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Barrack, 75, is charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent and lying to the FBI. Prosecutors said UAE officials also pressed Barrack for details on who Trump would pick for various high-level jobs, including CIA director and at the State and Defense departments. Barrack's lawyers have said their client is his own man and was doing what he thought was right — not acting as an Emirati agent. Even viewed in the light most favorable to the government, the evidence shows only that the 'UAE' sometimes asked Mr. Barrack to do something, or to consider doing something, and Mr. Barrack then decided for himself whether he would do it or not." He said that Barrack had pushed him to convince then-President Trump to support Qatar in a blockade over the UAE.

☆ Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Testifies in Defense of Trump Ally
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testified Thursday in support of a Donald Trump ally on trial for alleged illegal lobbying on behalf of the United Arab Emirates, telling jurors that defendant Thomas Barrack at one point pushed a policy stance contrary to the interests of the small Gulf state. Mr. Mnuchin, who was treasury secretary during President Trump’s term in office, appeared in a Brooklyn federal court as a defense witness for Mr. Barrack, former chairman of investment firm Colony Capital Inc. who served as an informal adviser to Mr. Trump’s campaign. Federal prosecutors allege Mr. Barrack secretly worked to steer Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign and administration toward policies that U.A.E. officials favored.

Lafarge, which became part of Swiss-listed Holcim (HOLN.S) in 2015, agreed to pay $778 million in forfeiture and fines as part of the plea agreement. "Lafarge made a deal with the devil," Breon Peace, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, told reporters following the guilty plea. At that point, Islamic State took possession of the remaining cement and sold it for the equivalent of $3.21 million, prosecutors said. REUTERS/Charles PlatiauHolcim said that former Lafarge executives involved in the conduct concealed it from Holcim, as well as from external auditors. No Lafarge executives were charged in the United States.

Companies Lafarge Sa FollowHolcim AG FollowNEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - French cement maker Lafarge pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a U.S. charge that it made payments to groups designated as terrorists by the United States, including Islamic State. The admission in Brooklyn federal court marked the first time a company has pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization. Lafarge, which became part of Swiss-listed Holcim (HOLN.S) in 2015, agreed to pay $778 million in forfeiture and fines as part of the plea agreement. U.S. prosecutors said that Lafarge paid Islamic State and al Nusra Front, through intermediaries, the equivalent of approximately $5.92 million. At that point, Islamic State took possession of the remaining cement and sold it for the equivalent of $3.21 million, prosecutors said.

Companies Lafarge Sa FollowHolcim AG FollowNEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - French cement maker Lafarge pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a U.S. charge that it made payments to groups designated as terrorists by the United States, including Islamic State, according to a court hearing. The admission in Brooklyn federal court marked the first time a company has pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization. The cement maker previously admitted after an internal investigation that its Syrian subsidiary paid armed groups to help protect staff at the plant. Holcim said that former Lafarge executives involved in the conduct concealed it from Holcim, as well as from external auditors. Rights groups in France in 2017 accused Lafarge of paying 13 million euros ($12.79 million) to armed groups including Islamic State militants to keep operating in Syria between 2011 and 2015.

Circuit Court of Appeals in New York reversed a federal judge's ruling that said only the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had the power to review complaints about Amazon's workplace safety practices. The case involves workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island that employs about 5,000 people and had become the company's first unionized facility earlier this year. On Tuesday, workers at an Amazon warehouse near Albany, New York, voted nearly two to one to reject a union campaign in the company's fourth union election this year. Amazon has denied wrongdoing and said it took various steps to protect warehouse workers. The 2nd Circuit on Tuesday reversed with respect to the workers' claim that Amazon violated a New York state workplace safety law by failing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

☆ Feds plan to call Leonardo DiCaprio and former Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly at trial of Fugees rapper Pras Michel
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Pras Michel, a founding member of the Fugees hip-hop group, is standing trial in DC next month. He's accused of illegally lobbying Trump officials to resolve an inquiry into the 1MDB scandal. In a court filing Sunday, prosecutors revealed a witness list that includes DiCaprio and top Trump administration officials, including former White House chief of staff John Kelly and former national security advisor H.R. As part of the scheme, prosecutors said, Michel recruited about 20 so-called "straw donors" who made campaign contributions with Low's money. Michel is charged with violating both FARA and that other statute, known as 951, in his alleged lobbying schemes.

He also provided UAE officials with sensitive information, including internal discussions within the Trump administration concerning the blockade of Qatar by the UAE, Mehta said. When he was asked by the FBI about his dealing with UAE officials and the actions he'd taken, Barrack "started lying" and "lied and lied again." Schachter argued that the feds were blowing up "meaningless, inconsequential acts," including Barrack praising the UAE as an "important ally" during a TV interview. "Barack Obama has said the same thing," Schachter told the jury. While Grimes did set up appointments for Barrack, including with UAE officials, he did so at his boss' request, Lowell said, adding that he’d also get Barrack his coffee and smoothies and babysit his kids.

☆ Trump has failed to show he declassified docs seized from Mar-a-Lago, DOJ tells appeals court
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The DOJ lawyers added that Trump "is now resisting" a request by a court-appointed special master for him to provide evidence that he declassified records that were seized. But in Tuesday's court conference, Dearie expressed skepticism toward Trump's lawyers about which, if any, of the seized Mar-a-Lago records had been declassified, NBC News reported. Unless Trump's lawyers could provide evidence to dispute that stance, "As far as I'm concerned, that's the end of it," Dearie said. Court documents also revealed that the FBI found four dozen empty folders marked "CLASSIFIED" during the raid. "Those notes could certainly contain privileged information," Trump's lawyers wrote.

The special master appointed to review documents seized by federal agents who searched former President Donald Trump's Florida estate appeared doubtful Tuesday about Trump's contention that he had declassified the various top secret and other highly sensitive documents found there. The special master, Senior U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie, had previously asked Trump's attorneys for more information about which of the over 100 sensitive documents federal agents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate might have been declassified. During a hearing in a Brooklyn federal court, Dearie noted the current case is a civil dispute, not a criminal one, but that he was taking the government's concerns about national security seriously. "As far as I'm concerned, that's the end of it," Dearie said, unless Trump's team has some evidence to the contrary. “We are starting from scratch and we would be well served to have time to look at the documents," Trusty said.

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