San Diego Reader | Who is the Union-Tribune's new owner?. This is an awfully long article. Here are 2 items that stand out:
Hani Bawardi, the Arab-American scholar who chronicled Tom Joubran’s rise from impoverished immigrant to one of the richest men in Flint, says it is hard to predict just what the new Union-Tribune will look like under Platinum Equity’s ownership. The paper’s takeover by those with roots in Palestine, he notes, “is very unique. I’m kind of surprised, actually.
During that case, a former Joubran employee, Wayne Atwell, testified under oath that Joubran had told him he could have Busch and his family killed, according to an August 1995 Flint Journal account. Joubran denied the allegation. In court, Atwell said that he had four felony convictions and had been sent back to jail after Joubran accused him of taking $1700, the article said. Joubran said he was forced to plead nolo contendere to the gun charges because he didn’t want to risk a prison sentence for the three felony counts originally filed against him, according to a January 1996 Flint Journal report. He was sentenced to a term of three years’ probation, 200 hours of community service, and costs, according to Michigan court records.
