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The Manhattan grand jury probing former President Donald Trump’s alleged role in a hush money payment to a porn star is scheduled to break for about a month, reports said Wednesday.
Politico said the break is largely due to a previously scheduled hiatus, citing a person familiar with the proceedings.
CNN reported that the grand jury is scheduled…
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Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former chief executive of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, is facing new charges for bribery, according to an indictment on March 28.
It claims Bankman-Fried in 2021 transferred over $40 million worth of cryptocurrency to Chinese government officials. The founder allegedly made the transfer to “influence and induce them to unfreeze the accounts” of Alameda Research, which contained over $1 billion in cryptocurrency that Beijing had frozen, according to the document.
The indictment contains 12 charges that Bankman-Fried previously was facing, plus the additional one for conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, bringing the new tally to a 13-count indictment.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond to a MarketWatch request for comment.
Bankman-Fried has been restricted from using messaging apps, but prosecutors and Bankman-Fried’s attorneys have asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to approve a new set of proposed restrictions that would limit his access to electronic devices and the internet.
He has pleaded not guilty to eight counts over the collapse of FTX and is currently under house arrest with his parents in Palo Alto, Calif.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan set a new hearing for Thursday.
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Venezuela’s attorney general says 21 people, including senior officials in President Nicolás Maduro’s government and business leaders, have been arrested in connection with a corruption scheme involving international oil sales
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s attorney general said Saturday that 21 people, including senior officials in the government of President Nicolás Maduro and business leaders, have been arrested in connection with a corruption scheme involving international oil sales.
Prosecutor Tarek William Saab said the alleged scheme involved selling Venezuelan oil through the country’s cryptocurrency oversight agency in parallel to the state-run Petróleos de Venezuela SA.
The oversight agency allegedly signed contracts for the loading of crude on ships “without any type of administrative control or guarantees,” violating legal regulations, Saab said, without mentioning the amounts involved. Once the oil was marketed, “the corresponding payments were not made” to the state oil company.
The attorney general’s statement comes five days after Venezuela’s once-powerful oil minister, Tareck El Aissami, resigned amid allegations of corruption against some of his closest associates.
El Aissami said he resigned to “accompany and fully support” the investigations. For now, El Aissami, who was one of Maduro’s trusted ministers, is not facing charges.
The U.S. government designated El Aissami a narcotics kingpin in 2017 in connection with activities in his previous positions as interior minister and governor. El Aissami’s resignation was announced two days after the Public Ministry appointed five prosecutors to probe the alleged crimes investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Police.
Among the 10 officials arrested, according to the attorney general, are Col. Antonio Pérez Suárez, the vice president of trade and quality supply at PDVSA; Hugbel Roa, the former minister of food; and Joselit Ramírez, the national superintendent of cryptocurrencies.
Also arrested were 11 businessmen, who will be charged with appropriation or diversion of public assets, influence peddling, money laundering and criminal association, Saab said, adding that the crime of treason against the country will be added to public officials’ charges.
Corruption has long been rampant in Venezuela, which sits atop the world’s largest petroleum reserves. But officials are rarely held accountable — a major irritant to citizens, the majority of whom live on $1.90 a day, the international benchmark of extreme poverty.
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NEW YORK — After nearly two years and at least $1.4 million spent, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Friday released an external review of its overseas operations that barely mentions recent corruption scandals and offers recommendations that critics dismissed as overly vague.
Much of the 50-page report outlines the DEA’s sprawling, 69-country “foreign footprint,” while lauding its efforts to plug gaping holes in the oversight of undercover money laundering operations and special vetted units overseas.
“This report is stunningly vague in its actual evaluation of known problems at the DEA and remedies to fix them,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “This speaks to the agency’s broader effort to evade oversight. The agency has attempted to dodge my oversight inquiries but I intend to push forward.”
The external probe was announced in 2021 following reporting by The Associated Press on the crimes of José Irizarry, a disgraced former DEA agent now serving a 12-year federal prison sentence after confessing to laundering money for Colombian drug cartels and skimming millions from seizures and informants to fund an international joyride of fine dining, parties and prostitutes.
Irizarry told the AP last year that DEA agents have come to accept that there’s nothing they can do to make a dent in the flow of illegal cocaine and opioids into the United States that has driven more than 100,000 overdose deaths a year.
“The drug war is a game,” Irizarry said. “It was a very fun game that we were playing.”
Irizarry’s case got one paragraph in the external review. An ongoing federal grand jury inquiry into some of his jet-setting former DEA colleagues was mentioned in a footnote. Also, Irizarry’s lawyer told AP he offered to make his client available for an interview for the review but was never contacted.
“Interviews and documents demonstrated that the DEA has already largely implemented the recommendations from the DOJ OIG to enhance the oversight of compliance risks arising out of the agency’s foreign operations,” the review concluded, referring to the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General.
The probe found fault with the bureaucracy it said bogs down the assignment of agents to foreign divisions and recommended putting incentives in place to attract “top talent to hard-to-fill offices.” It also blamed the “corrupting influence” of cartels for instances of “individual misconduct by DEA personnel.”
“DEA also could do more to ensure supervisors are effectively evaluated and ultimately held accountable for compliance-related issues,” the review found.
Other recommendations included more regular audits of foreign offices and vetted police units, and stricter controls on expenses.
The external review was conducted by former DEA administrator Jack Lawn and Boyd Johnson, a former federal prosecutor who handled international drug cases. Public records show the no-bid contract was awarded to the law firm WilmerHale, where Johnson works, at a cost of $1.4 million. Johnson did not respond to emails seeking comment.
The report made little mention of the turmoil that has roiled DEA operations in Mexico, where law enforcement cooperation collapsed amid the tenure of a regional director who was quietly ousted from his post for having improper contact with lawyers for narcotraffickers.
AP reported earlier this year that Nicholas Palmeri served just 14 months in the post and retired before an Office of Inspector General report found he sought government reimbursement to pay for his own birthday party.
“For a report that cost the government over $1.4 million, it does not seem to recommend the types of changes that would actually prevent another Irizarry or other misconduct,” said Bonnie Klapper, a former federal prosecutor in New York. “While the report is very thorough in laying out DEA’s role and responsibilities, it mentions only a very few examples of misconduct, and its recommendations don’t go far enough.”
Palmeri arrived to Mexico in the wake of one of the biggest setbacks in recent years in the U.S.-led drug war: the botched arrest of former Mexican Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos. The retired general was nabbed on a sealed U.S. drug warrant upon arrival at the Los Angeles airport in 2020 only to be released a few weeks later under pressure from Mexico’s leftist president, who retaliated by disbanding an elite police unit that was a key DEA ally.
Neither the Cienfuegos incident nor the arrest of another prominent U.S. ally in Mexico — ex-security chief Genaro Garcia Luna — are mentioned in the report.
“The report’s key takeaway about improving information sharing and breaking down internal silos couldn’t be more commendable,” said John Feeley, a retired U.S. diplomat who worked alongside the DEA in numerous postings overseas. “But the biggest silo that needs to be dismantled from an operations perspective is the DEA’s failure to communicate to front offices and ambassadors when it’s investigating senior officials of host nations.”
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, who has declined repeated interview requests, said in a statement that the agency would implement all 17 of the report’s recommendations.
“DEA is committed to meeting the challenges presented by today’s global drug threats and ensuring that our work is conducted at the highest level possible,” she said.
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Goodman reported from Miami. Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org.
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Lagos, Nigeria
CNN
—
Nigerians will on Saturday vote in delayed governorship polls, weeks after a controversial and disputed presidential election.
The gubernatorial race will be decided in 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states as the ruling party scrambles to regain lost ground in key states.
But all eyes will be on the tense contest for control of the country’s wealthy Lagos State, which analysts say will be the “most competitive” in the state’s history.
“This may be the most competitive governorship election in Lagos State,” political analyst Sam Amadi tells CNN.
“Many have tried to upturn Lagos in the past and failed because of the entrenched power of Bola Tinubu. As President-elect, his influence may have grown in Lagos but the Obidients are strong,” Amadi says, speaking of supporters of Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi.
Obi caused shockwaves when it emerged he beat President-Elect Bola Tinubu in his Lagos home turf but placed third in the presidential poll.
Obi has rejected Tinubu’s victory and is contesting the results in the courts.
The presidential elections on February 25 were widely criticized for widespread delays, outbreaks of violence and attempts at voter suppression.
Several observers including the European Union also said the election fell short of expectations and “lacked transparency.”
The battle for Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub and one of Africa’s largest cities has typically been a two-party race that has never been won by the opposition.
This is partly credited to political godfather and kingmaker, Bola Tinubu, who is said to have handpicked every Lagos governor since leaving office in 2007.
Tinubu’s firm grip on Lagos politics now faces an unprecedented threat in Obi’s third-force Labor Party, after losing on home turf.
Obi is the first presidential candidate from the opposition to win in Lagos.
Amadi says his popularity with young people might be the game changer in the Lagos gubernatorial poll.
“They (Obidients) won Lagos in the last (presidential) poll but feel cheated and suppressed. So we might see a more vehement fight. It depends on how motivated and aggrieved the Obidients feel now,” he said.
Fifteen candidates are seeking to unseat incumbent Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the ruling All Progressives Congress party, who is seeking a second term. But only two are viewed as real threats to his reelection.
Considered a long shot only a few weeks ago, Labor Party’s Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour is now riding on Obi’s wave and has gained momentum following his party’s surprise win in Tinubu’s stronghold,
The People’s Democratic Party’s Azeez Olajide Adediran, also known as Jandor, is another strong contender aiming to clinch the Lagos seat for his party for the first time.
Adediran’s party has polled second in every governorship vote in Lagos since the return to civilian rule in 1999.
Both men tell CNN they are confident of victory. “For the first time, PDP is going to take Lagos, and I’m going to be the governor,” says Adediran. “People are really tired … the streets of Lagos are yearning for a breath of fresh air and that is what we represent,” he adds.
Rhodes-Vivour told CNN the time to liberate Lagos from “state capture” has come, and he’s next in line to govern the state.
“I’m next governor of Lagos state,” he declared. “You cannot stop an idea whose time has come. The idea of a new Lagos … that is powered by the people and works for the people as opposed to state capture; that idea, its time has come and no matter what they do, they can’t stop it. That’s where the confidence comes from.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu has asked voters to re-elect him because of his achievements, which he touts have brought “significant progress” to Lagos, including his commendable handling of the COVID pandemic.
But the governor has failed to pacify angry young people who accuse him of playing a role in the shooting of peaceful protesters railing against police brutality in 2020 by Nigerian soldiers.
Sanwo-Olu admitted to CNN at the time that footage showed uniformed soldiers firing on peaceful protesters but recently denied ordering the shooting.
Analyst Amadi tells CNN the gubernatorial poll in Lagos will be a contest between retaining or evicting the old guard.
“Lagos is a fight between status quo and change,” Amadi said.
“The incumbent Sanwo-Olu has a good chance of holding his job. But he faces a serious challenge from Gbadebo (Rhodes-Vivour) who has the momentum (of the Obi wave). Jandor (Adediran) is left behind because PDP had been dismantled in southern Nigeria and has no enthusiasm factor in Lagos,” Amadi said.
“Sanwo-Olu has not been spectacular but is believed to have performed well in some aspects of keeping Lagos going. He may survive the popular revolt on Saturday … but watch out for an upset if the scaremongering of APC and the loss of trust in INEC’s integrity do not demotivate the young voters,” he added.
Besides attempts at voter suppression, a widespread loss of confidence in the electoral body’s ability to conduct credible elections has eroded the electorate’s trust in the democratic process.
Only 26% of Nigeria’s more than 93 million registered voters turned up to vote in the last election. This was much lower than the 2019 poll when a third of registered voters ended up voting.
David Ayodele of civic group EiE Nigeria, tells CNN the February 25 election “deepened the trust deficit between the (electoral) commission and the electorates.”
Ayodele urged the electoral body to redeem itself in the weekend poll by “naming and prosecuting INEC officials who were caught tampering with the electoral process.”
Last month, Lagos police authorities said they were investigating an audio clip, in which two men were heard threatening residents of a local community to vote for candidates of the ruling APC or risk being evicted from the area.
Polls will open from 8:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. ET) Saturday and are expected to close at 2:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. ET).
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Chinese billionaire and CCP critic is accused of pocketing investment funds from his thousands of followers online.
Guo Wengui, a Chinese billionaire known for his opposition to Beijing and ties to the administration of former US President Donald Trump, has been charged in the United States with defrauding investors out of $1bn.
Guo, also known as Ho Wan Kwok and Miles Guo, was arrested in New York on Wednesday over an alleged conspiracy involving the misappropriation of hundreds of millions of dollars obtained from his thousands of followers online, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
Guo is accused of pocketing money raised from investors who were promised outsized returns for backing a number of his business ventures, including the media company GTV Media Group, an exclusive membership club known as G|CLUBS and a cryptocurrency called Himalaya Coin.
Guo is accused of using some of the funds to support a luxury lifestyle, including a 50,000-square property in New Jersey, a $37m yacht and a $3.5m Ferrari for his son.
Guo is also alleged to have laundered hundreds of millions of stolen funds to conceal the conspiracy’s illegal activities and continue the fraud.
Guo and his business partner Kin Ming Je, with whom Guo is accused of perpetrating the fraud, face 11 charges, including wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering.
Je, who authorities say is currently at large, also faces an additional count of obstruction of justice.
The most serious of the charges carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison. Guo’s lawyer declined to comment.
“My office and our law enforcement partners will continue to do all that we can to protect the community from the devastating consequences of pernicious fraud schemes,” US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said.
Guo, a real estate tycoon who was born in Shandong, is known for his strident criticism of the Chinese Community Party (CCP) and his close association with prominent conservative figures, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.
In 2020, Guo and Bannon launched the New Federal State of China lobby group aimed at bringing down the CCP. Bannon was on Guo’s yacht off the New York coast when the former Trump adviser was arrested that year on unrelated fraud charges. Bannon, who is due to stand trial later this year, has pleaded not guilty in that case.
Guo left China in 2014 amid a high-profile crackdown on corruption led by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In 2017, Guo sought asylum in the US after claiming he was being persecuted by the CCP for exposing corruption among the upper echelons of the Chinese leadership.
China requested Interpol to issue a notice for Guo’s arrest after the businessman made a series of unproven claims about Chinese officials bearing illegitimate children as well as owning property and bank accounts overseas.
The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported at the time that Guo was wanted on suspicion of bribing former spy chief Ma Jian, who was ensnared in Xi’s anti-corruption drive.
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NEW YORK — Gregg Berhalter remains a candidate to stay on as the U.S. men’s national team coach after a report by a law firm determined he did not improperly withhold information about a 1992 domestic violence allegation involving the woman who later became his wife.
The report, released publicly Monday by the U.S. Soccer Federation, also concluded that Berhalter’s conduct “likely constituted the misdemeanor crime of assault on a female.”
Berhalter’s contract as coach expired on Dec. 31 and Anthony Hudson, one of his assistants, was appointed interim coach on Jan. 4. The coaching decision will be made after a new sporting director is hired.
“Me and my wife, Rosalind, respect the process that U.S. Soccer went through,” Gregg Berhalter told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Britain. “We look forward to what is next.”
“I’m open to all options,” he added. “It’s a job that interests me, and I’m keeping all options open.”
The firm Alston and Bird was retained after former U.S. captain Claudio Reyna and wife Danielle Egan Reyna, the parents of current American midfielder Gio Reyna, informed the USSF of the 1992 incident following the decision by Berhalter to use Gio Reyna sparingly at last year’s World Cup.
The firm concluded the Reynas were not guilty of extortion but said Claudio Reyna’s conduct might have violated provisions of FIFA’s code of ethics for conflicts of interest, protection of physical and mental integrity, and abuse of position.
Claudio Reyna resigned as technical director of Major League Soccer’s Austin team on Jan. 26.
The probe included interviews with 16 witnesses, but investigators said Claudio Reyna refused to be interviewed — an assertion he denied through his agent. It included details on the incident between Berhalter and the then-Rosalind Santana in January 1992 at a bar and nightclub in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where Berhalter and Santana were students and Santana was a roommate of Danielle Egan, who went on to play for the U.S. women’s national team.
“Mr. and Mrs. Berhalter were both 18 years old and drinking alcohol on the night in question; they began to argue inside the bar; they left the bar together and continued to argue,” the report said. “Once outside, Mrs. Berhalter hit Mr. Berhalter in the face; Mr. Berhalter pushed her to the ground and kicked her twice; Mr. Berhalter was tackled by a passerby, not known to either of the Berhalters; and Mrs. Berhalter got up and left. No police report was filed; no complaint or arrest was made; and no medical attention was sought by Mrs. Berhalter.”
The report described the incident as “an isolated event, and we find no evidence to suggest that Mr. Berhalter has engaged in similar misconduct at any other time.”
“Based upon information obtained during the Investigation, we also found nothing to indicate that Mr. Berhalter improperly withheld the fact of the 1992 incident, or any other information, from U.S. Soccer at any time,” the report said. “There is no basis to conclude that employing Mr. Berhalter would create legal risks for an organization.”
The investigators said “Berhalter’s conduct during the 1992 incident likely constituted the misdemeanor crime of assault on a female” but added “Berhalter is not currently at risk of criminal prosecution for the 1992 incident because North Carolina imposes a two-year statute of limitations for misdemeanors.”
Claudio Reyna is a former teammate of Berhalter in high school and on the national team. The report said the Reyna parents had attempted to influence USSF decisions on their children as far back as 2016, “ranging from travel arrangements to the impact of on-pitch refereeing decisions.”
Brian McBride, the men’s team general manager until leaving Jan. 31, gave the investigators a text he received from Claudio Reyna — a former teammate — on Nov. 21 after Gio Reyna wasn’t used in the Americans’ opening 1-1 draw with Wales at the World Cup.
“Our entire family is disgusted, angry, and done with you guys,” the text said. “Don’t expect nice comments from anyone in our family about US Soccer. I’m being transparent to you not like the political clown show of the federation.”
Earnie Stewart, who was the USSF sporting director until Feb. 15, told the investigators that after a poor performance by Gio Reyna in a pre-World Cup scrimmage on Nov. 17, the 20-year-old “walk(ed) around, and mope(d) around the whole time,” “seemed ticked off” and “did not appear to be trying at all.” Reyna also did not join other players on post-scrimmage sprints.
Berhalter nearly sent Gio Reyna home, instead requiring him to apologize to teammates. Reyna made two substitute appearances during the World Cup, for seven minutes against England and 45 minutes against Iran.
Berhalter referred to the matter without naming the player at a leadership conference in New York on Dec. 6. After the remarks became public and it was clear they referred to Gio Reyna, Claudio and Danielle Reyna called Stewart on Dec. 11 and revealed the 1992 incident. Stewart reported the matter to top USSF executives, who launched the probe.
A person whose name was redacted in the public version of the report, who appeared to be identified as a travel coordinator for the federation’s friends and family program, quoted Danielle Reyna as saying the day after the Wales match: “Once this tournament is over, I can make one phone call and give one interview, and his cool sneakers and bounce passes will be gone.”
“Some media reports characterized the Reynas’ actions as ‘blackmail,’” the report said. “As a legal matter, we do not arrive at the same conclusion.”
“Blackmail or extortion is the act of obtaining property by compelling or inducing a person to deliver such property by means of instilling in him a fear that, if the property is not so delivered, the actor or another will cause some form of harm to the person,” the report said. “Based on the facts gathered to date, we do not conclude that the Reynas’ actions rise to the level of or would otherwise result in a conviction for extortion.”
Investigators said they “were impressed with Mr. Berhalter’s candor and demeanor during the Investigation” and “we were less impressed with the Reynas’ cooperation.”
“It’s just about transparency and honesty,” Gregg Berhalter told the AP. “It was very difficult. It was just about being open.”
The report said Danielle Reyna initially refused to discuss the matter with investigators during a telephone call on Dec. 29, but she called back shortly later and began by saying: “I did it” and detailed what she told Stewart 18 days earlier.
Investigators concluded Claudio Reyna “used his direct line of communication with U.S. Soccer officials in an attempt to gain advantages or preferential treatment for his children” and he complained “about his son’s playing time, penalties and suspensions his son received, and selection decisions for U.S. Soccer camps in an attempt to change those outcomes.”
The USSF said the report “identifies a need to revisit U.S. Soccer’s policies concerning appropriate parental conduct and communications with staff at the national team level. We will be updating those policies.”
Dan Segal, Claudio Reyna’s agent, said in a statement the former captain “tried multiple times to arrange to provide information and to answer any/all questions and allegations.”
Berhalter’s new spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik, did not immediately have a comment.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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A major trade union organization has fired its general secretary after he admitted accepting donations from a suspect in a European cash-for-influence scandal
BRUSSELS — An organization representing trade unions around the world has fired its general secretary after he admitted accepting donations from a suspect in a major European cash-for-influence scandal, saying that the affair has severely damaged its reputation.
The International Trade Union Confederation, which claims to represent around 200 million workers worldwide, said in a statement issued after a weekend meeting that “Luca Visentini no longer had the confidence of the General Council as ITUC General Secretary.”
Visentini was named to the post in November but was suspended the following month after he was taken into custody by Belgian prosecutors investigating whether a criminal organization had accepted bribes from representatives from Qatar and Morocco to influence decisions at the European Parliament.
Visentini was not charged in the affair and denies involvement in any corruption, but was suspended by ITUC after he was taken into custody. He has admitted accepting a donation from a charity group set up by the man at the center of the scandal, Pier Antonio Panzeri, a former European Union lawmaker.
ITUC’s public affairs office refused to reply to emails or accept phone calls from reporters in the weeks after Belgian prosecutors launched several raids in Brussels in December, seizing hundreds of thousands of euros in cash.
“The events of the past few months have caused significant damage to the ITUC’s reputation,” Akiko Gono, the confederation’s president, said in the statement, posted on its website Saturday. ITUC says it has 332 affiliated organizations in 163 countries and territories.
A special commission set up to investigate the allegations against Visentini “found no evidence of donations from either Qatar or Morocco influencing the ITUC’s policies or program,” the organization said. The statement said “an extraordinary ITUC World Congress” would be organized soon to name Visentini’s permanent successor.
Panzeri, an Italian national, and three others were charged with corruption, money laundering and membership of a criminal organization over what is the EU parliament’s biggest corruption scandal. He recently reached an agreement with prosecutors, promising to name names and spell out how the bribes were paid in exchange for a lighter sentence.
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A former Fox executive was convicted Thursday of paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to nab broadcasting rights to the World Cup and other top soccer matches. A second ex-executive was acquitted.
A Brooklyn federal jury deliberated four days before returning the verdicts. Hernan Lopez, the former CEO of Fox International Channels, was convicted. Carlos Martinez, who headed the Latin America affiliate, was acquitted.
Prosecutors said the case revealed the corruption of international soccer. Defense lawyers said the former Fox execs were framed by an admitted criminal who was trying to minimize his own punishment.
An emotional Lopez hugged supporters in the courtroom after hearing the verdict, while his attorneys appeared stunned. The judge allowed him to be released on bail pending sentencing.
AP Photo/John Minchillo
John Gleeson, an attorney for Lopez, asserted there were “legal and factual errors.”
“We look forward to vindicating our client on appeal,” he said.
Martinez’s lawyer, Steve McCool, said “justice was served today for Carlos.”
“The jurors heard that he was an innocent man, and that he should never have been here in the first place,” McCool said outside court.
A South American sports media and marketing company also was convicted of graft allegations — involving different TV rights. Full Play Group SA, incorporated in Uruguay, was accused of paying bribes for the rights to the Copa America, a quadrennial national team competition, as well as to World Cup qualifying matches.
New York-based Fox Corp., which split from a subsidiary of international channels during a restructuring in 2019, was not charged and has denied any involvement in the bribery scandal.
AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
Lopez and Martinez are among dozens of people who have pleaded guilty or been convicted after a U.S.-led investigation into international soccer and its governing federation, FIFA. The probe burst into view in 2015, when U.S. prosecutors accused the leaders of soccer federations of tarnishing the sport for nearly a quarter century by taking $150 million in bribes and payoffs.
FIFA went on to expand and rename its executive leadership group. Then-President Sepp Blatter was forced out and replaced by current President Gianni Infantino, who has insisted the organization has reformed. However, it has in recent years been criticized for tolerating alleged abuse of migrant workers during the construction of World Cup stadiums used in Qatar last year and of maintaining inferior payments and tournament arrangements for women players.
In the Lopez and Martinez case, prosecutors’ star witness was the executives’ former business associate Alejandro Burzaco. He has cooperated in soccer corruption investigations since his 2015 arrest in a related bribery case.
During 11 days on the witness stand, Burzaco said he and the two executives paid millions of dollars in bribes to undermine competing bids for the TV rights to the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest annual tournament, the Copa Libertadores, and help land broadcasting rights to the sport’s most lucrative competition, the World Cup.
Two jurors who agreed to speak after the trial said Burzaco was not a factor in their decisions.
“We didn’t find him credible,” said one of the jurors, Robert Rose, who works as an attorney.
Instead jurors relied on reams of documents presented during the case.
Rose said “It wasn’t tough” to convict Lopez, and jurors wrestled over reaching a verdict for Martinez. In the end, Rose said, “there was enough doubt.”
Defense lawyers said Burzaco lied about the former Fox executives to minimize his own conduct and curry favor with the government ahead of his own sentencing. He pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and other charges.
Prosecutors allege the payoffs yielded confidential information from high-ranking soccer officials, including those at FIFA, that enabled Fox to beat out rival ESPN and secure U.S. broadcasting rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
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NEW YORK (AP) — A former Fox executive was convicted Thursday of paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to nab broadcasting rights to the World Cup and other top soccer matches. A second ex-executive was acquitted.
A Brooklyn federal jury deliberated four days before returning the verdicts. Hernan Lopez, the former CEO of Fox International Channels, was convicted. Carlos Martinez, who headed the Latin America affiliate, was acquitted.
Prosecutors said the case revealed the corruption of international soccer. Defense lawyers said the former Fox execs were framed by an admitted criminal who was trying to minimize his own punishment.
An emotional Lopez hugged supporters in the courtroom after hearing the verdict, while his attorneys appeared stunned. The judge allowed him to be released on bail pending sentencing.
John Gleeson, an attorney for Lopez, asserted there were “legal and factual errors.”
“We look forward to vindicating our client on appeal,” he said.
Martinez’s lawyer, Steve McCool, said “justice was served today for Carlos.”
“The jurors heard that he was an innocent man, and that he should never have been here in the first place,” McCool said outside court.
A South American sports media and marketing company also was convicted of graft allegations — involving different TV rights. Full Play Group SA, incorporated in Uruguay, was accused of paying bribes for the rights to the Copa America, a quadrennial national team competition, as well as to World Cup qualifying matches.
New York-based Fox Corp., which split from a subsidiary of international channels during a restructuring in 2019, was not charged and has denied any involvement in the bribery scandal.
Lopez and Martinez are among dozens of people who have pleaded guilty or been convicted after a U.S.-led investigation into international soccer and its governing federation, FIFA. The probe burst into view in 2015, when U.S. prosecutors accused the leaders of soccer federations of tarnishing the sport for nearly a quarter century by taking $150 million in bribes and payoffs.
FIFA went on to expand and rename its executive leadership group. Then-President Sepp Blatter was forced out and replaced by current President Gianni Infantino, who has insisted the organization has reformed. However, it has in recent years been criticized for tolerating alleged abuse of migrant workers during the construction of World Cup stadiums used in Qatar last year and of maintaining inferior payments and tournament arrangements for women players.
In the Lopez and Martinez case, prosecutors’ star witness was the executives’ former business associate Alejandro Burzaco. He has cooperated in soccer corruption investigations since his 2015 arrest in a related bribery case.
During 11 days on the witness stand, Burzaco said he and the two executives paid millions of dollars in bribes to undermine competing bids for the TV rights to the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest annual tournament, the Copa Libertadores, and help land broadcasting rights to the sport’s most lucrative competition, the World Cup.
Two jurors who agreed to speak after the trial said Burzaco was not a factor in their decisions.
“We didn’t find him credible,” said one of the jurors, Robert Rose, who works as an attorney.
Instead jurors relied on reams of documents presented during the case.
Rose said “it wasn’t tough” to convict Lopez, and jurors wrestled over reaching a verdict for Martinez. In the end, Rose said, “there was enough doubt.”
Defense lawyers said Burzaco lied about the former Fox executives to minimize his own conduct and curry favor with the government ahead of his own sentencing. He pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and other charges.
Prosecutors allege the payoffs yielded confidential information from high-ranking soccer officials, including those at FIFA, that enabled Fox to beat out rival ESPN and secure U.S. broadcasting rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed.
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Former state House Speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican Party Chair Matt Borges were convicted Thursday in a $60 million bribery scheme that federal prosecutors have called the largest corruption case in state history.
A jury in Cincinnati found the two guilty of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise involving bribery and money laundering, after about 9.5 half hours of deliberations over two days.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker said the government’s prosecution team showed that “Householder sold the Statehouse, and thus he ultimately betrayed the people of the great state of Ohio he was elected to serve.” He called Borges “a willing co-conspirator.”
“Through its verdict today, the jury reaffirmed that the illegal acts committed by both men will not be tolerated and that they should be held accountable,” Parker said.
Attorneys for Householder and Borges did not immediately respond to messages left by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Prosecutors alleged that Householder orchestrated a scheme secretly funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to secure his power in the Legislature, elect his allies — and then to pass and defend a $1 billion nuclear power plant bailout benefiting the electric utility. They alleged that Borges, then a lobbyist, sought to bribe an operative for inside information on the referendum to overturn the bailout.
Householder, 63, had been one of Ohio’s most powerful politicians — and twice elected speaker — until the Republican-controlled House ousted him after his indictment from his leadership post, and then in a bipartisan vote, and with Householder vigorously objecting, from the chamber. It was the first such expulsion in 150 years.
John Minchillo / AP
He took the stand in his own defense, contradicting FBI testimony and denying that he attended swanky Washington dinners where prosecutors allege he and executives of FirstEnergy hatched the elaborate scheme in 2017.
Borges, 50, did not testify at trial but has insisted that he’s innocent. Both men face up to 20 years in prison.
The verdict comes two-and-a-half years after Householder, Borges and three others were arrested. Over the past seven weeks, jurors at the trial were presented with firsthand accounts of the alleged scheme, as well as reams of financial documents, emails, texts and wiretap audio.
The prosecution called two of the people arrested — Juan Cespedes and Jeff Longstreth, who pleaded guilty — to testify about political contributions that they said are not ordinary, but bribes intended to secure passage of the bailout bill, known as House Bill 6.
Householder’s attorneys described his activities as nothing more than hardball politics.
Jurors also heard taped phone calls in which Householder and another co-defendant, the late Statehouse superlobbyist Neil Clark, plotted a nasty attack ad — and, in expletive-laced fashion, contemplated revenge against lawmakers who had crossed Householder.
Householder testified that he never retaliated against those who voted counter to his wishes or who donated to his rivals.
Under a deal to avoid prosecution, FirstEnergy admitted using a network of dark money groups to fund the scheme and even bribing the state’s top utility regulator, Sam Randazzo.
Randazzo resigned as chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio after an FBI search of his home, but he has not been charged and denies wrongdoing.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former state House Speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican Party Chair Matt Borges were convicted Thursday in a $60 million bribery scheme that federal prosecutors have called the largest corruption case in state history.
A jury in Cincinnati found the two guilty of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise involving bribery and money laundering, after about 9 1/2 half hours of deliberations over two days.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker said the government’s prosecution team showed that “Householder sold the Statehouse, and thus he ultimately betrayed the people of the great state of Ohio he was elected to serve.” He called Borges “a willing co-conspirator.”
“Through its verdict today, the jury reaffirmed that the illegal acts committed by both men will not be tolerated and that they should be held accountable,” Parker said.
Attorneys for Householder and Borges did not immediately respond to messages left by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Prosecutors alleged that Householder orchestrated a scheme secretly funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to secure his power in the Legislature, elect his allies — and then to pass and defend a $1 billion nuclear power plant bailout benefiting the electric utility. They alleged that Borges, then a lobbyist, sought to bribe an operative for inside information on the referendum to overturn the bailout.
Householder, 63, had been one of Ohio’s most powerful politicians — and twice elected speaker — until the Republican-controlled House ousted him after his indictment from his leadership post, and then in a bipartisan vote, and with Householder vigorously objecting, from the chamber. It was the first such expulsion in 150 years.
He took the stand in his own defense, contradicting FBI testimony and denying that he attended swanky Washington dinners where prosecutors allege he and executives of FirstEnergy hatched the elaborate scheme in 2017.
Borges, 50, did not testify at trial but has insisted that he’s innocent. Both men face up to 20 years in prison.
The verdict comes two-and-a-half years after Householder, Borges and three others were arrested in what prosecutors have called the largest corruption case in Ohio history.
Over the past seven weeks, jurors at the trial were presented with firsthand accounts of the alleged scheme, as well as reams of financial documents, emails, texts and wire-tap audio.
The prosecution called two of the people arrested — Juan Cespedes and Jeff Longstreth, who pleaded guilty — to testify about political contributions that they said are not ordinary, but bribes intended to secure passage of the bailout bill, known as House Bill 6.
Householder’s attorneys described his activities as nothing more than hardball politics.
Jurors also heard taped phone calls in which Householder and another co-defendant, the late Statehouse superlobbyist Neil Clark, plotted a nasty attack ad — and, in expletive-laced fashion, contemplated revenge against lawmakers who had crossed Householder.
Householder testified that he never retaliated against those who voted counter to his wishes or who donated to his rivals.
Under a deal to avoid prosecution, FirstEnergy admitted using a network of dark money groups to fund the scheme and even bribing the state’s top utility regulator, Sam Randazzo.
Randazzo resigned as chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio after an FBI search of his home, but he has not been charged and denies wrongdoing.
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Former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has arrived at the anti-graft agency over alleged corruption awarding government projects under his rule
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia — Former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin arrived Thursday at the anti-graft agency office for a second time in a matter of weeks over alleged corruption in the awarding of government projects under his rule.
A large crowd of supporters gathered outside the agency building amid speculation that he might be arrested and charged for graft. Muhyiddin, 75, got out of his car and prayed with his supporters before he went into the building. In a Facebook statement hours earlier, Muhyiddin denied rumors that he was arrested Wednesday on a golf course. He said he has been called to the anti-graft agency but didn’t say why.
If Muhyiddin is charged, he will be the second former leader to be indicted after leaving office. Ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak began a 12-year jail term in August after losing a final appeal in a graft case.
Shortly after taking power in November, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim ordered a review of government projects approved by past administrations including billions of dollars in COVID-19 economic aid programs. Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, has said some projects were awarded without proper procedures.
Muhyiddin, who was premier from March 2020 until August 2021, was questioned by the anti-graft agency in February over alleged abuse in the award of projects during the pandemic. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Two senior leaders from Muhyddin’s Bersatu party were recently charged with corruption in relation to the projects. The anti-graft agency has also frozen the party’s accounts to facilitate investigations into suspected illegal proceeds. Muhyddin, who leads a strong Islamic-dominated opposition coalition, accused Anwar’s government of trying to tarnish his party ahead of state elections.
Bersatu information chief Razali Idris told reporters Thursday that he feared Muhyiddin may be arrested and charged in court. He and other Bersatu leaders slammed such a move as political persecution to maim the opposition.
Supporters chanted “Fight! Fight!” and “Allahu Akbar (God is great)” when Muhyiddin arrived.
Anwar and Muhyiddin had battled for the premiership after November general elections produced a hung parliament. The country’s king later appointed Anwar as prime minister after he formed a unity government with several smaller parties. His strength will be put to test in elections in six states due in the coming months.
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Find more of AP’s Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific
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Closing statements are set before a jury Tuesday in the trial of ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and lobbyist Matt Borges
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Closing statements are set before a jury Tuesday in the trial of ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and lobbyist Matt Borges, where both Republicans are accused of participating in a $60 million bribery scheme that federal prosecutors call the largest corruption case in state history.
The government alleges Householder orchestrated a scheme funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to secure the speakership, elect legislative allies, then pass and defend a $1 billion nuclear power plant bailout benefiting the electric utility. Borges is accused of seeking to bribe an operative working to overturn the bailout law.
Both are charged with conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise involving bribery and money laundering, which carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison. Both pleaded not guilty and maintain their innocence.
The six-week trial came 2 1/2 years after Householder, Borges and three others were arrested in the case.
Prosecutors called an FBI agent to the stand who walked jurors through the highlights of thousands of pages of subpoenaed records, then played them secretly taped conversations and questioned firsthand participants in key events surrounding the alleged scheme.
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A news outlet reported that jewels worth more than $3m were discovered in the backpack of a former aide in October 2021.
The administration of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has ordered a police investigation into allegations that government staff under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, tried to bring millions of dollars worth of jewellery into the country.
Justice Minister Flávio Dino announced the probe on Monday, calling on police to explore whether Bolsonaro’s staff tried to cross the border “without complying with legal procedures” for government gifts or high-value items.
The announcement follows a report in the O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper that a former aide tried to bring $3.2m of jewellery into the country without declaring it, as a gift from the Saudi Arabian government to Bolsonaro and his wife Michelle.
Customs officials allegedly confiscated the jewellery from the backpack of a government staffer returning from Saudi Arabia in October 2021, while Bolsonaro was still in office. According to Friday’s newspaper report, the backpack contained a diamond necklace, a ring, a watch and earrings designed by Chopard, a luxury Swiss jeweller.
On Saturday, Bolsonaro denied any involvement in illegal activity. He told CNN Brazil he was being “crucified” for a gift he neither requested nor received.
A current cabinet member has called the incident an act of “smuggling”. In Brazil, any item brought into the country worth more than $1,000 is subject to taxes. Critics also say that, as a gift to the state, the jewellery should have been documented and surrendered to the government as part of the presidential collection.
The former aide had travelled to Riyadh with Bolsonaro’s Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque.
On Sunday, the Folha de S Paulo newspaper reported that another member of Albuquerque’s delegation carried a second package of Chopard jewellery gifted by Saudi Arabia, including a pen, cufflinks, a ring and a rosary. The paper states that this batch of luxury items was not discovered by authorities.
On Monday, Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service also announced that it would investigate whether the transport of the second package of jewellery violated customs laws.
The jewellery allegations add to a growing list of scandals and potential legal troubles faced by Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former far-right president.
Bolsonaro was narrowly defeated in his pursuit of a second term during an October 2022 run-off election, with the left-leaning Lula finishing ahead in the race.
In the lead-up to the vote, Bolsonaro spread false claims that Brazil’s voting system was rigged against him, raising alarm that he would not abide by the results of the election.
He has yet to concede defeat and left for the United States two days before the end of his term. In early January, his supporters stormed key government buildings in the Brazilian capital, calling for a military coup to remove Lula from power.
In Brazil, Bolsonaro currently faces investigations into whether he played a role in instigating the attack.
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CNN
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Florida, West Virginia and Missouri withdrew on Monday from the Electronic Registration Information Center, the bipartisan multi-state partnership aimed at helping states maintain accurate voter rolls.
ERIC is a nonprofit system that helps participating states keep their registration rolls accurate and up to date by analyzing voter data and sharing reports with members, in order for them to update their voter rolls, remove ineligible voters and investigate potential voter fraud.
“ERIC will follow our Bylaws and Membership Agreement regarding any member’s request to resign membership,” Shane Hamlin, the group’s executive director, said in a statement in response to Monday’s withdrawals. We will continue our work on behalf of our remaining member states in improving the accuracy of America’s voter rolls and increasing access to voter registration for all eligible citizens.”
The three states join Alabama and Louisiana, who have previously retreated from the partnership.
The GOP-led states’ withdrawals are coming amid conspiracy theories that blame the system for voter fraud, despite there being no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 and 2022 elections.
Hamlin released an open letter last week addressing “recent misinformation spreading” about the group.
“ERIC is never connected to any state’s voter registration system. Members retain complete control over their voter rolls and they use the reports we provide in ways that comply with federal and state laws,” Hamlin stated.
According to Florida’s secretary of state, Monday’s decision was due to “concerns about data privacy and blatant partisanship.”
“As Secretary of State, I have an obligation to protect the personal information of Florida’s citizens, which the ERIC agreement requires us to share,” Republican Cord Byrd said in a news release. “Florida has tried to back reforms to increase protections, but these protections were refused. Therefore, we have lost confidence in ERIC.”
But when Florida first joined ERIC in 2019, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis touted the partnership as the “right thing to do” and claimed it would ensure “voter rolls are up-to-date and it will increase voter participation” in Florida elections.
More recently, the Republican governor expressed a positive note about the abilities of ERIC last August for his own political agenda, when he announced the arrest of 20 ex-felons for voting illegally in the 2020 election.
“If you actually vote in both places in a primary or in a general election, we have the ability to match those records through the ERIC system for most states now,” DeSantis said at the time.
Brad Ashwell, Florida state director of All Voting is Local, said DeSantis is “caving into pressure by election deniers” and the governor has had “a persistent pattern of reacting to conspiracy theorists and making expensive decisions that impact our election system in negative ways.”
“Things are just either not an issue, that are a standard part of the election process or things that really aren’t a problem getting politicized and blown out of proportion into this large threat, and it’s not productive. It doesn’t help voters and will lead to additional costs,” Ashwell said.
In a letter addressed to Hamlin on Monday, Missouri Secretary of State John Ashcroft listed reasons for his decision claiming ERIC “refuses to require member states to participate in addressing multi-state voter fraud” and “unnecessarily restricts how Missouri utilizes data reports.”
The withdrawals follow an ERIC Board of Directors meeting last month in Washington, DC. West Virginia’s secretary of state’s office said in a news release that the meeting was to “to consider changes to the bylaws and membership agreement recommended by a bi-partisan working group of several member states.”
“After a last-second change to the agenda and disjointed discussions interrupted numerous times by non-voting, non-dues-paying individuals, the ERIC Board rejected critical working group recommended changes that would have prevented third-party influences from serving as non-state ex officio members to the ERIC Board of Directors,” the release stated.
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about the recent derailment of a train carrying hazardous waste, during an event at a fire station in East Palestine, Ohio, February 22, 2023.
Alan Freed | Reuters
Former president Donald Trump said on Saturday he will remain in the 2024 presidential race even if he faces criminal charges in the ongoing investigations into his handling of White House documents and alleged 2020 election tampering.
Trump made the pledge in response to Newsmax’s James Rosen, a former Fox News reporter, at a press conference at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, Rosen tweeted on Saturday.
Trump launched his 2024 White House bid in November, a week after Republicans lost a number of important midterm races.
Recent polling of GOP voters showed that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, widely deemed Trump’s main competition, would beat Trump if the two came head-to-head. DeSantis has not yet launched a bid for the presidency.
Trump’s campaign takes place amid an ongoing Department of Justice investigation into whether he removed nearly 3,000 documents from the White House and potentially tampered with 2020 election results. The FBI seized nearly 200,000 pages of documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in September.
On Friday, Trump’s lawyers asked a federal court to block his former vice president, Mike Pence, from speaking to a grand jury concerning alleged efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 election loss, claiming executive privilege, several media outlets reported.
The new filing was submitted in a sealed proceeding on Friday, according to CNN. It is not the first time Trump’s legal team has asserted executive privilege to prevent Pence from testifying.
The investigation came after Trump was impeached twice with charges of high crimes and misdemeanors, once for allegedly using U.S. foreign aid to extort Ukraine and a second time for allegedly inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
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Sao Paulo
CNN
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This Saturday, as American conservatives flock to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, they’ll get a taste of just how far and wide their own ideas have spread. Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will speak on the same stage where a few hours later former US leader Donald Trump will deliver the event’s closing remarks — a man the Brazilian leader has intentionally mirrored from the beginning of his presidency.
Far from his home country, Bolsonaro has found a warm reception in America: on social media, mostly Brazilian fans post videos of meeting Bolsonaro outside his south Florida rental and running into him in parking lots, food courts, and grocery stores, where the former president appears in shorts and sandals, grinning and posing for photos with children.
Bolsonaro has made a number of appearances in US hotel conference rooms and evangelical churches targeting Brazilian expats, giving speeches that come across as both timid and awkward, as he pauses to wait for interpreters to catch up to him, not always seeming certain of what is being said.
In early February, he spoke in the auditorium of a Trump hotel just outside Miami, hosted by none other than conservative activist and far-right organizer Charlie Kirk. Kirk, who admitted to not knowing much about Brazil, was nonetheless flanked by the flags of both nations: a gold-fringed, star-spangled banner and Brazil’s unmistakeable bright green flag with a yellow diamond and blue circle in the center. “The fight against socialism and Marxism knows no borders,” Kirk said by way of introduction to an audience of mostly Brazilians who were there to see Bolsonaro – “the myth,” or legend, as they call him.
In a separate podcast interview, Kirk and Bolsonaro enthusiastically described common ground between the Brazilian and American right. Describing his decision to snub Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s swearing in, Bolsonaro said: “I didn’t want to be accused of collaborating with the clumsy way they began their mandate, because we have completely opposing political views: conservative, on the right, and theirs, closer to socialism on the left.”
“Sounds very similar to what we’re dealing with in the United States,” Kirk responded.
The commonalities go on. From expanding gun rights and downplaying COVID-19 to opposing abortion and advocating for tougher immigration policies, Bolsonaro and Trump had plenty in common while in office. The two have continued to mirror each other since then; both shunned their successors’ inauguration ceremonies and fled to the embrace of conservative society circles in Florida, where Trump moved his residence and where Bolsonaro has been living for more than two months.
But there’s another reason for Bolsonaro’s tour of the United States: his continued appearances on US stages serve strategic purposes for far-right movements in both countries.
For Bolsonaro, participating in US political events shores up his claims that he has not exited politics and will eventually assume again leadership of Brazil’s rightwing opposition, despite his current sojourn abroad.
For the American right, publicly allying with a foreign figure helps expand their reach and creates the appearance of confirming conspiracy theories that originate in the US. In 2022, it was Hungarian hardline leader Viktor Orban who made headlines at CPAC. This year, it’s Bolsonaro.
Deputy Director of Rapid Response at Media Matters Madeline Peltz, who researches right wing media and has been tracking the way extreme rightwing figures like Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones talk about Brazil, says American and Brazilian activists can see each others’ countries as laboratories in which to test and observe tactics.
After a bruising midterm election, Peltz adds, Republicans are now wondering whether to continue down the path of being pushed farther to the right or to take a more measured approach, distancing themselves from election denialism and the violent acts of January 6, 2021, conveniently chalking that kind of behavior to the radicals of their party.
“The Republican Party was sort of testing this thesis about, do we continue down this path of Trumpism, of extreme election denial, and that was being reflected in the right wing media’s commentary on Brazil as well — they were testing that thesis both in the American elections and in the Brazilian elections,” Peltz said.
The blueprint hasn’t shown the expected results, she said. “Republicans underperformed, to be charitable, and Bolsonaro lost.”
In this balancing act, Bolsonaro is trying to figure out where he fits in. Though he denounced the invasion of Brasilia on January 8 by his supporters, in the days following the election he welcomed peaceful demonstrations while his party filed petitions for an audit of voting machines, alleging fraud. He fed his followers crumbs of misinformation about election fraud and made vague comments hinting at a potential coup.
Isa Soares speaks with an arrested Bolsonaro supporter
When asked if Bolsonaro was not too problematic and messy to be brought into American politics — as a one-term president who infamously defended rape, torture, and a military dictatorship and is currently facing multiple criminal investigations at home — Peltz quipped, “They get their power from problematic and messy.” Shock value and controversy can actually confer clout in the American political universe, she said.
Prominent American conservatives have long lent support to Bolsonaro. “(Steve) Bannon has long considered himself to sort of be the international boogeyman of the left,” and his “next act” after leaving the White House was to form a sort of global coalition of far right movements, Peltz said. Brazil was one winning example of his political penetration.
Bolsonaro brought in Bannon to advise his first presidential campaign back in 2018 – and Bannon in turn began mentioning the South American leader more and more to his American audience, posing for photos with Bolsonaro’s children on US visits, and voicing his support for the president on his social media whenever he was under fire.
He is not the only one. In the days that followed the Brazilian presidential elections in November, as Bolsonaro and his party filed petitions for tens of thousands of votes to be thrown out, another prominent conservative voice joined in. Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson raised questions about whether the vote was legitimate – despite Brazilian courts rejecting fraud claims and a military investigation finding no evidence of rigged voting machines.
Rodrigo Nunes, a philosophy professor at University of Essex and author of “From Trance to Vertigo,” a book of essays about Bolsonarismo, said that Bolsonaro’s value to US conservatives comes from two factors.
First, “he’s a former president of a fairly important country. Geopolitically, he was a fairly important ally to Trump, because he was 100% aligned with Trump.” As a former leader in the global far-right and part of the “ecology,” Bolsonaro’s voice can be amplified in the US whenever his ideas are relevant, Nunes said.
Second, Bolsonaro frequently mimics and echoes the discourse of the far right in the US, which can be fed back into the US as offering further confirmation of what the far right are saying there, Nunes explained.
“That’s a lot of how this ecological approach to political organization works. When you’re using the internet, how do you make something real? You spread sufficient sources of it so that it looks like it’s coming from several different places at the same time, and suddenly, this produces an effect of reality, it looks like it’s real, because there’s a lot of people saying it and where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
In a way, the cycle is exemplified in the copycat insurrection that took place in Brasilia on January 8. It’s impossible not to see the influence of January 6 in the actions of the rioters there, and yet “the Brazilian Jan 6” was defended by Carlson and Bannon even as the reaction from Bolsonaro and many in his camp was mixed.
The day after the Brasilia riots, Bolsonaro condemned the acts in a tweet. “Peaceful demonstrations that follow the law are part of democracy. However, depredations and invasions of public buildings as occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, escape the rule,” he said.
But in American politics, what Bolsonaro thinks or says matters less than what the invasion of public buildings thousands of miles away means for American voters who believe that their own election was stolen.
“The way his narrative is built, to a large extent, as a copy or a mirror image of the narrative that they have in the US is very useful in the sense of showing people this is happening in other places, too. This proves the whole idea that there is a global conspiracy, a global left wing conspiracy to keep us, the people who represent the real people, out of power,” Nunes said.
In another recent speaking event, Bolsonaro took the pulpit of an evangelical church in Boca Raton, Florida, and told a crowd of Brazilians, “My mission is not over yet.”
In the same breath as he exalted the wonders of Brazil, (“There is nothing like our own land”), he urged his supporters to not be discouraged, and said he was planning to return to Brazil in the coming weeks to lead the opposition against Lula. If that is true, CPAC could be his last appearance in American politics before going home to an uncertain political future.
To Peltz, it would be the natural conclusion of what she described as Bolsonaro’s “strange, directionless detour to America,” given CPAC’s waning influence in the American political landscape. “CPAC no longer launches the careers of hopefuls looking to make an impact, rather, it’s now simply a box to check off. And without much otherwise on his to-do list, Bolsonaro might as well check it off.”
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STOCKHOLM — Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson has agreed to plead guilty to U.S. foreign corruption violations and pay more than $206 million for breaking a deal with the Justice Department over charges of bribery and falsifying records in countries from China to Kuwait.
The U.S. Justice Department said the company, based in Stockholm, violated a 2019 agreement by failing to provide documents and information the agency needed for its investigation and to bring charges against individuals accused of misconduct.
Ericsson, which provides equipment for high-speed 5G wireless networks, used intermediaries to bribe government officials and manage illicit stashes of cash in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Kuwait, prosecutors say.
“The company’s breach of its obligations … indicate that Ericsson did not learn its lesson, and it is now facing a steep price for its continued missteps,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York said in a prepared statement Thursday.
Ericsson was accused of drawing up fake contracts and invoices to pay third-party agents carrying out the bribes and then not properly accounting for the payments from 2000 to 2016.
CEO Börje Ekholm says Ericsson has made important changes and is committed to enforcing strict controls and improved oversight and ethics.
“This resolution is a stark reminder of the historical misconduct” that led to the deal with the Justice Department, Ekholm said in a prepared statement. “We have learned from that, and we are on an important journey to transform our culture. To be a true industry leader, we must be a market and technology leader while also being a leader in how we conduct our business.”
Facing a criminal indictment in New York over violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Ericsson in 2019 paid a $520 million penalty and agreed to have an independent compliance monitor for three years.
Now, the Justice Department says the company has failed to “truthfully disclose” all information and evidence in the Djibouti and China cases and in other potential bribery or accounting violations. Ericsson also failed to turn over details in a 2019 Iraq internal investigation that has raised allegations of illegal business behavior, the agency said.
As a result, Ericsson agreed to plead guilty to the charges put off by the 2019 deal: conspiracy to violate the foreign corruption law’s anti-bribery and bookkeeping provisions.
Ericsson will pay $206.7 million, serve probation through June 2024 and keep the independent compliance monitor for another year.
It’s the latest hit for the company, which said last week that it’s cutting 8% of its global workforce as it looks to reduce costs.
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Malaysian former Prime Minister Najib Razak has been acquitted in the latest trial in response to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian former Prime Minister Najib Razak was acquitted Friday in the latest trial in response to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund.
Najib, who is serving a 12-year prison term after losing the final appeal in his first of several corruption trials linked to the 1MDB scandal, was found not guilty on the charge of tampering with an audit report to cover up wrongdoings.
Defense lawyer Mohamad Shafee Abdullah said the High Court ruled that prosecutors did not have sufficient evidence to prove Najib guilty of abusing his position as Prime Minister and Finance Minister to order amendments to the 1MDB audit report in 2016 before it was presented to Parliament.
“My client is very grateful to Allah for the decision today because it really uplifted his spirit and the desire to fight for his innocence,” Shafee said Friday at a news conference.
The 1MDB development fund was set up months after Najib became prime minister in 2009. Investigators allege more than $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates through layers of bank accounts in the United States and other countries to finance Hollywood films and extravagant purchases that included hotels, a luxury yacht, art and jewelry. More than $700 million landed in Najib’s bank accounts.
He and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, were hit with multiple graft charges after the saga led to his ruling coalition’s shocking defeat in 2018 general elections. Rosmah was sentenced in 2022 to 10 years in prison and a record fine of 970 million ringgit ($217 million) for corruption over a solar energy project and is out on bail pending an appeal.
Shafee said financer Low Taek Jho — believed to be the mastermind of the scandal — remained at large.
Former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy, who was jointly charged with abetting Najib and appeared as a prosecution witness during the trial, was also acquitted by the court Friday.
Shafee has maintained that charges against Najib were politically motivated. Najib is seeking a review of the top court’s decision in August to reject his final appeal and is hoping for a favorable outcome later this month, he added.
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