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☆ How the Potential Arrest of Donald Trump Could Unfold
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Corinne Ramey | James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

If Donald Trump were to be charged, his lawyers could negotiate a time for him to report to the Manhattan district attorney’s office, where security has been enhanced. The Manhattan grand jury hearing evidence about Donald Trump’s role in a payment to a porn star appears to be wrapping up its work, indicating that prosecutors could soon ask jurors to vote on an indictment of the former president. The grand jury didn’t meet Tuesday, but is set to meet again Wednesday. Mr. Trump, who has denied wrongdoing, has said the probe by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg , a Democrat, is politically motivated.

☆ Trump Grand Jury Hears From Likely Final Witness on Hush-Money Payment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Corinne Ramey | Joe Palazzolo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Robert Costello on Monday after testifying before a grand jury investigating Donald Trump. The Manhattan grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s role in a hush-money payment to a porn star heard Monday from what is likely to be its last witness, while law-enforcement officials planned for a potential indictment of the former president as soon as this week. Robert Costello, a partner in the New York office of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP and former federal prosecutor, appeared before the grand jury at the request of Mr. Trump’s lawyers. Mr. Costello in 2018 advised Michael Cohen , a former Trump lawyer and key witness in the hush-money probe, while Mr. Cohen was facing federal scrutiny for multiple offenses.

☆ Former Michael Cohen Lawyer Expected to Testify in Grand Jury Investigating Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Corinne Ramey | Joe Palazzolo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A New York defense attorney who briefly advised Michael Cohen is expected to testify Monday before the Manhattan grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s alleged role in a hush-money payment to a porn star, according to people familiar with the matter. Robert Costello, a partner in the New York office of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP and former federal prosecutor, is slated to testify at the request of the former president’s lawyers, according to people familiar with the matter.

☆ Donald Trump Braces for Potential Charges in N.Y. Hush-Money Case, Calls for Protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Joe Palazzolo | Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Donald Trump says he expects to be arrested next week. Donald Trump called on his supporters to protest in the face of expected charges against the former president in New York connected to the payment of hush money to a porn star. Mr. Trump posted a message on his social media site Saturday morning, saying leaks indicated that he would be charged by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and arrested on Tuesday “BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE.”

☆ Donald Trump Braces for Potential Charges, Calls for Protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Joe Palazzolo | Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Donald Trump says he’ll be charged based on ‘AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE.’Donald Trump called on his supporters to protest in the face of expected charges against the former president in New York connected to the payment of hush money to a porn star. Mr. Trump posted a message on his social media site Saturday morning, saying leaks indicated that he would be charged by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and arrested on Tuesday “BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE.”

☆ Guo Wengui Charged in Alleged $1 Billion Fraud Conspiracy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( James Fanelli | Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Guo Wengui , a former real-estate developer, has said he fled China in 2014 after hearing that a state security official to whom he was close would soon be arrested. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui with duping investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars to bankroll the purchase of a sprawling mansion, a 145-foot luxury yacht and other lavish items. Mr. Guo, also known as Kwok Ho Wan, was arrested Wednesday morning in New York and is charged with 11 counts of fraud and money laundering, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday in New York federal court. Prosecutors said he orchestrated a $1 billion scheme that preyed on hundreds of thousands of his online followers to purchase stock in his media company, fund a farm loan program and join a luxury-services club.

☆ Stormy Daniels Meets With Prosecutors Investigating Donald Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Corinne Ramey | Joe Palazzolo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Stormy Daniels, seen in 2018, agreed to be a witness if needed in prosecutors’ probe into whether Donald Trump illegally concealed a hush-payment to her, her lawyer said. Porn star and director Stormy Daniels met Wednesday with the Manhattan prosecutors who are reaching the end of their investigation into whether former President Donald Trump illegally concealed a payment used to buy her silence before the 2016 election. Ms. Daniels’s lawyer, Clark Brewster, posted on Twitter that the meeting was at the request of the Manhattan district attorney’s office. “Stormy responded to questions and has agreed to make herself available as a witness, or for further inquiry if needed,” he wrote. Mr. Brewster didn’t say if prosecutors would call Ms. Daniels to testify before a grand jury weighing evidence in the probe.

☆ Manhattan Bike Path Terrorist Avoids Death Penalty
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Corinne Ramey | Sadie Gurman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A courtroom sketch shows Sayfullo Saipov using headphones to listen to the reading of the jury’s verdict on Monday in New York. Convicted Manhattan bicycle-path terrorist Sayfullo Saipov will serve life in prison without the possibility of release after jurors couldn’t agree on whether to sentence him to death, a blow to the Justice Department. Jurors said Monday that they were unable to reach the unanimous verdict needed to sentence Saipov to death, according to a spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case.

☆ The wage gap gets worse for women in their 30s and 40s—and it's not just the 'motherhood penalty'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Women face a wage gap at every point in their careers, a gap that gets worse as they age and progress through their work lives. This difference in earnings is perhaps the most obvious once women hit their 30s, which is also when the gap begins to widen. Last year, 66% of working women ages 35 to 44 had at least one child at home, compared to just 39% of women ages 45 to 54, Kocchar found. But the explanation for why progress toward narrowing the pay gap stalls once women enter their mid-30s extends beyond the so-called "motherhood penalty." Experiencing early wage discrimination has a "compounding effect" that can hurt women's earnings potential for years to come, she adds.

☆ Michael Cohen to Testify Before Grand Jury Investigating Donald Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Michael Cohen has said publicly that former President Donald Trump directed him to arrange a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Michael Cohen is set to testify Monday before the Manhattan grand jury hearing evidence of Donald Trump’s role in a hush-money payment to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the matter. The scheduled testimony of Mr. Cohen, a former personal lawyer to Mr. Trump, indicates that prosecutors’ grand-jury presentation of hush-money evidence is reaching its conclusion. Once Mr. Cohen testifies, the grand jury will have heard from every person who played a key role in the hush-money deal and its aftermath. The jurors have been hearing testimony since late January.

☆ Michael Cohen Testifies Before Grand Jury Investigating Donald Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Michael Cohen leaving a lower Manhattan building after meeting with prosecutors on Friday. Michael Cohen is testifying Monday before the Manhattan grand jury hearing evidence of Donald Trump’s role in a hush-money payment to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the matter. The testimony of Mr. Cohen, a former personal lawyer to Mr. Trump, indicates that prosecutors’ grand-jury presentation of hush-money evidence is reaching its conclusion. With Mr. Cohen’s appearance, the grand jury has heard from all of the biggest players in the hush-money deal and its aftermath. Jurors have been hearing testimony since late January.

☆ Trump Invited to Appear Before New York Grand Jury in Stormy Daniels Hush-Money Probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Corinne Ramey | Alex Leary | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has invited Donald Trump to appear next week in front of a grand jury that is weighing evidence about the former president’s alleged role in paying hush money to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the matter. The move is the latest indication that Mr. Bragg, a Democrat, is nearing a decision on whether to bring a criminal case against Mr. Trump. Potential defendants in New York state have the right to appear in front of grand jurors, though they rarely choose to do so. People close to Mr. Trump say he is unlikely to accept the invitation.

☆ Trump Hush-Money Probe Enters Final Stages
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Corinne Ramey | Joe Palazzolo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Former President Donald Trump has said the probe is motivated by politics. Manhattan prosecutors are in the final stages of presenting evidence to a grand jury about Donald Trump’s alleged role in paying hush money to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election, teeing up a long-awaited decision on whether to bring charges against the former president. The grand jury has heard or will soon hear testimony from all the individuals who played key roles in the hush-money deal and its aftermath, according to people familiar with the matter. Michael Cohen, who represented Mr. Trump in the hush-money deal, said Friday that he was meeting with prosecutors to do some more work before his coming grand-jury appearance.

A third member of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried ’s inner circle pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to assist federal prosecutors, expanding the pool of cooperating witnesses against the former head of the failed crypto exchange. Nishad Singh , the company’s former director of engineering, pleaded guilty to six criminal counts, including conspiring to commit securities and commodities fraud, during a hearing Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan.

FTX co-founder and former director of engineering Nishad Singh pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to cooperate against his former boss, Sam Bankman-Fried , making him the third person in the FTX founder’s orbit to do so. Mr. Singh, 27 years old, pleaded guilty to six criminal counts, including conspiring to commit securities and commodities fraud, during a hearing Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried Faces More Criminal Charges From Federal Prosecutors
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Corinne Ramey | James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Federal prosecutors on Thursday unveiled a new indictment against Sam Bankman-Fried , charging the FTX founder with additional criminal counts and making detailed allegations that he engaged in conduct that led to his exchange’s collapse. The indictment, unsealed Thursday, charges the 30-year-old Mr. Bankman-Fried with 12 criminal counts. The prior indictment, which prosecutors brought in December after a brief investigation, charged him with eight. Mr. Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to the prior charges. A spokesman for Mr. Bankman-Fried didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried’s Public Defense Shuns Traditional Legal Strategies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( James Fanelli | Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

When facing criminal charges, most defendants all but glue their mouths shut before trial at the insistence of their lawyers. Sam Bankman-Fried has chosen the opposite approach. The FTX founder, whose reign as a star of the crypto world collapsed along with his exchange in November, has maintained a prominent public presence since his extradition from the Bahamas in December. The 30-year-old has launched a Substack newsletter, been active on Twitter and continued to give media interviews, in an effort to defend himself against federal charges that he stole billions of dollars from FTX customers and defrauded investors and lenders.

Merrick Garland has said that he has grown concerned about what he described as arbitrariness in the application of capital punishment. WASHINGTON—More than a year after halting federal executions, Attorney General Merrick Garland is authorizing prosecutors to seek the death penalty in some brutal cases while withdrawing it in many others, drilling down on the circumstances surrounding even the most heinous crimes before making the final call. The approach has effectively raised the bar for the federal government’s use of the ultimate punishment after a flurry of executions during the Trump administration.

☆ Judge Seeks Tougher Bail Restrictions for Sam Bankman-Fried
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Corinne Ramey | James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A federal judge on Thursday voiced growing discomfort with Sam Bankman-Fried ’s bail conditions, ordering prosecutors and the defense to hammer out appropriately tough restrictions on the FTX founder’s access to electronic devices as he awaits trial on fraud charges. The command, from U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan , came after weeks of wrangling over the terms of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s house arrest. Federal prosecutors in January said he contacted a potential witness from his parents’ Palo Alto, Calif., home, which they said could constitute tampering. They also objected to his use of encrypted messaging applications like Signal and this week added a new concern, about Mr. Bankman-Fried accessing the internet through a virtual private network, or VPN, that obscures his location.

☆ Two Stanford Academics Helped Secure Sam Bankman-Fried’s Release on Bail
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( James Fanelli | Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Two Stanford University academics helped secure FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s release on bond while he awaits trial on criminal charges. Two Stanford University academics helped secure FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried ’s release on bond while he awaits trial on criminal charges related to the collapse of the crypto exchange, according to court filings unsealed Wednesday. Stanford Law School dean emeritus Larry Kramer signed a $500,000 bond in January on behalf of Mr. Bankman-Fried while Andreas Paepcke , a senior research scientist at the university, signed a $200,000 bond, records show. Mr. Bankman-Fried’s parents are both professors at the law school.

☆ Judge Questions Sam Bankman-Fried’s Access to Messaging Apps
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Corinne Ramey | James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A federal judge on Thursday questioned whether proposed restrictions on Sam Bankman-Fried ‘s ability to communicate were tough enough, grilling lawyers about the details of the messaging applications the FTX founder has been using. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan held a hearing after federal prosecutors recently requested the judge limit Mr. Bankman-Fried, who is facing fraud charges, from accessing encrypted messaging apps after they said he contacted a potential witness in the case.

☆ Ex-Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Meets With Manhattan Prosecutors Investigating Former President
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Former Trump Attorney Michael Cohen, in a dark jacket, arrived for a meeting with Manhattan prosecutors Wednesday in New York. Michael Cohen , the former personal lawyer to Donald Trump, met Wednesday with prosecutors investigating hush money the former president allegedly steered to an adult-film actress, the latest sign that the Manhattan district attorney’s office has revived its once-dormant probe. Mr. Cohen is a central figure in the hush-money investigation, which began under former District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr . and then went quiet as prosecutors shifted their focus and investigated Mr. Trump on other issues—including business practices at his company. The office obtained a tax-fraud conviction of the Trump Organization in December. The company has said it would appeal.

☆ Ex-Coinbase Staffer Pleads Guilty in First Crypto Insider-Trading Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Corinne Ramey | James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A former Coinbase Global Inc. employee pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in what prosecutors said was the first cryptocurrency insider-trading case. Ishan Wahi , 32 years old, told U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska that he had conspired with others to misappropriate valuable confidential information that he gained from his job at Coinbase. His brother, Nikhil Wahi , and an associate then used that information to make trades on digital tokens, he said.

☆ Manhattan DA’s Office Explored Charging Donald Trump, Says Former Prosecutor
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Manhattan prosecutors explored several options for criminally charging Donald Trump, including indicting the former president under a state racketeering statute, before the effort ended in “the legal equivalent of a plane crash,” a former top prosecutor wrote in a new book. Mark Pomerantz, a former federal prosecutor who joined the Trump probe after retiring from law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, wrote that when he left the district attorney’s office this past year, he believed that Mr. Trump had committed serious crimes and that prosecutors had evidence on which a jury could have found the former president guilty. Mr. Pomerantz wrote that he ultimately resigned from his post after what he viewed was a rushed and inattentive examination of the case by the current district attorney, Alvin Bragg .

☆ Manhattan District Attorney to Present Trump Hush-Money Evidence to Grand Jury
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Donald Trump, in South Carolina on Saturday, has said the Manhattan district attorney probe is politically motivated. The Manhattan district attorney’s office is moving to present evidence to a grand jury about hush money Donald Trump allegedly steered to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, according to people familiar with the matter, raising the prospect the former president could face criminal charges in New York. The hush-money investigation began under the prior administration of Cyrus Vance Jr . but went largely dormant before the current district attorney, Alvin Bragg , took office. It gained steam under Mr. Bragg recently after Mr. Trump’s family business, the Trump Organization, was convicted of criminal tax fraud and other offenses late last year, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

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