Dear readers,

George Santos had a rough day in two courts this week: He pleaded guilty in his criminal case over various frauds, and a federal judge dismissed his copyright infringement lawsuit against Jimmy Kimmel and The Walt Disney Company. Outside the federal courthouse on Long Island where he had just pleaded guilty, Santos expressed contrition in a manner that suggests he’s actually listening to legal advice! We’re not yet ready to award him the Senate Twink Memorial Award for Belatedly Good Judgment, but he’s on our watchlist for it as he heads toward his sentencing in February and tries to get less than the 6-8 years prosecutors believe would be in line with guidelines.

In the civil case — a dispute over Cameo videos that Kimmel ordered under fictitious personas (such as a man wishing that Santos would congratulate his friend Heath on coming out as a furry with a ‘Beav-a-Pus’ fursona) and then broadcast on his late-night show on Disney-owned ABC — Judge Denise Cote found Kimmel’s use of the videos was clearly a fair use under copyright law, notwithstanding any language in the Cameo license agreement about how the videos could or could not be used. This is a big win for Disney — it’s unusual to win a fair use claim at the motion to dismiss stage — and Ken even thinks Santos would have a decent shot of winning an appeal of the decision, if he chose to appeal. But an appeal might not be financially viable for Santos as he focuses on his more pressing criminal issues.

In other Disney news, the company argued that a man with a wrongful death claim over his wife’s apparent death from an allergic reaction on Disney property must arbitrate that claim outside of court, as he had agreed to an arbitration clause in his Disney+ streaming service contract. This argument got a lot of attention, and Disney sheepishly withdrew it after taking a lot of negative press. As Ken notes, this is a good example of where legal and PR imperatives collide — it can be good litigation strategy to throw every available argument at a civil claim, but when you litigate for a high-profile organization you need to consider whether the public might get outraged over an argument a judge would not find outrageous. If anything is surprising here, it’s that Disney’s very high-priced lawyers didn’t see this one coming.

Several people involved in getting large quantities of ketamine to Matthew Perry have been indicted, including the alleged ‘Ketamine Queen’ of North Hollywood, Jasveen Sangha. Federal prosecutors take a lot more interest in celebrity overdose deaths than other overdose deaths, and they have a plausible argument for why — high-profile prosecutions get lots of press and can better serve as a deterrent to the drug trade. Meanwhile, the dumbest member of the DC City Council has been indicted for taking bribes while wearing a very ugly sportcoat. And Bob Menendez is officially out of the US Senate.

We hope you enjoy the episode,

Josh