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☆ Romanian prosecutors add charge against online personality Tristan Tate
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUCHAREST, April 25(Reuters) - Romanian prosecutors said on Tuesday they are investigating online personality Tristan Tate on an additional charge of inciting others to violence in a case in which he and his more famous brother Andrew are accused of sexually exploiting women. On Monday, Romania's DIICOT anti-organised crime prosecuting unit notified Tristan Tate that an additional charge of inciting others to violence was added to his name, DIICOT spokesperson Ramona Bolla told Reuters. On Twitter, Tristan Tate said prosecutors were making up new charges without evidence. Under Romanian legislation, prosecutors have filed charges against the four suspects, but the case is under investigation and has not gone to trial. The spokesperson said the prosecutors were also looking into accusations of money laundering, but had not issued any related charges.

CNN —Disgraced R&B singer and convicted sex trafficker R. Kelly has been transferred to a federal prison in North Carolina. R. Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was moved to FCI Butner Medium I, a “medium security federal correctional institution,” according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. The Butner complex sits north of the Raleigh-Durham area and includes two medium security facilities, a low-security facility and a medical facility. He was already serving a 30-year sentence on racketeering and sex trafficking charges after being convicted in New York in September 2021. “Numerous seated jurors were either familiar with accusations that Defendant had a history of sexually abusing underage girls, had previously faced legal problems, and/or had seen the highly unflattering docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly, in which several government witnesses had appeared,” a brief filed last Wednesday said.

It is considered the first criminal insider trading case involving such assets. "He abused that position of trust," prosecutors said in an April 4 filing. He added that if prosecutors mention insider trading, "there is a substantial danger of undue prejudice and confusion of the jury." "Is it insider trading of anything?" "If this case sticks, there is precedent that insider trading theory can be applied to any asset class."

☆ Ex-Peru president Toledo surrenders to US authorities, extradition imminent
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] A media member streams their news desk on their phone screen while reporting outside Robert F. Peckham Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse on the day Peru's former President Alejandro Toledo, wanted in his home country on charges of taking millions of dollars in bribes, is expected to turn himself in for extradition, in San Jose, California, U.S. April 21, 2023. REUTERS/Loren ElliottApril 21 (Reuters) - Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo surrendered to U.S. authorities on Friday, a U.S. Marshals Service official told Reuters, a day after his bid to block his extradition to Peru over corruption charges was denied. The former president was arrested in the United States in July 2019 after a formal request by Peru for his extradition.

☆ Autonomy founder Lynch's appeal against US extradition rejected by UK court
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

He had appealed to the High Court to overturn a decision by Britain's home secretary (interior minister) to order his extradition in January. But two High Court senior judges did not even grant him permission for an appeal. "The United States’ legal overreach into the UK is a threat to the rights of all British citizens and the sovereignty of the UK," he said in a statement. HP sued Lynch in London's High Court following the deal. Hussain was convicted of fraud in the United States and sentenced to five years in prison in 2019.

April 20 (Reuters) - New Mexico prosecutors have decided to drop criminal charges against actor Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie "Rust" in 2021, Baldwin's lawyers said on Thursday. Baldwin, 65, was charged in January with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with Hutchins' death and the injury of "Rust" director Joel Souza, who was also shot. He pleaded not guilty in February after prosecutors downgraded the seriousness of the charges, reducing the potential prison time. Baldwin settled a lawsuit in October with the cinematographer's husband, Matt Hutchins, in a deal that made Hutchins an executive producer on the movie. Gutierrez-Reed has blamed the shooting on other factors including possible sabotage, Baldwin's lack of training and a failure by Halls and Baldwin to ask her for extra checks.

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge in Washington on Thursday denied former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo's bid to block his extradition to Peru, where he faces corruption charges. His lawyers had filed for an emergency stay earlier in the day to block his extradition, which was planned for Friday. "His emergency motion to stay is denied," U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said in an order on Thursday. In her ruling, Howell said Toledo "has long been afforded substantial process" in the U.S. courts to contest his extradition. Howell, citing various legal factors, also said Toledo had failed to "demonstrate entitlement" to a stay of his extradition.

☆ R. Kelly is appealing his 2021 sex trafficking and racketeering convictions in New York and wants a new trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Liam Reilly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly is appealing one of his two federal convictions – his September 2021 guilty verdicts on sex trafficking and racketeering charges in New York – and is seeking a reversal of that conviction or a new trial, court documents show. In a brief filed Wednesday, the singer’s attorneys argue at least four seated jurors in the New York case were already familiar with the sex trafficking accusations raised against R. Kelly prior to trial, with some having seen a documentary series about him. R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison in a New York federal court after a jury convicted him of nine counts, including one charge of racketeering and eight counts of violations of the Mann Act, a sex trafficking law. His attorneys allege the prosecution failed to show there was a “collective of individuals who shared any common purpose other than to promote” R. Kelly’s music. The singer’s attorneys are also seeking to vacate those orders and return the funds confiscated from his trust account.

NEW YORK, April 20 (Reuters) - An exiled Chinese businessman charged by U.S. prosecutors with leading a more than $1 billion fraud will remain in jail after a federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday rejected a proposed $25 million bail package. Guo had also proposed 24-hour guard, and being subjected to detention with GPS monitoring at his wife's Connecticut home. He had also been a business associate of former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who was arrested in a 2020 fraud case while aboard Guo's yacht. In seeking bail, Guo's lawyer Stephen Cook said Guo would remain in the United States if released on bond "because the risk to his life is simply too great for him to leave." The defendant has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges including securities fraud, wire fraud and concealing money laundering.

WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday bolstered a bid by Turkey's state-owned lender Halkbank (HALKB.IS) to avoid criminal charges in the United States for allegedly helping Iran evade American economic sanctions. The court's majority, while rejecting a key defense mounted by Halkbank, ordered the Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Shares in Vakifbank (VAKBN.IS), another Turkish state bank, jumped 9.9% and the bourse's banking index climbed more than 4%. Sovereign immunity generally protects countries from facing legal action in another country's courts. The majority found that the 2nd Circuit did not fully consider whether the bank has immunity under "common law" principles.

WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) - A former Venezuelan treasurer, who also served as an aide to late President Hugo Chavez and was convicted in the U.S. of money laundering, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday. A Florida jury in December convicted Diaz, as well as her husband Adrian Velasquez, on two counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in association with a corruption scheme in Venezuela. U.S. District Court Judge William Dimitroulea in Florida sentenced Diaz and her husband, who also received 15 years, on Wednesday, the Justice Department said. Diaz, Velasquez and Gorrin purchased and paid expenses related to private jets, yachts, mansions, champion horses and a designer fashion line in South Florida, prosecutors said. (This story has been refiled to remove an extraneous word in paragraph 4)Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Kansas City homeowner charged in shooting of Black teen to appear in court
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Lee Merritt/via REUTERSApril 19 (Reuters) - An 84-year-old white man charged in the shooting and wounding of a Black teenager who mistakenly walked up to the man's house in Kansas City is expected to make his first court appearance on Wednesday. He was also charged with armed criminal action, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Lester is scheduled to appear in a Clay County courtroom for an arraignment hearing at 1:35 p.m. local time (1835 GMT), online court records showed. But Yarl told police in an interview at the hospital where he was treated that the man told him, "Don't come around here," local media reported, citing court documents. In both the New York and Texas incidents, the shooters have been charged with felonies.

☆ Bob Lee killing suspect Nima Momeni is being monitored while in jail, but suspect's lawyer says calling it 'suicide watch' is 'dramatic'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Nima Momeni is in jail on a murder charge in the stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee. His lawyer told Insider that Momeni was placed "in a safety protocol." Wu did not immediately respond to a follow-up inquiry on the circumstances that might have placed Momeni under watch. Lee was fatally stabbed on San Francisco street in the early morning of April 4. Prior to the stabbing, Lee was staying at 1 Hotel San Francisco, just a few blocks from Khazar's apartment.

☆ Opinion | How the Oklahoma City Bombing Case (and the O.J. Simpson Case) Shaped Merrick Garland
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Jeffrey Toobin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

A few days after he arrived in Oklahoma, Mr. Garland served as prosecutor in Mr. McVeigh’s bail hearing. The Justice Department was embarrassed by its failure to catch the mysterious perpetrator, and Ms. Gorelick told Mr. Garland to take over, which he did. For the trials of Mr. McVeigh and Terry Nichols in the Oklahoma City bombing, Mr. Garland helped select a prosecution team led by Joseph Hartzler and Larry Mackey, who never became as famous as the O.J. A fair verdict on Mr. Garland should await the outcome of Mr. Smith’s work. (In my interview with him, Mr. Garland not only refused to draw any comparisons between Mr. McVeigh and the Capitol rioters but also refused even to utter the words “January 6.”)

☆ Opinion: Top secrets come spilling out
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. Writing for CNN Opinion, Rep. Justin Pearson noted, “This should be a chastening moment for revanchist forces in Tennessee’s legislature and across the country. Over the long haul, the undemocratic machinations employed to oust us from office are destined to fail. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once famously said that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice. “As a Jewish historian,” Perry wrote, “I worry about the tension between preserving the memory of past hardships while not locking our entire history into a tale of oppression.

[1/4] Law enforcement officers investigate the scene following an attack on bank ATMs in Ratingen, Germany, March 15, 2023. Courtesy of Achim Blazy/Handout via REUTERSRATINGEN, Germany, April 14 (Reuters) - In the German town of Ratingen, exploding cash machines are a hot-button topic. But in Germany, thieves are blowing ATMs up at the rate of more than one a day. Europe's largest economy has 53,000 ATM machines, a disproportionately high number that reflects Germans' preference for cash rather than bank cards. Germany is also working with officials in Belgium and France and at Europol to combat the cash machine crime wave.

☆ Jack Teixeira, the alleged top secret documents leaker, searched his government computer for 'leak' to see if investigators were onto him: prosecutors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Chris Panella | Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Alleged leaker Jack Teixeira searched his government computer for "leak," prosecutors say. Teixeira was arrested Thursday in connection with the top secret military document leak. According to the criminal complaint, Teixeira, 21, completed the search on classified networks on April 6. The documents contain secret information about US allies, like Israel, Egypt, and South Korea, as well as adversaries, like North Korea, China, and Russia. That clearance would have given him access to the classified documents leaked online.

Companies Deutsche Bank AG FollowNEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters) - A former Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) investment banker has been charged in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday with misappropriating funds from investors whom he wooed with promises of big returns from cryptocurrency trading. Rashawn Russell, 27, of Brooklyn, solicited investments from friends and colleagues but used the funds for gambling and other personal expenses, federal prosecutors said. According to the indictment, Russell was an investment banker from July 2018 through November 2021 at a financial institution that was not identified in the document. His LinkedIn profile states that he became a Deutsche Bank investment banking analyst in July 2018 and was promoted to associate in July 2020. Deutsche Bank said in a statement that while it would not comment on an ongoing legal proceeding, it "regularly supports law enforcement and regulatory oversight efforts, including appropriately responding to and cooperating with authorized investigations and proceedings."

☆ Contractors Face Homicide Charges After Worker Crushed by Cinder Blocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Liset Cruz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Nearly four years after a Bronx building collapse killed an Ecuadorean construction worker crushed under 1000 pounds of debris, three contractors have been charged in his death, one of a series of worksite fatalities that have raised alarms about a perilous industry. The contractors, Augustine Adesanmi, 67, Akhlak Choudhary, 54, and Abazi Okoro, 66, were all accused of criminally negligent homicide, among other charges, in the death of Segundo Huerta, a laborer at the building site on East 208th Street in Norwood, the Bronx district attorney said on Wednesday. “The horrendous death of Segundo Manuel Huerta Mayancela, who was buried under cinder blocks and metal sheets, was entirely preventable,” Darcel D. Clark, the district attorney, told reporters after the arraignments on Wednesday. “The construction site at 94 E. 208th St. was a death trap waiting to happen,” she added. Two of the contractors were arraigned on Tuesday in the Bronx Supreme Court; both were put on supervised release.

☆ Ex-Deutsche Bank investment banker charged in U.S. with crypto fraud
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters) - A former Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) investment banker has been charged in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday with misappropriating funds from investors who he wooed with promises of big returns from cryptocurrency trading. Rashawn Russell, 27, of Brooklyn, solicited investments from friends and colleagues but used the funds for gambling and other personal expenses, federal prosecutors said. According to the indictment, Russell was an investment banker from July 2018 through November 2021 at a financial institution that was not identified in the document. His LinkedIn profile states that he became a Deutsche Bank investment banking analyst in July 2018 and was promoted to associate in July 2020. U.S. prosecutors and regulators have been working to crack down on fraud involving digital assets.

☆ From threatening skeptical execs to approving expenses with emojis, here are the 6 most damning claims from FTX's first debtors report
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Sam Bankman-Fried threatened FTX employees who voiced concerns about its business practices. The report, which is 45 pages long, compiled interviews of 19 former FTX employees and "received substantial information through counsel" for five others. 1) SBF threatened FTX execsMultiple FTX execs were threatened after voicing concerns over the company's business practices. As a result, the report says: "Senior FTX Group personnel scrambled to cobble together purported policies that could be shown to auditors. One former executive described Singh's and Wang's oversight on FTX Group as: "If Nishad [and Gary] got hit by a bus, the whole company would be done."

☆ Woman claims neighbor signed over the deeds of her $365,000 home for just $10, say reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A woman has accused her neighbor for trying to steal her $350,000 home in Long Island. Prosecutors allege that her neighbor, Aurelia Soogea, 35, forged the signatures on the deeds to the house to switch ownership. NBC reports that the deed to the house shows the transfer of ownership happened for just $10. Carra has said that Mika transferred the home ownership to his client in thanks for work Soogea did helping to care for the older woman. The news site reports that Mika's legal team says this is not true, and the two women had no relationship.

Launched in February 2022, the FTX Future Fund was part of the FTX Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire which fell apart last year, in what U.S. prosecutors called an "epic" fraud. Representatives for FTX also declined to comment and declined to say whether the FTX Foundation is included in the bankruptcy proceedings. The FTX Future Fund supported research into topics that "improve humanity's long-term prospects" and was funded primarily by Bankman-Fried, according to a profile of its activities published on Twitter. FTX's statement did not reference the FTX Future Fund specifically. One FTX Future Fund beneficiary in the U.S., who asked not to be named, said they received a grant of more than $150,000.

☆ Peru set to jail third ex-president as Toledo awaits extradition from U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Peru's Justice Minister Jose Tello said on Wednesday night that a California court judge had ordered Toledo to turn himself in on Friday to the U.S. Marshals Service and await extradition after his request for bail was revoked. "Sooner rather than later, Toledo will answer to Peruvian justice," Tello told television station Canal N, adding that his extradition should take place in a "matter of days". The Peruvian minister said 77-year-old Toledo is expected to be held while he awaits trial in a jail complex in the outskirts of Lima that was built to hold former president Alberto Fujimori. Toledo was arrested in the U.S. in July 2019 following a formal request by Peru for his extradition.

☆ Trump, facing criminal charges, calls for defunding the FBI
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Rami Ayyub | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES," Trump wrote on his social media platform. Trump, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, backed spending increases for the Justice Department and FBI while in office. Trump faces two Justice Department criminal investigations led by a special counsel appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. Trump himself appointed the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, after firing the agency's previous chief, James Comey, in 2017. Prosecutors said the payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal constituted an attempt to conceal a violation of election law.

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