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Person Responsible For Whitney’s Enquirer Photo Exposed - Tabloid expose

MsMo

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Sources at Whigham Funeral Home are revealing that Raffles van Exel, a notorious Hollywood hanger-on known for latching on to vulnerable super-stars, including the late Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, and the late Ray Charles, is responsible for taking the picture of Whitney Houston in her casket.

When Carolyn Whigham, owner of Whigham, held a press conference concerning the accusations that someone on her staff may have been responsible for leaking the disrespectful picture of Whitney Houston to the National Enquirer, her anger and frustration were palpable. Though she declined to name names at the time, she hinted that the Houston family knew exactly who took the picture and though they had halted the investigation, she would not stop until she and her business were publicly exonerated.

Video

The secret is out.

Though on the surface van Exel, who is also close friends with Houston’s on-again/off-again boyfriend Ray J, is the legitimate CEO of Raffles Entertainment, LLC, an entertainment “consultant” firm, he has been known on the Hollywood circuit for years as a shadowy con man who seems to always be on the edges of an entertainer’s personal tragedies while they’re being played out for public consumption.

See video below for how he navigates Hollywood and avoids suspicion, including lying about being the son of guitarist and vocalist George Benson, stealing $25,000 from the musician then disappearing.

Whigham Funeral Home employees saw van Exel snap the pictures and immediately informed the Houston family, who still have not acted upon the information:


Van Exel, who has aliases of Raffles Benson and Raffles Dawson, was at the two private viewings of Whitney’s casket held at the Whigham Funeral Home. The first viewing was on the Friday night before the memorial service. The second one was on Sunday morning before the burial.

The people at Whigham noticed van Exel right away. Even though he’s not a member of the Houston family, he traveled with them on the private plane from Los Angeles to New Jersey. He was the only non family member who accompanied Whitney’s sister in law/manager and newly appointed executor Pat Houston in her car to Whitney’s memorial and funeral and to the viewings.

“They didn’t do anything ab0ut it,” says a source. “They’re protecting him. How come they haven’t gotten him out of their circle”.
​


Van Exel has not responded to any inquires, but Carolyn Whigham will not rest until the Houston family publicly states that Whigham Funeral Home is in no way responsible for the unprofessional and unconscionable actions of the person who betrayed their trust.

http://newsone.com/nation/kirstensa...exel-responsible-for-whitneys-enquirer-photo/
 
He needs to be 'outed' very publically for doing this so that nobody else is exploited by the sad little creep. Anything for money!
 
So if the funeral staff saw him do it. why didnt they stop him. dont know if this is true or not. but it sounds like the funeral home is trying to cover its ass
 
elusive moonwalker;3612074 said:
So if the funeral staff saw him do it. why didnt they stop him. dont know if this is true or not. but it sounds like the funeral home is trying to cover its ass
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Raffles is buddy with Whitney's sister in law aka manager, don't be surprised if he was doing someone's dirty work. They haven't outed him probably because he was playing the "middle man".

Just the fact that the funeral home stated in the press conference the family knew who it was...clearly, it wasn't them, otherwise they wouldn't NEED the family to reveal the name. So i fail to see, how exactly are they trying to COVER their ass when they are the only ones addressing the issue publicly?

How could they have stopped him? He was the family's guest and they reported him to the family, what more could they have done. It is not unusual for close family or friends to tape personal pics of a loved one in the casket, but selling it to the National Enquirer, that's crass.

I hope the funeral keep the pressure.

Whigham [funeral home owner] said that although the Houston family has closed its inquiry into the matter, the funeral home had not. She said she would consider taking legal action

Houston’s body was at the Central Ward funeral home for five days. Whigham said a security detail from Nippy Inc., the singer’s management company, was with the singer’s body around the clock while it was at Whigham. She said the funeral home's investigation revealed that the picture was taken on Feb. 17, a day before services for the late singer, who died in Los Angeles on Feb. 11. She declined to detail the funeral home's findings.
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http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/03/owner_of_funeral_home_that_han.html
 
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covering their ass interms of saying it wasnt someone who worked in the funeral home and the damage that could causeHow could they stop him? well if u worked for the funeral home and saw him taking a pick wouldnt you question that? its normal to take pictures? is it?! anyway if he did it he did if he didnt he didnt. tbh i dont care one way or the other just cause of his supposed connection to mj
 
Memefan;3612080 said:
Raffles is buddy with Whitney's sister in law aka manager, don't be surprised if he was doing someone's dirty work. They haven't outed him probably because he was playing the "middle man".

Just the fact that the funeral home stated in the press conference the family knew who it was...clearly, it wasn't them, otherwise they wouldn't NEED the family to reveal the name. So i fail to see, how exactly are they trying to COVER their ass when they are the only ones addressing the issue publicly?

How could they have stopped him? He was the family's guest and they reported him to the family, what more could they have done. It is not unusual for close family or friends to tape personal pics of a loved one in the casket, but selling it to the National Enquirer, that's crass.

I hope the funeral keep the pressure.



http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/03/owner_of_funeral_home_that_han.html
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I agree, unless the family had stated to the funeral home that there were to be no pictures then the funeral home did nothing wrong and they have every right to protect their good name.
 
Memefan;3612080 said:
Raffles is buddy with Whitney's sister in law aka manager, don't be surprised if he was doing someone's dirty work. They haven't outed him probably because he was playing the "middle man".
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Agreed. I read that in the oprah interview whitney's sis-in-law said she was mad about the publishing of the photo by the nat enq not the taking of it which was an odd distinction to make. Reminded me of a makeup artist taking the photo of mj at forest lawn and then acting all indignant when it showed up on tmz.

Raffles def seems to be part of the inner circle of whitney, travelling in the limo to the memorial with whitney's sis in law and family. However, since when has he been that connected to mj apart from in media articles desperate to link mj and whitney's deaths? I've seen him at some birthday party of mj's in 02/03 ish, where he appears just to have taken over proceedings on stage and acted like he was someone official which is what all confidence tricksters do. He doesn't seem any different to all the other leeches who have met mj a couple of times and made a living out of it so i am at a loss as to why we on a fan board are making out there is a connection to mj - it doesn't do mj any favours.
 
NOTE:

I originally posted this article in Music - It's the Biz.

The Staff moved it to the News and added 'Michael Related' to the Title which is probably a good thing for future reference.

If I recall correctly, didn't this guy try to gain favor with MJ fans at one point?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/11/11/prweb8956984.DTL

Perhaps he has/had a future purpose for it...we can take this as a warning not to get involved with any "project" he may try to pass off as something "for" MJ.
 
There's a you tube video of Raffles Van Excel showing you exactly how he goes to work conning celebrities and others, it was very eye opening for me. Joe Jackson was front and centre in a part of the video as well.

If he was'nt the one who took and sold the photo, I would think by now he would've refuted the allegation.

Found the you tube clip, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKT1aMJnvGc&feature=player_embedded

I don't know how to embed a video, so if someone else can, please go right ahead and do so.
 
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ExoticPrincess;3612360 said:
There's a you tube video of Raffles Van Excel showing you exactly how he goes to work conning celebrities and others, it was very eye opening for me. Joe Jackson was front and centre in a part of the video as well.
Click to expand...

Raffles makes a statement in regards to AEG, Kenny Ortega, & Michael...
He probably crashed Michaels party too.


<iframe height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1geVE2fM5pQ" frameBorder="0" width="420" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
 
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If the Houston family knows and did nothing , he's not the worst, THEY are.

Anything for money. Didn't know the Houstons were like the Jack$on$.
 
elusive moonwalker;3612108 said:
covering their ass interms of saying it wasnt someone who worked in the funeral home and the damage that could causeHow could they stop him? well if u worked for the funeral home and saw him taking a pick wouldnt you question that? its normal to take pictures? is it?! anyway if he did it he did if he didnt he didnt. tbh i dont care one way or the other just cause of his supposed connection to mj
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It is- for many people. When a friends of ours passed away, the family approached me to take pictures. (they knew I did photography)
There are even professional photographers out there photographing stillborn babies for their bereaved parents- these photographers volunteer their time and material etc.
It is absolutely not uncommon for some people to have a photographic memento.

The difference is selling pictures. Especially such a bad shot that looks like someone was trying to get a shot in a hurry, looks like someone grabbed their cell phone or something to that degree.
Very sad.

But I'm sure the case of a deceased celebrity is very different for anyone involved. I actually do feel very bad for the employees of said funeral home- I'm sure the family had a 'approved by family' list- the employee can't just physically attack people approved by the family who came for the viewing.

Very sad situation. And I sincerely hope (should it be the truth!) that the person suspected of selling this pictures hereby gets the boot and won't be able to go for 'repeats'.
 
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:puke: There goes my breakfast.

If he was receiving emails from concerned fans then why not just contact Gaz directly and any misunderstanding would be quickly resolved.... Oh yeah silly me, I forgot, then there would be no drama.

Anyone know if he is making video statements to Whitney fans denying that he sold the picture?
 
LastTear;3612445 said:
:puke: There goes my breakfast.

If he was receiving emails from concerned fans then why not just contact Gaz directly and any misunderstanding would be quickly resolved.... Oh yeah silly me, I forgot, then there would be no drama.

Anyone know if he is making video statements to Whitney fans denying that he sold the picture?
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exactly, he loves the spotlight.. a friggin drama queen
 
LastTear;3612445 said:
:puke: There goes my breakfast.

If he was receiving emails from concerned fans then why not just contact Gaz directly and any misunderstanding would be quickly resolved.... Oh yeah silly me, I forgot, then there would be no drama.

Anyone know if he is making video statements to Whitney fans denying that he sold the picture?
Click to expand...

That's exactly my thoughts to,

Anyway I wanted to finally make this public and clear for all to see as this has been burning inside for a very long time,
 
MsMo;3612272 said:
NOTE:

I originally posted this article in Music - It's the Biz.

The Staff moved it to the News and added 'Michael Related' to the Title which is probably a good thing for future reference.

If I recall correctly, didn't this guy try to gain favor with MJ fans at one point?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/11/11/prweb8956984.DTL

Perhaps he has/had a future purpose for it...we can take this as a warning not to get involved with any "project" he may try to pass off as something "for" MJ.
Click to expand...

Thanks, your post and then gaz's posts make it clear why this raffles thread was in the news section. I had been irritated by roger friedman's article in forbes trying to imply raffles was close to mj when all he was doing was hanging around joe jackson during the 05 trial - i felt roger was making unsavoury connections to mj. I just give thanks everyday that branca is in charge of mj's estate not the family as raffles and his ilk would be swarming around the jacksons like bees round a honeypot, now unfortunately for whitney's daughter, it looks like raffles is getting his talons into the houstons.
 
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Raffles van Exel doesn't have a good reputation in The Netherlands.

He's known as an artistmanager who, in 2002, tried to organize a concert, a memorial for what happened 9-11-2001 together with Jermaine Jackson. First the location was The Pentagon, then later it became the John F. Kennedy Centre and even president Bush would attend. He named big names, like Madonna, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.

The show was big news here, also because a Dutch female singer was invited by Raffles to sing a song at the concert.

TV-show RTL-Boulevard verified with The Pentagon and The White house and they denied involvement with any concert.

The phones in the office of RTL Boulevard were red hot and ,and many e-mails were sent from people who warned for artistmanager Raffles van Exel and called him a pathological liar. He was known for promising people 'golden mountains'.

(I translated this from an article in a Dutch newspaper)

Of course the concert never happened.

And I also found this on Raffles Van Exel:

http://www.distributionlabel.com/NL/nieuws-archief-distribution-label-2009.php

"20th of November 2009 - Congratulations Raffles!
We are always happy if our staff is even more succesfull. We would like to congratulate Raffles van Exel. He became 50% owner of the Michael Jackson fan club.

What on earth do they mean?
 
CaptainEoLove85;3612612 said:
I remember enjoying the interviews he did, which were posted here. Very disappointing knowing of his true character. :no:
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Yes, I liked them too and he does seem nice. But he's a bit of a shady character. No one knows what he really does for a living.
 
So now that they know this what steps are they going to take in regards to this guy?
 
Having been on staff when all that happened with the MJJC and Raffles saga I remember it well. Yeah, always had a strange feeling about him. But this is LOW if he did in fact do this to Whitney. Disgusting.
 
elusive moonwalker;3612074 said:
So if the funeral staff saw him do it. why didnt they stop him. dont know if this is true or not. but it sounds like the funeral home is trying to cover its ass
Click to expand...

The staff told the Houstons as soon as they saw him acting suspiciously as per the article. And if the photos were taken with a cell phone camera or something like that it would be difficult to really see what he was up to or what his intent with them was until after the fact. They're not going to interrupt a private funeral and embarrass someone who may or may not have been taking pictures of the body on a mobile device. They would look horribly unprofessional if they did that and it turned out he was doing something innnocent like texting his wife, and they wouldn't have known he had plans to distribute them for profit at the time.

It seems like the events didn't click in everyone's mind until after the photo was released to the National Enquirer, and it seems the funeral home is acting in a responsible way by continuing to pursue the matter.

Ultimately, the Houstons are the ones who will decide what becomes of him, not the funeral home. It seems to me as though the staff acted to the best of their abilities within the limitations of their profession and did the right thing by informing the Houston family on the matter.
 
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