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Tag: Indictments

  • Oregon man pleads guilty following fatal crash with college softball team bus

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    An Oregon man has pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree manslaughter following a fatal crash with a bus carrying a community college softball team that left a player and the team’s head coach dead, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

    The petition to enter a guilty plea, filed in Coos County Circuit Court, shows Dowdy also pleaded guilty to three counts of third-degree assault, five counts of fourth-degree assault, one count of driving under the influence and one count of driving with a suspended license.

    The attorney listed for Dowdy in court records, Jennifer Leigh Leseberg, did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

    Dowdy was driving his pickup truck on April 18 when he crossed a center line and crashed into a bus carrying 10 members of the Umpqua Community College softball team, state police said.

    Jami Strinz, 46, described on the school’s website as the head softball coach, was driving the Chevrolet Express bus. Police said she was later declared dead at a hospital.

    Kiley Jones, 19, was pronounced dead at the scene. The freshman from Nampa, Idaho, played first base, according to the athletics department’s website.

    The team was traveling from a game in Coos Bay, according to a statement from the school.

    The other eight occupants of the bus received moderate to serious injuries, according to police.

    Dowdy also was injured and was admitted to a hospital, state police said. It wasn’t immediately clear what type of injuries he had. The Coos County Jail roster shows he was booked on April 21.

    Dowdy’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 11.

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  • Learn about the 5 people charged in connection with Matthew Perry’s death

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    LOS ANGELES — One year ago, federal authorities announced that five people had been charged in connection with the ketamine overdose death of Matthew Perry.

    All five have now agreed to plead guilty, including the personal assistant of the “Friends” star, an old acquaintance and two doctors.

    On Monday, Jasveen Sangha, who prosecutors say was a dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen,” became the fifth and final defendant to reach a deal and avoid trial.

    Here is a look at each of the defendants.

    Sangha admitted in her plea agreement that she sold Perry the lethal dose of ketamine in the days before his death on Oct. 23, 2023.

    A 42-year-old who was born in Britain, raised in the United States and has dual citizenship, Sangha’s social media accounts before her indictment last year showed a jet-setting lifestyle, with photos of herself in posh spaces alongside rich-and-famous faces in Spain, Japan and Dubai along with her dual homes of London and Los Angeles.

    Prosecutors say that lifestyle was funded by a drug business she ran for at least five years from her apartment in LA’s San Fernando Valley.

    They say she presented herself as “a celebrity drug dealer with high quality goods” and missed no opportunity to promote the idea that she was known to customers and others as the “Ketamine Queen.” Her lawyers have derided the title as a “media-friendly” moniker.

    Sangha went to high school in Calabasas, California — perhaps best known as home to the Kardashians — and went to college at the University of California, Irvine, graduating in 2005 and going on to work at Merrill Lynch. She later got an MBA from the Hult International Business School in London.

    She was connected to Perry through his acquaintance and her co-defendant, Erik Fleming.

    In a raid of her apartment in March 2024, authorities said they found large amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine and ketamine. She was arrested and released on bond.

    In August 2024, she was indicted again with charges that tied her to Perry’s death, and has been held without bail ever since.

    CHARGES: Three counts of distribution of ketamine, one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury and one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises.

    SENTENCING: A judge will set her sentencing in the coming months after she appears in court to officially change her plea. She could get up to 45 years in prison.

    WHAT THEY SAID: Sangha’s lawyer Mark Geragos says ”She’s taking responsibility for her actions.”

    Iwamasa, Perry’s live-in personal assistant, was intimately involved in the actor’s illegal ketamine use, acting as his drug messenger and personally giving injections, according to his plea agreement. It was the 60-year-old Iwamasa who found Perry dead in the hot tub of his Pacific Palisades home on a day when he’d given him several injections.

    He would become the first to reach a deal with prosecutors as they sought to use him as an essential witness against other defendants.

    Iwamasa said he worked with co-defendants to get ketamine on Perry’s behalf, including Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who taught him how to give Perry the injections.

    “Found the sweet spot but trying different places led to running out,” Iwamasa told Plasencia in one text message.

    Iwamasa said in his plea deal that he injected Perry six to eight times per day in the last few days of his life.

    CHARGE: One count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death.

    SENTENCING: He’s scheduled to be sentenced November 19 and could get up to 15 years in prison.

    WHAT THEY SAID: Iwamasa’s attorneys have not responded to requests for comment.

    “I wonder how much this moron will pay?”

    That was a text message Plasencia sent to a fellow doctor when he learned Perry wanted to be illegally provided with ketamine, according to a plea agreement where the doctor admitted to selling 20 vials of the drug to the actor in the weeks before his death.

    Plasencia, a 43-year-old Los Angeles-area doctor known to patients as “Dr. P,” was one of the two main targets of the prosecution and had been headed for a joint trial with Sangha when he reached the plea agreement in June.

    According to court records, Perry was connected to Plasencia through another patient. Perry had been getting ketamine legally from his regular doctor as treatment for depression, an off-label but increasingly common use of the surgical anesthetic. But the actor wanted more.

    Plasencia admitted to personally injecting Perry with some of the initial vials he provided, and left more for Iwamasa to inject, despite the fact that Perry froze up and his blood pressure spiked, after one dose.

    Plasencia graduated from UCLA’s medical school in 2010 and had not been subject to any medical disciplinary actions before the Perry case.

    He has been free on bond since his indictment. His lawyers said he is caregiver for a toddler child.

    Plasencia even got to keep practicing medicine after his indictment, but had to inform patients of the charges against him and couldn’t prescribe dangerous drugs. He now intends to voluntarily surrender his license to practice, according to his lawyers.

    CHARGES: Four counts of distribution of ketamine.

    SENTENCING: He’s scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 3 and could get up to 40 years in prison.

    WHAT THEY SAID: His lawyers say he’s “profoundly remorseful for the treatment decisions he made while providing ketamine to Matthew Perry.”

    Fleming, 55, was an acquaintance of Perry’s who learned through a mutual friend that the actor was seeking ketamine, according to his plea agreement.

    He told Iwamasa in text messages that he had a source known as the “Ketamine Queen” whose product was “amazing,” saying she only deals with “high end and celebs.”

    In all, prosecutors say, Fleming delivered 50 vials of Sangha’s ketamine for Perry’s use, including 25 sold for a total of $6,000 to the actor four days before his death.

    CHARGE: One count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.

    SENTENCING: He is scheduled to be sentenced November 12 and could get up to 25 years in prison.

    WHAT THEY SAID: Fleming’s lawyers have declined comment.

    Chavez, a San Diego doctor who ran a ketamine clinic, was the source of the doses that Plasencia sold to Perry, according to their plea agreements.

    Chavez admitted to obtaining the ketamine from a wholesale distributor on false pretenses.

    Chavez, 55, graduated from UCLA’s medical school in 2004. He has surrendered his medical license.

    CHARGE: One count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.

    SENTENCING: He is scheduled to become the first defendant sentenced, on Sept. 17. He could get 10 years in prison.

    WHAT THEY SAID: His lawyer says he’s “incredibly remorseful,” has accepted responsibility and has been “trying to do everything in his power to right the wrong.”

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    Former Associated Press journalist Kaitlyn Huamani contributed reporting.

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    A version of this story first ran on Aug. 15, 2024.

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  • MrBeast probe ends with some employees fired but finds no proof of sexual misconduct allegations

    MrBeast probe ends with some employees fired but finds no proof of sexual misconduct allegations

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    NEW YORK — Online video production company MrBeast said Friday it has fired somewhere between 5 to 10 employees following an investigation into the YouTube empire’s workplace culture.

    A company spokesman declined to put a precise number on the firings, say which employees were let go or for what reasons. But the shakeup comes as Jimmy Donaldson, who draws millions of views under the MrBeast alias with highly produced stunts and giveaways, deals with accusations of impropriety against himself, his collaborators and others within his multimillion-dollar production company that have threatened his family-friendly image.

    Investigators only identified “several isolated instances of workplace harassment and misconduct,” according to a two-page letter sent Friday by Alex Spiro, a trial lawyer who led the investigation by white-shoe law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and whose clients have included Jay-Z and Elon Musk.

    The nearly three-month probe concluded that there was no basis behind allegations that MrBeast team members committed sexual misconduct or “knowingly” employed people with “proclivities or histories towards illegal or questionable legal conduct.”

    Spiro said the team interviewed 39 current and former employees. Millions of documents from phones, emails, and messaging platforms including Discord and Slack were also reviewed, according to the letter.

    The controversies surrounding the so-called King of YouTube began snowballing this summer. Ava Tyson, a Donaldson friend and fellow creator accused of sharing inappropriate sexual messages with minors over multiple years, left the channel in July. Also circulated online by YouTuber Rosanna Pansino was a 2017 recording of Donaldson making racist comments and using homophobic slurs.

    A preliminary July shoot for his ambitious “Beast Games” Amazon Prime Video show was quickly hit with safety complaints from some contestants who said they faced “limited sustenance” and “insufficient medical staffing” while competing for a $5 million grand prize.

    MrBeast in turn has hired new executives, including a head of personnel and a general counsel, according to Spiro, and additional employees are getting “targeted training and executive coaching” for undisclosed violations of company policy.

    The company “has grown exceedingly quickly from a YouTube start-up comprised of a group of talented young individuals to a much larger entity,” Spiro wrote to MrBeast’s Board of Directors. “It is not uncommon that policies and practices essential in a mature company would lag behind commercial success.”

    Donaldson has largely remained silent on the matters. He recently launched a prepacked lunch brand alongside internet personalities Logan Paul and KSI — marking his latest entrance into the food market after his chocolate bar and burger chain were met with mixed reviews. His 325 million YouTube subscribers have continued to see their feeds filled with outlandish, high-energy videos like the recently titled “100 Identical Twins Fight For $250,000.”

    In a Friday post on X sharing Spiro’s letter, Donaldson wrote that he “was asked to refrain from making public statements to enable a detailed and unbiased investigation.”

    Pansino, one of Donaldson’s most vocal critics, responded on X that the findings of “workplace harassment and misconduct” and “multiple firings” mean “it might be time for a bigger investigation.”

    Donaldson’s level of fame and growth place him in “pretty rare company,” said advertising lawyer Robert Freund, whose practice helps creators resolve disputes. He said he suspects the letter was released in attempt to assure stakeholders “that he’s running a professional operation.”

    “I don’t see anything fishy or suspicious about what we’ve been presented with here as the public,” Freund told The Associated Press.

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    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Judge upholds dismissal of involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in on-set shooting

    Judge upholds dismissal of involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in on-set shooting

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    SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge has upheld her decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.

    In a ruling Thursday, state District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer stood by her July decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin. She said prosecutors did not raise any factual or legal arguments that would justify reversing her decision.

    “Because the state’s amended motion raises arguments previously made, and arguments that the state elected not to raise earlier, the court does not find the amended motion well taken,” the judge wrote, adding that the request was also untimely.

    A spokesperson for Baldwin’s lawyers said Friday that they had no immediate reaction to the decision.

    Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey told The Associated Press that she disagrees with the court’s analysis and will appeal the ruling. Morrissey was appointed by the Santa Fe district attorney to take over the case in March 2023 after a previous special prosecutor resigned following missteps in the filing of initial charges.

    The case was thrown out halfway through trial on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense in the 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film “Rust.”

    Baldwin’s trial was upended by revelations that ammunition was brought into the Santa Fe County sheriff’s office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins’ killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin’s lawyers say investigators “buried” the evidence in a separate case file and filed a successful motion to dismiss.

    Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.

    A judge in April sentenced movie weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to the maximum of 1.5 years at a state penitentiary on an involuntary manslaughter conviction in Hutchins’ death.

    Marlowe Sommer last month rejected Gutierrez-Reed’s request to dismiss her conviction or convene a new trial on allegations that prosecutors failed to share evidence that might have been exculpatory. She found that the armorer’s attorneys didn’t establish that there was a reasonable possibility that the outcome of the trial would have been different had the evidence been available to Gutierrez-Reed, who still has an appeal pending with a higher court.

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    Associated Press reporter Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque contributed to this report.

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  • Takeaways from AP investigation into misconduct allegations against prosecutor who charged Netanyahu

    Takeaways from AP investigation into misconduct allegations against prosecutor who charged Netanyahu

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    THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — At the same time he sought war crimes charges this year against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the International Criminal Court faced accusations that he tried for more than a year to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship.

    Karim Khan has categorically denied the accusations and court officials have suggested they may have been made as part of an Israeli intelligence smear campaign.

    The Associated Press pieced together details of the accusations through documents shared with the court’s independent watchdog and interviews with eight ICC officials and individuals close to the woman.

    Here are some of the key findings of the AP investigation.

    What are the allegations?

    Among the allegations told to AP is that Khan noticed the woman working at another department at ICC and moved her into his office, a transfer that included a pay bump. Their time together allegedly increased after a private dinner in London where Khan took the woman’s hand and complained about his marriage. She became a presence on official trips and meetings with dignitaries.

    During one such trip, Khan allegedly asked the woman to rest with him on a hotel bed and then “sexually touched her,” according to the documents. Later, he came to her room at 3 a.m. and knocked on the door for 10 minutes.

    Other allegedly nonconsensual behavior cited in the documents included locking the door of his office and sticking his hand in her pocket. He also allegedly asked her on several occasions to go on a vacation together.

    Khan, 54, said in a statement there was “no truth to suggestions of misconduct” and that in 30 years of scandal-free work he always has stood with victims of sexual harassment and abuse.

    Khan added that he would be willing, if asked, to cooperate with any inquiry, saying it is essential that an accusations “are thoroughly listened to, examined and subjected to a proper process.”

    Where do the accusations stand?

    Two co-workers in whom the woman confided at the ICC’s headquarters at The Hague reported the alleged misconduct in early May to the court’s independent watchdog, which says it interviewed the woman and ended its inquiry after five days when she opted against filing a formal complaint. Khan himself was never questioned.

    But the matter may not be over.

    While the woman who still works at the court declined to comment to AP, people close to her say her initial reluctance was driven by distrust of the in-house watchdog and she has asked the body of member-states that oversees the ICC to launch an external probe. An ICC official with knowledge of the matter who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity confirmed that request is still being considered.

    Paivi Kaukoranta, a Finnish diplomat currently serving as president of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, which oversees the court, did not comment specifically when asked if it had initiated a new investigation.

    But she left the door open for future action.

    In a statement, she asked people to respect the integrity and confidentiality of the process, “including any further possible steps as necessary.”

    What happened with the war crimes charges?

    Within days of the shelving of the case, the court’s work went on. Khan on May 20 sought arrest warrants against Netanyahu, his defense minister and three Hamas leaders on war crimes charges. A three-judge panel is now weighing that request.

    U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration said it was blindsided by the move and Israel’s allies in Congress have also seized on the would-be scandal.

    In announcing the charges, Khan suggest outside forces were trying to derail his investigation.

    “I insist that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence the officials of this court must cease immediately,” Khan said.

    Israel has been waging an influence campaign against the court since the ICC recognized Palestine as a member and in 2015 opened a preliminary investigation into what the court referred to as “the situation in the State of Palestine.”

    London’s The Guardian newspaper and several Israeli news outlets reported this summer that Israel’s intelligence agencies for the past decade have allegedly targeted senior ICC staff, including putting Khan’s predecessor under surveillance and showing up at her house with envelopes stuffed with cash to discredit her.

    Netanyahu himself, in the days leading up to Khan’s announcement of war crimes charges, called on the world’s democracies “ to use all the means at their disposal ” to block the court from what he called an “outrage of historic proportions.”

    The Israeli foreign ministry referred AP’s inquiries about the case to the Prime Minister’s office, which did not respond. The U.S. State Department declined to discuss the matter but said in a statement that it “takes any allegation of sexual harassment seriously, and we would expect the court to do the same.”

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  • Ex-Abercrombie & Fitch head to be arraigned on sex trafficking and prostitution charges

    Ex-Abercrombie & Fitch head to be arraigned on sex trafficking and prostitution charges

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    CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch is expected to be arraigned Friday on federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges in a New York court.

    Prosecutors allege that for nearly two decades, Michael Jeffries, his romantic partner and a third man lured men into taking part in sex parties by dangling the promise of modeling for the clothing retailer, once famous for its preppy, All-American aesthetic and marketing with shirtless male models.

    In charges announced earlier this week, prosecutors say some 15 unnamed accusers were induced by “force, fraud and coercion” to engage in drug-fueled sex parties in New York, England, France, Italy, Morocco and St. Barts between 2008 and 2015. During the events, the men were sometimes directed to wear costumes, use sex toys and endure painful erection-inducing penile injections, according to the indictment.

    The allegations echo sexual misconduct accusations described in media reports and made in a civil case against Jeffries, who left Abercrombie in 2014.

    Jeffries’ attorney didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment ahead of the Friday afternoon appearance in federal court on Long Island, where Jeffries is expected to enter a plea on the charges.

    A lawyer for James Jacobson, an employee of Jeffries’ also due to be arraigned, declined to comment other than to say his client will be pleading not guilty.

    Jeffries was released on a $10 million bond after appearing in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.

    His partner, Matthew Smith, who also appeared in court in Florida, was ordered detained after prosecutors raised concerns that the dual U.S.-British citizen might flee the country.

    Jacobson, who prosecutors say recruited men for the sex parties, was arrested in Wisconsin and released on a $500,000 bond during his initial appearance in federal court in St. Paul, Minnesota.

    Jeffries took over as CEO of Abercrombie in 1992, presiding over the evolution of the company from its roots as a hunting and outdoor goods store founded in Manhattan in 1892 to a fixture of teen mall culture during the early 2000s.

    Abercrombie, in a statement posted on Instagram after the arrests, said it was “appalled and disgusted” by the allegations.

    The Ohio-based company, which also owns the clothing brand Hollister, said it has “transformed” its brands and culture in the decade since Jeffries departed.

    Abercrombie stopped using “sexualized” photos in marketing materials and ended the practice of calling store staffers “models.” It hired an outside law firm last year to conduct an independent investigation into similar allegations against Jeffries.

    “Speaking up and coming forward is not easy, and our thoughts remain with those who have bravely raised their voices as part of the federal investigation,” the company wrote in its statement Wednesday. “We have zero tolerance for abuse, harassment or discrimination of any kind, and are committed to fully cooperating with law enforcement as the legal process continues.”

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    Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

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  • A man accused of threatening to kill Dem election officials will likely plead guilty

    A man accused of threatening to kill Dem election officials will likely plead guilty

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    DENVER — A man accused of repeatedly threatening to kill the top elections officials in Colorado and Arizona as well as judges and federal law enforcement agents is expected to plead guilty in federal court on Wednesday.

    Teak Ty Brockbank, 45, of Cortez, Colorado, has been jailed since his Aug. 23 arrest. Now he’s scheduled to appear in court for a change of plea hearing after previously pleading not guilty to one count of making interstate threats. His lawyer notified the court that Brockbank wanted to change his plea. In federal court, “guilty” is the only other option.

    According to a detention motion, Brockbank told investigators that he’s not a “vigilante” and that he hoped his posts would simply “wake people up.”

    Investigators say Brockbank began to express the view that violence against public officials was necessary in late 2021 and proceeded to make multiple threats against Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and former Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, now the state’s governor, and the others.

    In one post in August 2022, referring to Griswold and Hobbs, Brockbank allegedly said: “Once those people start getting put to death then the rest will melt like snowflakes and turn on each other,” according to copies of the threats included in court documents. Griswold and Hobbs were not named as among those allegedly targeted by Brockbank when he was first arrested but were identified as victims in evidence unsealed in September.

    The investigation was launched in August 2022 after Griswold’s office notified federal authorities of posts made on Gab and Rumble, an alternative video-sharing platform that has been criticized for allowing and sometimes promoting far-right extremism, according to court documents.

    Brockbank also allegedly posted in October 2021 that he could use his rifle to “put a bullet” in the head of a state judge who had overseen Brockbank’s probation for his fourth conviction for driving under the influence, calling the judge a “Nazi,” prosecutors said in an Aug. 27 motion asking that Brockbank be kept behind bars while prosecuted.

    Prosecutors also say Brockbank posted in July 2022 that he would shoot any federal agent without warning who showed up at his house. Prosecutors said a half dozen firearms were found in his home after his August arrest, including a loaded one near his front door, even though he can’t legally possess firearms due to a felony conviction of attempted theft by receiving stolen property in Utah in 2002.

    And although Brockbank was charged for threats allegedly made between September 2021 and August 2022, prosecutors say he’s kept it up since then.

    In December 2023, after a divided Colorado Supreme Court removed Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot, Brockbank allegedly told his stepfather in a text that he was adding the four judges in the majority to “my list.”

    And this July, prosecutors say, Brockbank continued to threaten Griswold because her office triggered an investigation of former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters by notifying authorities about a data breach of the county’s election equipment in 2021. Griswold also has been outspoken nationally on elections security and has received threats in the past over her insistence that the 2020 election was secure.

    Peters was sentenced to nearly nine years behind bars in October for allowing access to the county’s election system to a man affiliated with My Pillow chief executive Mike Lindell — a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election. Authorities investigated separate threats made against her trial judge, Matthew Barrett, who admonished Peters during her sentencing. Most of the messages appear to have been strongly worded opinions but none appeared to rise to the level of a crime, Mesa County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Wendy Likes said Tuesday.

    Brockbank was prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland to protect workers who have been subject to increasing threats since the 2020 election.

    In 2022, a Nebraska man pleaded guilty to making death threats against Griswold in what officials said was the first such plea obtained by the task force.

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  • Ex-husband of ‘Real Housewives’ star gets seven years for hiring mobster to assault her boyfriend

    Ex-husband of ‘Real Housewives’ star gets seven years for hiring mobster to assault her boyfriend

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    NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The ex-husband of “Real Housewives of New Jersey” cast member Dina Manzo was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison for hiring a reputed mobster to assault her boyfriend in exchange for the defendant hosting a lavish wedding reception for the attacker.

    Thomas Manzo, 59, of Franklin Lakes, will also have to serve three years of supervised release once he’s freed under the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton. A federal jury in June convicted him of conspiracy, falsifying and concealing documents, and committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity.

    According to federal prosecutors, Manzo hired John Perna, whom they described as a soldier in the Lucchese crime family, to commit the July 2015 attack in which the boyfriend was beaten with a weapon. Perna’s wedding reception was held the following month at a restaurant in Paterson that Thomas Manzo partly owned, prosecutors said.

    Perna pleaded guilty in December 2020 to committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity and received a 2½-year sentence. He was freed in August 2023. Dina Manzo’s boyfriend is now her husband.

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  • Andy Kim and Curtis Bashaw clash over abortion and immigration in New Jersey Senate debate

    Andy Kim and Curtis Bashaw clash over abortion and immigration in New Jersey Senate debate

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    NUTLEY, N.J. (AP) — Democratic Rep. Andy Kim and Republican Curtis Bashaw clashed over abortion and immigration Sunday in their first debate for New Jersey’s Senate seat, open this year after Bob Menendez’s conviction on bribery charges and resignation.

    Kim, a three-term representative from the 3rd District, hammered Bashaw for his support of former President Donald Trump and expressed skepticism about Bashaw’s position as an abortion rights supporter. Bashaw, a hotel developer from southern New Jersey and first-time candidate, sought to cast himself as a moderate and Kim as a Washington insider.

    The debate was briefly derailed at the start when Bashaw stopped speaking mid-sentence and stared ahead, nonresponsive. He was helped from the stage and left the room for roughly 10 minutes.

    “I got so worked up about this affordability issue that I realized I hadn’t eaten so much food today,” Bashaw said when he returned. “So I appreciate your indulgence.”

    Among the most pointed exchanges was over abortion. Both candidates support abortion rights, but Bashaw has said he supported the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that ended Roe v. Wade. New Jersey has enshrined abortion protections in state law.

    “I just fundamentally have a problem with using the term ‘pro-choice’ to describe yourself when you have talked about the important of the Dobbs decision being correctly decided,” Kim said.

    He also hammered Bashaw for his support of Trump, who has twice lost New Jersey’s electoral votes.

    “The one endorsement that he has made is for Donald Trump to be president of the United States,” Kim said. “And I guess we get a sense of his judgment from that.”

    Bashaw, who defeated a Trump-endorsed rival in the primary, didn’t defend the former president explicitly.

    “Elections are binary choices, and we all have to make a decision,” he said.

    He touted his own candidacy based on his credentials as a businessperson and resisted being typecast as a traditional Republican, pointing out that he backs abortion rights and is a married gay man.

    “I am pro-choice, congressman. I am for freedom in the home,” Bashaw said. “I don’t think government should tell me who I can marry. I don’t think it should tell a woman what she can do with her reproductive health choices.”

    Bashaw hammered on immigration repeatedly throughout, saying it’s “a crisis in New Jersey” and is costing the state.

    In a reflection of how Democratic-leaning New Jersey has been in Senate races, which Republicans haven’t won in more than five decades, Bashaw addressed his closing statements to women and moms of New Jersey.

    “I am a moderate, common-sense person that will work to be a voice for New Jersey,” he said.

    Kim declared his candidacy a day after Menendez’s indictment last year, saying it was time for the state to turn the page on the longtime legislator. It looked as if the Democratic primary in a must-win state for the party would be contentious when first lady Tammy Murphy entered the race, winning support from influential party leaders.

    But Kim challenged the state’s unique ballot-drawing system widely viewed as favoring the candidates backed by party leaders. A federal judge sided with Kim in his legal challenge, putting the system on hold for this election. Murphy dropped out of the race, saying she wanted to avoid a divisive primary, leaving a clear path to Kim’s nomination.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    Kim first won office to the House in 2018, defeating Republican Rep. Tom MacArthur. He got national attention after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection when he was photographed picking up trash in the building.

    Bashaw won a contested primary in June, defeating a Trump-backed opponent. The hotel developer from Cape May is running for office for the first time.

    Menendez was convicted this summer on federal charges of accepting bribes of gold and cash from three New Jersey businesspeople and acting as an agent for the Egyptian government. He has vowed to appeal the conviction.

    He resigned in August, capping a career in politics that spanned roughly five decades. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy appointed George Helmy as interim senator. Helmy said he’ll resign after the election is certified so Murphy can appoint whoever wins the election to the seat for the remainder of Menendez’s term, which expires in January.

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  • Nevada politician guilty of using $70,000 meant for statue of slain officer for personal costs

    Nevada politician guilty of using $70,000 meant for statue of slain officer for personal costs

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    LAS VEGAS — A Nevada Republican politician who ran unsuccessfully two years ago for state treasurer was found guilty Thursday of using funds raised for a statue honoring a slain police officer for personal costs, including plastic surgery.

    A jury convicted Michele Fiore, a former Las Vegas city councilwoman and state lawmaker, of six counts of federal wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reported. The weeklong trial in U.S. District Court in Nevada began last week.

    Each count carries a possible penalty of 20 years in prison. Fiore, who has been suspended without pay from her current elected position as a justice of the peace in rural Pahrump, Nevada, will be sentenced Jan. 6. She will remain free while she awaits sentencing.

    Her attorney, Michael Sanft, said Fiore will appeal the conviction.

    Federal prosecutors said at trial that Fiore had raised more than $70,000 for the statue of a Las Vegas police officer shot and killed in 2014 in the line of duty, but instead spent the money on plastic surgery, rent and her daughter’s wedding.

    “Michele Fiore used a tragedy to line her pockets,” federal prosecutor Dahoud Askar said.

    FBI agents in 2021 subpoenaed records and searched Fiore’s home in northwest Las Vegas in connection with her campaign spending. Sanft told the jury that the FBI’s investigation was “sloppy.”

    Fiore, who does not have a law degree, was appointed as a judge in deep-red Nye County in 2022 shortly after she lost her campaign for state treasurer. She was elected in June to complete the unexpired term of a judge who died. Pahrump is an hour’s drive west of Las Vegas.

    The 54-year-old served in the state Legislature from 2012 to 2016, making headlines posing with guns and her family for Christmas cards. She was a Las Vegas councilwoman from 2017 to 2022.

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  • Former Singapore minister sentenced to a year in prison for receiving illegal gifts

    Former Singapore minister sentenced to a year in prison for receiving illegal gifts

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    KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A former Singaporean Cabinet minister was sentenced Thursday to a year in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of receiving illegal gifts, in a rare criminal case involving a minister in the Asian financial hub.

    Former Transport Minister S. Iswaran had pleaded guilty last week to one count of obstructing justice and four of accepting gifts from people with whom he had official business. He was the first minister to be charged and imprisoned in nearly half a century.

    Justice Vincent Hoong, in his ruling, said holders of high office “must be expected to avoid any perception that they are susceptible to influence by pecuniary benefits.”

    “I am of the view that it is appropriate to impose a sentence in excess of both parties’ positions,” Hoong said as he handed down a total of 12 months imprisonment for the five charges. The defense had asked for no more than eight weeks in prison, while the prosecution had pushed for six to seven months imprisonment.

    The court approved Iswaran’s request to delay the start of his sentence to Monday, Channel News Asia reported. He remains out on bail for now. It is unclear if he will appeal the sentence.

    Iswaran was initially charged with 35 counts, but prosecutors proceeded with only five, while reducing two counts of corruption to receiving illegal gifts. Prosecutors said they will apply for the remaining 30 charges to be taken into consideration for sentencing. No reasons were given for the move.

    Iswaran received gifts worth over 74,000 Singapore dollars ($57,000) from Ong Beng Seng, a Singapore-based Malaysian property tycoon, and businessperson Lum Kok Seng. The gifts included tickets to Singapore’s Formula 1 race, wine and whisky and a luxury Brompton bike. Ong owns the right to the local F1 race, and Iswaran was chair of and later adviser to the Grand Prix’s steering committee.

    The Attorney-General’s Chambers said it will decide whether to charge Ong and Lum after the case against Iswaran has been resolved.

    Singapore ’s ministers are among the world’s best paid. Although the amount involved in Iswaran’s case appeared to be relatively minor, his indictment is an embarrassment to the ruling People’s Action Party, which prides itself on a clean image. Singapore was ranked among the world’s top five least-corrupt nations, according to Transparency International’s corruption perception index.

    The last Cabinet minister charged with graft was Wee Toon Boon, who was found guilty in 1975 and jailed for accepting gifts in exchange for helping a businessperson. Another Cabinet minister was investigated for graft in 1986, but died before charges were filed.

    Iswaran had resigned just before he was charged. His trial comes just over four months after Singapore installed new Prime Minister Lawrence Wong after Lee Hsien Loong stepped down after 20 years.

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  • Doctor charged in connection with Matthew Perry’s death is expected to plead guilty

    Doctor charged in connection with Matthew Perry’s death is expected to plead guilty

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    LOS ANGELES — One of two doctors charged in the investigation of the death of Matthew Perry is expected to plead guilty Wednesday in a federal court in Los Angeles to conspiring to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine.

    Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, signed a plea agreement with prosecutors in August and would be the third person to plead guilty in the aftermath of the “Friends” star’s fatal overdose last year.

    Prosecutors offered lesser charges to Chavez and two others in exchange for their cooperation as they go after two targets they deem more responsible for the overdose death: another doctor and an alleged dealer that they say was known as “ketamine queen” of Los Angeles.

    Chavez is free on bond after turning over his passport and surrendering his medical license, among other conditions.

    His lawyer Matthew Binninger said after Chavez’s first court appearance on Aug. 30 that he is “incredibly remorseful” and is “trying to do everything in his power to right the wrong that happened here.”

    Also working with federal prosecutors are Perry’s assistant, who admitted to helping him obtain and inject ketamine, and a Perry acquaintance, who admitted to acting as a drug messenger and middleman.

    The three are helping prosecutors in their prosecution of Dr. Salvador Plasencia, charged with illegally selling ketamine to Perry in the month before his death, and Jasveen Sangha, a woman who authorities say sold the actor the lethal dose of ketamine. Both have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

    Chavez admitted in his plea agreement that he obtained ketamine from his former clinic and from a wholesale distributor where he submitted a fraudulent prescription.

    After a guilty plea, he could get up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced.

    Perry was found dead by his assistant on Oct. 28. The medical examiner ruled ketamine was the primary cause of death. The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal but off-label treatment for depression that has become increasingly common.

    Perry began seeking more ketamine than his doctor would give him. About a month before the actor’s death, he found Plasencia, who in turn asked Chavez to obtain the drug for him.

    “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia texted Chavez. The two met up the same day in Costa Mesa, halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine.

    After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500, Plasencia asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry’s “go-to.”

    Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on “Friends,” when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit sitcom.

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  • New York City Mayor Eric Adams pleads not guilty to taking bribes and illegal campaign contributions

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams pleads not guilty to taking bribes and illegal campaign contributions

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    NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams pleaded not guilty Friday to federal bribery charges, firmly rejecting allegations that he accepted overseas travel, campaign cash and other perks from foreign interests seeking to harness his influence.

    Adams, a former police captain, entered the plea in a packed courtroom that’s just a short walk from City Hall, which has been roiled in recent weeks by a cascade of investigations, searches and subpoenas. The first-term Democrat maintains he did nothing wrong and has vowed to stay in office, rebuffing growing calls for him to quit.

    “I am not guilty, your honor,” Adams said, looking solemnly at the judge.

    His appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker came a day after prosecutors unsealed an indictment accusing him of taking $100,000 in flights and stays in opulent hotel suites from people tied to Turkey, and fueling his run for mayor with illegal donations that helped him qualify for more than $10 million in public campaign funds.

    Adams was released on the condition that he not contact any witnesses or people described in the indictment. The mayor is allowed to speak with relatives and staff, but not about anything pertaining to the allegations.

    Adams left the courtroom without commenting. He smiled at a court officer but ignored the rows of reporters he passed on his way out. Afterward, he stood silently outside the courthouse while his lawyer, Alex Spiro, railed against the charges to a crowd of cameras while onlookers shouted “Free Eric!” and “Lock him up!”

    “This isn’t even a real case. This is the airline upgrade corruption case,” Spiro said. He told the judge would file a motion next week asking for the case to be dismissed.

    Yet even as the mayor appeared in court, the investigation into his administration continued.

    One of Adams’ closest City Hall advisers, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, was met at the airport Friday by investigators from the U.S. attorney’s office and Manhattan district attorney’s office after she got off flight from Japan. The federal investigators served her with a subpoena. The local prosecutors took her phones and searched her house, according to her lawyer, Arthur Aidala. A TV news crew got footage of investigators carrying out boxes marked “documents” and “electronics.”

    “She will cooperate fully with any and all investigations and Ms. Lewis is not the target of any case of which we are aware,” Aidala said.

    Adams, 64, is due back in court Wednesday for a conference before U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho, who will preside over the case going forward.

    In his 18-minute appearance Friday, Adams sat stoically with his hands folded in his lap as the magistrate judge read the charges aloud, her sturdy delivery underscoring the gravity of the case. He was at the courthouse for just under four hours.

    The criminal case and tumult in Adams’ administration, including the sudden resignation of his police commissioner and retirement of his schools chancellor, have created a political crisis for the mayor.

    Adams has so far weathered calls to resign, including from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, potential Democratic challengers in next June’s mayoral primary, and some Republicans. Top Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries have not called on Adams to quit, saying the legal process should be allowed to play out.

    Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who has the power to remove Adams from office, appeared to issue a warning to a mayor she has often portrayed as a close ally, saying in a statement that she was reviewing her “options and obligations” and expects “the mayor to take the next few days to review the situation and find an appropriate path forward to ensure the people of New York City are being well-served by their leaders.”

    Adams, who soared to office as a law-and-order champion of the middle class, is charged with five counts: wire fraud, bribery, conspiracy and two counts of receiving campaign contributions from a foreign national. If convicted of the most serious charge, wire fraud, he faces up to 20 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.

    Among other things, Adams is accused of allowing a senior Turkish diplomat and others to shower him with luxury accommodations to places like France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary, Ghana and Turkey, including valuable business-class upgrades, high-end meals and even a trip to a Turkish bath. Most of the trips took place while Adams was Brooklyn borough president, before he ran for mayor.

    Adams is also accused of conspiring to take campaign contributions from foreign sources banned from giving to U.S. campaigns and disguising the payments by routing them through straw donors.

    In return, Adams allegedly did favors for his patrons, including helping ensure that Turkey’s newly built diplomatic tower in Manhattan wouldn’t be subject to a fire inspection that it was certain to fail.

    Spiro, whose roster of past and present clients includes Elon Musk, Alec Baldwin and Jay-Z, said it was neither unusual nor improper for an elected official to accept some travel perks. The mayor has denied ever knowingly accepting an illegal campaign contribution and said any help he gave people navigating city bureaucracy was just part of his job.

    Adams’ indictment is unlikely to be the last word on federal investigations involving city government.

    U.S. Attorney Damian Williams told reporters Thursday: “This investigation continues. We continue to dig, and we will hold more people accountable, and I encourage anyone with information to come forward and to do so before it is too late.”

    Federal prosecutors are believed to be leading multiple, separate inquiries involving Adams and his senior aides and relatives of those aides. In early September, federal investigators seized devices from the police commissioner, schools chancellor, two deputy mayors and other trusted Adams confidants.

    None of those other officials have been publicly accused of wrongdoing or charged with a crime.

    The Lower Manhattan courthouse is less than two blocks from the one where former President Donald Trump was tried and convicted of falsifying business records. Adams’ arraignment was in the same courthouse where a jury found Trump civilly liable for sexually assaulting the writer E. Jean Carroll in 1996 and in the very same courtroom where hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was arraigned last week on sex trafficking charges.

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Anthony Izaguirre in Albany contributed.

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  • A look inside the indictment accusing New York City’s mayor of taking bribes

    A look inside the indictment accusing New York City’s mayor of taking bribes

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    NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams has never been shy about his globetrotting ways. But he’s not always said how he bankrolled years’ worth of overseas adventures.

    Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Thursday saying the Democrat took trips to France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary, Ghana and Turkey that were partly or fully paid for by people looking to buy his influence in city government.

    The gifts, prosecutors said, included free hotel rooms, seat upgrades worth thousands of dollars, expensive meals, entertainment — even a trip to a Turkish bath. All told, the perks were worth more than $100,000, prosecutors said.

    The indictment also accuses Adams of conspiring to collect illegal donations to his campaigns, partly by funneling them through straw donors who hadn’t actually contributed the money.

    Adams says he didn’t do anything wrong and has no plans to resign. His lawyer, Alex Spiro, criticized the charges as a jumble of innuendo meant to mislead the public and tarnish the mayor.

    Here are highlights from the 57-page indictment:

    Key allegations against Adams

    Adams is accused of exploiting a yearslong relationship with people tied to Turkey, who funded his travel and fueled his run for mayor with donations that helped him qualify for more than $10 million in public campaign funds. People who are not U.S. citizens are banned by law from donating to U.S. political candidates.

    Prosecutors say Adams returned the favor in September 2021 by ensuring that Turkey’s newly built diplomatic tower in Manhattan wouldn’t be subject to a fire inspection, which it was certain to fail.

    At one point, a Turkish official praised Adams as a “true friend of Turkey,” according to the indictment. Adams allegedly responded: ”Yes even more a true friend of yours. You are my brother. I am hear (sic) to help.”

    The indictment said Adams also agreed not to release a statement on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day that would reflect poorly on Turkey.

    Adams is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery and receiving campaign contributions from a foreign national.

    Who is named in the indictment?

    Adams is the only person charged and the only person identified by name — but there are lots of other characters who factor prominently in the indictment.

    There’s the “Turkish Official,” a senior official in the Turkish diplomatic establishment said to have arranged Adams’ travel perks and facilitated straw donations to his campaign; “The Promoter,” a Turkish entrepreneur who prosecutors say organized events to introduce Adams to Turkish businesspeople; and the “Airline Manager,” a New York City-based general manager for Turkish Airlines who booked Adams’ free and heavily discounted flights and business class upgrades.

    There were also “Businessman-1,” the owner of a Turkish University who prosecutors say was considering a business venture in Brooklyn; the “Businesswoman,” who gave Adams free or steeply discounted stays in opulent suites at the St. Regis Istanbul, a luxury hotel she owned; plus “Businessman-2,” “Businessman-3,” “Businessman-4,” and “Businessman-5,” all of whom were accused of being involved in straw donations.

    ‘The Promoter’

    Prosecutors said the person they identified as “The Promoter” concocted a plan — personally approved by Adams — to funnel up to $100,000 in banned campaign contributions to him through U.S. employees of a Turkish university, the indictment alleges.

    At one point, an Adams staffer tried to discourage the idea, saying Adams likely wouldn’t be interested in “such games” because it “might cause a big stink later on,” according to the indictment. But prosecutors said Adams liked the idea and directed his staffer to pursue it.

    “The Promoter” purportedly told associates that Adams was worth supporting because he could become president someday.

    ‘This is how things work in this country’

    At one point, the indictment says, a construction company owner tried to recruit others in industry and the Turkish community to back Adams with campaign contributions and gifts, writing, in part, this “may feel like swimming against the current but unfortunately this is how things work in this country.”

    What does Adams’ lawyer say?

    Spiro told reports the conduct described in the indictment wasn’t illegal or didn’t involve the mayor.

    The Turkish consulate was asking for “a courtesy,” not payback, when it wanted Adams’ help in skipping a fire inspection, Spiro said, adding: “New Yorkers do this all the time.” Adams said he’d see what he could do and, a few days later, ignored a follow up phone call from the consulate, Spiro asserted.

    “There is no corruption. This is not a real case,” Spiro said.

    Spiro said Adams sent emails telling his staff never to accept foreign donations.

    As for the free flights and upgrades, Spiro said there’s nothing illegal or unusual about that.

    “When you actually look at this — if you just take a second to step back and look at this — look at the flights they talk about, the travel, the expenses,” Spiro said. “The flight they talk about, that free flight was in 2017 — seven years ago, five years before he’s the mayor. There’s nothing illegal or improper about that.”

    Adams’ flight upgrades put him in otherwise open seats, the defense attorney said, contending that such arrangements are a common practice in the airline industry.

    “That’s what airlines do,” Spiro said. “They do it every day. They do it for VIPs. They do it for congresspeople. They’re empty seats that cost the airlines nothing.”

    Alleged cover up

    The indictment claims that Adams and co-conspirators took steps to cover their tracks, including making a false paper trail to make it appear as if he had fully paid for flights that were free or deeply discounted.

    The indictment also accused the mayor and others of making it difficult for investigators.

    FBI agents seized electronic devices from Adams last November as he left an event. According to the indictment, the mayor produced two phones but not the personal phone. Adams later turned over that phone in response to a subpoena, but it was locked and required a password.

    Adams claimed to have forgotten it, the indictment said.

    According to the indictment, an Adams staffer who met with FBI agents excused herself at one point, went to a bathroom and deleted the encrypted messaging app she had used to communicate with the mayor, the Turkish official, the Turkish airline contact and others.

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  • A Massachusetts woman accused of running a high-end brothel network pleads guilty

    A Massachusetts woman accused of running a high-end brothel network pleads guilty

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    BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts woman accused of operating a high-end brothel network with wealthy and prominent clients in that state and the Washington, D.C., suburbs pleaded guilty in federal court Friday.

    Han Lee and two others were indicted earlier this year on one count of conspiracy to persuade, entice, and coerce one or more individuals to travel in interstate or foreign commerce to engage in prostitution and one count of money laundering, according to prosecutors.

    James Lee of Torrance, California, and Junmyung Lee of Dedham, Massachusetts, also were indicted.

    Han Lee initially had entered a not guilty plea before changing her plea. She remained in custody and faces up to 25 years in prison for the two felonies.

    Han Lee, 42, entered court dressed in an orange shirt and orange pants, her black hair tied in the back. She also relied on the help of a Korean translator. Lee said she was not a U.S. citizen and had gone as far as high school in her education.

    She was told that by pleading guilty she could be deported from the country.

    Scott Lauer, a lawyer for Han Lee, said she would remain in custody after the hearing but declined to comment further. A lawyer for James Lee declined to comment. A lawyer representing Junmyung Lee said his next court appearance has been rescheduled.

    Authorities said the commercial sex ring in Massachusetts and northern Virginia catered to politicians, company executives, military officers, lawyers, professors and other well-connected clients.

    Prosecutors have not publicly named any of the buyers and they have not been charged. Acting Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Josh Levy has said prosecutors are committed to holding accountable both those who ran the scheme and those who fueled the demand.

    Some of the buyers have appealed to the highest court in Massachusetts in a bid to have their names remain private.

    At one point through a translator, Han Lee said that she didn’t control the women, but agreed that she had persuaded them to engage in interstate travel to take part in prostitution.

    The women who worked in the brothels were not identified or criminally charged and were considered victims, prosecutors said.

    Prosecutors said their evidence included witness testimony from women who worked at the brothels, sex buyers who made appointments or received services, physical surveillance and electronic evidence.

    Han Lee maintained the operation from 2020 to November 2023. The money made at the brothels was sometimes kept in the freezer to be picked up, prosecutors said. They said she also helped train Junmyung Lee to help vet sex buyers.

    The brothel operation used websites that falsely claimed to advertise nude models for professional photography, prosecutors allege. The operators rented high-end apartments to use as brothels in Watertown and Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Tysons and Fairfax, Virginia, prosecutors said. Brothels were maintained at four locations in Massachusetts and two in Virginia.

    Han Lee recruited women and maintained the websites and brothels, according to authorities, who said she paid Junmyung Lee, who was one of her employees, between $6,000 and $8,000 in cash per month in exchange for his work booking appointments for the buyers and bringing women to the brothels.

    The operators raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars through the network, where men paid from approximately $350 to upwards of $600 per hour depending on the services, according to prosecutors.

    Officials say Han Lee concealed more than $1 million in proceeds from the ring by converting the cash into money orders, among other things, to make it look legitimate.

    According to court documents, the defendants established house rules for the women during their stays in a given city to protect and maintain the secrecy of the business and ensure the women did not draw attention to the prostitution work inside apartment buildings.

    Authorities seized cash, ledgers detailing the activities of the brothels and phones believed to be used to communicate with the sex customers from their apartments, according to court papers.

    Each website described a verification process that interested sex buyers undertook to be eligible for appointment bookings, including requiring clients to complete a form providing their full names, email addresses, phone numbers, employers and references if they had one, authorities said.

    The defendants also kept local brothel phone numbers to communicate with customers; sent them a “menu” of available options at the brothel, including the women and sexual services available and the hourly rate; and texted customers directions to the brothel’s location, investigators said.

    She is next due in court for sentencing on Dec. 20.

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  • Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco will go to trial in sexual abuse case

    Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco will go to trial in sexual abuse case

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    SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco will go to trial on charges that he sexually abused a minor, a judge in the Dominican Republic said on Thursday.

    After an investigation that lasted over a year, judge Pascual Valenzuela of the northern province of Puerto Plata ruled that the evidence presented by the prosecutors was worthy of the case moving to trial.

    No date has been set for the trial, which will be handled by a panel of judges. In the Dominican Republic, there are no jury trials.

    Franco has been charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl. Prosecutors filed multiple charges against Franco six months after a judge ordered that he be investigated in connection with alleged sexual and psychological abuse of the girl.

    Franco, who has refused to speak to the media, attended the hearing that lasted five hours and said after that “everything is in God’s hands.”

    Teodosio Jáquez, Franco’s lawyer, said that the outcome was expected while prosecutors declared that the judge’s decision validates the evidence presented.

    “It’s a solid accusation and the court understood it. The evidence linked the defendants to what’s described in the accusation,” said the prosecutor, Claudio Cordero.

    Franco arrived at the hearing around 9 a.m. with his head down. He kept quiet and listened to his lawyers and the prosecutors during his time in court.

    Documents that prosecutors presented to the judge in July and were viewed by The Associated Press alleged that Franco, through his mother Yudelka Aybar, transferred 1 million pesos or $17,000 to the mother of the minor on Jan. 5, 2023, to consent to the abuse.

    The mother of the minor has been charged with money laundering and is under house arrest.

    Prosecutors say that the minor’s mother went from being a bank employee to leading an ostentatious life and acquiring assets that she cannot justify using the funds she received from Franco.

    During raids on the house of the minor’s mother, prosecutors say they found $68,500 and $35,000 that they allege was delivered by Franco.

    If convicted, Franco could face up to 20 years in prison.

    Franco, who turned 23 on March 1, was in the midst of his third major league season when his career was halted in August 2023. He agreed to an 11-year, $182 million contract in November 2021.

    Tampa Bay placed him on the restricted list last month, cutting off the pay he had been receiving while on administrative leave

    ___

    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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  • Nevada high court orders dismissal of Chasing Horse sex abuse case but says charges can be refiled

    Nevada high court orders dismissal of Chasing Horse sex abuse case but says charges can be refiled

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    LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Nevada Supreme Court has ordered the dismissal of a sprawling sex abuse indictment against Nathan Chasing Horse, while leaving open the possibility of charges being refiled in a case that sent shockwaves throughout Indian Country and led to more criminal charges in the U.S. and Canada.

    Proceedings in the 18-count criminal case have been at a standstill for more than a year while the former “Dances with Wolves” actor challenged it. The full seven-member court’s decision, issued Thursday, reverses earlier rulings upholding the charges by a three-member panel of the high court and a state judge.

    Kristy Holston, the chief deputy public defender representing Chasing Horse, had argued that a definition of grooming presented to the grand jury without expert testimony tainted the state’s case. Holston said prosecutors also failed to provide the grand jury with evidence that could have cast a doubt on the allegations against Chasing Horse, including what she described as inconsistent statements made by one of the victims.

    The high court agreed.

    “The combination of these two clear errors undermines our confidence in the grand jury proceedings and created intolerable damage to the independent function of the grand jury process,” the court said in its scathing order.

    The ruling directs the judge overseeing the case in Clark County District Court to dismiss the indictment without prejudice, meaning charges against Chasing Horse can be refiled. But the order for dismissal won’t take effect immediately, as prosecutors also have the option to ask the high court to reconsider within 25 days.

    “The allegations against Chasing Horse are indisputably serious, and we express no opinion about Chasing Horse’s guilt or innocence,” the order says.

    Holston declined to comment. District Attorney Steve Wolfson, in a statement Thursday, described the court’s decision as “only a minor setback.”

    “My office is committed to resurrecting the charges in this case,” Wolfson said, “and we will not rest until we obtain justice on behalf of the victims in this matter.”

    Chasing Horse is charged with sexual assault of a minor, kidnapping and child abuse. He has pleaded not guilty.

    The 48-year-old has been in custody since his arrest last January near the North Las Vegas home he is said to have shared with five wives. He is unlikely to be released from custody, even after the high court’s decision, because he faces charges in at least four other jurisdictions, including U.S. District Court in Nevada and on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana.

    Chasing Horse is best known for portraying Smiles A Lot in the 1990 film “Dances with Wolves.” But in the decades since starring in the Oscar-winning movie, authorities said, he built a reputation as a self-proclaimed medicine man among tribes and traveled around North America to perform healing ceremonies.

    He is accused of using that position to gain access to vulnerable girls and women starting in the early 2000s, leading a cult and taking underage wives. Authorities have said one of the wives was offered to Chasing Horse as a “gift” when she was 15, while another “became a wife” after turning 16.

    Chasing Horse also is accused of recording sexual assaults and arranging sex with the victims for other men who allegedly paid him.

    His legal issues have been unfolding at the same time lawmakers and prosecutors around the U.S. are funneling more resources into cases involving Native women, including human trafficking and murders. Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, which is home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation.

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  • Nevada high court orders lower court to dismiss Chasing Horse sex abuse case

    Nevada high court orders lower court to dismiss Chasing Horse sex abuse case

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    LAS VEGAS — The Nevada Supreme Court has ordered the dismissal of a sprawling sex abuse indictment against Nathan Chasing Horse, while leaving open the possibility of charges being refiled in a case that sent shockwaves throughout Indian Country and led to more criminal charges in the U.S. and Canada.

    The full seven-member court’s decision, issued Thursday, reverses earlier rulings upholding the charges by a three-member panel of the high court and a state judge. Proceedings in the 18-count criminal case have been at a standstill for more than a year while the former “Dances with Wolves” actor challenged it.

    Kristy Holston, the deputy public defender representing Chasing Horse, had argued that some evidence presented to the grand jury, including an improper definition of grooming that was presented without expert testimony, had tainted the state’s case. Holston said prosecutors also failed to provide the grand jury with exculpatory evidence, including inconsistent statements made by one of the victims.

    The high court agreed.

    “The combination of these two clear errors undermines our confidence in the grand jury proceedings and created intolerable damage to the independent function of the grand jury process,” the court said in its scathing order.

    Holston declined to comment further. Prosecutor Stacy Kollins did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

    The ruling directs the judge overseeing the case in Clark County District Court to dismiss the indictment without prejudice, meaning the charges can be refiled.

    “The allegations against Chasing Horse are indisputably serious, and we express no opinion about Chasing Horse’s guilt or innocence,” the order says.

    Chasing Horse’s lawyer had also had argued that the case should be dismissed because, the former actor said, the sexual encounters were consensual. One of his accusers was younger than 16, the age of consent in Nevada, when the alleged abuse began, authorities said.

    The 48-year-old has been in custody since his arrest last January near the North Las Vegas home he is said to have shared with five wives. He also faces criminal sexual abuse charges in at least four other jurisdictions, including U.S. District Court in Nevada and on the Fort Perk Indian Reservation in Montana.

    Chasing Horse is best known for portraying Smiles A Lot in the 1990 film “Dances with Wolves.” But in the decades since starring in the Oscar-winning movie, authorities said, he built a reputation as self-proclaimed medicine man among tribes and traveled around North America to perform healing ceremonies.

    He is accused of using that position to gain access to vulnerable girls and women starting in the early 2000s.

    Las Vegas police arrested Chasing Horse in January 2023. The arrest helped law enforcement agencies in two countries corroborate long-standing allegations against the former actor.

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  • Man convicted of sending his son to rob and kill rapper PnB Rock gets 31 years to life

    Man convicted of sending his son to rob and kill rapper PnB Rock gets 31 years to life

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    LOS ANGELES — A man convicted of sending his 17-year-old son into a restaurant to rob and kill rapper PnB Rock was sentenced Monday to 31 years to life in prison.

    Judge Connie Quinones handed down the sentence to Freddie Trone, 42, in Los Angeles County Superior Court. A jury on Aug. 7 found Trone guilty of one count of murder, two counts of robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery.

    Both sides at Trone’s trial agreed that the teen walked into Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles in South Los Angeles in September 2022 and shot the Philadelphia hip-hop star, whose legal name is Rakim Allen, while robbing him of his jewelry as he ate with the mother of his 4-year-old daughter.

    The prosecution said he was acting on his father’s orders, while the defense, which plans to appeal, said Trone was only an accessory after the fact.

    “I want to extend my deepest condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Rakim Allen,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “His life was cut short by an act of violence that no family should have to endure.”

    Trone’s attorney, Winston McKesson, said he disagreed with the judge. He said she declined at sentencing to give the reasons why his client was a “major participant” in the crime, as usually occurs.

    He told The Associated Press after the sentencing there was no evidence that Trone was part of planning a killing, nor evidence he knew his son was armed. McKesson said a gun found with Allen was not sufficiently explained at trial, and the jury violated the judge’s instructions by doing its own investigating with the evidence, including slowing down video they were shown in real time. He plans to file a notice of appeal.

    Deannea Allen, the rapper’s mother, traveled from their hometown of Philadelphia to give a statement in the Compton courtroom.

    “I do not understand how a parent could directly put their child in danger. I just can’t comprehend it. That one action had a ripple effect, and it has ruined many lives,” Deannea Allen said, according to Rolling Stone. “Rakim was the shining light in our family. He was a star to us.”

    Trone’s now-19-year-old son was also charged with murder but is in the custody of the juvenile system. A judge has found that he is not currently competent to stand trial.

    The AP does not typically name minors who are accused of crimes.

    PnB Rock was best known for his 2016 hit “Selfish” and for guest appearances on other artists’ songs such as YFN Lucci’s “Everyday We Lit” and Ed Sheeran’s “Cross Me” with Chance the Rapper. He was 30.

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  • Diddy’s music streams jump after arrest and indictment

    Diddy’s music streams jump after arrest and indictment

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    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs’ vast music catalog has seen a jump in streams since his arrest last week and the unsealing of an indictment against him.

    Under his many musical monikers — including Diddy, Puff Daddy and P. Diddy — the industry data and analytics company Luminate said the mogul’s music saw an average 18.3% increase in on-demand streams during the week of his arrest compared to the prior week.

    An increase in streaming numbers following controversy is not uncommon. After a documentary about R. Kelly accused the R&B singer of sexual misconduct involving women and underage girls, his numbers nearly doubled.

    Combs is charged with federal sex trafficking and racketeering and the indictment, which details allegations dating back to 2008, accuses him of abusing, threatening and coercing women for years “to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.” He’s pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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