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☆ An ex-Twitter employee was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison after spying for Saudi Arabia and handing over user info
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ex-Twitter employee Ahmad Abouammo was sentenced to over 3 years in prison after spying for Saudi Arabia. He was found guilty of sharing confidential information about Twitter users with Saudi officials. 45-year-old Ahmad Abouammo was found guilty of sharing confidential information about Twitter users with Saudi officials, and receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange, the attorney's office said. This sentence sends a message to insiders with access to user information to safeguard it, particularly from repressive regimes, or risk significant time in prison." Abouammo was convicted alongside another ex-Twitter employee Ali Alzabarah, who fled the US before being charged, per Reuters.

A former Twitter employee found guilty of spying on users on behalf of the Saudi royal family has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison. He was sentenced Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The Justice Department has said it believes that another former Twitter employee accused of accessing user accounts and a man accused of helping the Saudi government with the scheme have fled to Saudi Arabia to evade American authorities. The Saudi government severely penalizes anti-government expression on social media sites like Twitter. In April, courts sentenced Salma al-Shehab, a Saudi citizen and 34-year-old mother of two children, to 34 years in prison for tweets protesting the government.

☆ Paul Pelosi attack: David DePape Pelosi planned to target Hunter Biden, Gavin Newsom and Tom Hanks, police officials says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Stella Chan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Gavin Newsom and actor Tom Hanks, a San Francisco Police Department official testified Wednesday. “DePape held to answer on all counts and allegations,” the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. Following the attack, Paul Pelosi had surgery “to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands,” Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Nancy Pelosi, said at the time. Where’s Nancy?” He then threatened to tie up Paul Pelosi and prevented him from escaping via elevator, according to the documents. Nancy Pelosi announced last month that she would step down from her leadership post after leading House Democrats for two decades.

Companies Guangzhou R&F Properties Co Ltd FollowLONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The billionaire co-founder of Guangzhou R&F Properties Co Ltd (2777.HK) is wanted in the United States accused of paying kickbacks to obtain permits for a construction project in San Francisco, a court in London heard on Monday. The 69-year-old – who is worth $2.3 billion, according to Forbes magazine – offered to pay a security of 15 million pounds ($18.4 million). Mark Summers, representing Zhang, said 10 million pounds of the security would be provided by R&F. Zhang would provide the other 5 million pounds, Summers said. The judge also said Zhang must be handcuffed to a member of his court-appointed private security team when he left his house for the purposes of attending court.

WASHINGTON/SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec 8 (Reuters) - The Federal Trade Commission, which enforces antitrust law, is about to engage in a real-life courtroom fight over virtual reality. On Thursday, a high-profile trial kicks off in which the FTC will try to prevent Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) from buying virtual reality app developer Within Inc. The FTC sued in July to stop the deal, saying Meta's acquisition of Within would "tend to create a monopoly" in the market for virtual reality (VR) fitness apps. The majority of the more than 400 apps available in the Quest app store are produced by external developers. Meta owns the most popular virtual reality app in the Quest app store, Beat Saber, which it acquired in 2019.

U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, imposed the sentence on Balwani, who was convicted by a jury on two counts of conspiracy and 10 counts of fraud in July. Meanwhile, the company secretly relied on traditional methods to run tests and provided patients with inaccurate results, prosecutors said. Holmes, who started the company as a college student and became its public face, was indicted alongside Balwani, her former romantic partner, in 2018. Holmes was convicted in January on four counts of fraud and conspiracy but acquitted of defrauding patients. The case is U.S. v. Balwani, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

☆ Federal judge dismisses crypto scam lawsuit against Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather Jr.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit by investors against the founders of the cryptocurrency EthereumMax, as well as celebrity endorsers including Kim Kardashian and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. over their promotion of the cryptocurrency on social media. Investors who bought EMAX tokens alleged they had suffered losses after taking the word of the celebrity influencers about the value of the crypto. The suit claims the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to artificially inflate the value of the EMAX tokens. "We're pleased with the court's well-reasoned decision on the case," Michael Rhodes, a lawyer for Kardashian, told CNBC. Fitzgerald in his ruling Wednesday said the EthereumMax lawsuit reflects a broader conflict surrounding celebrity and influencer promotional schemes.

☆ Reuters: Former Theranos COO sentenced to nearly 13 years
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN Business —Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the former chief operating officer of failed blood testing startup Theranos, was sentenced Wednesday to nearly 13 years in prison for fraud. Former Theranos COO Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani appears in court on Wednesday, December 7. Like Holmes, Balwani faced up to 20 years in prison as well as a fine of $250,000 plus restitution for each count. In a recent court filing, prosecutors noted that Balwani was convicted not only of defrauding investors but also defrauding patients. Before joining Theranos, Balwani had a career as a software executive.

Dec 6 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has been sued by two women who said its AirTag devices have made it easier for their former partners and other stalkers to track down victims. The plaintiffs called AirTag "the weapon of choice of stalkers and abusers," and said it has been linked to murders this year of women from Akron, Ohio and Indianapolis. One plaintiff in Monday's lawsuit, Lauren Hughes, said her former boyfriend learned where she had moved to avoid him after placing an AirTag in her car's wheel well. The other plaintiff, Jane Doe, said her estranged husband tracked her after putting an AirTag in their child's backpack. The case is Hughes et al v. Apple Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

☆ Guns N’ Roses Sues Texas-Based Gun Shop Over Name
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Jennifer Calfas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Guns N’ Roses, ‘quite reasonably, does not want to be associated with Defendant, a firearms and weapons retailer,’ lawyers for the band said. Guns N’ Roses is suing a Texas gun shop for using the rock band’s name without its permission, alleging the perceived association could damage its reputation. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California last week, alleges Texas Guns and Roses, a gun retailer owned by Jersey Village Florist, violated trademark laws for using a name that could be confused or associated with the band.

☆ Trump foe Michael Avenatti sentenced to 14 years in prison for stealing millions from clients
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Lawyer Michael Avenatti speaks to the media after he walks out of federal court in New York, New York, U.S., March 25, 2019. The judge also ordered Avenatti to pay more than $10.8 million in restitution to four clients and to the Internal Revenue Service. Michael Avenatti, the brash lawyer who gained notoriety for legal actions involving former President Donald Trump , was sentenced Monday in California to 14 years in prison for stealing about $7.6 million from clients, as well as for tax fraud. For months in 2018, Avenatti was a ubiquitous presence on television news shows, where he delighted in verbally skewering the president and Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen. "He stole millions of dollars from his clients – all to finance his extravagant lifestyle that included a private jet and race cars," the top prosecutor said.

☆ Exclusive: Musk’s Neuralink faces federal probe, employee backlash over animal tests
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Rachael Levy | Thomson Reuters | Award-Winning Journalist Covering Corporate Governance. Her Reporting Has Prompted Federal Investigations | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +16 min

Reuters could not determine the full scope of the federal investigation or whether it involved the same alleged problems with animal testing identified by employees in Reuters interviews. Musk has pushed hard to accelerate Neuralink’s progress, which depends heavily on animal testing, current and former employees said. Delcianna Winders, director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at the Vermont Law and Graduate School, said it is “very unusual” for the USDA inspector general to investigate animal research facilities. In September, the company responded to employee concerns about its animal testing by holding a town hall to explain its processes. “We’re extremely careful,” he said, to make sure that testing is “confirmatory, not exploratory,” using animal testing as a last resort after trying other methods.

☆ El Salvador investigative journalists sue spyware maker in U.S. federal court
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Journalists from an investigative news outlet in El Salvador sued NSO Group in United States federal court Wednesday after the Israeli firm’s powerful Pegasus spyware was detected on their iPhones. In January, the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, an internet watchdog, reported that dozens of journalists and human rights defenders in El Salvador had their cellphones repeatedly hacked with the spyware. Among them were journalists at the El Faro news site. NSO Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit. Apple and WhatsApp have pending lawsuits against NSO Group in the same U.S. court in the Northern District of California.

☆ Trump's tax returns case lost in the Supreme Court. Now what?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Carol C. Lam | Carol C. Lam Was A U.S. Attorney For The Southern District Of California | A Federal Prosecutor For Years. She Also Was A Superior Court Judge In San Diego County. She Is A Legal Analyst For Msnbc. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Letitia James, the New York attorney general, also has years of tax returns, and has brought a civil case based largely on them. First, the updated House request to the Treasury Department in 2021 calls for more recent tax returns, this time for tax years 2015-2020. Tax returns in the hands of a congressional committee are not the same as tax returns in the hands of a prosecutor. Government prosecutors can obtain, but not disclose, the contents of tax returns — unless, that is, it becomes necessary to introduce relevant portions of the returns into evidence. After evidence came to light that President Richard Nixon had used taxpayer information to target political opponents, legislation was enacted in 1976 that severely restricted a president’s ability to disclose taxpayer information.

Nov 23 (Reuters) - Patagonia Inc, the high-end outdoor clothing retailer, filed a lawsuit accusing Gap Inc (GPS.N) of illegally copying the "iconic" snapped flap pocket it has used on fleece outerwear for more than three decades. In a Tuesday night complaint filed in San Francisco federal court, Patagonia said Gap is willfully and deliberately selling fleece jackets that mimic its flap pocket and rectangular "P-6" logo without permission. The lawsuit includes a one-star review posted online by a Gap customer who called a Gap product an "Obvious Pata*gonia ripoff. Patagonia said it introduced its Snap-T pullover fleece in 1985 and added the flap pocket four years later. The case is Patagonia Inc v Gap Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

☆ Elizabeth Holmes Is Sentenced to More Than 11 Years for Fraud
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Erin Griffith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the failed blood-testing start-up Theranos, was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison on Friday for defrauding investors about her company’s technology and business dealings. The sentence capped a yearslong saga that has captivated the public and ignited debates about Silicon Valley’s culture of hype and exaggeration. Judge Edward J. Davila of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California sentenced Ms. Holmes to 135 months in prison, which is slightly more than 11 years, followed by three years of supervised release. Ms. Holmes, 38, who plans to appeal, must surrender to custody on April 27, 2023. In the courtroom on Friday, Ms. Holmes — who appeared with a large group of friends and family, including her parents and her partner, Billy Evans — cried when she read a statement to the judge.

Persons: — Elizabeth Holmes, Holmes, Edward J, Davila, Holmes —, Billy Evans — Organizations: JOSE, Calif, U.S, Northern, Northern District of Locations: Northern District, Northern District of California

☆ Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to more than 11 years in prison
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced Friday to more than 11 years in prison for fraud after deceiving investors about the purported efficacy of her company's blood-testing technology. Holmes was convicted in January in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Once valued at $9 billion by private investors, Theranos shut down in 2018. U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila, who presided over Holmes' trial, handed down the sentence. Holmes' sentencing comes as another young tech former billionaire icon, Sam Bankman-Fried, faces a daunting future, following the sudden collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange FTX last week.

LOS ANGELES — Former Los Angeles Dodgers player Yasiel Puig will plead guilty to lying to federal investigators who were probing an illegal sports gambling operation, prosecutors in Southern California said Monday. Puig, 31, will plead guilty to one count of making false statements, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a statement. Puig will also pay a fine of at least $55,000, the prosecutors’ office said. Puig was charged and a plea agreement was filed Aug. 29, but the case was unsealed Monday, according to court records. Neither the statement from federal prosecutors’ office nor court documents say that Puig gambled on baseball.

The antitrust plaintiffs' lawyers, Shana Scarlett of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and Stephen Swedlow of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, on Monday did not immediately reply to a message seeking comment. A Facebook spokesperson did not immediately comment about whether the settlement might affect the antitrust case. The privacy settlement wrapped up allegations that Facebook continued to track users' web activity despite being logged out of the site. Facebook denied the privacy claims, and the company is fighting the allegations in the antitrust case. In the antitrust case, plaintiffs' lawyers at Hagens Berman and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart had asked Davila to include a sentence saying the resolution of the privacy settlement doesn't impact the antitrust litigation.

Ramon Abbas, known to his millions of Instagram followers as Ray Hushpuppi, pleaded guilty in April last year to conspiracy to engage in money laundering. On social media, where Abbas had posted videos of himself tossing wads of cash like confetti, he referred to himself as a real estate developer. His social media account was a treasure trove of information for investigatorsFederal investigators have described Abbas as a prolific money launderer who leveraged his social media platform to gain notoriety and brag about his wealth. In a 2020 affidavit, federal officials detailed how his social media accounts provided details needed to confirm his identity. Even Abbas’ Instagram birthday party photos helped the investigation.

The states filed their friend-of-the-court brief in San Jose, California, federal court, where the FTC in July asked a federal judge to bar Meta's acquisition of Los Angeles-based Within. The states, joined by the District of Columbia and Guam, said the deal threatens to "harm competition in the emerging virtual reality space." Circuit to revive the states' claims after a U.S. district court judge dismissed the case. Utah, which also signed the amicus brief, is leading a group of states in an antitrust lawsuit challenging how Google runs its app store. The case is Federal Trade Commission v. Meta Platforms Inc, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No.

☆ Court records show law firm Brown Rudnick was hacked in 2020 and its insurance paid a $2 million ransom
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The law firm's cyber insurer paid a ransom and wants to hold a tech vendor liable for $2.4 million. The law firm was one of several breached, including Goodwin Procter and Jones Day. The law firm Brown Rudnick paid criminal hackers $2 million in 2020 so they wouldn't publish confidential records online, and its insurer is still trying to recoup the money it spent responding to the attack, Insider has discovered. The software company paid out millions of dollars to settle with people and businesses impacted by the hack. Brown Rudnick’s name was included in a technical alert that was pasted into the lawsuit by its insurance company.

"Elon will own a company without employees," a source inside Twitter told CNBC. In an exchange at an investor conference Friday, Musk appeared to confirm that his team had laid off half the company's workforce, according to CNBC. Inside the company, anxieties about potential layoffs were swirling around even before Musk’s takeover was finished. However, Twitter’s general counsel urged workers not to dwell on rumors before Musk took the reins. Tech industry observers have raised concerns that he might loosen content moderation policies that limit hate speech and political disinformation.

☆ An ex-Apple employee faces as long as 20 years in jail after admitting to defrauding the tech giant of over $17 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A former Apple employee has admitted to defrauding the company out of $17 million. The ex-worker, Dhirendra Prasad, admitted to running multiple fraud schemes. In one of the schemes, Prasad and a co-conspirator arranged to have Apple pay for its own components. He admitted that these actions cost Apple more than $17 million, according to the release. In one of the schemes, Prasad and Baker arranged to have Apple pay for its own property.

☆ Leidos Discloses Subpoenas Amid Antitrust, Bribery Probes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

Leidos Holdings Inc., an information-technology and engineering services firm, received dual subpoenas in recent months in connection with criminal investigations into potential foreign bribery and antitrust violations. The Reston, Va.-based company was served with a grand jury subpoena in August related to an investigation by the Justice Department’s antitrust division, Leidos said Tuesday. The probe is the second ongoing criminal investigation disclosed by Leidos this year. The FCPA probe was first disclosed by the company in a securities filing earlier this year. At the time, Leidos said it was conducting an internal investigation into activities within its international operations that it discovered in late 2021.

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