Category Archives: US crime

Seagram heiress Clare Bronfman pleads guilty in alleged sex cult case

Posted on by
  • Bronfman, 40, admits credit card fraud and immigration charges
  • Plea means Nxivm founder Keith Raniere will stand trial alone

The Seagram liquor heiress Clare Bronfman pleaded guilty on Friday to harboring an undocumented immigrant and enabling credit card fraud as part of an alleged sex cult based in upstate New York, where women have reported they were branded with the initials of the founder.

Bronfman, 40, entered her plea to the two criminal counts before Judge Nicholas Garaufis in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

Continue reading...

Turpin children read statements during sentencing of parents – video

Posted on by

David and Louise Turpin were sentenced on Friday during an emotional hearing that saw some of the children speak publicly about the abuse for the first time. Their parents watched in tears as the children talked about being chained and beaten. The California couple's years of torture and abuse on 12 of their 13 children was only discovered when one of their daughters jumped out of a window of the family’s squalid home and called 911. 

The Turpins, who pleaded guilty in February to torture and other abuse, were sentenced to life in prison on Friday with with the possibility of parole after 25 years

Continue reading...

Three naked Florida women lead police on 21-mile chase

Posted on by
  • Women applying lotion told trooper they were “air drying”
  • Tampa Bay Times says no link to area nudist community

Authorities said three naked women who were seen applying suntan lotion at a Florida rest stop led police on a 21-mile chase, drove a car at one deputy and threatened another with a bat.

The Florida highway patrol said that when a deputy approached the women at the Interstate 75 rest stop on Wednesday in Dade City, Pasco county, they started dressing. The women told the trooper they had been staying at a relative’s home but went to the rest stop after an altercation and had nowhere else to go.

Continue reading...

Jussie Smollett: Chicago sues Empire actor to recoup cost of investigation

Posted on by

Actor had refused to reimburse city for overtime as police sought to verify his account of a racist, anti-gay attack

Chicago filed a lawsuit against Jussie Smollett on Thursday in a bid to recoup the costs of investigating a racist, anti-gay attack that authorities say was orchestrated by the Empire actor as a publicity stunt.

The 12-page civil lawsuit, filed in Cook county court, is the latest volley in a legal battle that shows no signs of abating since Smollett reported that masked men beat him up on 29 January in Chicago, shouting slurs and wrapping a rope around his neck.

Continue reading...

Netflix postpones Felicity Huffman film after actor admits college fraud

Posted on by
  • Desperate Housewives star to admit bribing college officials
  • Actor is one of 50 people charged over university scam

Netflix has postponed the release date of a film starring Felicity Huffman after the actor agreed to plead guilty to fraud for her part in the largest US college admissions scam ever prosecuted.

Huffman, known for the TV series Desperate Housewives, is one of 13 people who have admitted paying bribes to get their children into desirable colleges such as Yale, Stanford and the University of Southern California, according to court documents.

Continue reading...

Felicity Huffman to plead guilty in college admissions cheating case

Posted on by

The actor and 12 other parents will plead guilty after being accused of paying to rig children’s test scores and bribe coaches

Felicity Huffman has agreed to plead guilty in the college admissions cheating scandal, the biggest celebrity name so far to admit to her involvement in the scheme. Court documents made public on Monday show that 12 other prominent parents, in addition to Huffman, will also plead guilty in the case.

The actor was accused of paying $15,000 to have a proctor boost her older daughter’s SAT score in order to ease her way into college.

Continue reading...

Students accused of cheating Apple out of nearly $1m in fake iPhone scheme

Posted on by

Two Oregon college students allegedly submitted thousands of repair requests over the course of a year using counterfeit phones

Many of us have waited trepidatiously in the Apple Store, clasping our broken iPhone we’ve long since lost the receipt for, while the Genius Bar overlords decide whether to take pity on us and give us a new one or show us the gladiatorial thumbs down.

But two Oregon students had rather a lot more riding on Apple’s replacement policy. They allegedly frauded Apple of nearly $1m by sending the company counterfeit iPhones, claiming they were faulty, and receiving brand-new genuine models as replacements.

Continue reading...

Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin in court to face admissions scam charges

Posted on by

Pair among others charged in scheme in which, authorities say, parents paid consultant to fake children’s college test scores

Actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman are expected in court on Wednesday to face charges that they participated in a wide-ranging college admissions cheating scam that rocked the US.

The actors, along with Loughlin’s fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli and dozens of others, were charged last month in a scheme in which authorities say parents paid an admissions consultant to bribe college coaches and rig test scores to get their children into elite universities.

Continue reading...

North Dakota: police discover several bodies inside Bismarck building

Posted on by
  • Police say ‘several people deceased inside’ at Mandan business
  • Vehicles clustered around RJR Maintenance and Management

Police responding to a medical call at a North Dakota business on Monday found “several” bodies, authorities said.

The Mandan police department issued a three-sentence news release confirming that officers had found “several people who were deceased inside” the business in the city of about 22,000 just across the Missouri River west of Bismarck.

Continue reading...

New Orleans to apologise for worst mass lynching in America’s history

Posted on by

Mayor LaToya Cantrell will say sorry for 1891 killing of 11 Italian Americans after some were acquitted of murdering police chief

The mayor of New Orleans is to apologise to Italian Americans for the historical lynching of 11 Italian immigrants in what is considered the nation’s worst such incident.

“This has been a longstanding wound,” said Michael Santo of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy. Santo said that when the city was asked earlier this year for an apology, Mayor LaToya Cantrell embraced the idea, appointing Human Relations Commission head Vincenzo Pasquantonio as liaison.

Continue reading...

Jussie Smollett: Chicago orders actor to pay $130,000 for cost of investigation

Posted on by

Donald Trump has said the FBI and justice department will review the case after city prosecutors abruptly dropped charges

Chicago city officials on Thursday ordered the Empire actor Jussie Smollett to pay $130,000 to cover the cost of the investigation into his report of a street attack that police say was staged to promote his career.

A letter from the city’s legal department to Smollett and his attorneys said that figure covers overtime worked by more than two dozen detectives and officers who spent weeks looking into Smollett’s claim in January, including reviewing video and physical evidence and conducting interviews.

Continue reading...

Jussie Smollett: prosecutors drop charges against actor accused of fabricating attack

Posted on by

State’s attorney’s office says 16 counts against Empire actor dropped ‘after reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case’

Prosecutors agreed on Tuesday to drop criminal charges against the Empire actor Jussie Smollett for faking a hate crime attack in Chicago.

Smollett was charged with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for allegedly hiring two men to stage a racist, homophobic attack against him in downtown Chicago earlier this year.

Continue reading...

Jussie Smollett: Chicago mayor attacks ‘whitewash of justice’ as charges dropped

Posted on by
  • Decision to suddenly drop 16 charges questioned
  • Smollett: ‘I have been truthful and consistent on every level’

Prosecutors have agreed to drop criminal charges against the Empire actor Jussie Smollett for apparently faking a hate crime attack in Chicago, drawing claims from mayor Rahm Emanuel of a “whitewash of justice”.

Smollett was earlier this year charged with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for allegedly hiring two men to stage a racist, homophobic attack against him in downtown Chicago.

Continue reading...

Michael Avenatti, ex-lawyer for Stormy Daniels, arrested on extortion charges

Posted on by

Avenatti charged with attempting to extort millions from Nike, and also charged with wire and bank fraud in separate case

The high-profile attorney Michael Avenatti was charged with trying to extort more than $20m from the sports company Nike.

Avenatti, the former lawyer for Stormy Daniels and a prominent critic of Donald Trump, threatened to release damaging information about Nike unless it paid him off, according to a criminal complaint filed by federal authorities in New York.

Continue reading...

What happens after rich kids bribe their way into college? I teach them | Anonymous

Posted on by

A professor at an elite US school says an influx of unskilled and entitled students is monopolizing faculty time: ‘They will eat you alive’

  • If you have an experience or story tip on this topic to share with the Guardian, contact college.admissions.tips@theguardian.com

If you think corruption in elite US college admissions is bad, what happens once those students are in the classroom is even worse.

I know, because I teach at an elite American university – one of the oldest and best-known, which rejects about 90% of applicants each year for the small number of places it can offer to undergraduates.

Continue reading...

Barbra Streisand apologises for comments on Michael Jackson’s accusers

Posted on by
  • Singer, 76, condemned for remarks on alleged sexual abuse
  • Said of Jackson: ‘His sexual needs were his sexual needs’

Barbra Streisand has apologised over her remarks about Michael Jackson and two men who have accused him of sexual abuse, saying she should have chosen her words more carefully and that she admires the accusers for “speaking their truth”.

Streisand had been strongly criticized for her comments about two men who accused Jackson of sexual abuse in the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland.

Continue reading...

North Carolina proposes laws allowing teachers to carry guns in schools

Posted on by

State politicians see arming teachers as a way to better secure the school even as polls show it remains largely unpopular

North Carolina is planning controversial new laws that aim to ease gun restrictions in schools and allow teachers to carry weapons while on school grounds and even provide a financial incentive for educators to arm themselves.

The proposed laws – one in the state house and one in the state senate – were filed shortly after 2018 ended as the deadliest year for school shootings in the US since a US naval postgraduate school database began recording data. After last year’s school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people and spurred the March for Our Lives movement, public interest in creating more effective school security has grown.

Continue reading...

US college admissions scandal: how did the scheme work and who was charged?

Posted on by

Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were among 50 charged in scheme to get children into universities via bribery and cheating

There are 50 people charged in the case, including actors Felicity Huffman, known for her role on the TV show Desperate Housewives and the feature film Transamerica, and Lori Loughlin, a cast member on the TV series Full House. Defendants in the case include parents and college athletics coaches.

Continue reading...

Felicity Huffman among dozens charged over admissions fraud at top US schools

Posted on by

Scheme helped wealthy Americans buy their children’s way into elite universities including Yale, Georgetown and Stanford

US federal prosecutors have charged the Hollywood actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, along with almost 50 other people, over a $25m scheme to help wealthy Americans buy their children’s way into elite universities including Yale, Georgetown, Stanford and the University of Southern California.

Huffman appeared in court in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon, where a magistrate judge said she could be released on a $250,000 bond. The judge ordered the Desperate Housewives star to restrict her travel to the continental United States. Huffman’s husband, the actor William H Macy, attended his wife’s initial court appearance. He has not been charged and authorities have not said why.

Continue reading...

Paul Manafort: Trump’s ex-campaign chief sentenced to 47 months

Posted on by

Paul Manafort, the former chairman of Donald Trump’s campaign, has been jailed for nearly four years for bank and tax fraud uncovered during the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference.

Wearing a green prison jumpsuit, Manafort sat still in a wheelchair and betrayed little emotion as the US district judge TS Ellis of the eastern district of Virginia pronounced the sentence, which will be partially offset by nine months already served.

Continue reading...