International Man Hunt 101

A man nicknamed the "runaway millionaire" has been bailed to an Auckland address.

Leo Gao, 31, allegedly fled to China after $10 million was mistakenly deposited into his Westpac bank account in 2009.

He applied for electronically-monitored bail at the High Court at Auckland today.

Justice Murray Gilbert granted Gao bail to an Avondale address, with a number of conditions including a 24-hour curfew.

Details of the legal arguments were suppressed by the Court.

Gao was arrested crossing from China to Hong Kong in September, after a two-and-a-half year investigation into the alleged theft.

He is to face 16 charges of theft and two of money laundering.

A Westpac employee deposited $10 million into his account in April 2009, rather than the $100,000 he applied for.

The overdraft was to be used to keep his Rotorua service station afloat.

Gao allegedly transferred almost $6.8m of the cash into several accounts and skipped the country, followed by this partner Kara Hurring.

Following an international man-hunt, Geo was arrested and returned to New Zealand in December.

Hurring was arrested when she re-entered New Zealand in February last year.

She has been charged with 28 counts of theft, two counts of money laundering and two counts of attempting to use a document, in Auckland, Macau and Hong Kong.

Gao is not allowed to associated with the co-accussed, Hurring.

Almost $3.8 million of the missing money was still outstanding.

Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield represented Gao, who was excused from appearing at the High Court bail hearing today.

Under electronic monitoring an alarm would sound if Gao left his proposed bail address without warning authorities.

A family friend of Gao put her house up for security on his bail.

The prosecution lawyer opposed bail.

First of all, Leo didn't steal the money, the bank screwed up and put it in his account.  Case dismissed.  Trust me, if some bank employee decides to deposit $10 million in my account, I am gone so fast it would make your head spin.  Step one, take out suit cases full of cash.  Step two, deposit the rest into accounts that the US Government can't touch.  Step three, flee to a country with extradition to the US.  Step four, ball like a mutha f*cka.  I mean ball so hard ma f*ckas wanna find me, but first they gotta find me.

Let's take a look at the countries without extradition to the US, shall we?

Bhutan 
Botswana 
Brunei 
Burkina Faso 
Burundi 
Cambodia 
Cameroon 
Cape Verde 
Central African Republic 
Chad 
China 
Comoros 
Djibouti 
Equatorial Guinea 
Ethiopia 
Gabon 
Guinea 
Guinea Bissau 
Indonesia 
Iran 
Ivory Coast 
Jordan 
Kuwait 
Laos 
Lebanon 
Libya 
Madagascar 
Mali 
Maldives 
Mauritania 
Mongolia 
Morocco 
Mozambique 
Nepal 
Niger 
Oman 
Qatar 
Russia 
Rwanda 
Samoa 
Sao Tome e Principe 
Saudi Arabia 
Senegal 
Somalia 
Sudan 
Syria 
Togo 
Tunisia 
Uganda 
United Arab Emirates 
Vanuatu 
Vietnam 
Yemen 
Yemen South 
Zaire

OK, let's be honest, that's a tough list right there.  China could be good because at least they have some very international and cosmopolitan cities.  Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE could probably be pretty good, I'll scout them when I go for work in April.

Um, Maldives looks kind of OK:

So, there you have it.  If I find $10M in bank account, come visit me in Maldives, because I ain't making the same mistake as Leo and trying to cross boarders.

Go to the 40 second mark where the hotness begins.  Ballin' like crazy at Papa Gino's...

-Big Ran

Oscars All Up In Yo Grill!

With The Academy Awards going on this weekend, I figured I would give you a primer for the movies  films nominated for "Best Picture."  There are nine movies nominated and I have seen a whopping two of them, so this is going to be some deep insight just like my "Dancing With the Stars" preview.  Didn't they just nominate like five movies a while back?  Sh!t's getting diluted (and forcing me to write more).

Hey, nice mustache, bro.  You have that stache now and you instantly have to register for certain types of lists and tell your neighbors when you move into their neighborhood.  You know when they stopped making silent movies?  When they figured out how to add video and sound together on film.  The reason they had silent movies wasn't because they wanted to, it was because they didn't have any other way to do it.  This is the heavy favorite in Vegas with at 1-to-12.  I would guess this gets the Oscar too, they always love giving some artsy-fartsy sh!t the award.  How many people saw this movie, about 18?



Here's my guess for this movie: you will feel like you kind of liked it, but will never watch it more than once, and it will end a little bit before you feel it has totally wrapped up.  These types of movies are right in  Clooney's wheelhouse.  When you have his money, you don't have to be in action movies anymore.  Vegas is setting this one at 10-to-1 odds.  It's got a shot, but a long way off from the artist.  I would Red Box or Netflix this one, but not be super fired up to watch it.  I bet it will be at the bottom of my queue for a while.



This movie wins the award for "Movie I Will Never Watch Because I Don't Feel Like Being Depressed for Two Hours."  It has that award locked up and I'll Fed Ex it to them on Monday.  75-to-1 odds.  Not gonna happen.  The Academy is like so over 9-11 and autism.  Old news.



This was a very popular book that I will never read.  On a four hour Jet Blue Flight, I chose "The Hangover 2," reruns of Sports Center, and staring atthe back of the seat in front of me over watching this movie.  White Southern Broads sound like the dumbest people on the planet.  I can't take that for two hours.  12-to-1 odds that this wins.  I don't see happening.  What I also don't see happening?  Me ever seeing this movie.



Is it required that they nominate a kids movie?  I couldn't even make it through the trailer, so the entire movie isn't going to happen.  How about Sacha Baron Cohen as that dumb train station cop?  I kept waiting for him to say, "I will let you go Hugo.  But first, I want you to say 'I...love...crepes."  Hugo's at 20-to-1 odds.  Martin Scorsese can practice saying, "It's just an honor to be nominated."



Oh yeah, a movie I actually saw!  I watched this on a flight because it was literally the only movie I hadn't seen yet.  Meh.  It was OK.  I kept waiting for Vince Vaughn to show up and actually make it funny.  Spoiler Alert:  That didn't happen.  I would never watch this again or recommend it to anyone.  Maybe anytime Woody Allen directs a movie it has to be nominated.  75-to-1 odds here.  Why even bother showing up?



OK, I saw this one too!  And read the book back in 2003!  I am so sophisticated!  When I heard that they were making a movie out of this book, I had no idea why, and no idea how they would do it.  They obviously took some liberties, but did a decent job.  it was a solid movie.  However, The As haven't done a damn thin in the playoffs and have stunk the last few years, so you don't have the Disney championship ending.  Vegas has it at 40-to-1, and I don't see it having a chance in this category.  Isn't there a category for best adaptation from a book, or something like that?  That's where you can bet big on Moneyball.



I had no idea what this movie was about.  Then I watched the trailer.  Guess what?  I still have no idea what it's about.  Vegas odds: 75-to-1.  Odds anyone on the planet other than the director knows what's going on in this movie?  Sideways 8-to-1.



OK, last, but not least, we have "War Horse."  Dude, if this horse dies at the end of this movie, I will be so pissed.  40-to-1 odds.  Not gonna happen.  Do you think they used the same horse as in "Secretariat?"  That horse must get so many bitches mares.

So, there you have it.  Big Ran's Oscar Preview.

-Big Ran

Stuck In My Head

I think this was on Sports Center or on during a game last night.  I only have hazy recollections of last night, it was a weird one.  My wife was at some country concert, so I was just kicking it with the dogs.  However, I think I have reverted to high school whenever my wife is out for the night.  You know what I had for dinner last night?  Probably half a bag of Trader Joe's Soy and Flaxseed Spicy Tortilla Chips and like two-thirds of the Newman's Salsa jar.  What is wrong with me?

Happy Friday mofos.

-Big Ran