Jeff Wachtel Launches Future Shack Entertainment; Partners With Blink49 Studios & Roku

Brittney Griner's legal team has appealed against the American basketball star's guilty verdict and nine-year prison sentence on drug smuggling charges in Russia, the lawyers said on Monday.Griner was arrested for carrying vape cartridges containing with marijuana in a Moscow airport in February amid soaring tension between Washington and Moscow, and just before Russian leader Vladimir Putin launched his ongoing assault on Ukraine.The athlete was on her way to Yekaterinburg, in western Russia, to play for a local team during the WNBA's off-season.Griner pleaded guilty to the charge but sought leniency, saying that she packed the cartridges inadvertently and marijuana was prescribed to her by a doctor in the U.S. to help her cope with pain from injuries sustained during her basketball career. In early August, a court in the Moscow region found her guilty.Before her trial began in July, the State Department designated her as being «wrongfully detained,» moving her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs — effectively the U.S.

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Basketball player Brittney Griner has been found guilty of smuggling drugs with criminal intent in a Russian court today and sentenced to nine years in prison, CNN reports. The Phoenix Mercury player was detained near Moscow earlier this year after security discovered a small amount of the drug in her luggage.

Angelica Ross is set to become the first transgender actress to play Roxie Hart in 'Chicago'. The 41-year-old 'Pose' star will make her Broadway debut in the long-running musical later this year, playing murderous vixen Roxie for eight weeks from September 12. Actresses who have previously played Roxie include Pamela Anderson, Melanie Griffith, Christie Brinkley, Marilu Henner, Brooke Shields and Lisa Rinna.

Justin Bieber is among famous faces expressing shock and dismay at the imprisonment of US basketball player Brittney Griner in Russia. The pop megastar took to social media to offer his help in getting the athlete home after she received a sentence of nine years in prison for bringing cannabis oil into Russia.

Out lesbian US basketball player Brittney Griner was convicted by a Russian court on charges of drug possession and smuggling and sentenced to nine years in prison on Thursday. US President Joe Biden denounced the verdict and sentence as “unacceptable” and called on Russia to release the athlete immediately so that she could be with her “her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates”. President Biden added that he would work to bring both Griner and Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in Russia under an espionage charge, home.  Brittney Griner with wife Cherelle.

Hoping for a solution. After Brittney Griner was convicted of drug smuggling in Russia, plenty of WNBA players and other celebrities weighed in to express their support for the athlete.

Brittney Griner, the two-time U.S. Olympic gold medal basketball player and WNBA star, was found guilty Thursday in Russia of drug smuggling and possession and sentenced to nine years in jail. The news comes six months after Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport while entering the country with cannabis oil in her luggage.

American WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner has been convicted in a Russian court on Thursday (August 4) of smuggling drugs with criminal intent. She has been officially sentenced to 9 years in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles by a Russian court.

The ever-expanding Blink49 Studios is moving into the non-scripted game.

a CNN report of a U.S. offer to exchange American citizens detained in Russia, WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S.

Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday, offering the first public glimpse at U.S.

The European Union’s Court of Justice has overruled a bid by the French branch of Russian-state-controlled international news network Russia Today (RT) to overturn a measure prohibiting it from broadcasting across the bloc.

Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia for months after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage, and it is unclear when she will be able to return to the United States.The Phoenix Mercury player is currently in the middle of a trial in Moscow and faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. Brittney has an uphill battle to have her criminal case acquitted in a trial that experts say is unlikely to be fair and that Russian authorities are using her as a diplomatic bargaining chip amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.The Olympic gold medalist has played in Russia for the last seven winters, earning more than $1 million per season -- more than quadruple her WNBA salary, according to the Associated Press.