You read here that gold medal ice dancer Pasha (Oksana) Grishuk was slipped a drug similar to a date-rape drug a few months ago. There is now a warrant out for the arrest of person suspected of drugging Grishuk. He is also accused in civil lawsuits of defrauding investors of $20 million. The man, James R. Halstead, pleads innocence.
Reached by telephone, Halstead called the complaint "ridiculous" but would not discuss the allegations.
"You've got to be kidding me," he said Thursday. "I've got enough troubles in my life already."
In the early 1990s, Halstead and another man were charged with bilking investors of more than $1 million in a scheme to sell crude oil and German bank shares. He eventually pleaded guilty to five felony counts and was put on probation, court records show. His conviction was reduced to a misdemeanor when he paid $150,000 in restitution.