NPR
Over $200 billion in pandemic business loans appear to be fraudulent, a watchdog says
Of the $1.2 trillion in federal aid disbursed on an emergency basis to small businesses during the pandemic, at least $200 billion — or 17% — may have gone to scammers.
That’s the latest, most complete assessment so far by the Office of Inspector General of the Small Business Administration, which oversaw the disbursement of the aid.
Scotus Blog
Divided court finds generic redactions sufficient to admit confessions of non-testifying codefendants
The Supreme Court on Friday decided Samia v. United States, making it easier for the government to introduce confessions in criminal trials involving multiple defendants.
In civil and criminal trials involving multiple defendants, evidence is often admissible against one defendant but not another. The most common solution is a jury instruction. The trial judge admits the evidence and then instructs the jury to consider it against one defendant but not another. If we assume, as courts typically do, that jurors follow their instructions, instructions work like magic, effortlessly solving thorny evidentiary problems and facilitating resource-saving multi-party trials.
Fortune
How $400 billion in COVID-19 aid was stolen or wasted, by everyone from social security fraudsters to Texas pastors
The greatest grift in U.S. history was brazen, even simple. Criminals and gangs grabbed the money. So did an U.S. soldier in Georgia, the pastors of a defunct church in Texas, a former state lawmaker in Missouri and a roofing contractor in Montana.
Over the last three years, thieves plundered billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief aid intended to combat the worst pandemic in a century and to stabilize an economy in free fall.
class=””>WDRB
After promising local investment, owner of manufacturing company facing theft, fraud charges
A southern Indiana manufacturing company promised to bring dozens of jobs and millions of dollars to the local economy, but the owner instead was arrested on theft and fraud.
Kentucky State Police arrested 57-year-old John Christopher Gibbs, the president and CEO of GIM, Inc. Gibbs is facing multiple counts of theft, fraud and corrupt business influence. Last November, GIM, Inc. announced they were expanding its Louisville services to Scottsburg. The plan was to build a 300,000-square-foot facility, which would’ve brought more than a hundred jobs.
NPR
1,000 people have been charged for the Capitol riot. Here’s where their cases stand
More than two years after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, prosecutors have now charged more than 1,000 people in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
These hundreds of people encompass “the most wide-ranging investigation” in the history of the Justice Department. NPR has been tracking every case related to the attack as they move through the court system, from the initial arrest to sentencing.
The Courier Journal
Nine boys expelled from St. Xavier High School after THC and weapon found
Nine students have been expelled from Louisville’s St. Xavier High School after an internal investigation found THC, a compound produced by marijuana plants, and a weapon in a car belonging to one of the students parked off campus.
In a message to parents, school president Paul Colistra and Principal Amy Sample said they reported the incident to police and are cooperating with law enforcement to ensure the safety of students and faculty.
New York Times
Shortly after a prop gun Alec Baldwin was holding fired a bullet that killed a cinematographer and wounded a director on the set of the movie “Rust,” in October 2021, he told the police in New Mexico that he’d be willing to do whatever they requested, including sitting for an interview at the station.
In an interrogation room later that afternoon, detectives began by informing Baldwin of his rights: He had the right to remain silent. Anything he said could be used against him in court. He was free to consult with an attorney; if he could not afford an attorney, one would be appointed for him. And he could stop the interrogation at any point he wished.
“My only question is, am I being charged with something?” Baldwin asked.
Not at all, the police said. Reading his rights, one detective told him, was “just a formality.”
And so, without his attorney present, while the police recorded him, Baldwin talked. And talked. And talked.
BBC News
FBI arrests two members of extremist ‘Boogaloo’ group
The FBI has arrested two alleged members of extremist anti-government group the Boogaloo Boys.
Timothy Teagan, 24, of Michigan, is accused of lying about drug use while purchasing a gun.
Aron McKillips, 29, of Ohio, is accused of illegal possession of a machine gun and interstate communication of threats.
US authorities have warned of the potential for violence ahead of next week’s midterm elections.
Mr Teagan appeared in federal court in Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday, wearing a colourful Hawaiian-style shirt, an item of clothing often seen on supporters of the so-called Boogaloo movement.
The New York Times
Justice Dept. Charges 48 in Brazen Pandemic Aid Fraud in Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS — The Justice Department said on Tuesday that it had charged 48 people with running a brazen fraud against anti-hunger programs in the coronavirus pandemic, stealing $240 million by billing the government for meals they did not serve to children who did not exist.
The case, in Minnesota, is the largest fraud uncovered in any pandemic-relief program, prosecutors said, standing out even in a period when heavy federal spending and lax oversight allowed a spree of scams with few recent parallels.
The New York Times
Trump Aide Is Subpoenaed for Jan. 6 Grand Jury
Federal prosecutors issued a subpoena to William Russell, who served as a special assistant to the former president, and went to his home in Florida.
Federal prosecutors issued a subpoena to a personal aide to former President Donald J. Trump as part of the investigation into the events leading up to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, people familiar with the matter said.
Scotus Blog
Two petitions probe permissible evidence in convictions and sentencing
In criminal trials, the Constitution places various limits on what information judges and juries may consider. This week, we highlight cert petitions that ask the court to decide, among other things, whether a jury may take into account a defendant’s courtroom demeanor and whether a judge may partially base a defendant’s sentence on alleged conduct for which the defendant was acquitted.
The New York Times
The Key to a $4 Billion Fraud Case: A Banker Who Says He ‘Lied a Lot’
Only one person is likely to ever face trial in the United States over the looted billions from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. The case hangs on his former boss at Goldman Sachs. It seemed a facetious question, one intended to provoke the star witness: “Do you think you are good at lying?” But it is the crucial issue at the center of what is likely to be the only trial on U.S. soil in one of the largest international kleptocracy cases in history, the looting of billions of dollars from the people of Malaysia.
The New York Times
A Small Group of Militants’ Outsize Role in the Capitol Attack
As federal prosecutors unveil charges in the assault on the Capitol last month, they have repeatedly highlighted two militant groups — the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys — as being the most organized, accusing them of planning their strategy ahead of time and in some cases helping escalate a rally into an attack.
The two organizations stand in contrast to a majority of the mob. Of the more than 230 people charged so far, only 31 are known to have ties to a militant extremist group. And at least 26 of those are affiliated with the Oath Keepers or the Proud Boys
The Wall Street Journal
How to Protect Seniors From Online Fraud and Phone Scans
Scams targeting older adults take many forms, ranging from callers posing as grandchildren in need of financial assistance to emails directing people to fake bank websites where cons collect login credentials. The techniques evolve every year but the outcome is always the same: Many seniors end up losing money.
The Wall Street Journal
Fake Covid-19 Vaccines: What to Know About Counterfeit Shots Sold Online
See Video here.
The Wall Street Journal
Military, Police Investigate Members Charged in Capitol Riot
Jacob Fracker is a member of the Virginia National Guard and a police officer in the small town of Rocky Mount, Va. On Jan. 6, he joined the mob that broke into the U.S. Capitol and posted a photo of himself next to a fellow off-duty officer with his middle finger raised in front of a statue of a Revolutionary War commander, according to court documents.
The New York Times
Homeland Security’s Latest Target: Vaccine Scams
ARLINGTON, Va. — A team of agents from the Department of Homeland Security was combing thousands of websites scouting for evidence of the next phase of fraud schemes: offers of treatments or vaccines for the coronavirus.
BBC
The New Nigerian princes’ of hacking?
BEC or Business Email Compromise hacking is one of the most common types of cyber-attack, which the FBI says costs more than £6 billion a year – and experts say Nigeria is its epicentre.
Cyber reporter Joe Tidy speaks with one BEC hacker in Nigeria to find out how they work, and how he feels about his victims.
The New York Times
Splitting 5 to 4, Supreme Court Backs Religious Challenge to Cuomo’s Virus Shutdown Order
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court late Wednesday night barred restrictions on religious services in New York that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had imposed to combat the coronavirus.
The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the court’s three liberal members in dissent. The order was the first in which the court’s newest member, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, played a decisive role.
The Washington Post
Nursing home companies accused of misusing federal money received hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic relief
For-profit nursing home providers that have faced accusations of Medicare fraud and kickbacks, labor violations and widespread failures in patient care received hundreds of millions of dollars in “no strings attached” coronavirus relief aid meant to cover shortfalls and expenses during the pandemic, a Washington Post analysis of federal spending found.
More than a dozen companies that received federal funding have settled civil lawsuits in recent years with the Justice Department, which alleged improper Medicare billing, forged documents, substandard care and other abuses
The New York Times
In a Term Full of Major Cases, the Supreme Court Tacked to the Center
WASHINGTON — In an era of stark partisan polarization, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. steered the Supreme Court toward the middle, doling out victories to both left and right in the most consequential term in recent memory.
The term, which ended Thursday, included rulings that will be taught to law students for generations — on presidential power and on the rights of gay and transgender workers. The court turned back an effort to narrow abortion rights, and it protected young immigrants known as Dreamers.
The Hill
Supreme Court declines challenge to DOJ execution method
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a challenge by several death row inmates to the Trump administration’s revised approach to federal executions.
Four inmates, most of whom are scheduled to be killed next month, argued that a lethal injection protocol that the Department of Justice adopted last year violates federal law.
WDRB
“Dreamer” relieved he can remain in Kentucky after U.S. Supreme Court ruling
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to end legal protections for young immigrants, but the ruling may give the immigrants, known as “Dreamers,” only a temporary reprieve.
“This was extremely lucky,” said Omar Salinas-Chacón, one of the estimated 650,000 young immigrants covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The New York Times
Court Seems Open to Allowing Judge to Scrutinize Bid to Drop Flynn Case
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court panel appeared inclined on Friday to permit a trial judge to complete his review of the Justice Department’s attempt to drop a criminal case against President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, as all three judges asked skeptical questions about a request that they intervene and order the case dismissed.
The Wall Street Journal
Chicken Industry Executives, Including Pilgrim’s Pride CEO, Indicted on Price-Fixing Charges
The CEO of one of the country’s biggest chicken producers and three other industry executives were indicted Wednesday for allegedly conspiring to fix prices on chickens sold to restaurants and grocery stores, the Justice Department’s first charges in a continuing criminal antitrust probe.
The one-count indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Colorado, allege current and former senior executives at Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. and Claxton Poultry Farms fixed prices and rigged bids from 2012 to 2017.
CNBC
FTC Warns About Contact Tracing Scams
Scammers are pretending to be contact tracers working for public health departments to steal private information, the Federal Trade Commission warned on Tuesday.
The emergence of contact tracing scams raises questions about whether the public will trust contact tracers when they call or text unexpectedly as the practice becomes a key part of the U.S. strategy to stop the transmission of Covid-19.
The New York Times
Fed Suspect Vast Fraud Network Is Targeting U.S. Unemployment Systems
SEATTLE — A group of international fraudsters appears to have mounted an immense, sophisticated attack on U.S. unemployment systems, creating a network that has already siphoned millions of dollars in payments that were intended to avert an economic collapse, according to federal authorities.
The attackers have used detailed information about U.S. citizens, such as social security numbers that may have been obtained from cyber hacks of years past, to file claims on behalf of people who have not been laid off, officials said. The attack has exploited state unemployment systems at a time when they are straining to process a crush of claims from an employment crisis unmatched since the Great Depression.
The New York Times
Doctor Charged With Fraud After U.S. Says He Sold Treatment as “100 Percent” Cure for Covid-19
Federal prosecutors this week charged a Southern California doctor with selling coronavirus treatments online — including a drug repeatedly promoted by President Trump — as a “100 percent” cure, officials said.
The doctor, Jennings Ryan Staley, 44, a licensed physician and the owner of Skinny Beach Med Spa in San Diego, was charged with mail fraud on Thursday for his role in selling “Covid-19 treatment packs” that included the medications hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in a statement. Mr. Trump has promoted hydroxychloroquine as a “what have you got to lose” remedy.
The New York Times
Trump Has Emergency Powers We Aren’t Allowed to Know About
The past few weeks have given Americans a crash course in the powers that federal, state and local governments wield during emergencies. We’ve seen businesses closed down, citizens quarantined and travel restricted. When President Trump declared emergencies on March 13 under both the Stafford Act and the National Emergencies Act, he boasted, “I have the right to do a lot of things that people don’t even know about.”
The president is right. Some of the most potent emergency powers at his disposal are likely ones we can’t know about, because they are not contained in any publicly available laws. Instead, they are set forth in classified documents known as “presidential emergency action documents.”
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that police officers may stop vehicles registered to people whose driver’s licenses had been suspended on the assumption that the driver was the owner, rather than, say, a family member. The court also ruled that federal workers can win age discrimination suits under a more relaxed standard than employees in the private sector. And it turned down an appeal challenging a transit system’s ban on religious advertising.
USA Today
Controversial Coronavirus Testing Sites Under Investigation for ‘Scams’ in Kentucky
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Law enforcement is investigating several controversial pop-up coronavirus test sites operating in Louisville, Kentucky, this week that the city’s Metro Council president characterized as “scams.”
City and state officials are advising residents to avoid the sites for testing, and Kentucky Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said Wednesday all testing sites must work with the state.
The Hill
Supreme Court Rules States Can Eliminate Insanity Defense
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that states can effectively eliminate the insanity defense for criminal defendants who suffer from mental illness.
The 6-3 ruling holds that a Kansas law preventing the exoneration of defendants who claim a diminished mental state is not unconstitutional.
Courier Journal
Disqualified Derby Winner Maximum Security’s Trainer Indicted for Racing Drug Scheme
Trainer Jason Servis, whose Maximum Security finished first in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, only to be disqualified, is alleged to have orchestrated a far-reaching scheme involving the surreptitious administering of performance-enhancing drugs to racehorses.
Federal charges have been filed against 27 people connected to thoroughbred and standardbred racing, including trainers and veterinarians, for what was described in four indictments as “drug adulteration and misbranding.”
89.3 WFPL
Kentucky House Passes Voter I.D. Bill Ahead of 202 Elections
The Kentucky House of Representatives has passed a bill that would require voters to show a photo ID in order to cast ballots in this year’s General Election, a top legislative priority for Republican leaders in the legislature.
After significant revisions, the measure provides several ways for those without photo IDs to vote, but opponents of the legislation say it will suppress voter turnout and create confusion for voters and election officials. Because of those revisions, the bill will go back to the Senate for final approval before heading to Gov. Andy Beshear.
89.3 WFPL
LMPD Announces Training, Procedure Changes in Wake of KyCIR Investigation
The Louisville Metro Police Department will add new training for patrol officers responding to victims of sexual assault and change some aspects of how they close rape cases, an LMPD official said Wednesday.
Lt. Shannon Lauder, who runs the special victims unit, testified about the changes at Metro Council’s public safety committee. Lauder was asked to testify in response to a Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting story that found LMPD cleared three times as many 2017 rape cases “by exception” than they did by arrest.
The New York Times
Who Will Be Left Standing in the Supreme Court?
The Trump administration is doing its best to kick plaintiffs out of lawsuits it opposes.
Pop quiz No. 1: What do the following have in common: an abortion clinic in Louisiana; the county of El Paso, Tex.; and two individuals who don’t want to buy health insurance?
Answer: All are plaintiffs in federal court.
89.3 WFPL
Police Must Detail Seizures Or Lose Training Money Under Proposed Bill
A bill filed this week in the General Assembly would require law enforcement agencies to disclose more details about cash and property seized through asset forfeiture or be subjected to financial penalties.
Rep. Reginald Meeks, a Louisville Democrat, is sponsoring the measure, which would beef up existing reporting requirements. Agencies that don’t comply would lose $4,000 reimbursements from a state fund for individual officers who complete continued training.
CNN
Ikea to pay $46 million to family of toddler crushed by dresser
London (CNN Business)Swedish furniture maker Ikea will pay $46 million to the family of a California toddler who died after being crushed by one of its dressers.
Jozef Dudek was two years old when he died in May 2017 after an Ikea Malm dresser toppled onto his neck, resulting in injuries that caused him to suffocate, according to the family’s lawyers.
