Danny Puff

BOSTON (AP) Now that authorities believe they know who stole $500 million worth of art from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in the largest art heist in U.S. history, what are the chances they'll actually recover the stolen works by Rembrandt, Vermeer and Manet after 23 years?

Surprisingly good, art recovery experts say.

Christopher Marinello, general counsel for The Art Loss Register, a London-based organization that keeps a database of stolen and missing artwork, recently recovered a Matisse oil painting stolen from a Stockholm museum in 1987.

"A quarter of a century is not that unusual for stolen paintings to be returned," Marinello said. "Eventually they will resurface. Somebody will rat somebody else out. It's really only a matter of time."

The FBI announced Monday that it knows but is not disclosing the identities of two men who posed as police officers and stole 13 works of art from the museum in 1990. The theft remains the largest art heist in U.S. history.

Bob Wittman, a retired FBI agent from Philadelphia who specialized in art crimes, said he helped recover a set of seven Norman Rockwell paintings stolen from a Minneapolis museum in 1977. The paintings were found in Rio de Janeiro in 2001. Wittman said he also helped recover an original copy of the Bill of Rights that had been stolen more than 130 years earlier.

"I think that the chances are that if they still exist, there's a 95 percent chance they are going to get the paintings back," Wittman said.

"At some point, they are going to come back to market. Whoever is holding them illicitly is going to get old. An heir or a child is going to find it and try to sell it."

The FBI, which made its announcement on the 23rd anniversary of the heist, also launched a new publicity campaign aimed at generating tips on the whereabouts of the artwork, including a dedicated FBI website on the heist, video postings on FBI social media sites and digital billboards in Connecticut and Philadelphia. They also re-emphasized a $5 million reward being offered by the museum for information leading to the return of the artwork.

Damon Katz, a spokesman for the FBI's Boston office, said tips were already coming in Tuesday. He would not say how many.

"We are analyzing them and we will act on those as appropriate," he said. "The goal is not to generate the largest number of tips, but to generate the best tips that will lead us to the art."

Richard DesLauriers, an FBI agent in Boston, said investigators believe the thieves belonged to a criminal organization based in New England and the mid-Atlantic states. They believe the art was taken to Connecticut and the Philadelphia region in the years after the theft and offered for sale in Philadelphia a decade ago. After that, the FBI does not know what happened to the artwork, DeLauriers said.

Empty frames still hang on the walls of the museum as a reminder of the loss of precious works of art, including "The Concert" by Johannes Vermeer and several Rembrandts, "A Lady and Gentleman in Black" and "Storm on the Sea of Galilee," his only seascape.

The statute of limitations has expired on crimes associated with the actual theft. But prosecutors say anyone who knowingly possesses or conceals the stolen art could still face charges.

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By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Justin Timberlake celebrated the release of his first album since 2006 with a lively show in Los Angeles, whetting fans' appetites by confirming media reports that he would release more new music soon.

At an intimate album release party for "The 20/20 Experience" on Monday, Timberlake took the opportunity to clear up media reports that he would be releasing a second volume of music later this year.

"I've got to clear up the rumors. This whole thing about this only being the first part ... is true. There is another half. I'm not giving you a release date," the singer said.

Earlier in the day, media outlets reported that Roots drummer Questlove said in an interview that Timberlake would release a second volume of music in November this year.

"The 20/20 Experience" marks the singer's return to the musical spotlight after taking time out to focus on his acting career, starring in films such as "The Social Network" and "Friends with Benefits."

Timberlake, 32, sang a few of his latest hits and earlier songs for the audience, and answered questions from fans about his new record, including why it took him six years to release a new album after his hugely successful 2006 "FutureSexLoveSounds," which featured the hit single "Sexyback."

"I definitely enjoy all the entertaining but music is definitely the most special thing to me, and that's probably why I wait so long in between records, because for me, no pun intended, it's an experience," the singer said in an interview with Ryan Seacrest between songs.

Timberlake has successfully transitioned from child star and member of boyband N'Sync to bona fide actor and solo singer.

The album marks a new chapter in the singer's life, following his marriage to actress Jessica Biel in October 2012.

Timberlake sang three songs from the new album - romantic ballad "Mirrors," smooth R&B track "Suit & Tie" and the Latin-infused "Let the Groove Get In" - showcasing the range of influences he explored on "The 20/20 Experience."

But it was the album's closing track, "Blue Ocean Floor," that Timberlake called the most "unique" on the album and inspired by British rock band Radiohead.

"I'm a huge Thom Yorke (Radiohead frontman) fan, and I was listening to some 'OK Computer' and 'Kid A' and this song just happened. This is probably the most unique so far and probably took me out of my comfort zone," the singer said.

Timberlake also played some of his most popular hits, including a medley of "Like I Love You," "My Love" and his breakup song "Cry Me A River."

The new album has been at the top of the iTunes album charts since it became available to stream and pre-order last week and is set to debut at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart next week.

Audience members on Monday took note of the singer's penchant for formal wear, turning up in suits and dresses for the speakeasy-themed album release party at the historic El Rey Theater in Los Angeles.

Fan Amanda Wall, 18, and her mother Camille won tickets to the intimate gig on Seacrest's radio show and traveled from Atlanta to attend the singer's album launch.

"I've been a big Justin Timberlake fan, he's been my crush since I was 7, so this is huge," Amanda Wall told Reuters.

The singer will embark on a "Legends of the Summer" North American tour with rapper Jay-Z, kicking off in July.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Elaine Lies and Eric Walsh)

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PARIS (AP) The last time Tom Selldorff saw his grandfather's prized art collection he was six in 1930s Vienna, before it fell into Nazi hands.

Now, he's 84 years old and in a restitution ceremony in Paris on Tuesday, Selldorff has finally been given back a piece of his late grandfather's memory: France has returned six of his stolen family masterpieces. The restitution of the works including paintings by Alessandro Longhi and Sebastiano Ricci is part of its ongoing French effort to return hundreds of looted artworks that Jewish owners lost during the war that still hang in the Louvre and other museums. The move ends years of struggle for Selldorff, whose claims were validated by the French government last year after years of researching the fates of the works.

"I'm extremely grateful and very moved" said Selldorff, who laid eyes on the oil paintings on temporary display in France's culture ministry for the first time since the 1930s. "These paintings were in this fog of war. The restitution... was not easy. It took a long time."

The artworks were stolen or sold under duress up to seven decades ago as Jewish industrialist and art collector Richard Neumann and his family fled Nazi-occupied Europe. It is not clear exactly to whom Neumann sold them, and the route they took to show up in French museums is unclear. They found places at the Louvre, the Museum of Modern Art of Saint-Etienne, the Agen Fine Arts Museum and the Tours Fine Art Museum.

"After losing most of his family assets and a good part of his collection to the Nazis in Austria in 1938, he came to Paris for several years and then had to flee again, this time with my grandmother at one point on foot over the Pyrenees, to Spain and then eventually to Cuba," he said.

Meanwhile the paintings stayed behind all six destined for display in the art gallery Adolf Hitler wanted to build in his hometown of Linz, Austria, according to a catalog for the planned museum.

"I only wish my grandfather was here to be able to be a part of all this, but I am sure he is watching from somewhere upstairs, so that's fine," added Selldorff, who's now a U.S. citizen and flew in to France for the event from Boston.

At the end of the war, with Hitler dead and European cities rebuilding, artworks were left "unclaimed" and many thousands that were thought to have been French-owned found their ways into the country's top museums. Many of the 100,000 possessions looted, stolen or appropriated between 1940-44 in France have been returned to Jewish families, but France says that some 2,000 artworks still lie in state institutions.

With a twinkle in his eye, and a youthful smile the octogenarian Selldorff remembers wandering around his grandfather's collection.

"I remember the house (in Vienna) very well, I remember the existence of these dark rooms with these paintings hanging," he said, recalling that his grandfather Neumann also opened up the collection to the Austrian public.

"I too hope that some of the will go on loan to museums and exhibited so that other people besides our family can appreciate them," he said.

Selldorff says he's spoken to some U.S. museums about the possibility of showing the art to the American public.

Overall, he says it's about being able to pass to his three children and five grandchildren a piece of his grandfather's stolen history.

"His love of art is what I want to pass on," he said. "It's what makes us human."

___

Thomas Adamson can be followed at http://Twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP

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NEW YORK (AP) "Oz the Great and Powerful" continued to live up to its name, leading the weekend box office for the second week with $46.6 million.

The Halle Berry thriller "The Call" opened well above expectations, taking in $17.1 million in its debut.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. "Oz the Great and Powerful," Walt Disney, $41,252,702, 3912 locations, $10,545 average, $144,056,326, two weeks.

2. "The Call," Sony, $17,118,745, 2507 locations, $6,828 average, $17,118,745, one week.

3. "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone," Warner Bros. $10,177,257, 3160 locations, $3,221 average, $10,177,257, one week.

4. "Jack the Giant Slayer," Warner Bros., $6,314,262, 3357 locations, $1,881 average, three weeks.

5. "Identity Thief," Universal, $4,419,310, 2842 locations, $1,555 average, $123,606,175, six weeks.

6. "Snitch," Lionsgate, $3,504,618, 2353 locations, $1,489 average, $37,261,895, four weeks.

7. "21 and Over," Relativity Media, $2,669,967, 2424 locations,$1,101 average, $21,918,740, three weeks.

8. "Silver Linings Playbook," Weinstein Co., $2,525,603, 1602 locations, $1,577 average, $124,551,782, 18 weeks.

9. "Safe Haven," Relativity Media, $2,453,229, 2206 locations, $1,112, $66,911,039, five weeks.

10. "Escape From Planet Earth," Weinstein Co., $2,339,419, 2211 locations, $1,058 average, $52,178,000, five weeks.

11. "Dead Man Down," FilmDistrict, $2,126,029, 2,188 locations, $972 average, $9,373,369, two weeks.

12. "The Last Exorcism, Part II," CBS Films, $1,276,070, 1575 locations, $810 average, $14,381,174, three weeks.

13. "Life of Pi," Fox, $1,224,692, 646 locations, $1,896 average, $121,344,826, 17 weeks.

14. "A Good Day to Die Hard," Fox, $1,157,499, 1117 locations, $1,036 average, $65,471,646, five weeks.

15. "Quartet," Weinstein Co., $936,699, 688 locations, $1,361 average, $14,833,591, 10 weeks.

16. "Emperor," Roadside Attractions, $625,518, 311 locations, $2,011 average, $2,028,581, two weeks.

17. "Warm Bodies," Lionsgate, $569,290, 659 locations, $864 average, $64,580,200, seven weeks.

18. "Dark Skies," Weinstein Co., $544,605, 703 locations, $775 average, $16,647,116, four weeks.

19. "Side Effects," Open Road Films, $543,568, 402 locations, $1,352 average, $30,482,781, six weeks.

20. "Argo," Warner Bros., $509,207, 540 locations, $943 average, $135,178,251, 23 weeks.

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

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By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - A computer hacker was sentenced on Monday to three years and five months in prison for stealing the personal data of about 120,000 Apple Inc iPad users, including big-city mayors, a TV network news anchor and a Hollywood movie mogul.

Andrew Auernheimer, 27, had been convicted in November by a Newark, New Jersey, jury of one count of conspiracy to access AT&T Inc servers without permission, and one count of identity theft.

The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton in Newark was at the high end of the 33- to 41-month range that the U.S. Department of Justice had sought.

Prosecutors had said prison time would help deter hackers from invading the privacy of innocent people on the Internet.

Among those affected by Auernheimer's activities were ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein, prosecutors said.

"When it became clear that he was in trouble, he concocted the fiction that he was trying to make the Internet more secure, and that all he did was walk in through an unlocked door," U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement. "The jury didn't buy it, and neither did the court in imposing sentence."

Auernheimer had sought probation. His lawyer had argued that no passwords were hacked, and that a long prison term was unjustified given that the government recently sought six months for a defendant in a case involving "far more intrusive facts."

The lawyer, Tor Ekeland, said his client would appeal. He said the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act doesn't clearly define what constitutes unauthorized access.

"If this is criminal, then tens of thousands of Americans are committing computer crimes every other day," Ekeland said in an interview. "There really was no harm."

Auernheimer was handcuffed at one point during the sentencing, the lawyer said. He said his client may have been "tweeting" on his phone, and the U.S. marshals took it away.

Ekeland is also a lawyer for Matthew Keys, a deputy social media editor at Thomson Reuters Corp who was suspended with pay on Friday.

Keys was indicted last week in California on federal charges of aiding the Anonymous hacking collective by giving a hacker access to Tribune Co computer systems in December 2010.

The alleged events occurred before Keys began working at the website Reuters.com. Ekeland on Friday said Keys "maintains his innocence" and "looks forward to contesting these baseless charges.

INTERNET TROLL

Prosecutors called Auernheimer a "well-known computer hacker and internet 'troll,'" who with co-defendant Daniel Spitler and the group Goatse Security tried to disrupt online content and services.

The two men were accused of using an "account slurper" designed to match email addresses with identifiers for iPad users, and of conducting a "brute force" attack to extract data about those users, who accessed the Internet through the AT&T servers.

This stolen information was then provided to the website Gawker, which published an article naming well-known people whose emails had been compromised, prosecutors said.

Spitler pleaded guilty in June 2011 to the same charges for which Auernheimer was convicted, and is awaiting sentencing.

Gawker was not charged in the case. In its original article, Gawker said Goatse obtained its data through a script on AT&T's website that was accessible to anyone on the Internet. Gawker also said in the article that it established the authenticity of the data through two people listed among the names. A Gawker spokesman on Monday declined to elaborate.

AT&T has partnered with Apple in the United States to provide wireless service on the iPad. After the hacking, it shut off the feature that allowed email addresses to be obtained.

The case is U.S. v. Auernheimer, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, No. 11-00470.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Martha Graybow, Alden Bentley and Eric Walsh)

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By Steve Pond

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Tom Cruise and attorney Bert Fields have won a summary judgment dismissing a lawsuit filed by former Bold magazine editor Michael Davis Sapir, who claimed Cruise and Fields had hired private investigator Anthony Pellicano to wiretap him.

In a hearing at the Central Civil West courtroom in Los Angeles, Judge Elihu M. Berle ruled that the statue of limitations had expired on Sapir's claim.

The statue of limitations argument was one of four grounds on which the defendants' lawyers had argued for dismissal - but defendants' attorney Brian A. Sun of the Jones Day law firm told TheWrap that Berle dismissed the case on those grounds alone and didn't consider the other arguments.

In 2001, Sapir offered a $500,000 reward to anyone who could produce video evidence that Cruise was gay. When he issued a subsequent press release claiming to have obtained such a video, Cruise filed a $100 million defamation suit. That case was settled in November 2001, with Sapir publishing a retraction, saying it was someone else in the video.

Sapir later claimed that at the time the 2001 suit was ongoing, he was investigated by Pellicano at the behest of Cruise and Fields. He charged that his phone was wiretapped by the controversial Hollywood investigator, who is currently serving time in a Texas prison on racketeering and wiretapping convictions.

But Sapir did not file his $5 million lawsuit against Cruise and Fields until December 2009, well after the statue of limitations in the California Code of Civil Procedure had expired.

The defendants' lawyers also argued that Cruise, Fields and the Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP law firm, also a defendant in the case, did not hire Pellicano to work on the Sapir case; that Sapir had no evidence that Pellicano had tapped his phone; and that in the 2001 settlement Sapir agreed not to make any further claims against Cruise and Fields.

Those arguments, according to Sun, are now moot, unless Sapir appeals and wins.

(Pamela Chelin contributed to this report)

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By David Schwartz

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Aerialist Nik Wallenda plans to cross the Grand Canyon in June on a tightrope 1,500 feet in the air, without a safety harness - a feat that will be televised live.

Wallenda said he would traverse a remote section of crimson-hued canyon owned by the Navajo Nation in what will be his first major stunt since he last year became the only person to walk a wire over the brink of Niagara Falls.

"This is another one of my dreams coming true," Wallenda, 34, told Reuters in a brief telephone interview. "This is one that has been on my bucket list for some time."

Wallenda, a seventh-generation member of the "Flying Wallendas" acrobat family, said the tightrope walk across the famed gorge is higher than he has ever before attempted. The walk, scheduled for June 23, will also be about 1,500 feet (450 meters) long.

Wallenda had bristled at wearing a safety tether during his Niagara Falls crossing last June. But ABC, the television network that aired the event, said it would pull the plug on the broadcast if he unhooked the harness.

The tether was never needed as Wallenda took 25 minutes to complete the walk from the United States to Canada while some 200 feet above the falls.

Wallenda said not using a tether this time was non-negotiable in his talks with those bidding to air the Grand Canyon crossing. It will be televised live on the Discovery Channel.

"I always said it was my dream to walk across Niagara Falls and I felt that part of that dream was taken away because I had to wear a tether," Wallenda said. "That wasn't going to happen again if I had anything to do with it."

He said the canyon crossing has been in the making since 2008, but he only recently received permission from the Navajo Nation.

"We're really excited to be able to showcase our homelands on such a large scale," Navajo spokesman Erny Zah said. "We're hoping that people will enjoy the scenery on television and will want to come out and see the area in person."

The plan calls for Wallenda to spend about three weeks preparing for the event at his Florida training base, including using wind machines to help simulate conditions.

Wallenda said he will use the walk to honour his great-grandfather Karl Wallenda, who died in 1978 during a walk between two buildings in Puerto Rico.

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Steve Orlofsky)

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By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - A computer hacker was sentenced on Monday to three years and five months in prison for stealing the personal data of about 120,000 Apple Inc iPad users, including big-city mayors, a TV network news anchor and a Hollywood movie mogul.

Andrew Auernheimer, 27, had been convicted in November by a Newark, New Jersey, jury of one count of conspiracy to access AT&T Inc servers without permission, and one count of identity theft.

The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton in Newark was at the high end of the 33- to 41-month range that the U.S. Department of Justice had sought.

Prosecutors had said prison time would help deter hackers from invading the privacy of innocent people on the Internet.

Among those affected by Auernheimer's activities were ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein, prosecutors said.

"When it became clear that he was in trouble, he concocted the fiction that he was trying to make the Internet more secure, and that all he did was walk in through an unlocked door," U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement. "The jury didn't buy it, and neither did the court in imposing sentence."

Auernheimer had sought probation. His lawyer had argued that no passwords were hacked, and that a long prison term was unjustified given that the government recently sought six months for a defendant in a case involving "far more intrusive facts."

The lawyer, Tor Ekeland, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday. He has said his client would appeal.

Ekeland is also a lawyer for Matthew Keys, a deputy social media editor at Thomson Reuters Corp who was suspended with pay on Friday.

Keys was indicted last week in California on federal charges of aiding the Anonymous hacking collective by giving a hacker access to Tribune Co computer systems in December 2010.

The alleged events occurred before Keys began working at the website Reuters.com. Ekeland on Friday said Keys "maintains his innocence" and "looks forward to contesting these baseless charges.

INTERNET TROLL

Prosecutors called Auernheimer a "well-known computer hacker and internet 'troll,'" who with co-defendant Daniel Spitler and the group Goatse Security tried to disrupt online content and services.

The two men were accused of using an "account slurper" designed to match email addresses with identifiers for iPad users, and of conducting a "brute force" attack to extract data about those users, who accessed the Internet through the AT&T servers.

This stolen information was then provided to the website Gawker, which published an article naming well-known people whose emails had been compromised, prosecutors said.

Spitler pleaded guilty in June 2011 to the same charges for which Auernheimer was convicted, and is awaiting sentencing.

Gawker was not charged in the case. In its original article, Gawker said Goatse obtained its data through a script on AT&T's website that was accessible to anyone on the Internet. Gawker also said in the article that it established the authenticity of the data through two people listed among the names. A Gawker spokesman on Monday declined to elaborate.

AT&T has partnered with Apple in the United States to provide wireless service on the iPad. After the hacking, it shut off the feature that allowed email addresses to be obtained.

The case is U.S. v. Auernheimer, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, No. 11-00470.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Martha Graybow and Alden Bentley)

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Troubled star Lindsay Lohan arrived late for Monday's start of her trial on charges of reckless driving and lying to police over a June car crash, after she flew to Los Angeles from New York overnight.

Lohan, wearing a white and pink pants suit, turned up in court more than 45 minutes late after a morning dash from Los Angeles International Airport to the courthouse following a private jet flight from New York.

A bystander threw glitter at her as she walked into court through a phalanx of photographers and camera crews.

Lohan, 26, has pleaded not guilty to reckless driving, obstructing police, and lying to police when she said she was not behind the wheel when her Porsche sports car smashed into a truck on June 8, 2012, in Santa Monica, California.

The actress, who is still on probation for a 2011 conviction for stealing a necklace, faces the prospect of being sent to jail if she is convicted on the latest charges, or if she is deemed to have violated the terms of her probation.

The three misdemeanor charges each carry potential jail terms ranging from three months to a year. But even if Lohan is not convicted, the judge has the power to sentence her to jail for more than 200 days if he determines the actress violated her probation in the 2011 jewelry case.

Monday's trial went ahead after the failure of weeks of behind the scenes negotiations over a possible plea bargain for the "Mean Girls" actress, who has been to jail for brief periods and entered rehabilitation for drinking and drug problems multiple times since 2007.

Lohan's new attorney, Mark Heller, told reporters earlier this month that Lohan had started a new round of psychotherapy and wanted to give inspirational speeches to school kids in a bid to turn her life around.

However, it's not clear if either of those projects have gotten underway. Lohan has spent much of the three months since being charged over the Santa Monica car crash in New York, where she has been photographed at nightclubs, concerts, and fashion and charity events.

Lohan's once promising Hollywood career has been seriously damaged by her numerous legal troubles. A comeback performance as late screen legend Elizabeth Taylor in the TV movie "Liz & Dick" in November was largely panned by critics.

(Reporting By Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Beech)

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By David Beasley

ATLANTA (Reuters) - An Atlanta woman who says basketball legend Michael Jordan is the father of her 16-year-old son has dropped her paternity suit against him.

Pamela Smith, 48, filed a paternity suit against Jordan last month seeking child support. Jordan denies he is the father of the child and has also filed a counterclaim seeking sanctions against Smith for making false claims.

Smith acknowledged in a previous divorce proceeding that her now ex-husband is the father of the child, according to Jordan's lawyers.

The case has not been settled, Smith's attorney, Randy Kessler, told Reuters on Monday. His client has voluntarily dismissed the case "without prejudice" which means she can re-file it later if she chooses, Kessler added.

"She began this case without an attorney and did her best to file what she believed to be a legally appropriate case," Kessler said.

"She then hired our firm just before the first court appearance. Ms. Smith has relied on our advice and determined that dismissal at this time, without prejudice, is in her son's best interests," he said.

Jordan, 50, is widely hailed as the best basketball player of all time and was a member of six NBA championship teams with the Chicago Bulls. He is majority owner of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats team.

John Mayoue, Jordan's attorney, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the case.

Last week, Smith asked a Georgia court to force Jordan to submit to a DNA test to prove or disprove whether he is the father.

"My son has the right to know who his father is," Smith told reporters after the hearing. "He has had an issue with it over the years."

(Editing by David Adams and Andrew Hay)

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