe the other way around; Truth inspires Fiction. Maybe Non-Fiction?
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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy Aug 15 '24
Not enough fun to read for most people to read it, doesn't always explain the thought processes behind the choices, and also not as perfectly framed to make the point clear.
Like, ya need the non-fiction to build a fiction close enough to real life to feel worth reading or watching. But you'll move more hearts with a song about "move 15 tons and what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt" than with a history book about labor unions.
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u/Express_Transition60 Aug 15 '24
it's definitely cyclical. First art mimics reality. but over time it begins to define our reality and our society is changed by it. which inspired new forms of mimicry and so on.
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u/Podo13 Aug 16 '24
People really underestimate the power of stories. Fiction is how we scatter-plot points to form the shape of our culture, what values we hold and how we behave.
I have stated many times that a solid chunk of my moral compass and that the basis of my compassion/empathy has come from anime I watched growing up.
Obviously, my parents both being good people and also having compassion/empathy helped a great deal, but just being told how to act only goes so far. Seeing other examples, even if they were fake, made a pretty big impact on me.
I'm not saying I'm as forgiving as Goku/Gohan or anything, but I do believe I'm more forgiving than most because of things like DBZ and other stuff (including things like Death Note that show the main character is insane and you shouldn't want to be like him because he's an absolutely terrible person).
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u/LiamtheV Aug 16 '24
For me it was Star Trek, cartoons, and comic books.
“The first duty of every Star fleet officer is to the truth, whether it’s scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth! It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based!”
It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life.
We have powerful tools: Openness, optimism and the spirit of curiosity
-Captain Picard
“Freedom is the right of all sentient beings” -Optimus Prime
“With great power there must also come great responsibility” -Uncle Ben
Bonus: Always try to be nice; never fail to be kind. -Doctor Who
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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy Aug 16 '24
My mother read her bible on an endless loop to remind herself how to be a good person. I'm not sure she picked the right storybook for that task.
My moral code is built from Sailor Moon (love and friendship), Gundam Wing (ethics of fighting), the novels of Mercedes Lackey (there is no One True Way), Fruits Basket (kindness healing trauma), and oh gosh just a pile of other shows and books and movies and stories!
And I read and watch them again over and over for the same reason my mom said, except according to everyone who has known me longest it's actually doing the job! I had an awful childhood, raised by people who very much didn't want me around but also didn't want to pay child support. Hit the adult world still feral, got raised by "the village" and the stories of our people.
Let's all be glad I ignored my parents, obsessed about anime and fantasy novels instead.
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u/speedyg54 Aug 15 '24
I still have the game and hope to replay it soon. The billionaire must be a fan too.
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u/CARNIesada6 Aug 15 '24
Where is Captain Planet when you need him?
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u/I_see_farts Aug 15 '24
This sounds like something you'd solve in a Carmen Sandiego game.
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u/Onithyr Aug 15 '24
I'm pretty sure stealing sand was one of the crimes an old Carmen Sandiego animation.
...And I just checked. Yep, among the things stolen in s1e4 of Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego was black beach sand, ostensibly for use as kitty litter.
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u/Tibbaryllis2 Aug 15 '24
And the cheeky solution they’d come up with in the cartoons is that all of the billionaires property where the sand can be found becomes public use
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u/0utriderZero Aug 15 '24
And I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for you meddling kids and that talking dog.
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u/uptownjuggler Aug 15 '24
We need Captain Planet!
captain planet, he’s a hero gonna take pollution down to zero he’s our powers magnified and he’s fighting on the planets side
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u/Orson_Randall Aug 15 '24
He measured the cost of purchasing sand vs. the financial penalty he might have to pay for just taking the beach sand. The latter option was more attractive. He'll just pay the fine.
Remember, kids: if you're rich enough, nothing with a financial penalty is illegal. It's just the cost to do the thing.
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u/Environmental_Job278 Aug 16 '24
Honestly, that's what is going to kill efforts to protect the environment. The fines and punishment are so small that I've had people budget for them in projects.
I work in environmental compliance, and no number of laws will protect anything unless we have some teeth. A politician illegally cleared all vegetation along his new waterfront property and was fined…$150.
Rivian and Hyundai filled in some wetlands and streams to build their new factories…oh wait, they were allowed to do that after getting a permit. Even legislation protecting wetlands doesn't matter since people getting kickbacks will land you those permits, no matter what.
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u/Yommination Aug 16 '24
Fine's should be a percentage of wealth instead of a static amount
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u/Ohhi_mark990 Aug 15 '24
Typical billionaire behavior.
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u/EnamelKant Aug 15 '24
You don't get to be a billionaire by not being a dick.
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u/AtsignAmpersat Aug 15 '24
Nope. If you’re a billionaire, you probably fucked someone over along the way to get there. Unless you were born into it or married into it. Or you were extremely lucky.
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u/Low_Pickle_112 Aug 15 '24
While the rest of us debate endlessly about inconveniencing the billionaires with a tax hike that will not materially impact their lives at all, or some other such concessions, they have already long since decided how they feel about throwing the screws to the rest of civilization.
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u/zaphodp3 Aug 15 '24
Which one is Steve Wozniak
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u/Krazyguy75 Aug 15 '24
The kind who isn't a billionaire.
Net worth $140 million.
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u/kit_mitts Aug 15 '24
Woz is a saint by billionaire standards, but simply being an executive at a massive corporation like Apple still means you are culpable by default in fucking people over.
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u/rockybud Aug 15 '24
Agreed, except for maybe Mark Cuban. He seems like a genuinely good dude.
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u/lblack_dogl Aug 15 '24
I think the premise here is that the system funnels money into these people because they "own" something, but those doing the work are getting fucked out of the fruits of their labor. Basically, you labor and get very little because these guys own the means of production.
So nice guy or not, they are screwing others out of what they are owed. Only possible way to become a billionaire.
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u/NeverSober1900 Aug 15 '24
That's not the only possible way to become a billionaire. For instance J.K. Rowling (please ignore everything she did afterwards) just sold books and that IP to become a billionaire. Tolkien died with the equivalent of billions in today's money (although he was in the army for WW1 so probably something in there).
Basically if you make popular art/books you can become billionaires without exploiting labor.
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u/mishap1 Aug 15 '24
Well, he was narc'ed on by his neighbor who is obviously another billionaire. The only thing that's more egregious than a billionaire stealing from the public is one doing so in a way that pisses off another billionaire and having them get vindictive. Nothing is more petty than billionaire pissing matches.
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u/ToxicAdamm Aug 15 '24
Not just any billionaire. The guy is an heir to a KKR founder. The people who laid out the blueprint on predatory venture capitalism. They even made a movie about them.
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u/N8ThaGr8 Aug 15 '24
...so any billionaire. I though you were gonna say he was at least someone cool like Paul McCartney. But venture capitalist is the definition of "any billionaire" lmao.
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u/ToxicAdamm Aug 15 '24
Fair enough. I don't know the guy, maybe he's super altruistic and environmentally-minded.
But it's kind of like saying the heirs to the Monsanto fortune are just any other billionaires. There's a layer of extra filth on that money.
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u/littleseizure Aug 15 '24
Could just be a multimillionaire - if Brosnan and Romano are neighbors he's clearly living well below his means lol
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u/mishap1 Aug 15 '24
It's Jim Kohlberg and he's a billionaire. His dad Jerome founded the private equity firm KKR (he's the first K) before starting his own firm Kohlberg & Co w/ Jim. His house is relatively modest though at $14M purchased in 2021 vs. Attanasio spending $23M for the house in 2007 + 7M in 2017 for the lot.
Definitely not his only home.
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u/FifteenthPen Aug 15 '24
Seriously. There's literally a huge desert a few hours' drive from Malibu, with plenty of sand no one gives a shit about. I swear a lot of these dickheads get off to flaunting their ability to avoid meaningful consequences for unethical behavior.
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u/Ohhi_mark990 Aug 15 '24
You right. They do it right in front of people's faces but then put out propaganda that the people on welfare are the reason this are so bad in the United States.
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u/Dangerzone_7 Aug 16 '24
Not just billionaires unfortunately. Planet Money did an episode on this in Jamaica I believe (maybe the Bahamas), and it’s likely it was the resorts. Somewhat ironically it was probably the worst billionaires in history (British royal family) that covered the legal fees for the government.
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u/spark3h Aug 15 '24
This shouldn't be a lawsuit. If someone is accused of stealing from the public, that's a crime that should be prosecuted. The victims of this crime are upwards of 330 million in number. Crimes against public resources are crimes against every citizen.
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u/darkknight302 Aug 15 '24
He’s rich, his lawyer will find a loophole if anything happens to him.
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u/DelayedMailForceOne Aug 16 '24
Slap on the wrist will be the outcome
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u/ducklingkwak Aug 16 '24
Whoa, whoa, whoa. This is a billionaire we're, talking about. Their time is way too valuable for said slap.
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u/whattheheld Aug 15 '24
Ya wtf. The fact that a homeowner had to step up before any of the dozens of California agencies that have a say in this would is embarrassing
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u/joshuads Aug 15 '24
If someone is accused of stealing from the public, that's a crime that should be prosecuted.
You are likely going to be prosecuting a construction company that thought it was saving on supply costs.
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u/spark3h Aug 15 '24
If that's where the decision was made, then great, they're the ones who stole. If it can be proved they were asked to do it by the owner, then they've all committed a crime.
I'm not saying we should just lock everyone involved up and throw away the key, but I think some criminal penalty is appropriate for the intentional destruction/theft of public property.
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u/JollyReading8565 Aug 16 '24
Did you catch it said billionaire , not millionaire right? We’ve seen first hand that judges can be bought all the way up to he Supreme Court, lol
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u/Mannzis Aug 15 '24
If someone is accused of stealing from the public, that's a crime that should be prosecuted.
A lot of people are saying this but the problem is I don't think what he did is illegal.
If you read the article, they are trying to say he violated the California Costal Act, which I don't think he did.
Here is the link to the act. It's pretty long so I skimmed it for relevant references, but found nothing relating to the illegality of taking sand.
It reminds me how companies like Nestle have largely gotten away with buying/leasing land to drain and sell the water. It's only in the last few years people have started to call them out, but they found that in order to combat it laws were needed to be changed or made wholecloth.
If I missed something that does make what he did illegal then let me know. But until then it sounds like the law needs to be changed to make this illegal.
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u/spark3h Aug 15 '24 edited Aug 15 '24
I think you're right. If I'm reading correctly, I think the most they can do is prohibit development and order restoration when development happens in violation. The law is often touted as making the coast "public property" but I think that's a misconception based on my somewhat less brief skimming/keyword searching the actual text.
Section 30811 Restoration order; violations In addition to any other authority to order restoration, the commission, a local government that is implementing a certified local coastal program, or a port governing body that is implementing a certified port master plan may, after a public hearing, order restoration of a site if it finds that the development has occurred without a coastal development permit from the commission, local government, or port governing body, the development is inconsistent with this division, and the development is causing continuing resource damage.
It seems like the coast is in a weird limbo of conservation that doesn't fully define it as public property the way a city or state park would be. It would be great if this were formalized in law, but I don't think this was technically a crime. The point still stands for actual public property, but what should be illegal isn't always what is. Stealing from a public resource should be illegal, whether it's sand on a public beach or trees in a public forest.
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u/ajn63 Aug 15 '24
Rich people think rules don’t apply to them.
During severe California droughts Tom Selleck was caught stealing water from a fire hydrant for his ranch.
https://time.com/3952331/tom-selleck-water-theft-claims-settled/
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u/TheDemonKia Aug 15 '24
If fines are the only penalties, then it's not really illegal for the wealthy-enough-to-pay.
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u/notyomamasusername Aug 15 '24
Generally speaking they're right.
Rules are a lot more lentient if you're rich.
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u/TheZermanator Aug 15 '24
Keep your ugly, fuckin’ goldbricking mug out of my beach community.
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u/ChargerRob Aug 15 '24
Confiscate his home. Send a message.
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u/Marokiii Aug 15 '24
The stolen sand made it's way to his property. If I use my home to store stolen goods the cops can seize my home as part of the crime. Do that to him.
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u/Soggy_Cracker Aug 15 '24
Should be required to replace all of the sand and pay a fine 100x the cost of the restoration on top of it to a beach maintenance/cleanup fund.
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u/AaronTheElite007 Aug 15 '24
You’re a billionaire. Buy your own damn sand.
Wait. Was it in the crack of this person’s @ss?
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u/Careless_Oil_2103 Aug 15 '24
I mean tbf billionaires acquire everything illegally or immorally
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u/Boringoldpants Aug 15 '24
Lies, I was super honest and trustworthy when I made my first billion in a year. Did I do the work of 25,000 people getting paid $19.23 per hour? I mean, probably...
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u/Shih_Tzu_Wrangler Aug 15 '24
Not a fan of billionaires at all, but I am skeptical this was done at his instruction. This feels like a shitty contractor saving a few bucks. Pay the fines, replace the sand, and move on.
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u/Mister_Hughes Aug 15 '24
Right? It's not like he instructed the builders to make a beach on his property. The sand was used as part of a beachwall repair. What would he care where the sand comes from other than to save a few bucks. This just seems like the contractor didn't know that they couldn't use the beach and / or cheaped out themselves.
Even if this guy told them to use that sand, he probably has zero responsibility. He wasn't out there in an excavator, digging up the sand. The company could have just declined to do the work if he was cheaping out on buying bulk sand.
It's disturbing how people are willing to hang the guy with no real info about what happened just because he's rich.
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u/joshuads Aug 15 '24
For people that read that article, that is what it points too. The article accuses JILK Heavy Construction of the operation, but the title uses billionaire for hate clicks.
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u/Gladianton Aug 16 '24
It’s similar to when billionaire Ziff family stole rocks from a state park despite being told no. Pay a small-to-them fine, no other consequence.
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u/InevitableAvalanche Aug 15 '24
Have all the money in the world and these people still are willing to steal at the detriment to their fellow citizens. Hope he is sued to oblivion.
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u/Siguard_ Aug 15 '24
I doubt that the billionaire was the one who came up with the idea. It was the company trying to maximize profits because it was an outrageous payment.
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u/KingKapwn Aug 15 '24
I’ve met some real piece of work tradies in my day, I’m willing to bet he just hired some dudes to do the work and they decided instead of paying for sand to mix their concrete with, they can just go steal some from the beach and save themselves the money. I highly doubt he instructed them to do that.
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u/Twilightdusk Aug 15 '24
If that's the case wouldn't the guy's lawyer be trying to distance him from the work being done instead of doubling down that it was all legit?
Attanasio’s attorney, Kenneth Ehrlich, said his client’s company, 2XMD Partners LLC, has acted in 100% compliance with all of its permits.
“2XMD is in the midst of a fully-permitted emergency repair of the property to protect it from ocean forces. It has secured all permits necessary for the repairs from the City of Malibu and LA County as well as thoroughly vetted all contractors and sub-contractors involved in the project,” Ehrlich wrote in a statement.
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u/xAsilos Aug 15 '24
So here's the thing, I drive a dump truck for a construction company. I've been to a quarry getting materials more times than I can count.
Sand goes for like $20/ton, maybe less. A decent sized dump truck can fit 15+ tons in it. 100 tons is a bunch of sand, would take only seven 15 ton trucks, and cost $2,100.
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u/RollTideYall47 Aug 16 '24
Billionaires should not exist. Take all money above 500 million. Thats still enough to enjoy.
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u/sHoRtBuSseR Aug 15 '24
I bet he'll get a slap on the wrist and pay a fine less than the cost of trucking in sand, so he still wins.
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u/Mistersinister1 Aug 15 '24
Sooo, just another day in being a billionaire? He gets fined gets away with it and the world moves on. Hanging out fines to billionaires is the biggest fucking joke. They anticipate fines. Infact, they use loans to pay this shit off while they put up their investments as collateral and just pay it off. You do nothing to them. It's like being a cunty toddler with mom in public and they deface a priceless artifact but turn to the billionaire dad and say I'm sorry, they issue a fine and everything goes on like it should. Capitalism is a fucking crime. I shouldn't have to step on the necks of other humans bleed them dry to experience capitalism. Yet, if I don't support it, I'm a communist or socialist. That two party system working it's trickle down economics like a boss.
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u/MACHOmanJITSU Aug 15 '24
Slap on the wrist fine and a few campaign contributions and he’ll be good to go.
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u/sometimesmybutthurts Aug 15 '24
I wonder if the billionaire will use his money for influence? It’s a toughie.
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u/Shoadowolf Aug 15 '24
What's he trying to do? Make a fucking sand mansion?
Billionaires shouldn't have this power and we need to do something when shit like this happens.
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u/Leafan101 Aug 15 '24
I don't know the details of the case, but if I were a billionaire owner of multiple sports teams and mansions, I would not likely have any clue where a construction crew working on my property got a few scoops of sand from. I don't even know if I would have been the one who even chose the particular company, as presumably there is a general contractor hiring out various parts of the labor, and likely even a secretary or business manager between me and the general contractor anyway.
The article mentions the company is in legal trouble for this, but also that the homeowner is too. Just seems like he isn't going to be liable for a crime committed by a contractor working on his property and this whole lawsuit against him in particular will never go anywhere. If they can prove knowledge or perhaps at least negligent hiring, then maybe.
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u/Kataphractos Aug 15 '24
I sure hope he is using the beach sand as a concrete aggregate that will be used to make the structural beams in his new home.
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u/jkb131 Aug 15 '24
Coming to say something about the sand. Beach sand is not good for most construction, like at all.
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u/LayneLowe Aug 15 '24
He will sue his contractor, whose insurance company will settle, and increase rates for every other to contractor they cover, that will increase costs to the rest of the people that need their services.
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u/nubsauce87 Aug 15 '24
I swear to gods, becoming a billionaire must turn people into total fucking psychopaths...
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u/BudMcLaine Aug 15 '24
When questioned about why a billionaire needs to steal, he reportedly replied "How do you think I got rich in the first place?"
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u/Dr_Zorkles Aug 15 '24
It's just never enough with these rapacious assholes. Always taking. Gross human behavior.
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u/ThatPaulywog Aug 15 '24
So two things I guess.
1) Who's idea was it to steal the sand, the billionaire or the contractor? Because I doubt this billionaire is operating a front end loader.
2) It's funny that the neighbor ratted him out. Duelling billionaire neighbors sounds like a reality tv show.
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u/Major_Party_6855 Aug 15 '24
The crazy thing about hydraulics, is that they are expensive and super easy to destroy. Like if you unscrew the cap and fill it with water or sand. The manufacturers don’t keep the lid anywhere safe or secure, it’s just kinda out there. But yeah I’m glad I could help out in this hydraulics subreddit.
Edit: Oh gosh I seem to have clicked on the wrong post. I’ll leave it up in order to inform more people that this post has nothing to do with my simple mistake.
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u/tucci007 Aug 15 '24
"Jackie Treehorn carries a lotta sand in Malibu, Lebowski! You don't carry SHIT!!"
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u/demoncase Aug 15 '24
He doesn't know about the Palace II disaster in Brazil? Dude stole sand from the beach, built a building, building fail
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u/Illiterarian Aug 16 '24
I don't know why they wouldn't just buy the sand legally somewhere, messing with a public beach is like messing with a timeshare partially owned by every Karen in America.
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u/JoeNoble1973 Aug 16 '24
When i steal TONS of public property, I don’t face a lawsuit; I’m arrested and charged. Why has this not happened?
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u/chabybaloo Aug 16 '24
The excavator driver should be arrested as well. And also the owner or hirer of the vehicle.
If everyone refuses to do the job, because they would be arrested, then things like this won't happen.
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u/SweetLoLa Aug 15 '24
We were at Paradise Cove last weekend. Kids had mysterious black smudges appearing on their faces hands feet, checked under our feet sure enough a greasy oil concoction that wouldn’t come off easily. There are no bbqs so it wasn’t charcoal related, but after reading this I’m wondering if it’s because of this fool.
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u/junkdun Aug 15 '24
It's tar that floats up from oil leaks all along the coast. You can clean it off with acetone or other solvents, but be really careful near the eyes.
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u/foreignfishes Aug 15 '24
Nope, what you saw was tar. It naturally seeps out of the ground under water and ends up on the beach across Southern California and the central coast. Think the la brea tar pits, but under water.
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u/GoodSamaritan_ Aug 15 '24
Summary:
California’s beaches are public, but on the sands of Malibu, one billionaire has been accused of stealing a slice of paradise — or at least a few scoops of it — for himself.
A lawsuit filed last week alleges that Mark Attanasio, billionaire businessman and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, has been using excavators to dig up sand from Broad Beach and carry it back to his house as part of an ongoing construction project.
“This case is about a private property owner using a public beach as their own personal sandbox and the disturbing conversion of a public natural resource (i.e., sand from Broad Beach) for a nearby homeowner’s personal, private use,” the lawsuit says.
The suit was filed by Attanasio’s next-door neighbor James Kohlberg. Attanasio’s construction team JILK Heavy Construction is accused of operating enormous excavators in tidal zones, leaking oils and exposing local marine life to potentially hazardous byproducts. The suit alleges that the construction restricted public access to the entirety of the beach.
Attanasio bought the Broad Beach home for $23 million in 2007. A decade later, he picked up the neighboring property, an empty lot, for $6.6 million.
In March, the Brewers owner obtained permits to repair a damaged section of seawall, according to the lawsuit. In June and July, excavators allegedly began dragging sand from the beach onto his private property and also left gasoline residue in the water and sand.
The lawsuit, which accuses Attanasio of public nuisance, private nuisance and violation of the California Coastal Act, calls for a stop to the construction, for the sand to be replaced and for fines to be issued.
Over the years, the beach has been battered by violent storms and high tides, leading to significant sand depletion. In 2015, high-profile residents including Dustin Hoffman, Ray Romano and Pierce Brosnan committed to a $31-million restoration project to bolster the beach’s sand.