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McManus, 54, was arrested at Melbourne airport yesterday in Australia and charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice and knowingly participating in a criminal group.
United States and Australian authorities had been investigating the drug ring since the discovery of $700,000 in a briefcase at a hotel in Sydney, Australia in 2011 when a tipster called authorities claimed there was a gun in the room. There was no gun found but the money was discovered.
The money was in the possession of a personal trainer named Sean Carolon, who claimed it was given to him by United States businessman Owen Hanson Jr. as an investment in a weight loss company. The money was seized by authorities. Carolon went to court to have the money returned, only for McManus to then lay claim to the funds.
McManus claimed the funds were profits from a Lenny Kravitz tour that he had brought back into the country using different crew members to carry the cash over the border and then had reassembled once in Australia.
"I'm not a d**khead but ... if this went to the [Australian Tax Office], I'd be cooked again," Mr McManus said to police during an interview.
McManus also claimed the money was being given to Hanson as reimbursement for an advance Hanson had covered for a ZZ Topp tour. When speaking with authorities, McManus' additional extravagant money claims, which raised the eyebrows of authorities. In the end, the $700,000 remained held by authorities.
McManus' charges today come from his attempts to get the $700,000 returned to him.
All of the aforementioned and others were arrested yesterday with some charged with money laundering and allegedly importing 300 kilograms of cocaine.
McManus, a well known international music promoter AT THE time, formed the WWA in early 2001 with a tour of Australia utilizing WCW and ECW names that hadn't been picked up by WWE after those companies folded a year prior including Scott Steiner, Jeff Jarrett, Sting, Lex Luger, and Sabu. The company did extremely well on its early tours of Europe and Australia before WWE came into the markets and captured the audience for itself. WWA ran five PPV events, including a forgettable live show in Las Vegas, with its final event being held in May 2003, where Jeff Jarrett defeating Sting to unify the NWA and WWA championships.
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Thanks to Rick Bagnall.
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