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☆ The Evolving Watchdog Group Behind the Ballot Challenge to Trump
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Kenneth P. Vogel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

No matter how the Supreme Court rules on Donald J. Trump’s challenge to a Colorado court ruling barring him from the state’s primary ballot, the case has already been a win for one group. Oral arguments in the case on Thursday represent the culmination of a long and sometimes fitful evolution for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, the watchdog group that initiated the case. The group helped find the plaintiffs who brought the case in Colorado and funded the lawsuit arguing that Mr. Trump is ineligible for the presidency because he engaged in an insurrection by promoting the storming of the Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. Its pivotal role in the case comes amid intensifying pressure from donors for technically nonpartisan groups to take unambiguous and aggressive sides in a polarized Washington. It often struggled to raise money.

Persons: Donald J, Trump Organizations: Citizens, Capitol Locations: Colorado, Washington

☆ Patagonia’s Profits Are Funding Conservation — and Politics
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( David Gelles | Kenneth P. Vogel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A little more than $3 million to block a proposed mine in Alaska. Another $3 million to conserve land in Chile and Argentina. And $1 million to help elect Democrats around the country, including $200,000 to a super PAC this month. Patagonia, the outdoor apparel brand, is funneling its profits to an array of groups working on everything from dam removal to voter registration. The gusher of philanthropic money is the product of an unconventional corporate restructuring in 2022, when Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, and his family relinquished ownership of the company and declared that all its future profits would be used to protect the environment and combat climate change.

Persons: Yvon Chouinard Organizations: The Times Locations: Alaska, Chile, Argentina, Patagonia

☆ Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion's feud has hip-hop experts weighing in on who won
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Lauren Edmonds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion have released diss tracks about each other. The latest celebrity feud is between Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj, and hip-hop experts are already weighing in on who won — so far. It all started on Friday when Megan dissed Nicki in her new single, "Hiss," prompting Nicki to reply with her own track. Although Megan didn't name anyone while taking a bevy of pointed jabs in the lyrics, many fans believed one line targeted Nicki Minaj and her husband, Kenneth Petty. "I don't think Megan thee Stallion is in the same breath as Nicki Minaj," Budden said.

Persons: Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee, Joe Budden, Hiss, Minaj, —, Megan dissed Nicki, Nicki, Megan didn't, Kenneth Petty, Megan, Petty, Tory Lanez, Lanez, God, Nicki Minaj's, Charlamagne, which's, Budden, " Budden, Megan doesn't, Megan Thee Stallion, David Crotty, Patrick McMullan, Nicki Cardi, Drake, Meek, Jason Koerner, Getty, It's, we'll Organizations: Service, Megan's, who's, Getty, Navy, Apple iTunes Locations: Miami

☆ Nicki Minaj fans say they're losing respect for the rapper amid her 'embarrassing' attacks on Megan Thee Stallion
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Callie Ahlgrim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Nicki Minaj recently released a new diss track, "Big Foot," aimed at Megan Thee Stallion. lied on yo DEAD @theestallion — Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) January 28, 2024Minaj has continued to post incessantly about Megan on X (formerly Twitter). "Big foot but you still a small fry / Swearing on your dead mother when you lie," she raps. "There are myriad of ways that Nicki Minaj has come for other women, just point-blank period," the TikToker said. Nicki Minaj allowed her own bitter jealousy to take her crown."

Persons: Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion, —, Megan Thee, Megan, Megan didn't, Minaj, Kenneth Petty, Petty, Tory Lanez, Ben Shapiro, Shapiro, Cardi, it's, Pardison, Fontaine, who's, Pardi, Minaj's, she's, @lawyerbae, Gerrick Kennedy, Piggy ”, — Gerrick Kennedy, @GerrickKennedy, Piggy, Kennedy, nicki, meg rn pic.twitter.com, megan, QmThqEbkOC Organizations: Service, Megan's, Houston Locations: New York

Federal prosecutors said the six officers sexually and physically assaulted two handcuffed Black men for more than two hours during a Jan. 24 raid on a Braxton, Mississippi, home for which they had no warrant. The officers carried out mock executions on one of the men and shot him in the face, critically injuring the man. The officers pleaded guilty to 16 felonies including civil rights conspiracy, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence and conspiracy to obstruct justice, among others. As part of their federal pleas, the men are also scheduled to plea guilty to state charges on Aug. 14, federal prosecutors said. The two Black men, Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, filed a $400 million federal civil rights lawsuit against Rankin County in June over the case.

Persons: General Merrick Garland, Lisa O, Kenneth, Read, Black, Tasers, General Merrick B, Garland, egregiously, Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Daniel Opdyke, Joshua Hartfield, Michael Corey Jenkins, Eddie Terrell Parker, Brad Brooks, Donna Bryson, Chris Reese Organizations: Monaco, Department's, Justice Department, Thomson Locations: Mississippi, Braxton , Mississippi, Rankin County, Richland , Mississippi, Lubbock , Texas

☆ The FBI surveilled J. Robert Oppenheimer for months on one man's suggestion. During the surveillance, interviewees alleged he was feeding nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-29 | by ( Sebastian Cahill | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The FBI watched J. Robert Oppenheimer for months after he helped make the WWII-ending atomic bomb. Reports from the FBI show Oppenheimer was accused of Communism and spreading information to Russia. During the investigation, though, Pitzer said he had new doubts about Oppenheimer's loyalty to the country, due to his initial reservations about the development of the H-bomb. The Atomic Heritage Foundation does consider Oppenheimer likely to have held communist sympathies, but maintains that information in the report was exaggerated. At the end of the inquest, Oppenheimer's top-level security clearances were revoked, a devastating blow to the scientist.

Persons: Robert Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer, J, Christopher Nolan's, Edgar Hoover, Lewis Strauss, Hoover, Strauss, Kenneth Pitzer, Pitzer, Ward Evans, Jean Tatlock, Bernard Peters, Oppenheimer's, Jennifer Granholm, Granholm, AHF Organizations: FBI, Congress, Service, US Atomic Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratory, UC, Loyola University , Chicago, Atomic Energy, German Communist Party, Atomic Heritage Foundation, USA, US, Department of Energy, DOE Locations: Russia, Wall, Silicon, Soviet Union, UC Berkeley's

☆ Failed Republican candidate charged in shooting spree aimed at New Mexico Democrats
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Kanishka Singh | Thomson Reuters | Kanishka Singh Is A Breaking News Reporter For Reuters In Washington Dc | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 31 (Reuters) - A failed Republican state candidate in New Mexico was charged by federal authorities on Wednesday for a shooting spree targeting the homes of four elected Democratic officials, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement. Solomon Pena, 40, lost a state House of Representatives race last November. After his defeat, Pena organized the shootings on the homes of two Bernalillo County commissioners and two New Mexico state legislators, prosecutors said. If convicted, Pena faces a mandatory minimum of 60 years in prison, according to the Justice Department. Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Solomon Pena, Pena, Kenneth, Tim Keller, Linda Lopez, David Clements, Clements, Kanishka Singh, Leslie Adler Organizations: Republican, Democratic, U.S . Justice Department, Justice Department, Albuquerque, Thomson Locations: New Mexico, Bernalillo, Washington

Follow our live updates for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment proceedings. The Republican-dominated Texas House has scheduled a vote on the impeachment of the state’s Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, for Saturday at 1 p.m. In February, Mr. Paxton agreed to pay $3.3 million in a settlement with the four former senior aides. Many of the investigators’ findings about Mr. Paxton were already known publicly, from the allegations made in the aides’ lawsuit. In 2015, his first year in that office, Mr. Paxton was charged with felonies related to securities fraud and booked in a county jail outside Dallas.

☆ Impeachment Vote Set for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton: What to Know
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Jacey Fortin | J. David Goodman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Republican-dominated Texas House has scheduled a vote on the impeachment of the state’s Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, for Saturday at 1 p.m. The attorney general has been handling various legal challenges for years, weathering multiple investigations with few political repercussions. On Friday, Mr. Paxton again denied any wrongdoing and invited supporters to “peacefully” make their voices heard during the impeachment vote at the State Capitol. Who is Ken Paxton? His wife, Angela Paxton, became a political force of her own and won a seat in the State Senate in 2018.

☆ UK man pleads guilty to Twitter hack that compromised accounts of Joe Biden, Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

An image of new Twitter owner Elon Musk is seen surrounded by Twitter logos in this photo illustration in Warsaw, Poland on 08 November, 2022. LONDON — A U.K. man pleaded guilty to helping orchestrate a high-profile hack on the Twitter accounts of numerous celebrities and politicians including Elon Musk, Joe Biden and Kanye West. Combined, the charges carry a maximum sentence of 77 years, the Justice Department said. "O'Connor communicated with others regarding purchasing unauthorized access to a variety of Twitter accounts, including accounts associated with public figures around the world," the Justice Department said Wednesday. "A number of Twitter accounts targeted by O'Connor were subsequently transferred away from their rightful owners.

O'Connor pleaded guilty to charges including conspiring to commit computer intrusions, to commit wire fraud and to commit money laundering. O'Connor, who was extradited to the U.S. on April 26, will also forfeit more than $794,000 and pay restitution to victims, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the schemes included gaining unauthorized access to social media accounts on Twitter in July 2020 as well as a TikTok account in August 2020. The July 2020 Twitter attack hijacked a variety of verified accounts, including those of then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk, who now owns Twitter. The alleged hacker used the accounts to solicit digital currency, prompting Twitter to prevent some verified accounts from publishing messages for several hours until security could be restored.

☆ Former Ohio House speaker Householder convicted over $60 mln bribery plot
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - A federal jury convicted former Ohio House of Representatives Speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican Party chair Mathew Borges of participating in a $60 million bribery scheme, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. Householder, 63, and Borges, 50, were charged in 2020 in the federal bribery case stemming from a bill passed in 2019 to bail out Ohio's nuclear power plants. Following his arrest in 2020, the Ohio House of Representatives voted to remove Householder from the speakership position. Prosecutors had alleged that energy distributor FirstEnergy Corp (FE.N) gave $60 million to Generation Now, a political nonprofit operated by Householder. Householder and Borges were convicted of participating in the racketeering conspiracy, the Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday.

☆ US Justice Dept warns of steeper penalties for firms that fall foul of messaging policies
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Chris Prentice | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MIAMI, March 3 (Reuters) - Companies may face steeper penalties for misconduct if they lack policies around employees' use of personal cell phones and messaging apps, a top U.S. Justice Department official said on Friday. The agency will evaluate how companies have crafted policies around the use of such platforms and how they have directed employees on those policies. Use of such platforms, including ephemeral messaging apps, can complicate government investigations into wrongdoing if companies do not retain the records. That is an issue that prosecutors will address as they investigate wrongdoing, Polite told Reuters in an interview. "They will be required to report back to us on an annual basis about both the design and implementation of those policies," Polite said.

☆ US Justice Dept to take on corporate policies for personal devices, messaging apps
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Chris Prentice | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MIAMI, March 3 (Reuters) - A top U.S. Justice Department official on Friday will announce details of the agency's plans to scrutinize companies' policies around employee use of personal devices and messaging apps when investigating potential misconduct. Those probes have led to hefty penalties for firms including JPMorgan Chase & Co , Barclays (BARC.L), Bank of America (BAC.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N). The agency has more recently opened similar probes into other firms including BlackRock Inc. Polite will also discuss details of a new Justice Department policy aimed at getting companies to tie compensation and bonuses to compliance. He and other officials have been rolling out a series of new policies aimed at tackling corporate crime and encouraging companies to be more proactive in reporting misconduct to the government.

☆ Racial homeownership gap widens as Black buyers struggle to secure loans amid persistent discrimination and redlining, analysis finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The rate of Black homeownership in the US has increased by less than one percent over the last , the National Association of Realtors found. On Tuesday, an Ohio-based bank paid millions to the Justice Department after being accused of redlining Black buyers. New scoring models by the Federal Housing Finance Agency suggest homeownership could become more accessible for Americans. While the US homeownership rate has consistently increased over the years, according to an analysis by the National Association of Realtors, the Black homeownership rate has failed to keep up. Homeowners of other racial and ethnic groups fall below the 30% mark, with just 21% of White Americans spending 30% of their income on their home.

☆ Ericsson pleads guilty in U.S. to federal bribery violations, agrees to pay $206 million penalty
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson agreed to pay a $206 million penalty and pleaded guilty to violating the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, U.S. prosecutors announced Thursday evening. Additionally, the company paid about $540 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company also allegedly failed to disclose possible evidence of a similar scheme in Iraq. "Instead of honoring that commitment, Ericsson repeatedly failed to fully cooperate and failed to disclose evidence and allegations of misconduct in breach of the agreement." In a release, Ericsson said its own internal investigation "did not conclude that Ericsson made or was responsible for any payments to any terrorist organization."

In a statement, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite called the charges a "groundbreaking" effort to prevent the misuse of so-called 10b5-1 trading plans. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also announced civil insider trading charges against Peizer in a parallel action. Executives can use trading plans under rule 10b5-1 as a defense against insider trading charges by planning to sell shares in advance at predetermined times. In a recent case, the SEC in September charged Cheetah Mobile Inc's (0C9y.F) CEO and its former president with insider trading in connection with a trading plan. The SEC in December voted to make changes to the insider trading programs to address concerns over abuse.

☆ Justice Department Offers New Incentives for Companies to Self-Report Wrongdoing
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr. says companies deciding to self-report misconduct to prosecutors reflects how seriously they view compliance. WASHINGTON—The Justice Department is expanding its leniency policies to persuade companies to take one of the biggest risks when it comes to dealing with the government: reporting their own misconduct to prosecutors. Companies that disclose wrongdoing to the Justice Department won’t be prosecuted if they fully cooperate with investigators and fix the underlying problems, including any shortcomings in their compliance programs, according to Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr., who leads the criminal division.

☆ I styled Anna Sorokin while she was on house arrest. She was way funnier than her 'Inventing Anna' character, and her taste in fashion and art is incredible.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Eboni Boykin-Patterson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

He styled Anna Sorokin for an interview from her home, where she is on house arrest. Anna Sorokin, or Anna Delvey, as she was known as in her scamming days, is different from the character on "Inventing Anna." At the time, I had watched only the first half of "Inventing Anna" — just bits and pieces here and there. When we got there, there was a whole glam team of makeup artists and hairstylists who got to work on Anna and Kenneth. Pop culture has the ability to make anyone into an entire brand, and Anna has pop culture's attention.

[1/2] The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2021. "Securities fraud victimizes innocent investors and undermines the integrity of our public markets,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. His attorney did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Rybarczyk and Deel did not respond immediately to requests for comment. Reporting by Chris Prentice and Nate Raymond; Editing by Mark Porter and Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Feds cite rarely used law to charge 12 with violent scheme to 'monopolize' business at U.S.-Mexico border
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julia-Ainsley-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Julia Ainsley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

The Justice Department invoked a rarely used, 132-year-old law on Tuesday to charge 12 people with running a violent and sometimes deadly scheme to “monopolize” the resale of American cars and other goods in Central America by fixing prices and retaliating against those who refused to be extorted. The Justice Department charged the group under the Sherman Act of 1890, an antitrust regulation used to break up American monopolies Standard Oil in the 1920s and AT&T in the 1970s. Those who challenged the group were met with threats, kidnappings and even death, the indictment said. The defendants’ addresses in the indictment range from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to just across the border in Matamoros, Mexico. The indictment said the group met at the Holiday Inn in Harlingen, Texas, in March 2019 to divide $44,000 in cash.

WASHINGTON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Two Estonian citizens were arrested in Tallinn, Estonia, on an 18-count indictment for their alleged involvement in a $575 million cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering conspiracy, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday. They also made victims invest in a virtual currency bank called Polybius Bank, which in reality was not a bank and never paid out the promised dividends, the Justice Department said. "The size and scope of the alleged scheme is truly astounding," said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr of the Justice Department's criminal division. "U.S. and Estonian authorities are working to seize and restrain these assets and take the profit out of these crimes." The money laundering conspiracy allegedly involved at least 75 real properties, six luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency wallets, and thousands of cryptocurrency mining machines, according to the department, which said the case was probed by the FBI.

☆ Google agrees to compliance reforms to prevent search warrant data loss
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Andrew KellyWASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it had reached an agreement with Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google resolving a dispute with the search engine giant over the loss of data responsive to a 2016 search warrant. The government said it was a "first-of-its-kind resolution" that would result in Google reforming "its legal process compliance program to ensure timely and complete responses to legal process such as subpoenas and search warrants." The company told a U.S. court it had spent over $90 million "on additional resources, systems, and staffing to implement legal process compliance program improvements." The Justice Department said an independent compliance professional will be hired to serve as an outside third party related to Google’s compliance upgrades. Google will assemble reports and updates regarding the compliance program that will go to the government, the Google Compliance Steering Committee and Alphabet board committees.

☆ Google Agrees to Compliance Reforms in DOJ Settlement
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has agreed to improve its compliance program in a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, which said the search giant lost data federal investigators sought in connection with a probe into a cryptocurrency exchange. The DOJ said Tuesday that a third-party independent compliance professional will monitor whether Google holds up its end of the deal. Under the agreement, Google will be required to reform and upgrade the compliance program that handles responses to legal demands such as subpoenas and search warrants. Prosecutors obtained a warrant in 2016 for the data Google held, but Google and the DOJ litigated over the warrant through 2017 and 2018, the DOJ said. Google also created tools so the data wouldn’t be backed up stateside as the dispute unfolded, the DOJ said.

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