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☆ Nick Carter denies rape allegation as ABC pulls Backstreet Boys holiday special
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Backstreet Boys’ member Nick Carter is being sued by a 39-year-old woman with autism and cerebral palsy who says the singer raped her as a teenager on the group’s tour bus in 2001. The singer denied the allegation in a statement provided to CNN from his attorney Michael Holtz. ABC will no longer broadcast the television special “A Very Backstreet Holiday,” set to air December 14, in light of the suit. Carter faced a similar allegation in 2017 after former pop singer Melissa Schuman accused him of raping her 15 years prior. Carter, 38, denied the allegations at the time in a statement provided to CNN.

☆ Ex-Bills punter Matt Araiza won't face criminal charges over alleged gang rape while in college
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

SAN DIEGO — Former Buffalo Bills punter Matt Araiza will not be charged in connection with an alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old girl at an off-campus party last year when he played football for San Diego State University, prosecutors said Wednesday. “I am grateful that the district attorney and the San Diego Police Department have discovered all the facts and found no criminal wrongdoing. I am excited to continue my NFL career,” Araiza said in a statement issued by his agent, Joe Linta. “Ultimately, prosecutors determined it is clear the evidence does not support the filing of criminal charges and there is no path to a potential criminal conviction. San Diego State officials have said they deferred investigating at the request of police for fear that conducting their own might harm the criminal investigation.

☆ FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is said to face market manipulation inquiry by U.S. prosecutors - NYT
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The prosecutors are looking into whether Bankman-Fried controlled the prices of two interlinked currencies, TerraUsd and Luna, to benefit the entities he controlled including FTX and Alameda Research, the report said. Regulators around the globe, including in the Bahamas where FTX is based and in the United States, are investigating the role of FTX's top executives including Bankman-Fried in the firm's stunning collapse, Reuters has previously reported. In recent weeks, U.S. authorities have sought information from investors and potential investors in FTX, according to two sources with knowledge of the requests. Federal prosecutors in New York are asking for details on any communications such firms have had with the crypto firm and its executives, including Bankman-Fried, the sources said. FTX and Alameda research did not respond to Reuters request for comments.

SYDNEY, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Indonesia's release of convicted Bali bomb maker Umar Patek will be a "difficult day" for Australians who lost loved ones and relatives in the attacks, Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said on Thursday. Patek was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2012 for his involvement in bombings that ripped through two Bali nightclubs, killing 202 people, including 88 Australians and 38 Indonesians. "I think this going to be a very difficult day for many Australians – all Australians – to hear about the release of Umar Patek," Marles told ABC radio. "I'm particularly thinking right now of the families of those who were killed and injured in the Bali bombings." [1/2] Indonesian militant Umar Patek walks after reading his final defence at the West Jakarta court May 31, 2012.

Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, the former business partner of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, will be sentenced Wednesday for his role in the disgraced blood-test company's years-long fraud. During Balwani's trial, prosecutors called witnesses who said Theranos' inaccurate blood tests caused real-world harm. “I am responsible for everything at Theranos,” Balwani wrote in a 2015 text message to Holmes. “All have been my decisions too.”Balwani's defense team said the former software executive had acted in good faith. As she mounted her defense, Holmes attempted to portray herself as a victim of Balwani's abuse.

Thapa, who was arrested in Southern California, faces one count of wire fraud. Prosecutors said Thapa traveled to Italy in July 2019 to sell some of the company's native cryptocurrency without authorization for what turned out to be counterfeit money. Thapa could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the wire fraud charge. Headquartered in New Jersey, Blockparty began as a platform for blockchain-based event ticketing, and launched a marketplace for non-fungible tokens or NFTs in 2020, according to the company's website. NFTs are a blockchain-based asset representing a digital file such as an image, video or item in an online game.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried could face extradition from the Bahamas to the US: Here's how, legal experts explain
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Its founder Sam Bankman-Fried has mounted a media tour apparently from the Bahamas, where he's said to still live. US prosecutors have powerful tools to charge and summon defendants living overseas, experts said. If the US government ultimately succeeds in bringing criminal charges against him, prosecutors have legal tools to extradite him to the US, legal experts told Insider. The US would file its extradition application through the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs, which oversees those requests. In this case, it's not likely that a potential securities fraud case would allow another nation to put terms on its extradition.

☆ Alleged Colorado Springs Shooter Charged With 305 Criminal Counts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Alicia A. Caldwell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The person accused of killing five and injuring 19 others in a mass shooting at an LGBT nightclub last month was formally charged with 305 criminal counts, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, assault and crimes of bias, Colorado prosecutors said in court Tuesday. Anderson Lee Aldrich , who according to court documents identifies as nonbinary and uses the pronouns “they” and “them,” is accused of opening fire inside Club Q just before midnight on Nov. 19. Prosecutors said during Mx. Aldrich’s second court appearance that the charges could be amended as more victims are identified.

☆ Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani: Who Is the Former Theranos President and What Was He Convicted Of?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Heather Somerville | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani, who was convicted on 12 charges, will be sentenced Wednesday. Prosecutors have asked for a 15-year sentence. Ramesh “ Sunny” Balwani , the former top lieutenant to Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes , faces sentencing Wednesday in federal court after being convicted in July on all 12 charges that he helped perpetuate a yearslong fraud scheme at the defunct blood-testing startup. The government has requested a 15-year imprisonment for Mr. Balwani. His attorneys have asked for probation.

Aaron Dean, a white former Fort Worth police officer, is on trial in the 2019 killing of Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old Black woman who was playing video games at home with her 8-year-old nephew. Dean fatally shot Jefferson after a concerned neighbor noticed a door had been left ajar and called a nonemergency police line. During opening arguments, prosecutors said Dean shot Jefferson through the window into her chest “not a second” after shouting, “Put your hands up! At issue in the trial is whether Dean saw Jefferson's gun and whether he believed it was pointed at him. Jefferson's death echoes that of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman fatally shot by police in March 2020 in her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment.

The jury is set to begin deliberations Monday in the tax fraud trial of the Trump Organization, which is accused of a sweeping, 15-year scheme to compensate top executives of former President Donald Trump’s company off the books. The 15-count indictment charges the company and longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg with scheming to defraud, tax fraud and falsifying records. Trump Organization lawyers outlined their case that the prosecution’s star witness in the criminal trial, Weisselberg, committed his crimes to benefit himself. Other executives were compensated with similar perks, they said, and were paid bonuses as independent contractors, saving the company payroll taxes. “Donald Trump is explicitly sanctioning tax fraud.

Bankman-Fried could face a host of potential charges – civil and criminal – as well as private lawsuits from millions of FTX creditors, legal experts told CNBC. There are three different, possibly simultaneous legal threats that Bankman-Fried faces in the United States alone, Levin told CNBC. He told CNBC, "prosecutors would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bankman-Fried or his associates committed criminal fraud." (Carter was not an FTX investor, and told CNBC that his fund passed on early FTX rounds.) "People should not jump to the conclusion that something is not happening just because it has not been publicly disclosed," Levin told CNBC.

read moreBut Schottenstein last week withdrew from his cooperation agreement, saying psychologists and a therapist advised him that testifying against his friend Shapiro at his May 2023 trial would "exacerbate" his mental health issues. Prosecutors on Monday said the "unexpected" development warranted dismissing the case against Bortnovsky, the co-founder of Sakal Capital Management, and Shapiro, who founded inmate money transfer service provider JPay. Prosecutors left open the possibility of renewing the charges, saying their investigation was ongoing. Lawyers for Bortnovsky and Schottenstein declined to comment. Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ex-South Korean official arrested over case of man slain by North Korea
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SEOUL, Dec 3 (Reuters) - A former South Korean national security advisor was arrested on Saturday over his suspected manipulation of a 2020 case where a fisheries official was killed at sea by North Korean troops. The incumbent President Yoon Suk-yeol's government has reversed that interpretation, saying there was no evidence of a defection attempt. Prosecutors also launched an investigation into Lee's death and a 2019 case in which two North Korean fishermen were deported to the isolated country against their will. Yoon's ruling People Power party said Moon and his aides "not only let Lee die but killed his honour by claiming his defection while treading on eggshells around (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un's regime." He criticised Moon for demanding evidence to show why his brother did not defect, without presenting any proof to back his own claim.

☆ Man allegedly confessed to slayings of 4 Oklahoma bicyclists, court records show
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Minyvonne Burke | Minyvonne Burke Is A Senior Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A man arrested in connection with the slayings of four Oklahoma bicyclists’ allegedly told a friend that he killed and dismembered them because "they were stealing from him," court documents show. From left, Alex Stevens, Mark Chastain, Billy Chastain, and Mike Sparks. Court documents state that Kennedy parked his Chrysler PT Cruiser across the street from the scrap yard around 3 p.m. on Oct. 9, before the killings. Kennedy allegedly traveled back and forth from the scrap yard several times. Bloodied items belonging to Mark Chastain were also found in the vacant lot, the document says.

NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday dismissed an indictment against Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co [RIC:RIC:HWT.UL], formally ending a criminal sanctions case that strained U.S.-China relations. U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn dismissed Meng's indictment with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again. A lawyer for Meng and a spokeswoman for Huawei did not immediately respond to requests for comment. On the day Donnelly approved that agreement, Meng flew home to Shenzhen. On Nov. 25, the Biden administration banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from Huawei and China's ZTE Corp (000063.SZ) because they posed an "unacceptable risk" to national security.

Prosecutors in the Trump Organization tax fraud trial said in their closing arguments Friday that the former president sanctioned what became a sweeping 15-year scheme to compensate top company executives off the books. “Donald Trump is explicitly sanctioning tax fraud. “This whole narrative that Donald Trump is blissfully ignorant is just not real.”Attorneys for the defense objected to the late-trial move by the prosecution, which also mentioned Trump at the beginning of closing arguments on Thursday. The 15-count indictment in the case charges the company and longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg with scheming to defraud, tax fraud and falsifying records. Donald Trump stands next to Allen Weisselberg at a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower on Jan. 11, 2017.

☆ ABB’s $327 Million Bribery Settlement Arrives in U.S. Court
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

The U.S. court hearing was part of a globally coordinated deal that extends to authorities in South Africa, Switzerland and Germany, with the apparent bulk of the fines being collected in South Africa. The settlement is the first that U.S. authorities have reached in coordination with authorities in that country. The Kusile Power Station, a coal-fired power plant in South Africa. Switzerland on Friday said it was issuing a fine of 4 million Swiss francs, equivalent to about $4.3 million dollars. The Justice Department said it anticipated a related settlement with German authorities, but didn’t indicate a time frame.

☆ Julian Assange appeals to European court over U.S. extradition
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Michael Holden | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, who is battling extradition from Britain to the United States where he is wanted on criminal charges, has submitted an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the court confirmed on Friday. Britain has given the go-ahead for his extradition, but he has launched an appeal at London's High Court, with the first hearing expected early next year. His legal team have also launched a case against Britain at the ECHR, which could potentially order the extradition to be blocked. Stella Assange, his wife, said she hoped the ECHR would not be needed to consider the case and that it could be resolved in Britain. However, he was dragged out and jailed in 2019 for breaching bail conditions, and has been held in prison in London ever since while his extradition case is decided.

☆ Huawei CFO's U.S. bank fraud charges to be dismissed
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Karen Freifeld | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Dec 1 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Thursday asked a judge to dismiss bank fraud and other charges against Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of China's Huawei Technologies [RIC:RIC:HWT.UL] whose 2018 arrest strained relations between the U.S. and China. Meng had been accused of bank fraud and other crimes for misleading global bank HSBC Holdings Plc about the company's business in Iran to obtain banking services in violation of U.S. sanctions. The charges against Huawei include everything from bank fraud to sanctions busting to conspiracy to steal trade secrets from U.S. technology companies and obstructing justice. The United States also waged a global campaign against Huawei, warning that the Chinese government could use the company's equipment to spy. A lawyer for Meng declined comment and a spokesperson for Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Closing arguments are beginning Thursday in the tax fraud trial of the Trump Organization, which is accused of a sweeping, 15-year scheme to compensate top executives of former President Donald Trump’s company off the books. After lawyers wrap up up arguments, the 12-person jury is set to begin deliberations Monday. Although he said Trump and his sons knew of the perks he received because they would sign the checks, they were unaware of any fraud. Former CFO Allen Weisselberg leaves the courtroom during a trial at the New York Supreme Court in New York on Nov. 17. The New York attorney general’s office is also suing the company, Trump and his oldest children last month, alleging they had overstated the company’s financial assets by billions of dollars.

☆ Ohio Man Found Guilty in First Trial in Killings of Eight Family Members
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

George Wagner IV was found guilty of eight counts of aggravated murder in what a prosecutor said was one of Ohio’s ‘most heinous crimes.’A jury returned a guilty verdict Wednesday in the first trial stemming from the 2016 execution-style killings of eight members of a family in southern Ohio that prosecutors say was carried out by members of another family. George Wagner IV was found guilty of eight counts of aggravated murder in Pike County Common Pleas Court. Mr. Wagner, 31 years old, was found guilty of 14 other charges, including tampering with evidence, burglary and forgery. Prosecutors said that while he didn’t fire a weapon, he actively participated in carrying out the killings and covering them up.

The 11th Circuit also overturned Cannon's decision to bar investigators from accessing most of the records pending the review. Trump is likely to appeal the 11th Circuit's action to the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court. Cannon appointed Raymond Dearie, another federal judge, at Trump's request to review the records to consider whether any should be walled off from the criminal investigation. Trump sued two weeks after the Mar-a-Lago raid, arguing that his status as a former president required a third-party review of the documents. Justice Department lawyers also said Trump, as a former president, cannot invoke executive privilege for documents that belong to the current executive branch of the U.S. government.

☆ Right-wing operatives sentenced to 500 hours of voter registration for 2020 election robocall scheme
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Summer-Concepcion-Byline-Jm.Jpg | Summer Concepcion | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A pair of right-wing provocateurs were sentenced Tuesday to spend 500 hours registering voters after pleading guilty to telecommunications fraud in connection with robocalls made before the 2020 election. Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman were also sentenced to two years of probation and 12 hours a day of electronic monitoring for six months, according to prosecutors in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. “These two individuals attempted to disrupt the foundation of our democracy," prosecutor Michael O’Malley said in a statement. Last year, New York Attorney General Letitia James sought $2.7 million in penalties over robocalls allegedly aimed at suppressing the Black vote ahead of the 2020 election. Burkman and Wohl gained attention for several unsuccessful schemes to attack opponents of former President Donald Trump with false accusations of sexual misconduct and other criminal activity.

☆ Peru opposition lawmakers launch third impeachment attempt against Castillo
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LIMA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Peru opposition legislators on Tuesday presented another impeachment motion against President Pedro Castillo, the third formal attempt to oust the leftist leader since he took office last year, calling him morally unfit for office. The impeachment attempt comes amid escalating tensions between the two government branches. Castillo has said the legislature is attempting a coup d'etat against him while opposition lawmakers say he is trying to illegally shut down Congress. "Due to the allegations of corruption against Castillo, we have reached an untenable, unacceptable point of immorality," lawmaker Edward Malaga, manager of the impeachment motion against the president, said during a news conference. Castillo, who took office in July 2021, has been besieged by scandals and has already survived two impeachment attempts in Congress.

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