ReportWire

Tag: Smuggling

  • Mayor announces another business shuttered and creation of Human Trafficking Task Force

    METHUEN — The city has followed up a “declaration of war” against human trafficking with the investigation of another business and the creation of a task force.

    On Monday, city inspectors shut down Eastern Bodywork Therapy, which officials allege is a front for human trafficking. Mayor D.J. Beauregard, who had announced the crackdown on Sunday, said in a press release that the task force would hold both the perpetrators and landlords accountable.


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    By Teddy Tauscher | ttauscher@eagletribune.com

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  • BREAKING NEWS: Methuen mayor declares ‘war on human trafficking’ after spa owner’s arrest

    METHUEN — The manager of Beauty Garden Spa on Wallace Street is facing human trafficking charges after a lengthy police investigation.

    Suping Zhu, 38, of Flushing, New York, is to be arraigned Monday in Lawrence District Court on charges that include deriving support from prostitution and trafficking person for sexual servitude.


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    By Teddy Tauscher | ttauscher@eagletribune.com

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  • Methuen mayor declares ‘war on human trafficking’ after spa owner’s arrest

    METHUEN — The manager of Beauty Garden Spa on Wallace Street is facing human trafficking charges after a lengthy police investigation.

    Suping Zhu, 38, of Flushing, New York, is to be arraigned Monday in Lawrence District Court on charges that include deriving support from prostitution and trafficking person for sexual servitude.


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    By Teddy Tauscher | ttauscher@eagletribune.com

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  • Border Patrol sees pattern of narcotics hidden in vehicle batteries

    A Border Patrol agent is positioned by the border fence. (File photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego)

    Last week, Border Patrol agents teamed up with San Diego Sheriff’s deputies to track down a Jeep Grand Cherokee traveling near Carlsbad and carrying cocaine and methamphetamine inside its battery.

    The Aug. 20 incident was the San Diego Sector’s fourth case this year involving narcotics being smuggled inside car batteries, according to the agency.

    The agents seized 9.25 pounds of cocaine and 2.1 pounds of methamphetamine this time.

    The first instance took place on April 14, where agents seized 32.8 pounds of fentanyl from inside a car battery. On July 24, agents discovered 4.85 pounds of fentanyl concealed the same way, and on July 28, they discovered 16.2 pounds of fentanyl and $1,000 inside another vehicle’s hood.

    “As we continue to gain operational control of the southern border, smugglers are going to great lengths to push dangerous drugs into this country,” Acting Chief Patrol Agent Jeffrey D. Stalnaker said in a release. “But the Border Patrol is using every possible resource to dismantle the criminal networks that threaten American communities. I am deeply proud of the work our agents do every day.”

    While specifics were not revealed, the San Diego Sector explained that they use K-9 detection units and battery examinations to investigate a suspected vehicle. 

    The San Diego Sector reported that, since October 2024, it has seized 10,696 pounds of methamphetamine, 2,751 pounds of cocaine, 521 pounds of fentanyl and 56 pounds of heroin. 

    Border Patrol Agents transported the smuggled narcotics and the driver of the Jeep Grand Cherokee to the Vista Sheriff’s Station for processing.

    The agency urges anyone encountering suspicious activity to report it by calling 911 or the San Diego Sector at (619) 498-9900.


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  • Alleged ringleader among 7 arrested in deaths of 53 migrants smuggled into Texas in tractor trailer in 2022

    Alleged ringleader among 7 arrested in deaths of 53 migrants smuggled into Texas in tractor trailer in 2022

    Guatemala City — Guatemalan police on Wednesday arrested seven Guatemalans accused in the smuggling of 53 migrants from Mexico and Central America who died of asphyxiation in 2022 in Texas after being abandoned in a tractor trailer in scorching summer heat.

    They were the latest arrests after years of investigation into the deadliest tragedy of migrants smuggled across the border from Mexico. The dead included eight children.

    Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez told The Associated Press the arrests were made possible after 13 raids in three of the country’s departments. They included Rigoberto Román Miranda Orozco, the alleged ringleader of the smuggling gang whose extradition has been requested by the United States.

    Guatemala Migrant Trailer Arrests
    Rigoberto Roman Miranda Orozco, the ringleader of various Guatemalans accused of having smuggled 53 migrants from Mexico and Central America who died of asphyxiation in 2022 in Texas, sits in a cell at a courtroom in Guatemala City on August 21, 2024.

    Moises Castillo / AP


    Police also seized vehicles and cash and rescued other migrants during the operations, they said in a statement.

    “This is a collaborative effort between the Guatemalan police and Homeland Security, in addition to other national agencies, to dismantle the structures of human trafficking, one of the strategic objectives of the government President Bernardo Arévalo in order to take on the phenomenon of irregular migration,” Jiménez said.

    Six people were charged previously.

    Homero Zamorano Jr., who authorities say drove the truck, and Christian Martinez were arrested shortly after the migrants were found. Both are from Texas. Martinez later pleaded guilty to smuggling-related charges. Zamorano pleaded not guilty to smuggling-related charges and is awaiting trial. Four Mexican nationals were also arrested in 2023.

    U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement at the time that, “Human smugglers prey on migrants’ hope for a better life — but their only priority is profit. Tragically, 53 people who had been loaded into a tractor-trailer in Texas and endured hours of unimaginable cruelty lost their lives because of this heartless scheme. Human smugglers who put people’s lives at risk for profit and break our laws cannot hide for long: We will find you and bring you to justice.”

    Authorities have said the men were aware that the trailer’s air-conditioning unit was malfunctioning and wouldn’t blow cool air to the migrants trapped inside during the sweltering, three-hour ride from the border city of Laredo, Texas to San Antonio.

    Guatemala Migrants
    Mourners visit a makeshift memorial to honor the victims and survivors of a human smuggling tragedy in 2022 in which dozens of migrants were found dead or dying in a tractor-trailer a week prior in San Antonio.

    Eric Gay / AP


    When the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 migrants were already dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died. The dead included 27 people from Mexico, 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala and two from El Salvador.

    Authorities have alleged that the men worked with human smuggling operations in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and shared routes, guides, stash houses, trucks and trailers, some of which were stored at a private parking lot in San Antonio.

    Migrants paid the organization up to $15,000 each to be taken across the U.S. border. The fee would cover up to three attempts to get into the country.

    Orozco, the alleged ringleader, was arrested in the Guatemalan department of San Marcos, on the border with Mexico. The other arrests occurred in the departments of Huehuetenango and Jalapa. The police identified the gang as “Los Orozcos” because several of those arrested are family members and carry that surname.

    “Said organization illegally housed and transferred hundreds of migrants of different nationalities to the United States, collecting millions of quetzales (the national currency) through several years of operation,” the Guatemalan government said.

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  • Dogs help detect nearly 6 tons of meth hidden inside squash shipment in California

    Dogs help detect nearly 6 tons of meth hidden inside squash shipment in California

    Law enforcement officials — with the help of sniffer dogs — seized nearly six tons of methamphetamine hidden within a shipment of green squash this week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. 

    The illicit substance was discovered inside 1,419 packages within the squash shipment, the agency said in a news release. 

    The shipment was found in a commercial tractor-trailer being driven by a 44-year-old man on Monday evening. When CBP officers at the Otay Mesa port in San Diego, California encountered the man, they requested that his truck undergo further examination, the agency said. 

    After scans of the tractor trailer detected “irregularities,” a canine team responded and alerted officers to the presence of narcotics. 

    The 11,469 pounds of meth found have an estimated street value of over $18 million, the CBP said. 

    A package of methamphetamine found among green squash.

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection


    The drugs were seized, as was the vehicle. The unidentified driver, who had a valid border crossing card, was turned over to the custody of Homeland Security for further investigation. 

    The seizure was done as part of Operation Apollo, a CBP operation working to target fentanyl smuggling in southern California and Arizona. The operation connects local CBP officers with federal, state, local, tribal and territorial partners, the agency said, increasing collaboration between the groups and allowing them to share resources and intelligence.

     “Our officers’ commitment to duty, excellence, and the safety of our nation is truly commendable. These results serve as an outstanding display of effectiveness in thwarting the illegal importation of narcotics,” stated Rosa E. Hernandez, the Otay Mesa Area Port Director, in the news release. “Their exceptional efforts truly embody the highest standards of service.”

    packages-0.jpg
    Nearly six tons of methamphetamine were found by officers. 

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection


    It’s far from the first time a massive shipment of illicit drugs has been found inside a food shipment. More than 750 pounds of fentanyl pills were found hidden among a shipment of green beans being transported through the Otay Mesa port in April 2023.  The deadly synthetic opioid has also been found smuggled in flour bags and candy boxes, CBS News previously reported. 

    CBP agents found more than 3,000 pounds of methamphetamine and cocaine hidden in bins of jalapeño paste being transported over the border in December 2023. 

    Since Oct. 1, 2023, CBP agents have seized over 12,000 shipments of illegal drugs at border checkpoints. That includes over 3,300 methamphetamine seizures. 

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  • Egypt lashes out at

    Egypt lashes out at

    Cairo — Egyptian officials have lashed out over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suggestion that Israel will have to take control of a roughly 100-yard buffer zone on the Gaza side of the war-torn Palestinian territory‘s 9-mile-long border with Egypt. Israeli officials have said smuggling across that buffer, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, both above ground and through tunnels, has provided Gaza’s Hamas rulers with weapons and other supplies — allegations that Egypt vehemently denies.

    “The Philadelphi Corridor — or to put it more correctly, the southern stoppage point [of the Gaza Strip] — must be in our hands. It must be shut,” Netanyahu said at the end of December, warning that his country’s war against Hamas, sparked by the group’s brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israel, would go on for many months. “It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarization that we seek.”

    The Head of Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS), Diaa Rashwan, lashed out Monday at Netanyahu’s declaration as “an attempt to create legitimacy” for what he said was the Israeli government’s real goal of occupying the border corridor in violation of security agreements signed between the two neighbors.

    Displaced Palestinians seek shelter near Egyptian border in Rafah
    Displaced Palestinians, including children, try to survive under difficult conditions in makeshift tents they have set up in the empty area near Egyptian border, in Rafah, Gaza, Jan. 22, 2024.

    Abed Zagout/Anadolu/Getty


    Rashwan warned that any attempt by Israeli forces start occupying the corridor would “lead to a serious threat to Egyptian-Israeli relations.”

    “Egypt is capable of defending its interests and sovereignty over its land and borders and will not leave it in the hands of a group of extremist Israeli leaders who seek to drag the region into a state of conflict and instability,” Rashwan said, calling it a “red line” that Israel must not cross.

    It was the second such red line drawn by Egypt, after it previously declared a “categorical rejection of [Israel] forcibly or voluntarily displacing our Palestinian brothers” from Gaza to Egypt’s northeast Sinai peninsula, which borders the small coastal territory.

    Part of the Southern District of Israel, political map, with the Gaza Strip
    A map shows southern Israel, the Gaza Strip and surrounding countries, including the location of the Rafah border crossing from Gaza into Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.

    Getty/iStockphoto


    “The true essence of Israel’s claims,” the statement from the State Information Service said, “is to justify its continuation of collective punishment, killing, and starvation of more than 2 million Palestinians inside the Gaza Strip, which it has practiced for 17 years.”

    The statement urged the Israeli government to conduct “serious investigations within its army, state agencies, and sectors of society, to search for those truly involved in smuggling weapons to Gaza, from inside, for the purpose of profit,” adding a claim that “many of the weapons currently inside the Gaza Strip are the result of smuggling from inside Israel.”

    Rashwan accused Israel of using his country as a scapegoat, “due to its successive failures in achieving its declared goals for the war on Gaza.”

    Ahmed Shawkat

    Ahmed Shawkat is a CBS News producer based in Cairo.

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  • Intelligence program Project Thor aims to take down gun smuggling

    Intelligence program Project Thor aims to take down gun smuggling

    Intelligence program Project Thor aims to take down gun smuggling – CBS News


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    As gun-running networks help arm Mexican drug cartel members, an intelligence program called “Project Thor” seeks to stop the flow of firearms. Adam Yamaguchi takes an in-depth look at the program and how it works.

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  • Inside Mexican/American gunrunning networks

    Inside Mexican/American gunrunning networks

    Inside Mexican/American gunrunning networks – CBS News


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    An intricate network of American gun smugglers, some as far north as Alaska, have been helping to move millions of weapons across the southern border and into the hands of drug cartel members. Adam Yamaguchi takes an in-depth look at how these guns are being moved.

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  • Coast Guard seizes $158 million in cocaine and marijuana from 3 vessels in Pacific Ocean – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Coast Guard seizes $158 million in cocaine and marijuana from 3 vessels in Pacific Ocean – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Original Author Link click here to read complete story..

    MMP News Author

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  • Deutsche Bank to settle Jeffrey Epstein suit for $75 million: report

    Deutsche Bank to settle Jeffrey Epstein suit for $75 million: report

    Deutsche Bank AG will pay $75 million to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit claiming it aided Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday night.

    The suit was filed by lawyers on behalf of an anonymous victim and others who accused the financier, who died by suicide in federal lockup in 2019, of sexual abuse and trafficking. The suit claimed Deutsche Bank
    DB,
    +1.92%
    ignored red flags and did business with Epstein for five years despite knowing he was using the money from his accounts to further his sex trafficking.

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  • U.S., Canada agree to share data on guns, drug smuggling

    U.S., Canada agree to share data on guns, drug smuggling

    Canada and the United States agreed Friday to share more information about the smuggling of guns and drugs across their shared border, and pledged to review recent incidents of migrants dying along the border.

    Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Ottawa signed four new or updated agreements with Washington that allow the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canada Border Services Agency to exchange more data with their U.S. counterparts.

    Officials gave few details as to what had materially changed as a result of Friday’s agreements. But Mendicino said the agreements will allow Canada to go after ghost guns in particular, referring to untracked, privately manufactured firearms used by gangs.

    The announcement was made during the Cross Border Crime Forum, which was attended by Mendicino, Canadian Justice Minister David Lametti, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

    The agreements are aimed at helping stem the flow of opioids such as fentanyl. Garland said authorities will track the ingredients used to create the deadly drug and the flow of its components from China.

    “It means more joint investigations into gun smuggling and trafficking,” Mendicino said at a news conference.

    “It’s all about meeting the moment, meeting the changes that occur and addressing them in real time — sharing actionable, relevant information in real time,″ Mayorkas said. 

    A joint statement said law enforcement on both sides of the border would be trained to have a shared understanding of both nations’ privacy laws.

    The four leaders also pledged to review recent incidents of migrants dying along the border, pledging to hold people smugglers accountable and crack down on irregular migration using sensors, personnel and timely information.


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  • Eye on America: High grocery costs, how fentanyl is seized at the border and more

    Eye on America: High grocery costs, how fentanyl is seized at the border and more

    Eye on America: High grocery costs, how fentanyl is seized at the border and more – CBS News


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    We go from the market to the farm to find out why the cost of groceries remains high. And we visit San Diego to see how law enforcement is working to stop fentanyl from being smuggled into the country. Watch these stories and more on “Eye on America” with host Michelle Miller.

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  • As egg prices rise, so do attempts to smuggle them from Mexico, say US Customs officials | CNN

    As egg prices rise, so do attempts to smuggle them from Mexico, say US Customs officials | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    High prices are driving an increase in attempts to bring eggs into the US from Mexico, according to border officials.

    Officers at the San Diego Customs and Border Protection Office have seen an increase in the number of attempts to move eggs across the US-Mexico border, according to a tweet from director of field operations Jennifer De La O.

    “The San Diego Field Office has recently noticed an increase in the number of eggs intercepted at our ports of entry,” wrote De La O in the Tuesday tweet. “As a reminder, uncooked eggs are prohibited entry from Mexico into the U.S. Failure to declare agriculture items can result in penalties of up to $10,000.”

    Bringing uncooked eggs from Mexico into the US is illegal because of the risk of bird flu and Newcastle disease, a contagious virus that affects birds, according to Customs and Border Protection.

    In a statement emailed to CNN, Customs and Border Protection public affairs specialist Gerrelaine Alcordo attributed the rise in attempted egg smuggling to the spiking cost of eggs in the US. A massive outbreak of deadly avian flu among American chicken flocks has caused egg prices to skyrocket, climbing 11.1% from November to December and 59.9% annually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    The increase has been reported at the Tijuana-San Diego crossing as well as “other southwest border locations,” Alcordo said.

    For the most part, travelers bringing eggs have declared the eggs while crossing the border. “When that happens the person can abandon the product without consequence,” said Alcordo. “CBP agriculture specialists will collect and then then destroy the eggs (and other prohibited food/ag products) as is the routine course of action.”

    In a few incidents, travelers did not declare their eggs and the products were discovered during inspection. In those cases, the eggs were seized and the travelers received a $300 penalties, Alcordo explained.

    “Penalties can be higher for repeat offenders or commercial size imports,” he added.

    Alcordo emphasized the importance of declaring all food and agricultural products when traveling.

    “While many items may be permissible, it’s best to declare them to avoid possible fines and penalties if they are deemed prohibited,” he said. “If they are declared and deemed prohibited, they can be abandoned without consequence. If they are undeclared and then discovered during an exam the traveler will be subject to penalties.”

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  • 2 migrants found shot to death in car in southern Mexico

    2 migrants found shot to death in car in southern Mexico

    TAPACHULA, Mexico — Two migrants were found shot to death in a car in southern Mexico on Friday, authorities said.

    Officials believe the intended victim was the migrant smuggler who was also riding in the car but escaped.

    A law enforcement official in the southern state of Chiapas said the two migrants were found dead in a car that was taking them to the city of Tapachula from an area near the Suchiate river, which divides Mexico and Guatemala.

    The nationalities of the slain migrants had not been confirmed, said the official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name.

    Migrant traffickers in Mexico often have to pay protection money to drug cartels for smuggling people through their territory. There have also been attacks on smugglers by rogue police officers and rival smugglers.

    In one incident, a dozen members of an elite police unit in the northern Mexico state of Tamaulipas have been charged with the January 2021 killing of 19 people, including 15 Guatemalan migrants.

    A migrant trafficker, two Mexicans and an unidentified person were also among the dead. The people were shot and their bodies burned. The motive for the killings remains unclear.

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  • Joel Greenberg, associate of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, sentenced to 11 years for sex trafficking of a minor

    Joel Greenberg, associate of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, sentenced to 11 years for sex trafficking of a minor

    A former Florida tax collector whose arrest led to a federal probe into U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for sex trafficking of a minor and other offenses.

    Joel Greenberg, former tax collector for Seminole County, was accused of stalking a political opponent, public corruption, making fake licenses and scheming to submit false claims for a federal loan.

    He pleaded guilty to six federal crimes, including identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official. Prosecutors said he paid at least one girl to have sex with him and other men.

    US-NEWS-FLA-GREENBERG-OS
    Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg talks to the Orlando Sentinel in September 2019, during an interview at his office in Lake Mary, Florida. 

    Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images


    “Nothing justifies my actions. My conduct is so shameful. I feel remorse for what I’ve done,” Greenberg said Thursday before U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell sentenced him in an Orlando courtroom.

    Greenberg also directly apologized to the residents of Seminole County, his family and a schoolteacher he smeared when the educator decided to run against him.

    Presnell said that in his 22 years as a federal judge, he had never experienced a case like Greenberg’s and “a defendant who has committed so many different types of crimes in such a short period of time.”

    Greenberg’s attorney had asked for leniency, saying that his client had assisted in investigations of 24 people, including eight for sex crimes. Defense attorney Fritz Scheller said that Greenberg’s cooperation has led to four federal indictments, and that he believed additional ones were expected in the coming month.

    Greenberg’s cooperation could play a role in an investigation into his friend Gaetz over whether he paid a 17-year-old girl for sex. Gaetz has denied the allegations and previously said they were part of an extortion plot. No charges have been brought against the Republican congressman, who represents a large part of the Florida Panhandle.

    Greenberg has been linked to other Florida politicians and their associates. So far, none has been implicated in the sex trafficking investigation.

    After the hearing, Scheller called Greenberg’s sentence just.

    Scheller said he was shocked that Greenberg’s cooperation hadn’t yet resulted in more prosecutions and that Greenberg has been in communication with federal investigators in the past three months. When asked whether he thought others would be charged with sex crimes, the defense attorney said, “I do.”

    “There should be, and I think part of my frustration is that I have a pretty good insight into the evidence in this case,” Scheller said.

    Federal prosecutors had asked for a significant reduction in Greenberg’s prison sentence, agreeing during a court hearing Wednesday to a reduced range of nine years and three months to 11 years.

    U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg argued for the upper limit of the range, telling the judge Greenberg abused trust to commit crimes.

    Scheller asked the judge to give Greenberg only a fraction of the range, arguing he was making amends and was no longer the same person who committed the crimes.

    “Mr. Greenberg was using money and sex to get access to political circles,” Scheller said. “He came from a dark place, a lack of self-worth, and tried to ingratiate himself with a collection of people.”

    The minor in the sex crimes case was almost an adult and had advertised as being over age 18 in her escort profile on the website “Seeking Arrangements,” which facilitates “sugar daddy” relationships, Scheller said.

    Scheller also had asked the judge to take into consideration Greenberg’s struggles with mental illness, starting with an attention deficit disorder diagnosis at age 7 and panic attacks, depressive and anxiety disorders as an adult. At the time he committed the crimes, he had bipolar disorder with symptoms of mania, which affected his judgment and impulse control, Scheller said.

    Some documents related to Greenberg’s cooperation were filed under seal and out of the public eye, with prosecutors and the defense attorney saying they were part of ongoing investigations being conducted by federal authorities in Florida and Washington, as well as state investigators.

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  • US Virgin Islands reach $105M settlement with Epstein estate

    US Virgin Islands reach $105M settlement with Epstein estate

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The U.S. Virgin Islands announced Wednesday that it reached a settlement of more than $105 million in a sex trafficking case against the estate of financier Jeffrey Epstein.

    The settlement ends a nearly three-year legal saga for officials in the U.S. territory, which sought to hold Epstein accountable after he was accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls and of causing environmental damage on the two tiny islands he owned in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The islands will be sold as part of the agreement.

    “This settlement restores the faith of the people of the Virgin Islands that its laws will be enforced, without fear or favor, against those who break them,” Attorney General Denise George said.

    Epstein’s estate agreed to pay the territorial government $105 million in cash and half of the proceeds from the sale of Little St. James island where Epstein owned a home and authorities allege many of his crimes took place.

    The estate also will pay $450,000 to repair environmental damage on Great St. James, another island Epstein owned where authorities say he removed the ruins of colonial-era historical structures of slaves.

    The money from the sale of Little St. James island will be placed in a government trust to finance projects, organizations, counseling and other activities to help residents who have been sexually abused, officials said.

    “We owe it to those who were so profoundly hurt to make changes that will help avoid the next set of victims,” said George, who added that she met with three alleged victims who were trafficked and sexually exploited on Little St. James island.

    A real estate company is listing the island for $55 million, noting that its features include three beaches, a helipad, a gas station and more than 70 acres (28 hectares) of land that offer “an array of subdivision possibilities” and “a comprehensive, discreetly located, infrastructure support system.”

    The company also is offering Great St. James for $55 million, an island of more than 160 acres (65 hectares) with three beaches.

    In addition, the estate will return more than $80 million in economic tax benefits that U.S. Virgin Islands officials say Epstein and his co-defendants “fraudulently obtained to fuel his criminal enterprise.”

    The government previously accused an Epstein-owned business known as Southern Trust Co. of making fraudulent misrepresentations to qualify for the benefits.

    Daniel Weiner, an Epstein estate attorney, sent a statement to The Associated Press saying that the settlement does not include any admission or concession of liability or fault by the estate or anyone else.

    “The co-executors deny any allegations of wrongdoing on their part,” he wrote. “The co-executors ultimately concluded that the settlement is in the best interest of the estate.”

    Weiner also noted that the estate has paid more than $121 million to 136 individuals via a victims’ compensation fund.

    Epstein killed himself at a federal jail in New York in August 2019 while awaiting trial. He had pleaded not guilty to charges of sexually abusing dozens of girls, some as young as 14 years old.

    Several had sued Epstein and accused him and his longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, of pressuring them into sexual trysts with powerful men.

    Maxwell, who was convicted on sex trafficking and other charges, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June.

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  • Gaetz friend says lighter sentence deserved for cooperation

    Gaetz friend says lighter sentence deserved for cooperation

    ORLANDO, Fla. — A former Florida tax collector whose arrest led to a federal investigation of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz learns this week how much prison time he gets on charges of sex trafficking a minor and identity theft, but not before trying to persuade a judge that his cooperation in several probes should lighten his sentence.

    Former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg had faced a prison sentence of between 21 and 27 years under federal sentencing guidelines, but prosecutors asked a judge to substantially reduce any sentence of incarceration. During a court hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell calculated that the reduction would put prison time at between 9 1/4 and 11 years. The judge will make a final sentencing decision Thursday.

    Greenberg pleaded guilty to six federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a minor, identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official. Prosecutors said he had paid at least one underage girl to have sex with him and other men.

    His attorney, Fritz Scheller, told the judge that the jurist has the discretion to reduce the prison time even further. But the judge during Wednesday’s hearing appeared disinclined to follow that advice and seemed ready to add more time since he said he didn’t think the sentencing guidelines worked appropriately in Greenberg’s case. Greenberg was in the courtroom during the hearing.

    “I have, I think, considerable discretion to deal with this anomaly,” Presnell said.

    Scheller told the judge that Greenberg had assisted in the probes of two dozen individuals, including eight people being investigated for sex crimes. Greenberg’s cooperation had led to four federal indictments and two new indictments were expected in the coming months, said Scheller, without elaborating on which type of cases the new indictments involved.

    “It’s clear that his cooperation has been useful,” said Scheller, noting that Greenberg had given testimony to prosecutors on 15 occasions.

    The minor in the sex crimes case was almost an adult and had advertised as being over age 18 in her escort profile on the website “Seeking Arrangements,” which facilitates “sugar daddy” relationships, Scheller said in court papers.

    “Greenberg appreciates the seriousness of his crimes. Based on such a recognition, he has been trying to make amends through cooperation and the payment of restitution,” Scheller said. “He has provided significant substantial assistance to the government in the areas of public corruption, election fraud, wire fraud, and sex trafficking.”

    The judge should also take into consideration Greenberg’s struggles with mental illness, starting with an attention-deficit disorder diagnosis at age 7 and panic attacks, depressive and anxiety disorders as an adult. At the time he committed the crimes, he was suffering from bipolar disorder with symptoms of mania, which affected his judgment and impulse control, Scheller said.

    Both prosecutors and Greenberg’s defense attorney filed documents under seal and out of the public eye, saying they were part of ongoing investigations being conducted by federal authorities in Florida and Washington, as well as state investigators.

    Greenberg’s cooperation could play a role in the ongoing probe into Gaetz, who is being investigated over whether he paid a 17-year-old for sex. Gaetz has denied the allegations and previously said they were part of an extortion plot. Gaetz, a Republican, represents a large part of the Florida Panhandle. No charges have been brought against the congressman.

    Greenberg has been linked to a number of other Florida politicians and their associates. So far, none of them has been implicated by name in the sex trafficking probe.

    In his sentencing memo asking for leniency, Scheller noted that other potential co-conspirators that Greenberg has named, “including public figures,” haven’t yet faced criminal charges. If prosecutors want to use Greenberg as an example to deter crime, then those others should face justice too, he said.

    “Unfortunately, at the time of Greenberg’s sentencing, many of these individuals have not been held to account,” Scheller said.

    ———

    Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter: @MikeSchneiderAP

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  • Mexican president suffers court reverse, tensions rise

    Mexican president suffers court reverse, tensions rise

    MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Supreme Court struck down part of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s ‘jail, no bail’ policy Thursday.

    The court voted against mandatory pre-trial detention for people accused of fraud, smuggling or tax evasion. Because trials often take years in Mexico, the justices argued that being held in prison during trial was equivalent to being subjected to punishment before being convicted.

    Instead, prosecutors would have to convince judges there are valid reasons not to release people on their own recognizance — for example, by arguing that they may pose a flight risk. The justices may vote next week on whether the possibility of pre-trial release may be justified for other crimes.

    In 2019, López Obrador imposed mandatory pre-trial detention for a long list of crimes, and he views it as part of his crack-down on white collar criminals, like those accused of tax fraud. Mexico does not have cash bail, but before López Obrador changed the rules, judges could release suspects and require them to wear monitors, sign in at court or agree not to travel.

    The president has long railed about corrupt judges and court rulings he doesn’t like, and Thursday’s supreme court vote was likely to spark more vocal attacks by the president.

    Even before the ruling, López Obrador criticized the court for the widely expected Thursday vote.

    “How can judges, magistrates and justices be defending white collar criminals? How can it be that money triumphs over justice?” López Obrador said before the ruling. “What tremendous shamelessness!”

    The president has not been shy about accusing lower court judges of releasing drug and other suspects on procedural or technical points he clearly does not agree with. Underpaid, and often under threat, Mexican prosecutors often don’t bring strong cases, or make intentional or unintentional errors.

    “They free them because the prosecution case was poorly written, or for any other excuse, any other pretext,” the president said, “because they have become very, very, very fixated on the fine points of the law.”

    López Obrador has fought the courts, often attacking their legitimacy and singling out individual judges for scorn, because courts have often blocked some of the president’s key initiatives.

    Observers say the courts have acted because López Obrador has often shoved through laws that openly contradict the country’s Constitution or international treaties.

    Previously, the president has focused most of his wrath on lower courts. On Thursday at a press briefing with López Obrador, Ricardo Mejia, Mexico’s assistant secretary of public safety, said the administration would recommend bringing criminal charges against a judge who ordered the release of a suspected drug gang leader.

    But much of the president’s anger Thursday was directed at the Supreme Court, which is about to hear an appeal by a group that says government money and property should no longer be used to erect Christmas-season Nativity scenes, a staple in Mexico.

    The appeal says that the government’s participation in displaying Nativity scenes violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

    The president angrily rejected that, even though the court has not ruled on the issue yet.

    “That’s an example. Why should they go against the traditions, the customs of the people?” López Obrador said.

    López Obrador expanded the list of charges that require a suspect to be detained pending trial to 16, including some nonviolent crimes that may carry sentences of just a few months — far less than the amount of time most people spend awaiting trial.

    Only about two of every 10 people accused of a crime in Mexico are ever found guilty. That means that of the estimated 92,000 suspects held pending trial — often in the same cells with hardened criminals — around 75,000 won’t be convicted despite sometimes spending years locked up in Mexico’s crowded, dangerous prisons.

    Trials in Mexico can drag on for a surprisingly long time. Two men were recently released with ankle monitors after spending 17 years in prison while on trial for murder.

    Being put into Mexican prisons, which are overcrowded, underfunded and controlled by gangs, can be hell for those on pretrial detention, who often enter with no prison smarts or gang connections.

    The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention says that “mandatory pretrial detention violates international standards on human rights.”

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  • Lawyer: Ex-Islamic State bride was child trafficking victim

    Lawyer: Ex-Islamic State bride was child trafficking victim

    LONDON — Lawyers for a British woman whose U.K. citizenship was removed after she travelled to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State group argued Monday that she should have been treated as a child trafficking victim.

    Shamima Begum, now 23, was 15 when she and two other schoolgirls from London joined the extremist group in February 2015. Authorities revoked her British citizenship on national security grounds soon after she was found in a Syrian refugee camp in 2019.

    Begum’s lawyers launched a fresh legal challenge against the British government’s decision, arguing that officials had a legal duty to investigate whether she was a victim of trafficking when her citizenship was revoked.

    Lawyer Samantha Knights told the Special Immigration Appeals Commission on Monday that Begum was influenced by a “determined and effective ISIS propaganda machine.”

    Knights said in written submissions to the hearing that like many other young girls, Begum was recruited by the Islamic State group and transported to Syria “for the purposes of ‘sexual exploitation’ and ‘marriage’ to an adult male.”

    But James Eadie, representing the Home Office, argued the case was about national security and not about child trafficking.

    He said Begum remained in Syria for four years and only left IS-controlled territory for safety reasons, not because of “a genuine disengagement from the group.”

    Britain’s Supreme Court ruled last year that Begum could not return to the U.K. to fight her citizenship case. British media reports say she remains in a camp in northern Syria.

    On Monday, an officer with Britain’s domestic security agency, MI5, told the hearing that it was “inconceivable” that Begum would not know about what the Islamic State was doing as a terrorist organization at the time.

    The officer was only identified as Witness E and gave evidence from behind a screen.

    The hearing is set to last five days and a ruling is expected at a later date.

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