Larry King facing embarrassment with new book that will dredge up his past arrest

Publish date: 2024-05-03

Larry King facing embarrassment with new book that could dredge up his past arrest

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 11:18 EST, 9 January 2014 | Updated: 03:03 EST, 10 January 2014

10

View
comments


Television host Larry King looks set to relive one of the most embarrassing episodes of his career with the publication of a new book that details his criminal past.

The biography of King's one-time friend Louis E. Wolfson tells the story of how the pair fell out spectacularly over a bad debt with Wolfson having King arrested for Grand Larceny and almost succeeding in destroying his career.

The book, written by Wolfson's daughter Marcia and Harry Hurt III who also penned a biography of Donald Trump, is currently being pitched to publishers.

Shamed: Larry King is seen in his 1971 police mugshot following his arrest for Grand Larceny

Shamed: Larry King is seen in his 1971 police mugshot following his arrest for Grand Larceny

Wolfson, a Wall Street financier who had become a millionaire by the age of 28, suffered a dramatic fall from grace when he was convicted of 19 counts of conspiracy and illegal stock sales in 1967.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

On his release he filed a complaint against King, then working as a Miami radio host, accusing him of stealing $5,000 from a $25,000 payment to New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison.

Wolfson had apparently given King the money to pay Mitchell's firm in a bid to buy influence in government.

All in the past: King, pictured this week with his wife Shawn. His 1971 arrest and subsequent sacking almost ended his career

All in the past: King, pictured this week with his wife Shawn. His 1971 arrest and subsequent sacking almost ended his career

King reportedly kept the money because he needed to pay off creditors, later admitting to Wolfson what he had done.

Hurt told the website Pagesix.com: 'King was the bag man who kept the contents of the bag.'

After four years out of the media industry, King managed to resurrect his career to become one of the best known faces on television

After four years out of the media industry, King managed to resurrect his career to become one of the best known faces on television

When Wolfson was serving his sentence at a minimum-security prison King started to repay the money but soon fell behind.

When he was released from prison in 1971, Wolfson was out for revenge against his old friend.

King was arrested after being accused of grand larceny. He eventually pleaded no contest to one count of passing a bad check, although the statute of limitations ran out.

Wolfson succeeded in getting King fired from his job at the Miami TV station WTVY, by claiming that he was a 'menace to the public'.

He also suggested the station pay for King's 'treatment in a mental institution for six months so he can do no further harm in this community or any other.'

The scandal almost destroyed King's career and he was forced to take a job as a racehorse announcer.

It wasn't until four years later that he was offered a job at Miami's WiOD radio station and got his life back on track.

Wolfson, who went on to breed racehorses, died in 2007 at age 95.

Wolfson's daughter Marcia said she hoped King would grant an interview for the book, telling Pagesix: 'We get along. We’re not on bad terms at all.'

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWJ%2Fdn%2BVbm9rZ3yWv7PFjISgp59dm66ktc2gZJ6lkpa%2Fs63SrKSepqRiu6bDjJumqKNdmb%2BmsMaeZJyqmaK2r63LZqeaq6RjtbW5yw%3D%3D