Less than a month after former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family died in a plane crash last year, investigators say two of their “friends” conspired to break into the empty home and took cash, guns and financial information in an attempt to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars.
More than 40 search warrants have been issued, authorities in North Carolina say, focusing on a married couple who allegedly knew Biffle and his wife Cristina. The suspects did “a lot of planning in an attempt to make a financial gain” off their deaths, Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said. The Associated Press is not naming the pair because no arrests have been made.
Biffle, his wife and his two children, along with three others, died in the Dec. 18 crash, which remains under investigation by the NTSB. Some survivors of those killed are suing the estates of Biffle and the pilot for millions of dollars.
According to a search warrant affidavit, the husband being investigated met Biffle when the former driver used his private helicopter to deliver aid after Hurricane Helene. The woman attended a Christmas party at the Biffles' home in Mooresville, North Carolina, weeks before the crash.
Authorities reported a break-in at the home on Jan. 8, saying $30,000 in cash, two Glock handguns and NASCAR memorabilia were stolen. Search warrants were later executed at two sites, one near the Biffles’ residence and another in a nearby county.
A person seen on surveillance video, identified as a woman, appeared to be familiar with the large home's layout, including the locations of cameras, closets and a safe room, a detective wrote in a search warrant affidavit. The intruder spent nearly six hours inside the house the night of Jan. 7 into the following morning.
Evidence showed a cellphone and multiple devices were active on the property during that time, according to the warrant. The only people allowed to be there would've been the administers of the estate, but they weren't present.
Authorities say they linked the woman to someone who attended Biffle’s celebration of life, and said license plate readers placed her husband’s truck near the home that night.
The warrants also describe alleged financial crimes. Investigators say that bank, Venmo and PayPal accounts tied to the Biffles were accessed online using personal information, with phone numbers and email addresses changed to gain control of funds. Money was then allegedly transferred to accounts not belonging to the family and used for purchases, according to the warrant.
At least one fraudulent check tied to Biffle’s business interests was cashed, and other attempts were made to access accounts. The activity occurred across multiple states. The sheriff would not say whether the same suspects in the break-in are being investigated for the financial crimes, saying the department is waiting for more evidence.
Meanwhile, the plane crash sparked lawsuits against the estates of Biffle and the pilot Dennis Dutton, who was killed along with his son.
On April 17, the estates of Dutton and his son sued Biffle’s estate for at least $15 million each, alleging Biffle failed to properly maintain the plane and operated it in a defective condition. The claims include lost income and “pre-death pain and suffering.”
In February, Biffle’s ex-wife, Nicole Biffle, filed a notice of claim against Dutton’s estate on behalf of the couple’s 14-year-old daughter’s estate, seeking at least $10 million for wrongful death.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/apf-AutoRacing
FILE - Greg Biffle looks on during driver introductions before the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Fla., Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. (AP) — The longtime president of Bard College announced his retirement Friday, months after it was revealed that he had a much deeper relationship with Jeffrey Epstein than was previously known.
Leon Botstein, who has been president of the small, liberal arts college inn New York for a half century, will retire at the end of June, he wrote in an email provided to The Associated Press by Bard.
In the note, Botstein, 79, didn't mention the scrutiny of his ties to Epstein, except to say that he had waited to announce his retirement publicly until the completion of an independent review of his relationship with the notorious sex offender.
He said he would remain on Bard's faculty as a teacher and musician.
Botstein was not accused of any involvement in Epstein's exploitation and abuse of girls and women. But he was among a long list of prominent and notable men and women who maintained friendly relationships with him for years, despite his status as a convicted sex offender.
A trove of documents released by the U.S. Justice Department this year showed that Botstein and Epstein had met on multiple occasions, with Epstein sometimes arriving at Bard by helicopter. The president had also asked Epstein to be a guest at the 2013 graduation ceremonies and suggested they meet for an opera performance.
In addition, Botstein reached out to Epstein weeks after the The Miami Herald reported new details on Epstein’s criminal prosecution in 2018, saying “I want you to know that I hope you are holding up as well as can be expected,” and had separately referred to his “friendship” with Epstein in at least two emails.
Epstein steered $150,000 to Botstein in 2016, which the president has previously said he donated to the college. Botstein has previously denied having a personal connection with Epstein, instead saying his contacts with Epstein were centered on fundraising for the college.
Bard's trustees enlisted the outside law firm WilmerHale to conduct an independent review of the communications between Epstein and Botstein. The review found that the president did not do anything illegal but “made decisions in the course of that relationship that reflect on his leadership of Bard," according to a summary provided by the college.
“In his public statements and his statements to the Bard community, President Botstein minimized and was not fully accurate in describing his relationship with Epstein,” the review said.
At one point, according to the review, Botstein disagreed with a senior faculty member who felt Bard should not engage with Epstein, concluding that the president “relied on his view that a person convicted of crimes involving sex with a minor—‘an ordinary sex offender’, in his words—could be presumed to be rehabilitated in the same way that any other convicted person should, in his view, be given that presumption.”
“President Botstein forcefully argues that Bard’s need for funds was paramount. His view was, ‘I would take money from Satan if it permitted me to do God’s work,’ ” the review said.
The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees at Bard, in a separate message, wrote that it is grateful for Botstein's decades of service to the college, but added that the “concerns raised in recent months have been serious and deeply felt.”
It said funds associated with Epstein will be directed to organizations that support survivors of sexual harm.
Bard’s media relations office released a statement calling Botstein “a transformative leader with the vision and unwavering commitment that has shaped Bard into the world-class educational institution it is today.”
FILE - Bard College President Leon Botstein speaks during the 153rd Commencement at Bard College, May 25, 2013, in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. (AP Photo/Philip Kamrass, File)
