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The Diocese of Camden has agreed to pay $180 million in a settlement to resolve claims of clergy sexual abuse by over 300 survivors whose allegations span decades. The diocese covers 62 parishes in six counties in South Jersey.
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Michael Tanenbaum
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A Broward County insurance adjuster was arrested for unlicensed public adjusting.
Giorgio Giovanni Gonzalez allegedly secured public insurance adjuster contracts for adjusting, and appraisal services, without being licensed in the state of Florida, and then unlawfully withheld money belonging to two policyholders. Gonzalez defrauded the two policyholders out of $34,424.
Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis recently announced the arrest of Giorgio Giovanni Gonzalez, owner of Maximum Claims Recovery, Inc., on two counts of felony charges of Unlicensed Public Adjusting.
“When unlicensed public adjusters take advantage of the system, every policyholder in the state loses,” Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis said. “Insurance fraud drives up rates and devalues the professionalism of honest public adjusters and insurance agents. As Florida’s insurance market begins to improve little-by-little, we will continue to assure companies and policyholders that fraud will not be tolerated in our state. Kudos to my Criminal Investigations Division fraud detectives for doing the hard work to bring this fraudster to justice. Also, thanks to the Broward State Attorney’s Office for prosecuting this case and protecting the rights of Florida consumers.”
“NAPIA believes in the ethical practice of public insurance adjusting and applauds all efforts of the Florida DFS to assure that only licensed public adjusters are allowed to assist consumers who have sustained first party property loss,” said Brian Goodman, General counsel to the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (NAPIA).
In September 2023 and December 2023, the Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS), Criminal Investigations Division (CID) received complaints from policyholders based on concerns that Maximum Claims Recovery Inc, operated by Giorgio Giovanni Gonzalez, may have secured a public insurance adjuster contract, for adjusting and appraisal services, without being licensed in the state of Florida and for unlawfully withholding monies belonging to the two policyholders.
According to supporting documents that were provided by the policyholders, Gonzalez represented himself as a licensed public adjuster to assist the policyholders with insurance claims related to home damage in 2022, in return for a 20% adjusting fee of the insurance settlements. The contract agreements from Maximum Claims Recovery, Inc. were executed and memorialized in writing by Gonzalez and the policyholders.
As such, Evolution Risk Advisors issued a settlement check in the amount of $18,000 on behalf of Universal and Property Insurance that was payable to Maximum Claim Recovery. Catastrophe and National Claims (CNC) issued two settlement checks on behalf of State National Insurance Company, Inc. that were payable to Maximum Claim Recovery that totaled $26,903. In both instances, the checks totaling $44,903 were signed and deposited in a Chase bank account Maximum belonging to Claims Recovery, Inc.
CID investigators gathered evidence to show the settlement checks totaling $44,903 were deposited into the Chase account. Although, Gonzalez received the settlement checks in a timely manner, he failed to remit the funds due to one of the policyholders from the Evolution Risk Advisors claim which totaled $18,000.
He also provided a business check in the amount of $16,424 to the other insured on behalf of CNC which was deposited by the policyholder and was returned for non-sufficient funds. As a result of fraudulent, unethical, and dishonest acts within the insurance industry, Giorgio Giovanni Gonzalez received a total of $44,903 while acting as an unlicensed public adjuster and failed to remit to the policyholders approximately $34,424 of insurance claim money.
CID Investigators reviewed records from the Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS), Division of Agent & Agency Services (A&A) which showed Giorgio Giovanni Gonzalez licensed as an All Lines Public Adjuster suspended by the Chief Financial Officer for the state of Florida on April 25, 2013, for failing to maintain a surety bond.
Furthermore, Gonzalez was also arrested on June 19, 2023, by CID detectives in Miami-Dade County for a similar act. In that case, Giorgio Giovanni Gonzalez was charged with one count of acting as a public adjuster and one count of grand theft.
Giorgio Giovanni Gonzalez was arrested at the Broward County Main Jail without incident by CID detectives. The Broward State Attorney’s Office, who partnered in this investigation will handle prosecution. If convicted, Giorgio Giovanni Gonzalez could face up to 30 years in prison.
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Israel has sparked condemnation after the finance minister announced plans to legally recognize five unauthorized settlements in the occupied West Bank.As CNN has reported, the Israeli government has been looking to “strengthen” Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank after several countries unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state.Related video above: Netanyahu says Israel will not end war until all hostages returnThe spokesperson for Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, told CNN that the Israeli government had agreed in a late-night cabinet to recognize five Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that were built illegally and that Smotrich will release tax funds to the Palestinian Authority that Israel collects on its behalf.In a statement to CNN on Sunday, Smotrich’s office said the decision to release funds to the Palestinian Authority was “immediate” and would cover the past three months. Funds have been frozen following the October 7 attacks.CNN reached out to the Prime Minister’s office, which has not yet publicly commented on the reports. Once authorized, settlements become more like parts of Israel, with access to water, electricity and medical care.The Palestinian Authority, which administers some areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, told CNN on Sunday that it has not yet received the funds from Israel.”So far, no money or official messages from the Israeli side have been received,” an official source in the Palestinian Authority said.Smotrich is a leading far-right member of the Israeli cabinet and opposes the creation of an independent Palestinian state.He has long advocated for the building of settlements, pointing to them as a means of preventing the West Bank from becoming part of such an independent state. “The goal is to change the DNA of the system for many, many years,” he said, according to leaked audio from a speech he made earlier this month.The European Union as well as several Middle Eastern countries have denounced the plans. In a statement posted on X on Saturday, EU spokesperson Peter Stano said the organization “condemns in the strongest terms” the announcement by Smotrich.”This is another deliberate attempt at undermining peace efforts,” he added.Qatar called the decision “a new chapter in the ongoing violations of international legitimacy resolutions,” according to Qatar’s official news agency.In separate statements, Egypt and Saudi Arabia also called it a violation of international law and Security Council resolutions.”Egypt strongly denounced Israel’s exploitation of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip to push more illegal settlement expansion and attempts to change the legal situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem,” the Egyptian government said.Saudi Arabia said the moves “undermine the chances for peace, fuel conflicts, and impair regional and international security and stability,” according to a foreign ministry statement.Israel has expanded settlements in the occupied West Bank over decades despite signing a series of peace agreements with the Palestinians in the 1990s, called the Oslo Accords, that envisaged the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza as part of a negotiated resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Such settlements are considered illegal under international law and by much of the international community.
Israel has sparked condemnation after the finance minister announced plans to legally recognize five unauthorized settlements in the occupied West Bank.
As CNN has reported, the Israeli government has been looking to “strengthen” Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank after several countries unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state.
Related video above: Netanyahu says Israel will not end war until all hostages return
The spokesperson for Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, told CNN that the Israeli government had agreed in a late-night cabinet to recognize five Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that were built illegally and that Smotrich will release tax funds to the Palestinian Authority that Israel collects on its behalf.
In a statement to CNN on Sunday, Smotrich’s office said the decision to release funds to the Palestinian Authority was “immediate” and would cover the past three months. Funds have been frozen following the October 7 attacks.
CNN reached out to the Prime Minister’s office, which has not yet publicly commented on the reports. Once authorized, settlements become more like parts of Israel, with access to water, electricity and medical care.
The Palestinian Authority, which administers some areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, told CNN on Sunday that it has not yet received the funds from Israel.
“So far, no money or official messages from the Israeli side have been received,” an official source in the Palestinian Authority said.
Smotrich is a leading far-right member of the Israeli cabinet and opposes the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
He has long advocated for the building of settlements, pointing to them as a means of preventing the West Bank from becoming part of such an independent state. “The goal is to change the DNA of the system for many, many years,” he said, according to leaked audio from a speech he made earlier this month.
The European Union as well as several Middle Eastern countries have denounced the plans. In a statement posted on X on Saturday, EU spokesperson Peter Stano said the organization “condemns in the strongest terms” the announcement by Smotrich.
“This is another deliberate attempt at undermining peace efforts,” he added.
Qatar called the decision “a new chapter in the ongoing violations of international legitimacy resolutions,” according to Qatar’s official news agency.
In separate statements, Egypt and Saudi Arabia also called it a violation of international law and Security Council resolutions.
“Egypt strongly denounced Israel’s exploitation of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip to push more illegal settlement expansion and attempts to change the legal situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem,” the Egyptian government said.
Saudi Arabia said the moves “undermine the chances for peace, fuel conflicts, and impair regional and international security and stability,” according to a foreign ministry statement.
Israel has expanded settlements in the occupied West Bank over decades despite signing a series of peace agreements with the Palestinians in the 1990s, called the Oslo Accords, that envisaged the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza as part of a negotiated resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Such settlements are considered illegal under international law and by much of the international community.
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The Reserve Bank of India said there will be no transactions and settlements in government securities (primary and secondary), foreign exchange, money markets and Rupee Interest Rate Derivatives on January 22, 2024.
This comes in the wake of the Maharashtra Government declaring January 22, 2024 as a public holiday to observe “Shree Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha Din” (Ram temple consecration) under Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.
Settlement of all outstanding transactions will accordingly get postponed to the next working day — January 23, 2024, per a RBI statement.
The 3-day Variable Rate Repo (VRR) auction (which infused ₹50,007 crore liquidity into the banking system) conducted on Friday with date of reversal on January 22, 2024 will now be reversed on January 23, 2024.
The 3-day VRR auction for ₹1.25 lakh crore that was to be conducted on January 22 has been cancelled. Instead, a 2-day VRR auction for ₹1.25 lakh crore will be conducted on January 23, 2024.
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Late Tuesday afternoon, amid a swirl of confusion over why the Dominion v. Fox trial had been delayed for hours, Judge Eric Davis announced that the “parties had resolved the case,” thus marking an abrupt end to one of the most highly anticipated defamation trials in decades. Every major media outlet, many of which had correspondents in Wilmington, immediately jumped on news of the settlement and its $787.5 million price tag. But one outlet was noticeably loath to get in on the feeding frenzy.
Fox News, the network at the heart of the story, covered the settlement only three times in about four hours after news of the settlement broke, “amounting to about six minutes of coverage,” according to The New York Times’ Stuart Thompson. One such instance occurred during the final moments of Fox anchor Neil Cavuto’s 4 PM hour. “Fox has agreed to pay $787 million to settle Dominion’s defamation lawsuit,” Cavuto said, a figure that he said came “officially from the Wall Street Journal”—an outlet that, like Fox News, is owned by Fox Corp. And yet, as The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona noted, Fox media analyst Howard Kurtz claimed in a broadcast about an hour and a half later that he was unable to “independently confirm” the dollar figure of the settlement that Dominion’s lawyer gave reporters.
Kurtz—who, back in February, publicly voiced his disagreement with Fox’s decision to prevent him from covering the trial—went on to mention Dominion CEO John Poulos’ statement to reporters that “Fox has admitted telling lies about Dominion.” To which Kurtz added, “Now, both sides had an incentive to avoid a costly six-week trial. Dominion might have lost and gotten zero. Some of Fox’s top executives and Opinion hosts would have had to testify. But there’s undoubtedly disappointment at other networks that were relishing this spectacle.”
Meanwhile, during the Tuesday broadcasts of hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity—both of whom were expected to take the stand in the Dominion trial—no reference to the settlement was made, according to Reuters. (Statements made on both hosts’ shows back in 2020 were among the 20 specific broadcasts and tweets in question that Dominion had alleged were defamatory.)
As for atonement, Fox’s statement acknowledging that “certain claims” about Dominion were false is apparently as far as the network is going to go. Multiple outlets reported that Fox will not have to issue an on-air apology or correction for the erroneous statements its stars made about Dominion as part of the settlement agreement. “There’s no doubt that the $787.5 million settlement is an emphatic win for Dominion. I can’t help but think, though, about the significance to Fox of not having to acknowledge, on air, that the network spread falsehoods,” tweeted media law professor Jonathan Peters. “Fox gets to duck *full* responsibility and avoid a head-on reckoning with its viewers.” That might have something to do, as Peters noted, with the fact that Fox “wanted to avoid statements that could be used against it in the future,” as the network is still facing another defamation lawsuit, filed by another election technology company, Smartmatic, over its 2020 election coverage.
Listen to Vanity Fair’s Inside the Hive: Fox on Trial podcast now.
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Charlotte Klein
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Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have finally reached a settlement regarding their children and their joint properties as they continue to finalize the details of their divorce.
On Monday, the reality star and controversial rapper came to an agreement regarding their four young children — North, Saint, Chicago, and Psalm — concluding that they will have joint physical and legal custody with “equal access,” according to court documents first obtained by TMZ. Sources told the outlet, however, that Kardashian will still have their children the majority of the time. Her ex-husband even acknowledged that she currently takes care of their kids 80% of the time on the Alo Full Mind podcast in September. According to the settlement, West will pay the Skims founder $200,000 a month in child support, which is due on the first day of each month and must be wired directly to her account, and will also be responsible for 50% of their medical and educational expenses, including tuition, and 50% of their children’s security expenses. They also agreed that should any disputes regarding their children arise in the future, they will participate in mediation in order to deal with it. If either party fails to participate in this mediation session then the other parent will get to make the decision in the disagreement by default.
During this most recent hearing, West and Kardashian also came to an understanding regarding their joint property, dividing their assets in accordance with their prenuptial agreement. In that prenup, both parties waived spousal support. According to a source who spoke to TMZ, Kardashian has had a difficult time over the last year attempting to resolve this divorce given all of West’s repeated public outbursts. Throughout this process, the Grammy winner has gone through half a dozen lawyers and missed multiple depositions. “Kim’s patience was tested, but she handled things calmly and ultimately Kanye came around,” they said.
Kardashian filed for divorce in February 2021 after seven years of marriage. While West initially refused to engage in the proceedings, in December of last year, the reality star requested to be declared legally single and to separate issues of child custody and property from her marital status and to have her maiden name restored. The musician initially challenged Kardashian’s request to be declared legally single, but later said in a statement, “I’ve asked my team to expedite the dissolution of my marriage to Kim so I can put my entire attention to our beautiful children.”
Representatives for Kardashian and West did not immediately respond to Vanity Fair‘s request for comment.
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Emily Kirkpatrick
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