Yoko Ono Attack Lennon Assisstant

[Manu]

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Yoko Ono launched a bitter attack on John Lennon's one-time personal assistant on Tuesday, telling a court he had dressed in Lennon's clothes after his murder and "flaunted" them in front of her.

Japanese-born artist Ono, on the stand for a second day in the Manhattan federal court civil trial of Frederic Seaman, told the jury that three things motivated her to file the lawsuit against him in April 1999.

She said he claimed copyright of a photo of John and their son Sean -- then four years old -- in a letter to Capitol Records in which he complained they had used it on a "John Lennon Anthology" compact disc in 1998 without crediting him.

Then in February 1999, Seaman appeared on a Fox TV show about "famous families" for which he supplied excerpts from a Lennon family picnic videotape, Ono said.

Ono said the last straw was hearing in April 1999 of an Internet posting trumpeting an upcoming book by Seaman claiming it would feature 250 photos of John and Yoko's family life.

She accuses Seaman of stealing personal articles and memorabilia and selling them to make money after Lennon was shot dead by a deranged fan outside his New York apartment on Dec. 8, 1980.

Seaman denies any wrongdoing and claims the photos were his.

The eight jurors were shown the videotape taken in April 1980 in which Ono frolicks on the grass with Sean during a picnic on Long Island. The lanky, pony-tailed Lennon is seen leaving the picnic table to reposition the camera on a tripod and continue filming.

"Unbelievable, it's like 'Good Morning, America'," the former Beatle says. "It looks better in here than in real life."

Employment agreement

Frederic Seaman


Ono's attorney Paul LiCalsi said a confidentiality pact signed by Seaman had barred him from using family belongings for personal gain during or after his employment.

He said the photos in question were taken by Seaman as part of his employment, which began in February 1979 and ended with his dismissal by Ono in January 1982 when she caught him wearing Lennon's clothes and charging money to her accounts.

Ono was asked by Seaman's lawyer Glenn Wolther about Seaman's predecessor as personal assistant, Nishi Saimaru, who published a book of photographs, including some of the Lennons, with Ono's blessing.

"He (Saimaru) was a sweet person," said Ono, before raising her voice in a verbal attack on Seaman.

"He hadn't been the person who had stolen my things. He wasn't wearing my husband's clothes immediately when he died, flaunting it in front of me. So I allowed it (the book). That was my right."

In 1983, Seaman was charged with having stolen Lennon's diaries during his employment. He pleaded guilty to grand larceny and was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to return the diaries.

On Tuesday, the jurors were shown some of the 374 photographs whose ownership is being contested. One shows Lennon, Ono and Sean celebrating what would be Lennon's last birthday, his 40th, on Oct. 9, 1980.

Memorabilia dealer Gary Zimet testified that in 1994 he agreed to buy nine Lennon documents from Seaman, making the last of $64,500 in payments in January 1995. He said he bought two more letters written by Lennon for another $10,000 in 1997.

Zimet said one item he bought from Seaman -- a draft of a harshly critical letter to fellow-Beatle Paul McCartney -- had sold for $90,500 at auction.
www.cnn.com

[TryckPony]

Well, having been a Beatles fan since I was old enough to walk, I do not like Yoko Ono. She was a witch from the get-go. But in this case I have to say the guy went too far. If he had a contract that disallowed him from profiting from memorabilia and he stole from her and the estate then he should be punished punitively as well as criminally.