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Tag: Sexual misconduct

  • Dennis Hastert Fast Facts | CNN Politics

    Dennis Hastert Fast Facts | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    Here is a look at the life of Dennis Hastert, former Republican speaker of the House. Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison in a hush money case that revealed he was being accused of sexually abusing young boys while he was a teacher in Illinois.

    Birth date: January 2, 1942

    Birth place: Aurora, Illinois

    Birth name: John Dennis Hastert

    Father: Jack Hastert, former restaurant owner

    Mother: Naomi (Nussle) Hastert

    Marriage: Jean (Kahl) Hastert (1973-present)

    Children: Ethan and Joshua

    Education: Wheaton College, B.A., 1964; Northern Illinois University, M.S., 1967

    Religion: Protestant

    Goes by the nickname “Denny.”

    Hastert is diabetic.

    Was named Illinois Coach of the Year after leading the Yorkville High School wrestling team to the state championship.

    Instituted the so-called “Hastert Rule,” an informal guideline where only legislation supported by “the majority of the majority” party is brought to a vote on the House floor.

    1964-1980 – Wrestling and football coach and government/history teacher at Yorkville High School.

    1980-1986 – Member of the Illinois House of Representatives.

    January 3, 1987-November 26, 2007 – US representative from Illinois’ 14th congressional district.

    1995-1999 – House chief deputy minority whip.

    January 6, 1999 – Is elected speaker of the House, replacing Newt Gingrich.

    November 22, 2003 – Hastert fights hard to secure passage of a Medicare bill in the House. The vote takes three hours and lasts well into the night. It is signed into law by US President George W. Bush on December 8 after also being passed by the Senate.

    January 3, 2006 – Donates $70,000 of campaign contributions from companies associated with lobbyist Jack Abramoff to charity after Abramoff pleads guilty to corruption charges.

    June 1, 2006 – Surpasses Joe Cannon to become the longest-serving Republican speaker of the House in US history.

    October 3, 2006 – Appears on “The Rush Limbaugh Show” and says he has no intention of resigning due to the controversy over Rep. Mark Foley’s (R-FL) sexually explicit emails to underage pages.

    November 7, 2006 – Is reelected to his eleventh term in Congress. Republicans lose their majority in the House, so Hastert loses his position as speaker of the House when the new Congress begins on January 4, 2007.

    August 17, 2007 – Announces that he will not run for reelection in 2008.

    November 15, 2007 – Announces his resignation on the House floor. He formally resigns on November 26 after 20 years in office.

    June 2008 – Joins the Washington lobbying firm of Dickstein Shapiro as a senior adviser.

    June 8, 2009 – Hastert’s son, Ethan, announces he will run for his father’s former congressional seat but later loses in the GOP primary.

    May 7, 2010 – Hastert is conferred the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun by Emperor Akihito of Japan.

    May 28, 2015 – Federal officials indict Hastert for lying to the FBI about $3.5 million he agreed to pay to an undisclosed subject to “cover up past misconduct.” The Justice Department alleges that Hastert paid the subject a total of about $1.7 million over a period of years beginning in 2010 and ending in 2014. Hastert resigns from the lobbying firm Dickstein Shapiro.

    May 29, 2015 – Sources with knowledge of the federal investigation tell CNN Hastert was paying a former student to keep quiet about allegations of sexual misconduct from the time when Hastert was a teacher and wrestling coach in Illinois.

    June 9, 2015 – Pleads not guilty to all charges related to lying to the FBI about $3.5 million he agreed to pay to an undisclosed subject.

    October 28, 2015 – Hastert pleads guilty to structuring money transactions in a way to evade requirements to report where the money was going.

    December 17, 2015 – A statement is released announcing that Hastert was admitted to the hospital in the first week of November 2015. He was treated for a stroke and sepsis. This was followed by two back surgeries.

    April 8, 2016 – Documents released by prosecutors allege Hastert sexually abused at least four boys when he coached high school wrestling in Illinois.

    April 25, 2016 – Hastert is sued by a former student in Illinois Circuit Court. The former student seeks to collect $1.8 million. This is the remainder of the $3.5 million promised him for covering up Hastert’s past misconduct.

    April 27, 2016 – Hastert is sentenced to 15 months in prison. He is ordered to pay $250,000 to a victims’ fund, must serve two years of supervised release once he finishes his prison term, and enter a sex offender treatment program.

    June 22, 2016 – Hastert begins serving his 15-month sentence at a federal medical prison in Rochester, Minnesota.

    July 18, 2017 – Is released from prison and is placed under the supervision of a residential reentry management field office in Chicago.

    November 20, 2017 – A judge in Kendall County, Illinois, throws out a lawsuit brought by a man who claims Hastert abused him when he was a child, saying the statute of limitations had passed.

    December 12, 2017 – New court-ordered restrictions ban Hastert from having contact with anyone under 18 unless an adult is present who’s aware that he pleaded guilty in the hush money case.

    September 10, 2019 – A judge in Kendall County, Illinois, rules that a lawsuit over the terms of a $3.5 million hush money deal can go to trial. One of Hastert’s former students filed the lawsuit in April 2016.

    September 29, 2021 – A Kendall County judge finalizes an out-of-court settlement between Hastert and a former student who alleged that Hastert sexually abused him, ending the lawsuit filed in April 2016 that was set to go to trial.

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  • Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn to pay $10M to end fight over claims of sexual misconduct

    Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn to pay $10M to end fight over claims of sexual misconduct

    LAS VEGAS — Casino mogul Steve Wynn’s long legal fight with Nevada gambling regulators over claims of workplace sexual misconduct is expected to end Thursday with a settlement calling for him to pay a $10 million fine and cut virtually all ties to the industry he helped shape in Las Vegas.

    The Nevada Gaming Commission was scheduled to meet in the state capital of Carson City and accept a deal in which the 81-year-old Wynn admits no wrongdoing.

    The seven-page agreement that Wynn signed July 17 with members of the investigatory Nevada Gaming Control Board said he was accused of “failure to exercise discretion and sound judgment to prevent incidents that have reflected negatively on the reputation of the gaming industry and the State of Nevada.”

    Wynn, who now lives in Florida, will not attend the hearing, his attorney Colby Williams said Wednesday. Williams declined to comment about the proceedings until they are complete.

    Under terms of the deal, Wynn will be allowed to maintain “passive ownership” of up to 5% of “a publicly traded corporation” registered with the Gaming Commission, but no “control, authority, advisory role or decision making power.” Violating the pact could lead to a finding of “unsuitability” for association with Nevada casinos and an additional fine, it said.

    “Unsuitability” would be extraordinary for a man widely credited with starting a boom that grew Las Vegas Strip properties from gambling halls with all-you-can-eat buffets and showrooms into huge destination resorts featuring celebrity-chef restaurants, massive gambling floors, nightclubs and huge stage productions.

    Wynn developed luxury properties including the Golden Nugget, Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio, Wynn and Encore in Las Vegas; Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, New Jersey; Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi; Wynn Macau in the Chinese gambling enclave; and Encore Boston Harbor in Massachusetts.

    He resigned after the Wall Street Journal published allegations by several women that he sexually harassed or assaulted them at his hotels. He divested company shares, quit the corporate board and resigned as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.

    Wynn has consistently denied sexual misconduct allegations in multiple courts.

    In the Gaming Commission case, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled against him in March 2022, finding that a state judge in Las Vegas acted prematurely in late 2020 when she sided with Wynn’s lawyers and decided the state lacked authority to punish him.

    Wynn’s attorneys, including Donald Campbell, argued that the Gaming Control Board and its oversight panel, the Nevada Gaming Commission, no longer had legal jurisdiction over Wynn.

    State regulators launched their investigation after the allegations against Wynn emerged. The board said Wynn’s license had been placed on administrative hold and the commission moved in October 2019 to discipline or fine Wynn.

    At a December 2019 hearing, which Wynn did not attend, commissioners began considering a fine of up to $500,000 and a declaration that Wynn was unsuitable to renew ties to gambling in Nevada.

    Months earlier, the commission fined his former company, Wynn Resorts Ltd., a record $20 million for failing to investigate sexual misconduct claims made against Wynn.

    Massachusetts gambling regulators fined Wynn Resorts Ltd. another $35 million and new company chief executive Matthew Maddox $500,000 for failing to disclose while applying for a license for the Boston-area resort that there had been sexual misconduct allegations against Wynn.

    Wynn Resorts agreed in November 2019 to accept $20 million in damages from Wynn and $21 million more from insurance carriers on behalf of current and former employees of Wynn Resorts to settle shareholder lawsuits accusing company directors of failing to disclose misconduct allegations.

    The agreements included no admission of wrongdoing.

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  • 3 Butler University soccer players file federal lawsuit alleging abuse by former trainer

    3 Butler University soccer players file federal lawsuit alleging abuse by former trainer

    Three Butler University women’s soccer players have filed a federal lawsuit alleging the team’s former athletic trainer sexually assaulted and groomed multiple players on the team

    INDIANAPOLIS — Three Butler University women’s soccer players filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday alleging the team’s former athletic trainer sexually assaulted and groomed multiple players on the team.

    Michael Howell allegedly committed the assaults and other sexual misconduct over several years, the lawsuit said.

    The alleged acts occurred in Butler’s training room, offices, buses and in Howell’s private hotel rooms during away games, the complaint said. They occurred while Howell was under the supervision of Ralph Reiff, Butler’s senior associate athletic director for student-athlete health, performance and well-being.

    Instead of athletic massages that should have lasted only 10 minutes and directed at a specific area, Howell would give full-body massages in a private room that could last hours, the complaint said.

    Further, Howell told the women he had “files against all the players and would use them if they ever said anything bad about him,” the lawsuits allege.

    “If I go down, you all go down with me,” the lawsuit alleges he told them.

    The lawsuit claims Reiff “never inquired, investigated, raised questions about the safety of the female athletes or followed safety protocols.”

    Butler issued a statement saying in part “the health, safety, and well-being of our campus community is always our top priority.”

    “In late September 2021, student-athletes on the women’s soccer team reported misconduct by Michael Howell, an assistant athletic trainer. Upon being informed of the allegations, the University promptly notified law enforcement, removed Howell from campus and suspended him from his job duties, pending further investigation. After a thorough investigation and hearing, the trainer was found responsible for violating University policies, and he was then terminated in summer 2022,” the statement said.

    Howell could not be located for comment Wednesday evening. The Indianapolis Star said Reiff did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

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  • Kevin Spacey found not guilty on all charges in U.K. sexual assault trial

    Kevin Spacey found not guilty on all charges in U.K. sexual assault trial

    Spacey found not guilty in sex assault trial


    Kevin Spacey found not guilty on all charges in sexual assault trial

    03:58

    American actor Kevin Spacey was found not guilty Wednesday of all the sexual assault charges he was facing in a U.K. trial. The actor had faced nine sexual offense charges related to incidents reported by four men that allegedly took place between 2001 and 2013.

    The Academy Award-winning actor had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

    Spacey, 64, was acquitted in London’s Southwark Crown Court of charges including sexual assault, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity.  

    Actor Kevin Spacey leaves Southwark Crown Court after he was found not guilty on charges related to allegations of sexual offenses, in London, July 26, 2023.
    Actor Kevin Spacey leaves Southwark Crown Court after he was found not guilty on charges related to allegations of sexual offenses, in London, July 26, 2023.

    Reuters/Susannah Ireland


    All four of the alleged victims — who can’t be named under U.K. law — testified during the trial, as did Spacey himself, who said he was crushed by the allegations.

    In their testimony, the four men described Spacey a “sexual bully” and a predator.

    Spacey starred in the Netflix series “House of Cards” until he was fired in 2017 after fellow actor Anthony Rapp accused him of prior sexual misconduct. A civil jury in Massachusetts later found him not liable on those allegations.

    Haley Ott


    haley-ott-cbs-news.jpg

    Haley Ott is an international reporter for CBS News based in London.

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  • Police say there could be a ‘decade of victims’ in case of Tennessee man accused of recording himself raping unconscious boys | CNN

    Police say there could be a ‘decade of victims’ in case of Tennessee man accused of recording himself raping unconscious boys | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    An investigation into a Tennessee man accused of recording himself raping unconscious boys has shown there “could be a decade of victims,” a police spokesperson told CNN.

    Camilo Hurtado Campos, 63, is being held in Franklin, Tennessee, on charges of rape of a child and sexual exploitation of a minor. The arrest came after he left his phone at a restaurant and employees found “dozens of unconscionable videos and pictures of children” on the device while trying to determine its owner, Franklin police said Sunday.

    Police said Campos “recorded himself raping unconscious boys,” and that evidence of the rapes of at least 10 children – appearing to be approximately 9 to 17 years old – was found on the phone. Investigators have identified four of the recorded victims, Franklin police said in a Wednesday update.

    In addition to those 10, five other people have come forward to say they were victims, Franklin police said Monday.

    And “people who were victims in some of the recordings that have come forward are in their 20s now,” Franklin police Lt. Charles Warner told CNN Tuesday.

    “If you do the math, there could be a decade of victims that we don’t know about,” Warner said. He noted Campos has lived in the Franklin area for about 20 years.

    Additional charges are expected to be filed, police said.

    Investigators are sifting through hundreds of photos and videos found on Campos’ phone, Warner told CNN.

    The victims who have been identified are male, and most of them are Hispanic, according to the lieutenant.

    “There are undoubtedly more (victims),” Warner said. “We are in the infancy of this investigation, and this could be the tip of the iceberg.”

    Police initially reported that Campos was a “popular soccer coach,” but Warner said the suspect’s affiliation with local soccer teams is “ambiguous” and investigators have not been able to confirm he worked as a coach at local schools or organized soccer leagues.

    Investigators believe Campos approached his victims near parks or soccer fields and told them he was a coach who wanted to recruit them, according to police.

    “We know that he used the guise of the fact that he was a soccer coach … and that’s how he would befriend them,” Warner said.

    Police intend to work closely with victims and their families to process the “terrible chain of events” and reach some closure, Warner said.

    “The people that are coming forward have felt such shame, such terror, and it’s very hard, I’m sure, to remember and process something so traumatic that happened to you, whether it was yesterday or whether it was 10 years ago,” he said.

    Campos’ bond has been set at $525,000, a spokesperson for the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office said. The county clerk told CNN Tuesday that an attorney had not yet been listed for Campos.

    Campos is expected in court on July 25.

    Warner implored families to speak to their children and contact police if they believe their child has had any affiliation with Campos.

    Police say they believe Campos drugged his victims. Because of that, children may not know they are a victim even if they have been to Campos’ home, Warner said.

    “The combination of drugs that he was using … was so powerful and so potent that he undoubtedly knew what he was doing, because he was able to render these children into an unbelievably unconscious state,” Warner said.

    Police said some victims told them they didn’t come forward earlier because they believed it would be expensive for them to do so.

    “That is heartbreaking for us, that there is that disconnect in the community,” Warner said.

    “We are there to serve victims of crime, and it doesn’t cost them anything,” Warner said. “We want people to know that our services are without limit and without obligation, and you can come to us.”

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  • 5 members of Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations charged with child sexual abuse in Pennsylvania | CNN

    5 members of Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations charged with child sexual abuse in Pennsylvania | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Five members of Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations were charged with child sexual abuse by the Pennsylvania’s attorney general on Friday, following a yearslong investigation into allegations of sexual abuse in the religious community.

    The children were all also members of Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations, and the alleged abusers gained access to – and the trust of the victims – through the organization, authorities said.

    The cases include alleged sexual abuse of 4-year-old child and a developmentally disabled victim.

    Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced charges Friday against David Balosa, 62, Errol William Hall, 50, Shaun Sheffer, 45, Terry Booth, 57, and Luis Manuel Ayala-Velasquez, 55, for sexually abusing minors across the state.

    A news release from the attorney general’s office describes Balosa as 61, but the attorney general said he was 62 in a news conference and court documents show a birth date that would have him turning 62 this year.

    “The details of these crimes are sad and disturbing, facts which are made even more abhorrent because the defendants used their faith communities or their own families to gain access to victims,” Henry said in the news release.

    “Our office will never stop working to seek justice for those who have been victimized, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute anyone who harms the most vulnerable in our society,” Henry said.

    Sheffer “adamantly denies the allegations and looks forward to the opportunity to set the record straight,” Sheffer’s attorney Benjamin Steinberg told CNN in a written statement Sunday.

    CNN is attempting to identify defense attorneys for the other four defendants.

    CNN has reached out to the attorney general’s office and public defender’s offices in Philadelphia, Delaware, Butler, Allegheny, and Northampton counties, where each defendant has been charged, respectively.

    The five defendants have each been charged and bail has been set, according to the attorney general’s office and criminal court dockets for three of the defendants reviewed by CNN.

    The charges are part of an investigation into child abuse in the Jehovah’s Witnesses community launched by the attorney general’s office in 2019, according to a report from the AG’s office listing findings of fact and recommendations of charges against the defendants.

    While the five cases are distinct from one another, they share a common thread, according to the attorney general. The defendants and victims were all part of Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations at the time of the alleged abuse.

    Balosa, from Philadelphia, has been charged with indecent assault, aggravated indecent assault, and corruption of minors, according to a criminal docket filed in Philadelphia County.

    He allegedly sexually assaulted a 4-year-old girl whom he had met through the Jehovah’s Witnesses community when he was in his 30s, according to the attorney general’s report. Balosa allegedly assaulted the girl in her family’s basement and told her not to tell anyone what he had done, the document states.

    Hall was charged with indecent assault without consent, indecent assault forcible compulsion, and corruption of minors for inappropriately touching a 16-year-old girl whom he met through the community, according to a criminal docket filed in Delaware County.

    Sheffer has been charged with rape, aggravated indecent assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, and corruption of minors, according to a criminal docket filed in Butler County.

    He allegedly repeatedly raped his developmentally disabled younger sister, starting when she was 7 years old and he was 18, according to the report. The grand jury heard testimony that the rapes occurred approximately 50 to 75 times and lasted until the girl was 12 years old, according to the attorney general’s report.

    Booth was charged with indecent assault and corruption of minors, according to the attorney general. He allegedly engaged in inappropriate sexual conversations with a 16-year-old boy he was mentoring within the Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation.

    On at least one occasion, the conduct escalated into inappropriate touching without the victim’s consent, according to the attorney general’s findings of fact and recommendations of charges.

    Ayala-Velasquez was charged with rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, aggravated indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children, and corruption of minors, the attorney general said. He allegedly sexually assaulted his daughter multiple times, according to the attorney general’s report.

    “I have to say that I am thankful to the courageous survivors involved in these cases who were willing to share the horrific abuse that they went through. I am inspired by their strength,” Henry said at a news conference on Friday.

    In October, the Pennsylvania’s attorney general charged four other members of Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations with child sexual abuse, according to a news release. In those cases, the alleged abusers also found their victims through the church, says the release.

    The Jehovah’s Witnesses faith is a non-mainstream Christian denomination. The church was founded in Pennsylvania in the late 19th century and claimed over 110,000 congregations worldwide as of 2022, according to its website.

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  • Chicago probes sex misconduct allegation against officers involving migrant living at police station

    Chicago probes sex misconduct allegation against officers involving migrant living at police station

    CHICAGO — Chicago police are investigating sexual misconduct allegations against officers involving a migrant who was living in a police station after arriving in the city, Chicago’s police oversight agency said Friday.

    The Chicago Police Department said in an email sent late Thursday that the department’s bureau of internal affairs, as well as the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, had opened an investigation into allegations involving an officer or officers, the Chicago Tribune reported.

    Chicago is among the U.S. cities struggling to provide shelter and other help to hundreds arriving from the southern border, with families sleeping in police station lobbies. Migrants, largely from Central American countries, have been bused to Chicago and other major U.S. cities from Texas since the spring.

    The Civilian Office of Police Accountability said in a statement Friday morning that the investigation began Thursday after it learned of a sexual misconduct allegation involving “members” of the Chicago Police Department and “a migrant temporarily housed at the police station” in the department’s 10th District on the city’s West Side.

    After notifying the police department’s internal affairs bureau of the allegations, internal affairs then “formally opened this investigation,” the COPA statement added.

    “While COPA investigators are currently determining whether the facts and details of this allegation are substantiated, we want to assure the public that all allegations of this nature are of the highest priority and COPA will move swiftly to address any misconduct by those involved,” spokesman Ephraim Eaddy said in the statement.

    A Chicago Police Department spokesperson did not address the Tribune’s questions about whether any officers had been stripped of their police powers.

    The department also did not respond Friday to questions from The Associated Press seeking to confirm whether any officers had been reprimanded.

    The Chicago Police Department, in response to questions from The Associated Press, referred the AP to a statement saying only that, “These allegations are under investigation with CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.”

    COPA said in its Friday statement that, “this investigation is ongoing, and all information is preliminary.”

    A spokesperson for the office of Mayor Brandon Johnson told the Chicago Tribune that “the city takes these allegations, as well as the care and well-being of all residents and new arrivals, very seriously.”

    A message seeking additional comment on the allegations was left Friday morning by the AP for the mayor’s office.

    Since August 2022, about 11,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago, according to Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s deputy chief of staff, who addressed Chicago City Council members on June 28.

    Many of those migrants have found themselves seeking shelter in Chicago police stations, as the city has struggled to find adequate housing for them.

    Since April, each of Chicago’s 22 district police stations — along with several other city-owned or otherwise unused buildings — have become a temporary home for hundreds of migrants, sometimes drawing the ire of local residents.

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  • Kevin Spacey’s U.K. trial on sexual assault charges opens in London

    Kevin Spacey’s U.K. trial on sexual assault charges opens in London

    London – Kevin Spacey’s trial began Wednesday in London, with the Hollywood actor facing charges of sexual assault, indecent assault and a more serious offense of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Spacey has pleaded not guilty to all of the 12 charges against him.

    The 63-year-old arrived at London’s Southwark Crown Court and smiled and waved at media gathered outside the building as he waked in. The trial is expected to last four weeks.

    Kevin Spacey On Trial For Sex Offences
    Actor Kevin Spacey, right, arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London, England, June 28, 2023.

    Dan Kitwood/Getty


    Spacey has repeatedly denied the allegations made by four men who are now in their 30s and 40s over acts they accuse Spacey of committing during a 12-year period between 2001 and 2013. Some of the charges date back to a period when the actor was the artistic director at London’s Old Vic Theatre, a position he held for more than a decade before his departure in 2015.

    The alleged victims cannot be identified under English law.  

    An internal 2017 investigation by the theater resulted in 20 anonymous claims of alleged inappropriate behavior by Spacey during his time as its artistic director.

    The Oscar-winner’s “stardom and status at The Old Vic may have prevented people, and in particular junior staff or young actors, from feeling that they could speak up or raise a hand for help,” a statement from the Old Vic said at the time.

    Spacey’s glittering Hollywood career largely came to an end in 2017 when actor Anthony Rapp publicly accused him of sexual misconduct in a separate case, alleging that Spacey had targeted him when he was just 14 years old.


    Jury finds Kevin Spacey not liable in sex abuse trial

    04:21

    In October last year, a New York court dismissed a $40 million civil suit brought against Spacey by Rapp for alleged sexual misconduct dating back to the late 1980s. A judge had ruled separately that Rapp brought the case too late for criminal charges.

    Charges of indecent assault and battery were also dropped against the actor in a separate case in Massachusetts in 2019, after a young man who had accused him declined to testify in the case.

    In an interview earlier this month with German magazine Zeit, Spacey insisted that it was his work that “will be remembered,” and he expressed a desire to revive his career should he be cleared of the charges against him in the U.K.

    “I know that there are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London. The second that happens, they’re ready to move forward,” Spacey said.

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  • Why Japan is rethinking its rape laws and raising the age of consent from 13 | CNN

    Why Japan is rethinking its rape laws and raising the age of consent from 13 | CNN


    Tokyo, Japan
    CNN
     — 

    When Kaneko Miyuki reported her sexual assault as a seven-year-old in Japan, she remembers the police laughing at her. “I was already confused and scared,” she said. “They wouldn’t take me seriously as a child.”

    The following investigation made things worse. After being questioned, she was taken back to the scene of her assault without a guardian present, against all modern guidelines.

    The police never did bring her attacker to justice. The whole experience was so traumatizing for Kaneko that she repressed her memory of it until she began having flashbacks in her twenties, and didn’t come to terms with the fact she had been sexually assaulted until her 40s.

    Kaneko is among countless Japanese women who say their experiences of sexual assault and abuse were ignored because they “didn’t fit the criteria” of a victim. About 95% of survivors never report their assault to police, and nearly 60% never tell anyone at all, according to a 2020 government survey.

    But that could be about to change. On Friday, the Japanese parliament passed a raft of bills overhauling the country’s sex crime laws, long criticized as outdated and restrictive, reflecting conservative social attitudes that often stigmatize and cast doubt on victims.

    The new laws expand the definition of rape to place greater emphasis on the concept of consent; introduce national legislation against taking explicit photos with hidden cameras; and raise the age of consent to 16. The previous age of consent, at 13, had been among the lowest in the developed world.

    It marks a major victory for sexual assault survivors and activists, some of whom have spent decades lobbying for these changes.

    “We … would like to express our deepest gratitude to all the victims of sexual violence who have raised their voices together with us,” Spring, a survivor advocacy group, said on Friday.

    While cautioning there was still more work to be done, such as extending the statute of limitations and in recognizing power imbalances in cases involving authority figures, it said the bills were nonetheless a sign of progress.

    “Our earnest wish is that those who have been victims of sexual violence will find hope in their lives, and that sexual violence will disappear from Japanese society,” it said.

    One of the biggest reforms passed on Friday is to change the language used to define rape to include a greater emphasis on the concept of consent.

    Rape had previously been defined as “forcible sexual intercourse” committed “through assault or intimidation,” including by taking advantage of a victim’s “unconscious state or inability to resist.”

    The law had also previously required evidence of “intent to resist.”

    But activists had argued this is too hard to prove in many cases, such as when a victim experiences the common “freeze” response, or is too afraid to resist physically.

    Members of Spring, with Kaneko Miyuki in the center, during a news conference.

    Tadokoro Yuu, a representative of Spring, said the law had discouraged victims from coming forward due to “a fear of acquittal” if courts found insufficient evidence of resistance.

    The new law replaces “forcible sexual intercourse” with “non-consensual sexual intercourse,” and expands the definition of assault to include victims under the influence of alcohol or drugs, those with mental or physical disorders, and those intimidated through their attacker’s economic or social status. It also includes those unable to voice resistance due to shock or other “psychological reactions.”

    Other major changes include raising the age of consent to 16 years old except for when both parties are underage – on par with many US states and European nations including the United Kingdom, Finland and Norway.

    The amendments also expand protections for minors, establishing grooming as a crime for the first time. They further criminalize activity like asking those under 16 for sexual images, or asking to visit a minor for sexual purposes.

    It also makes it easier to prosecute people accused of taking or distributing photos of a sexual nature without the subject’s knowledge or consent – a hot button issue in Japan where upskirting and hidden cameras taking explicit photos of women has long been a problem.

    A survey last year found that nearly 9% of more than 38,000 respondents across Japan had experienced this kind of “voyeurism,” according to public broadcaster NHK. Victims described having photos taken up their skirt and shared on social media; others had photos secretly taken in changing rooms and bathrooms.

    They also described the long-term impact on their mental health, with many feeling unsafe in public spaces including trains and schools. Reporting the issue rarely helped: often, peers and even police officers would place the blame on their clothing, arguing that they had placed themselves at risk by wearing skirts, NHK reported.

    Until now, laws against voyeurism have been enforced only by local governments, and can vary across prefectures, complicating matters.

    In one notorious incident in 2012, a plane passenger took an upskirt photo of a flight attendant, was caught with several images on his phone, and admitted guilt – but was ultimately never charged, according to NHK. The problem? The crime had taken place midair on a moving plane – so it was impossible to know which prefecture they had been traveling over at the time, thus which location’s law should be applied.

    These amendments build on the work of an entire generation of activists who have tried with little success to push forth change, said Nakayama Junko, a lawyer and member of the non-profit Human Rights Now.

    “It’s been a long time … It’s not just a movement that has been going on for 50 years, it’s a voice that has been heard for decades,” she said.

    These previous attempts were blocked by governmental inertia and sometimes outright opposition from parliament members who believed the changes unnecessary, she said. Many people, including Japanese media, had a limited understanding of consent and believed “the crime of rape was being properly punished,” meaning little attention was paid to the issue.

    Things began to change in 2019 when the country was gripped by several high-profile rape acquittals, handed down within the span of a few weeks.

    In the most controversial case, a father was acquitted of raping his 19-year-old daughter in the central Japanese city of Nagoya. The court recognized that the sex was non-consensual, that the father had used force, and that he had physically and sexually abused his daughter – but judges argued she could have resisted, according to Reuters, which reviewed the verdict.

    Around 150 protesters demonstrate against several rape acquittals in Tokyo, Japan, on June 11, 2019.

    The father’s acquittal prompted nationwide protests, with women from Tokyo to Fukuoka taking to the streets for months and calling for legal change. Demonstrators held flowers as a sign of protest, and signs with slogans against sexual violence, including #MeToo.

    In the Nagoya case, the father’s acquittal was eventually overturned by Japan’s high court. But the spark had been lit, finally setting into motion the proposed reforms that have for years failed to take hold.

    The protests “conveyed (that) the reality of the damage was very significant,” Nakayama said, calling it a “main driving force that led to this amendment.”

    Both nonprofit organizations CNN interviewed praised the bills as an important step forward – but cautioned that much work remains to be done.

    Japan still lags far behind other developed nations in its ideas toward sex and consent, Nakayama said. Other countries have already begun amending their laws to reflect a “Yes means yes” mentality – meaning sexual partners should seek clear affirmative consent, rather than assuming consent unless told otherwise. Meanwhile, “in Japan, it seems that (the concept of) ‘No means no’ has just been communicated,” she said.

    Tadokoro, the Spring representative, echoed this point, saying it was important to recognize that consent isn’t inherently or permanently granted between couples, and can be withdrawn; that “it’s wrong to assume it’s a ‘yes’ even if they come over, or do not say no clearly.”

    There are other legal reforms they want to tackle in future amendments: better laws protecting people with disability from sexual abuse, and outlining the ways they can give consent, and extending the statute of limitations since many survivors go decades before coming to terms with what happened to them – as in Kaneko’s case.

    Others spend most of their life dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health consequences, before reaching a point where they have healed enough to consider pursuing justice.

    But perhaps the biggest obstacle is the Japanese public itself, and the harmful views on sexual abuse and victimhood that are still widespread.

    “When I talk to other people about (my assault), I get avoided, and am not accepted,” said Kaneko, recalling people who told her she would “forget with time” or that that’s just life.

    Sometimes their responses are far crueler. “I get ruthless reactions like, ‘You got done?’” she said.

    There are some positive signs of change, she said, pointing to public awareness campaigns by the government and increasing sexual education in schools. But there is still a gaping lack of systemic support for survivors like counseling, therapy, and public services to help them re-enter society.

    “Survivors of sexual assault like myself cannot even work, or go about your life – you become mentally ill, and you can’t take care of yourself,” she said.

    Authorities also need to introduce trauma-informed training for law enforcement and other workers dealing with survivors, said Tadokoro, adding that “some police investigators understand (how to approach the situation), while others do not understand at all.”

    For Kaneko, who went on to become the general secretary of Spring, the damage done at the police station when she was seven years old compounded the trauma from her assault – leaving scars that took decades to untangle.

    “I was implanted with a distrust of people when I experienced that kind of thing in an institution that is supposed to protect citizens, such as the adults and the police,” she said.

    “For many years, despite a lot of pain, I had no idea what (the source) was for many years … Having PTSD is not easy to heal on your own.”

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  • Men charged with vandalizing homes of New Hampshire journalists

    Men charged with vandalizing homes of New Hampshire journalists

    CONCORD, N.H. — Three men face federal charges alleging they vandalized multiple homes associated with New Hampshire journalists in retaliation for a report detailing sexual misconduct allegations against a prominent businessman.

    Tucker Cockerline, 32, of Salem; Michael Waselchuck, 35, of Seabrook; and Keenan Saniatan, 36, of Nashua, were charged with conspiring to commit stalking through interstate travel, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts said Friday.

    “Freedom of the press is a cornerstone of any health democracy and these three men are now accused of infringing on that freedom by conspiring to harass and intimidate two New Hampshire journalists who were simply doing their jobs,” said Christopher DiMenna, acting special agent in charge of the Boston FBI office.

    The targets were a New Hampshire Public Radio reporter and editor. In six incidents in April and May 2022, their homes and the home of the reporter’s parents were hit with bricks, rocks and red spray paint. In one incident, a brick was thrown through the reporter’s window and the phrase “JUST THE BEGINNING!” was spray-painted on the front of her home.

    The vandalism came after NHPR published an investigation into Eric Spofford, the founder of the state’s largest network of addiction rehabilitation centers. Spofford, who is suing the radio station, has denied the sexual misconduct allegations and said he had nothing to do with the vandalism.

    Federal prosecutors, however, allege that a “close, personal associate” of Spofford’s solicited two of the three men to vandalize the homes, and that one of them recruited the third. In court documents, investigators don’t identify either Spofford or the associate by name but say cell phone and other records show they were in regular contact around the time of the vandalism, and that the associate also contacted Cockerline and Saniatan.

    Investigators also said they used cellular phone location data and internet search histories to determine that the men searched for the relevant addresses and were near the homes at the time of the vandalism.

    Cockerline and Waselchuck were arrested Friday and detained following an initial court appearance. Their attorneys declined to comment. Saniatan remains at large.

    Neither Spofford nor his attorney responded to emails seeking comment.

    Jim Schacter, president and CEO of NHPR, said in an email that everyone at the station is grateful for law enforcement’s persistence and trusts that the perpetrators will be held accountable.

    “Journalists doing their jobs — reporting open-mindedly in the public interest – should not have to worry about threats of violence or attacks on their homes and their families,” he said. “That’s true for NHPR’s staff, and for journalists everywhere.”

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  • Kansas governor picks high-ranking DEA official to take over embattled highway patrol

    Kansas governor picks high-ranking DEA official to take over embattled highway patrol

    TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas governor chose a high-ranking U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official Friday to head the state highway patrol, replacing a retiring superintendent who is facing federal lawsuits over the agency’s policing and allegations that he sexually harassed female employees.

    Gov. Laura Kelly’s appointment of Erik Smith came on retiring Superintendent and Col. Herman Jones’ last day. Until Smith can take over as superintendent July 7, patrol Lt. Col. Jason DeVore, who also was named as a defendant in the sexual harassment lawsuit, pursued by five patrol employees.

    Smith has strong ties to Kansas. He is a native of the small central Kansas town of Ellsworth, holds a criminal justice degree from Friends University in Wichita, and served nine years with the Sedgwick County sheriff’s office, also in Wichita, before joining the DEA. He has been chief of the DEA’s Inspection Division since 2021.

    Smith’s appointment must be confirmed by the Kansas Senate next year. Lawmakers are out of session for the year, but a committee of Senate leaders will determine this summer whether Smith can serve as acting superintendent until a confirmation vote.

    Kelly had faced pressure from the Republican-controlled Legislature to dismiss Jones, but he announced in February that he would retire. In announcing Smith’s appointment, Kelly made no mention of the allegations surrounding Jones and the patrol and thanked Jones for his 45 years in law enforcement. In a statement released by the governor’s office, DeVore thanked Kelly for her “steadfast support” of the agency.

    A federal judge is considering the legality of a patrol tactic known as the “Kansas two step,” in which troopers make traffic stops and then draw out their interactions with drivers, allegedly so that they get time to find incriminating information or get a drug-sniffing dog to the scene. The judge had a trial last month in a lawsuit that argues that troopers use the tactic even when they have no reasonable suspicion of a crime.

    Critics contend that the patrol targets motorists coming from other states where marijuana is legal. Kansas is among the few states with no legalized form of marijuana.

    Meanwhile, a trial is scheduled in September in the sexual harassment lawsuit against Jones, DeVore and the state, alleging that the female employees faced a hostile work environment.

    Jones has denied allegations of improper conduct, and Kelly has stood by him, telling The Topeka Capital-Journal in December that the state conducted two independent investigations and found “no substance to the allegations.”

    Jones and DeVore settled a third lawsuit last year, filed by two majors who alleged that they were pushed out of the patrol in 2020 in retaliation for helping female employees file sexual harassment complaints. The patrol restored the two men to their previous positions, and they received more than year’s worth of back pay.

    ___

    Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna

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  • 3 women who say Cuba Gooding Jr. sexually abused them can testify at sex assault trial, judge rules

    3 women who say Cuba Gooding Jr. sexually abused them can testify at sex assault trial, judge rules

    NEW YORK — Three women who claim Cuba Gooding Jr. sexually abused them — including one upset she never got her day in court when Gooding resolved criminal charges without trial or jail — can testify at a federal civil trial next week to support a woman’s claim that the actor raped her in 2013, a judge ruled Friday.

    Judge Paul A. Crotty said the allegations by the women were relevant for a jury deciding if the Oscar-winning “Jerry Maguire” star raped a woman in a Manhattan hotel room after they met at a bar. He also ruled in a separate order that the plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe in the lawsuit seeking $6 million in damages, must reveal her name at trial.

    He said the claims by the three women who can testify “are sufficiently similar” to the claims at stake in the trial because “all involve sudden sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults” connected to Gooding and stemmed from the presence of the women and Gooding in social settings such as festivals, bars, nightclubs and restaurants.

    Lawyers for Gooding, a #MeToo defendant in multiple courts, have said Gooding had consensual sex with the woman who accused him of rape after they met in the VIP lounge of a Greenwich Village restaurant and she joined him at a nearby hotel bar, agreeing to proceed to his hotel room so the actor could change his clothing. The lawyers did not respond to an email request for comment Friday.

    The three women include Kelsey Harbert, who said in tears after Gooding pleaded guilty last year that never getting her day in court was “more disappointing than words can say.”

    Harbert told police Gooding fondled her without her consent at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge near Times Square in 2019.

    The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, as Harbert has done.

    The judge disallowed the testimony of a fourth woman on the grounds that her proposed testimony that Gooding groped her breast without her consent in 2011 was so similar to Harbert’s expected testimony that it would be “needlessly cumulative” and would increase the chance of improper bias. The trial is scheduled to start Tuesday.

    Gooding, a star in films including “Boyz n the Hood” and “Radio,” was permitted to plead guilty in April 2022 to a misdemeanor, admitting that he forcibly kissed a worker at a New York nightclub in 2018.

    After staying out of trouble and completing six months of alcohol and behavioral counseling, Gooding was permitted to withdraw his guilty plea and instead pleaded guilty to a non-criminal harassment violation, eliminating his criminal record and preventing further penalties.

    The deal was criticized by some of at least 30 women who prosecutors say have made sexual misconduct allegations against him, many citing encounters at New York City nightspots that resulted in groping, unwanted kissing and other inappropriate behavior.

    Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents the plaintiff, declined to comment except to say that her client will be going forward with the trial on Tuesday.

    Prospects for a settlement, which sometimes occur in civil cases on the eve of trial, seemed dim at a pretrial conference Thursday as trial attorneys were in such sharp disagreement that the judge warned in ruling Friday that “counsel will act with the utmost courtesy and professionalism towards one another and the Court going forward.”

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  • 3 women who say Cuba Gooding Jr. sexually abused them can testify at sex assault trial, judge rules

    3 women who say Cuba Gooding Jr. sexually abused them can testify at sex assault trial, judge rules

    NEW YORK — Three women who claim Cuba Gooding Jr. sexually abused them — including one upset she never got her day in court when Gooding resolved criminal charges without trial or jail — can testify at a federal civil trial next week to support a woman’s claim that the actor raped her in 2013, a judge ruled Friday.

    Judge Paul A. Crotty said the allegations by the women were relevant for a jury deciding if the Oscar-winning “Jerry Maguire” star raped a woman in a Manhattan hotel room after they met at a bar. He also ruled in a separate order that the plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe in the lawsuit seeking $6 million in damages, must reveal her name at trial.

    He said the claims by the three women who can testify “are sufficiently similar” to the claims at stake in the trial because “all involve sudden sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults” connected to Gooding and stemmed from the presence of the women and Gooding in social settings such as festivals, bars, nightclubs and restaurants.

    Lawyers for Gooding, a #MeToo defendant in multiple courts, have said Gooding had consensual sex with the woman who accused him of rape after they met in the VIP lounge of a Greenwich Village restaurant and she joined him at a nearby hotel bar, agreeing to proceed to his hotel room so the actor could change his clothing. The lawyers did not respond to an email request for comment Friday.

    The three women include Kelsey Harbert, who said in tears after Gooding pleaded guilty last year that never getting her day in court was “more disappointing than words can say.”

    Harbert told police Gooding fondled her without her consent at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge near Times Square in 2019.

    The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, as Harbert has done.

    The judge disallowed the testimony of a fourth woman on the grounds that her proposed testimony that Gooding groped her breast without her consent in 2011 was so similar to Harbert’s expected testimony that it would be “needlessly cumulative” and would increase the chance of improper bias. The trial is scheduled to start Tuesday.

    Gooding, a star in films including “Boyz n the Hood” and “Radio,” was permitted to plead guilty in April 2022 to a misdemeanor, admitting that he forcibly kissed a worker at a New York nightclub in 2018.

    After staying out of trouble and completing six months of alcohol and behavioral counseling, Gooding was permitted to withdraw his guilty plea and instead pleaded guilty to a non-criminal harassment violation, eliminating his criminal record and preventing further penalties.

    The deal was criticized by some of at least 30 women who prosecutors say have made sexual misconduct allegations against him, many citing encounters at New York City nightspots that resulted in groping, unwanted kissing and other inappropriate behavior.

    Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents the plaintiff, declined to comment except to say that her client will be going forward with the trial on Tuesday.

    Prospects for a settlement, which sometimes occur in civil cases on the eve of trial, seemed dim at a pretrial conference Thursday as trial attorneys were in such sharp disagreement that the judge warned in ruling Friday that “counsel will act with the utmost courtesy and professionalism towards one another and the Court going forward.”

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  • Armie Hammer will not face charges following sexual assault investigation, according to LA District Attorney | CNN

    Armie Hammer will not face charges following sexual assault investigation, according to LA District Attorney | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Actor Armie Hammer will not face charges following an investigation by Los Angeles police into an allegation of sexual assault against the actor, the LA District Attorney’s Office told CNN on Wednesday.

    “Sexual assault cases are often difficult to prove, which is why we assign our most experienced prosecutors to review them. In this case, those prosecutors conducted an extremely thorough review, but determined that at this time, there is insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Hammer with a crime,” Tiffiny Blacknell, Director of the Bureau of Communications told CNN.

    “As prosecutors, we have an ethical responsibility to only charge cases that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt. We know that it is hard for women to report sexual assault. Even when we cannot move forward with a prosecution, our victim service representatives will be available to those who seek our victim support services. Due to the complexity of the relationship and inability to prove a non-consensual, forcible sexual encounter we are unable to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”

    Hammer posted a statement to Instagram following the news:

    “I am very grateful to the District Attorney for conducting a thorough investigation and coming to the conclusion that I have stood by this entire time, that no crime was committed. I look forward to beginning what will be a long, difficult process of putting my life back together now that my name is cleared.”

    The LAPD opened an investigation into the matter in February 2021, after a woman, identified by her attorney at the time as Effie, accused him of raping her in 2017.

    Hammer was not charged in the case and has denied any wrongdoing, at the time saying through his attorney that the allegation was “outrageous” and that his interactions with the woman and other partners have been “completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory.”

    CNN reported last month that the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office was reviewing claims of sexual assault made against the actor. They did not specify the identity of the complainant or complainants.

    In a statement made on Wednesday to CNN following the DA’s decision, Effie said in part, “I am disappointed with the LA County District Attorney’s decision not to prosecute Armie Hammer. I felt a duty to speak out and file a report in order to try to hold Armie accountable for all the harm and trauma he has caused me and in order to protect other women from experiencing similar abuse.”

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  • Britain’s leading business lobby group sets out proposals for change after misconduct allegations

    Britain’s leading business lobby group sets out proposals for change after misconduct allegations

    LONDON — Britain’s leading business lobby group set out a series of proposals Wednesday that it hopes can secure its future following a string of allegations of inappropriate behaviour that led to the cancellation of membership subscriptions from some of the country’s biggest companies.

    In a statement, the Confederation of British Industry said it will ask its members to vote on the proposals to improve its governance structures and internal culture at an extraordinary general meeting on June 5.

    It said its “ambitious” program of change has been based upon discussions with more than 1,000 business leaders, and will result in a “renewed CBI.”

    The CBI has been rocked by multiple sexual misconduct allegations, including rape, in recent months, which prompted dozens of household names, including automaker BMW, banking firm NatWest and insurance group Aviva, to ditch their membership of the organization. The scale of the outrage raised questions over whether the CBI could survive.

    The business lobby group hired law firm Fox Williams to investigate the specific allegations. They have made 34 recommendations, which have been accepted in full and will be mostly implemented by the time of next week’s meeting. It also hired ethics consultancy Principia Advisory to examine its culture.

    The CBI said it plans to speed up the hunt for a successor to its president and promised a “refreshed board” and the creation of a new People and Culture subcommittee of the board. It said it will also establish an external expert Culture Advisory Committee and bolster its internal training and communications.

    While unveiling its proposals, the business lobby group dismissed allegations that its culture has been toxic, citing the findings from Principia.

    “Blanket descriptions of the CBI’s culture being toxic are not correct, but we have work to do to embed a consistent set of values for all of our staff,” said new director-general Rain Newton-Smith.

    At the special meeting next week, the CBI’s members will be asked to vote on the question: “Do the changes we have made — and the commitments we have set out — to reform our governance, culture, and purpose give you the confidence you need to support the CBI?”

    Failure to get the motion through could spell the demise of the organization, which was established in 1965 to ensure business’s voice is heard within the government.

    “We need a strong voice of business, backed by a depth of economic analysis and insights from across the whole economy and entire country,” said Newton-Smith.

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  • CNBC anchor Hadley Gamble, who accused ex-CEO of sexual harassment, is leaving the network

    CNBC anchor Hadley Gamble, who accused ex-CEO of sexual harassment, is leaving the network

    CNBC anchor Hadley Gamble will leave the network only weeks after a sexual harassment claim she lodged led to the firing of former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell.

    A CNBC spokesperson on Wednesday confirmed her pending departure.

    “Gamble has been a distinguished journalist for more than a decade for CNBC, undertaking highly visible and challenging assignments, and developing deep expertise in the Middle East and beyond,” the spokesperson said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch. “Her initiative and drive have secured valuable interviews with several world political leaders.” 

    As a senior international correspondent at CNBC, Gamble covered energy, geopolitics and financial markets. She was also the anchor of “Capital Connection,” a show filmed from the network’s Middle East outlet in the United Arab Emirates. Prior to working for CNBC, Gamble was a producer for ABC News and Fox News affiliates in Washington, D.C.

    The CNBC spokesperson didn’t elaborate on Gamble’s reason for leaving the broadcaster, which is owned by Comcast. Gamble’s lawyer, Suzanne McKie, said in a statement last month that her client’s sexual harassment complaint led to a probe into Shell’s conduct, then chief of NBCUniversal. McKie didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. 

    CNBC Launches New Middle East Headquarters In Abu Dhabi
    CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at the network’s Middle East headquarters on April 15, 2018, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

    Tom Dulat / Getty Images


    Comcast disclosed in a regulatory filing last month that it had hired outside lawyers to investigate allegations of sexual harassment by Shell. 

    “During the investigation, evidence was uncovered that corroborated the allegations,” Comcast said in documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “As a consequence, on April 23, 2023, the company terminated Mr. Shell’s employment with cause under his employment agreement, effective immediately.”

    Shell said in a statement last month that he “had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, which I deeply regret.”

    Shell was an influential media executive who oversaw NBCUniversal’s entertainment and news divisions as the company moved aggressively to compete with streaming services. He became CEO in January 2020. 

    His exit adds to other high-profile departures among media executives removed from their leadership positions in recent years following investigations into misconduct. 

    In February 2022, CNN’s former president, Jeff Zucker, stepped down following a “consensual relationship” with a colleague that he failed to disclose. Former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes resigned in 2016, less than a month after he was sued for sexual harassment by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson. The former CEO of CBS, Leslie Moonves, departed the company in 2018 following allegations of sexual assault and misconduct.

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  • Attorneys for Trump and E. Jean Carroll dispute character and evidence in closing arguments of civil rape trial | CNN Politics

    Attorneys for Trump and E. Jean Carroll dispute character and evidence in closing arguments of civil rape trial | CNN Politics


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    E. Jean Carroll’s civil battery and defamation trial against Donald Trump neared a close Monday with closing arguments as her attorney told a federal jury in New York that no one is above the law, while Trump’s lawyer said not to hold any negative feelings about the former president against him.

    “In this country, even the most powerful person can be held accountable in court,” said attorney Roberta Kaplan. “No one, not even a former president, is above the law.”

    Trump attorney Joe Tacopina said he knows Trump is a divisive figure, but that shouldn’t matter to jurors when reaching a verdict.

    “People have very strong feelings about Donald Trump. That’s obvious,” Tacopina said. “There’s a time and a secret place to do that: it’s called a ballot box during an election.”

    “They want you to hate him enough to ignore the facts,” Tacopina added. “All objective evidence cuts against her.”

    Trump asked about infamous ‘Access Hollywood’ tape in deposition. See his reaction

    Carroll, a former magazine columnist, alleges Trump raped her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the spring of 1996 and then defamed her when he denied her claim, said she wasn’t his type and suggested she made up the story to boost sales of her book. Trump has denied all wrongdoing.

    Attorneys for Carroll and Trump rested their respective cases last Thursday. Carroll’s legal team put on 11 witnesses in her case, including the writer herself, over seven trial days. Trump did not put on a defense and ultimately opted not to testify, as is his right.

    Kaplan pointed out that Trump didn’t attend the trial, even though clips from his deposition were shown.

    “And you only saw him on video. He didn’t even bother to show up here in person,” Kaplan said.

    Carroll’s attorney showed clips of Trump’s video deposition taken last October including a moment where Trump mistook Carroll for his ex-wife. This shows, Kaplan said, that Carroll “was exactly his type.”

    Tacopina stressed that the former president did not need to appear in court to testify in his own defense.

    “How do you prove a negative?” Tacopina asked. “Challenging the story is our defense. There are no witnesses for us to call. There’s no witness for us to call because he was not there, it didn’t happen.”

    Tacopina said Trump did not defame Carroll when he denied her false accusations on social media. Trump’s lawyer told jurors not be confused by the verdict form when they see it. “If there’s no rape, there’s no defamation. There was no sexual assault and there was no defamation, they go hand in hand.”

    The jury again saw the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape and heard Trump describe how he aggressively moves on women without their consent because they let you “when you’re a star.”

    Trump revealed his “playbook” for handling women on the tape when he thought no one was listening, Kaplan said. “Telling you in his very own words how he treats women.”

    According to Kaplan, Trump and his lawyers want the jury to believe Carroll and the other witnesses in her case are a part of a huge “hoax” to take down the former president. “The big lie,” Kaplan called it.

    “There is only one person here who is lying and that person is Donald Trump,” Kaplan said.

    In order to side with Trump’s defense, “You’d need to conclude that Donald Trump, the nonstop liar, is the only person in this room telling the truth.”

    Tacopina responded by criticizing Trump’s language on the tape but said the crude nature still doesn’t make Carroll’s allegations true.

    “They’re trying to take parts of Donald Trump that you dislike or even hate,” Tacopina said. “You can think Donald Trump is a rude and crude person and that her story makes no sense. Both of those things can be true.”

    Carroll’s attorney also showed the jury a chart mapping how allegations from Carroll, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff reveal a pattern of aggressive behavior. In each woman’s testimony at trial they described how Trump first engaged them in a semipublic place, then allegedly grabbed them suddenly, then later denied the allegations and said “she is too ugly for anyone to assault,” Kaplan said.

    Trump has denied Leeds’ and Stoynoff’s allegations against him.

    “Three different women, decades apart, but one single pattern of behavior. What happened to Ms. Carroll is not unique in that respect. Trump’s physical attacks and verbal attacks are his standard operational procedure,” Kaplan said.

    The jury in this case can award Carroll damages if they believe her account.

    “For E. Jean Carroll this lawsuit is not about the money,” Kaplan said. “It’s about getting her good name back.”

    “I’m not going to stand here and tell you how much you should award E. Jean Carroll in damages. What is the price for decades of living alone without companionship? No one to cook dinner with, no one to walk your dog with, no one to watch TV with. And feeling for decades that you’re dirty and unworthy,” Kaplan said. “I’m not going to put a number on that.”

    Responding in his closing, Tacopina accused Carroll of fabricating her rape allegations to sell her book and make money.

    “She’s abused this system, bringing false claims for, amongst other things, money, status, and political reasons,” Tacopina told the jury. “You cannot let her profit to the tune of millions of dollars for her abuse of this process.”

    District Judge Lewis Kaplan (no relation to Roberta Kaplan) is expected to instruct and charge the jury to begin deliberations on Tuesday.

    This story has been updated with additional developments.

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  • Tiger Woods is accused of sexual harassment by ex-girlfriend, according to court document | CNN

    Tiger Woods is accused of sexual harassment by ex-girlfriend, according to court document | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Erica Herman, who was a longtime girlfriend of professional golfer Tiger Woods, has accused the 15-time major champion of sexual harassment, according to a court filing by Herman’s attorney in Florida on Friday.

    Woods is accused of pursuing a sexual relationship with Herman while she worked for him and then forcing her to sign a non-disclosure agreement or she’d be fired from her job, according to the document.

    Herman was an employee at his South Florida restaurant, The Woods Jupiter, at the time.

    “Tiger Woods, the internationally renowned athlete and one of the most powerful figures in global sports, decided to pursue a sexual relationship with his employee, then – according to him – forced her to sign an NDA about it or else be fired from her job,” the Friday court document said. “And, when he became disgruntled with their sexual relationship, he tricked her into leaving her home, locked her out, took her cash, pets, and personal possessions, and tried to strong-arm her into signing a different NDA.”

    “A boss imposing different work conditions on his employee because of their sexual relationship is sexual harassment,” Herman’s attorney Benjamin Hobas states in the filing.

    CNN reached out to Woods’ representatives for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

    The document also alleges a “scheme” used against Herman last year where Woods asked her to pack for a weekend getaway to the Bahamas. She was allegedly driven to the airport and then was asked to speak to Woods’ attorney.

    “Then, Mr. Woods’s California lawyer, out of the blue, told her that she was not going anywhere, would never see Mr. Woods again, had been locked out of the house, and could not return,” the document said. “She would not even be able to see the children or her pets again.”

    Herman was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which she refused to do, according to the document.

    Herman has brought two separate complaints involving Woods in the past year.

    The first, filed in October 2022, alleges a trust owned and created by the golf star violated the Florida Residential Landlord Tenant Act by breaking her oral tenancy agreement to continue living in Woods’ home.

    As part of that suit, a trustee of Woods’ trust, Christopher Hubman, has asked the court to order Herman to arbitrate her claims pursuant to an arbitration provision in a non-disclosure agreement she signed in 2017.

    In an earlier briefing, Herman cited a statute that says plaintiffs in sexual harassment or assault disputes cannot be compelled to arbitrate those claims.

    The most recent suit, filed in March, Herman argues the 2017 agreement is not enforceable in part because of a new federal law invalidating arbitration clauses in sexual assault or sexual harassment cases.

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  • Texas panel says lawmaker should be expelled for misconduct

    Texas panel says lawmaker should be expelled for misconduct

    AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas legislative committee recommended Saturday that GOP Rep. Bryan Slaton be expelled for inappropriate sexual conduct with a 19-year-old intern. Slaton, from Royse City, could face an expulsion vote by the full House as early as Tuesday.

    Slaton, 45, has declined to comment on the allegations, and did not immediately respond to a phone message left by The Associated Press Saturday afternoon, but his attorney last month called the claims “outrageous” and “false.” The House General Investigative Committee’s recommendation was first reported by The Texas Tribune.

    In the written investigation report, the committee said Slaton gave the 19-year-old intern and another young staffer alcohol at his home, that he had sex with the intern after she was intoxicated, and that he later showed the intern a threatening email but said everything would be fine if the incident was kept quiet. Slaton also asked a fellow lawmaker to keep his behavior secret, the committee said.

    “Slaton’s misconduct is grave and serious,” the committee members wrote in a report, and that he furnished alcohol to a minor, violated employment laws, abused his position of power and engaged in harassment.

    “The fact that Slaton has not expressed regret or remorse for his conduct is also egregious and unwarranted,” the committee wrote. “It is the Committee’s unanimous recommendation that, considering the factors stated above, the only appropriate discipline in this matter is expulsion.”

    Slaton’s legislative biography describes him as, “a proud East Texan with values and principles that represent the great people of East Texas” that were formed by his participation in church and family gatherings. It also sites his degrees from a Baptist seminary school and his work serving as a youth minister.

    Slaton has repeatedly pushed to ban drag shows for kids and has tweeted his support for laws prohibiting gender-affirming healthcare.

    “Children don’t need to be focused on sex and sexualization, and we need to let them just grow up to be children and let them do that as they’re getting closer to being an adult,” Slaton said in an interview last year.

    The misconduct investigation began after two 19-year-old legislative aides and a 21-year-old legislative intern filed complaints in April. The committee hired a former state judge to conduct the investigation, which confirmed the complaints, Committee Chairman Andrew Murr, a Republican, told the 150-member House on Saturday.

    Murr said he expects a resolution calling for Slaton’s expulsion on Tuesday. Expelling Slaton would require a two-thirds vote from House members.

    In the complaints, two of the women said they tried to dissuade the intern from spending time with Slaton and suggested that his behavior was inappropriate. But the intern, who one complainant described as “naive,” was not convinced and so agreed to Slaton’s request to visit his apartment on the night of March 31. The other women went with her, according to the report, and the lawmaker served them rum and cokes.

    One of the young women drank enough to vomit; the intern was was “really dizzy” and had “split vision” according to the report. The other women eventually left the home but the intern reportedly stayed. She told her friends that Slaton drove her home the next morning, stopping at a drugstore so she could obtain emergency contraception on the way, according to the report.

    The Associated Press found that between 2017 and 2021, at least 120 state lawmakers in 41 states have faced public allegations of sexual misconduct or harassment. Among those cases was an Idaho lawmaker who was eventually convicted in 2022 of raping a legislative intern.

    Often, lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct run again for office and are re-elected. Efforts to remove them are rarer.

    But this year, a handful of lawmakers nationwide have been expelled or barred from Statehouses for simply taking part in protests or violating “decorum” rules. Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who is transgender, was barred by Republicans from the House floor after she rebuked colleagues supporting a ban on gender-affirming care for children and opposed their efforts to silence her. Two Democratic lawmakers from Tennessee were expelled by Republicans in April for their role in a protest calling for more gun control after a deadly school shooting in Nashville.

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  • Key moments from the video of Trump’s deposition in E. Jean Carroll trial released to the public | CNN Politics

    Key moments from the video of Trump’s deposition in E. Jean Carroll trial released to the public | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    The video deposition of Donald Trump played before the jury in the E. Jean Carroll civil battery and defamation trial was made public Friday, showing the former president discussing the accusations against him, the “Access Hollywood” tape and the Russia “hoax.”

    In the video, Trump confirms that he made the allegedly defamatory statements denying knowing Carroll, calling her allegations that he raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman’s dressing room in the mid-1990s a “hoax,” and saying she is not his type.

    He also tells Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, that she, too, is not his type. And many times during the deposition, he calls Carroll a series of names, including “nut job,” a “whack job” and “mentally sick.”

    The edited deposition runs for nearly an hour. Trump was interviewed in October 2022. He denies all allegations against him.

    Here are key moments from the deposition as reviewed by CNN:

    At one point, Trump is shown a black and white photograph that includes Carroll, but mistakes her for his second wife, Marla Maples. Holding the photo, he points at it and says, “That’s Marla, that’s my wife.”

    After his attorney, Alina Habba, intervenes, Trump says the photo is blurry.

    KAPLAN: You have in front of you a black and white photograph that we’ve marked as DJT 23. And I’m going to ask you, is this the photo that you were just referring to?

    TRUMP: I think so, yes.

    KAPLAN: And do you recall when you first saw this photo?

    TRUMP: At some point during the process, I saw it. That’s I guess her husband, John Johnson, who was an anchor for ABC, nice guy, I thought, I mean, I don’t know him but I thought he was pretty good at what he did. I don’t even know who the woman. Let’s see, I don’t know who – it’s Marla.

    KAPLAN: You’re saying Marla’s in this photo?

    TRUMP: That’s Marla, yeah. That’s, that’s my wife.

    KAPLAN: Which woman are you pointing to?

    TRUMP: Here

    HABBA: No, that’s Carroll.

    TRUMP: [inaudible] Oh I see.

    KAPLAN: The person you just pointed to is E. Jean Carroll.

    TRUMP: Who’s that, who’s this?

    HABBA: [inaudible] That’s your wife.

    KAPLAN: And the person, the woman on the right is your then-wife –.

    TRUMP: I don’t know, this was the picture. I assume that’s John Johnson. Is that –.

    HABBA: That’s Carroll.

    TRUMP: – Carroll, because it’s very blurry.

    Since Carroll came forward in 2019, Trump has repeatedly denied her allegations, often saying that she is “not my type.” Here, Kaplan asks Trump about a June 24, 2019, interview with The Hill, where the president used that phrase.

    KAPLAN: One of the other things that you said about Ms. Carroll at the time appears in your June 24 statement, which is DJT 22. And what you said there is, “I’ll say it with great respect. Number one, she’s not my type.” When you said that Ms. Carroll was not your type, you meant that she was not your type physically, right?

    TRUMP: I saw her in a picture. I didn’t know what she looked like. And I said it, and I say it with as much respect as I can, but she is not my type.

    After more back and forth with Trump repeating the claim, Kaplan ended the exchange:

    KAPLAN: I take it the three women you’ve married are all your type?

    TRUMP: Yeah.

    The former president continued insulting Carroll in denying her allegations.

    TRUMP: I still don’t know this woman. I think she’s a whack job. I have no idea. I don’t know anything about this woman other than what I read in stories and what I hear. I know, I know nothing about her.

    …

    TRUMP: She said that I did something to her that never took place. There was no anything. I know nothing about this nut job.

    Trump appears the most agitated on the video when he denies the rape allegation, saying it is “the worst thing you can do. The worst charge.” He also says that he has a right to defend himself, and asks why, if he is insulted, he can’t insult someone back.

    Kaplan later asked Trump about a Truth Social post from October 12, 2022, where, among other things, he says, “And, while I am not supposed to say it, I will. This woman is not my type!”

    KAPLAN: Okay, then you go on to say in the statement, “And while I’m not supposed to say it, I will.” Why were you not supposed to say it?

    TRUMP: Because it’s not politically correct to say – read the next, go ahead, that she’s not my type. Yeah, because it’s not politically correct to say it, and I know that, but I’ll say it anyway. She’s accusing me of rape. A woman that I have no idea who she is. It came out of the blue. She’s accusing me of rape, of raping her. The worst thing you can do, the worst charge. And, and you know, you know it’s not true too. You’re a political operative also. You’re, you’re a disgrace. But she’s accusing me, and so are you, of rape, and it never took place. And I will tell you, I made that statement. And I said, well, it’s politically incorrect. She’s not my type. And that’s 100% true. She’s not my type.

    trump ireland

    New video shows Trump talking to reporters about E. Jean Carroll trial

    The deposition includes an exchange between Trump and Carroll’s attorneys about his frequent use of the word “hoax.”

    KAPLAN: Now, in your Truth Social statement on October 12, you use the word hoax. Specifically, you say, “It is a hoax and a lie just like all the other hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years.” Do you see that?

    TRUMP: Yeah.

    KAPLAN: Recall making that statement? And I take it what you’re saying there is Ms. Carroll fabricated her claim that you sexually assaulted her, correct?

    TRUMP: Yes, totally. 100%.

    KAPLAN: Fair to say, you’d agree with me, would you not, that you use the term hoax quite a lot?

    TRUMP: Yes, I do.

    KAPLAN: CNN reported that you used it more than 250 times in 2020. Does that sound right?

    TRUMP: Could be. I’ve had a lot of hoaxes played on me. This is one of them.

    KAPLAN: And how would, how would you define the word hoax?

    TRUMP: A fake story. A false story. A made up story.

    KAPLAN: Something that’s not true.

    TRUMP: Something that’s not true. Yes.

    KAPLAN: Sitting here today can you recall what else you have referred to as a hoax?

    TRUMP: Sure. The Russia Russia Russia hoax, it’s been proven to be a hoax. Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine hoax. The Mueller situation for two and a half years hoax – ended and no collusion. It was a whole big hoax. The lying to the FISA court hoax; the lying to Congress many times hoax by all these people, this scum that we have in our country; lying to Congress hoax; the spying on my campaign hoax. They spied on my campaign and now they admitted that was another hoax, and I could get a whole list of them. And this is a hoax too.

    KAPLAN: This, when you say this and that –.

    TRUMP: This ridiculous situation that we’re doing right now, it’s a big fat hoax. She’s a liar and she’s a sick person in my opinion, really sick. Something wrong with her.

    As the exchange continues, Kaplan asks Trump about his having called voting by mail a “hoax.” Trump acknowledges both that he said that and has, in fact, voted by mail himself.

    KAPLAN: Okay, in addition to the Russia Russia Russia hoax, the Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine hoax, the Mueller the Mueller or Mueller hoax, the lying to FISA hoax, the lying to Congress hoax, and the spying on your campaign hoax. Isn’t it true that you also referred to the use of mail in ballots as a hoax?

    TRUMP: Yeah, I do. I do. I think they’re very dishonest, mail in ballots, very dishonest.

    KAPLAN: And isn’t it true that you yourself have voted by mail?

    TRUMP: I do. I do. Sometimes I do. But I don’t know what happens to it once you, once you give it, I have no idea.

    Trump was also asked to react to the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape.

    He repeated his admonition that the exchange with Billy Bush captured on the videotape was “locker room talk,” and said it was historically something that stars – including himself – could get away with “fortunately or unfortunately.”

    KAPLAN: And you say – and again this has become very famous – in this video, ‘“I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p*ssy. You can do anything.” That’s what you said. Correct?

    TRUMP: Well, historically, that’s true with stars.

    KAPLAN: It’s true with stars that they can grab women by the p*ssy?

    TRUMP: Well, that’s what, if you look over the last million years I guess that’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately.

    KAPLAN: And you consider yourself to be a star?

    TRUMP: I think you can say that. Yeah.

    KAPLAN: And now you said before, a couple of minutes ago, that this was just locker room talk.

    TRUMP: It’s locker room talk.

    KAPLAN: And so does that mean that you didn’t really mean it?

    TRUMP: No, it’s locker room talk. I don’t know. It’s just the way people talk.

    Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff both testified during the trial about times they say they were sexually assaulted by Trump, who has denied the accounts. Neither woman is a party to the Carroll litigation.

    Stoynoff said Trump forcibly kissed her on December 27, 2005, during a photoshoot and interview session at Mar-a-Lago for People magazine. A story on the Trumps was eventually published in 2006, and Stoynoff went public with her allegations during the 2016 presidential campaign.

    Trump addressed the claims during his deposition.

    KAPLAN: Okay, now, are you familiar with someone by the name of Natasha Stoynoff?

    TRUMP: No. You’ll have to give me a little bit of a background.

    KAPLAN: Do you remember she wrote about you a lot when she worked at People Magazine?

    TRUMP: Oh I do remember there was some woman that wrote and then she, a long time later, I think she wrote a wonderful story. And then a long time later, as I remember it, a long time later, she said that I was aggressive with her. But she wrote the most beautiful story. And then all of a sudden, like, is it a year or two years later, she comes out with this phony story. That I was aggress-, I said, well, why would she have written such a good story for People Magazine, she wrote a really nice piece. And then all of a sudden, like, you know, years or months, many months later, she came up with this phony charge.

    Leeds, a woman who has claimed Trump sexually assaulted her while sitting in first class on an airplane in the late 1970s, also testified. Trump again denied the claims in his deposition.

    TRUMP: This woman made up a story, just like your client made it up. Just made up a story having to do with sitting me and sitting next to me in an airplane. And I mean, I’ll have to read this again, but that story was so false, also. But this was, I guess, making out as opposed to what your client said. This story was so false. This is a disgrace also.

    This story has been updated with additional developments.

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