Category Archives: New York

JPMorgan and Deutsche to face lawsuits over Jeffrey Epstein ties

Posted on by

Manhattan judge allows central accusations that banks benefitted from ties to sex trafficker to proceed

A US judge has ruled that a pair of lawsuits accusing two major banks of knowingly benefitting from ties to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein can proceed, though in a narrower form than had been initially filed.

The four-page ruling by Manhattan district judge Jed Rakoff granted motions by JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank to dismiss some counts against them, but permitted the central claims brought by Epstein accusers and the US Virgin Islands to proceed.

Continue reading...

Trump hails prospect of testimony from ex-Cohen adviser in hush money case

Posted on by

Robert J Costello, scheduled to appear before New York grand jury on Monday, likely to question Trump accuser’s credibility

• Trump calls on supporters to protest as potential indictment looms

Donald Trump has cheered the news that a former adviser to Michael Cohen will testify before a Manhattan grand jury investigating the ex-president’s alleged role in hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Robert J Costello, a one-time legal adviser to former Trump attorney Cohen, is scheduled to appear before the grand jury on Monday, where he is expected to give testimony “attacking the credibility of Cohen’s statements”, Associated Press reported.

Continue reading...

Manhattan DA warns of ‘attempts to intimidate’ after Trump calls for protest

Posted on by

Alvin Bragg is expected to bring an indictment against Trump this week over hush payments to adult actor Stormy Daniels in 2016

The Manhattan district attorney widely expected to bring an indictment against Donald Trump this week has vowed that his staff will not be intimidated after the former US president called for his supporters to protest any action against him.

Trump triggered a flurry of frantic headlines and statements from his political allies on Saturday when he posted a message on social media claiming he was set to be arrested this Tuesday on charges of hush payments to adult actor Stormy Daniels.

Continue reading...

Trump claims he ‘will be arrested’ on Tuesday in New York criminal case

Posted on by

Ex-president makes remark on Truth Social without any official confirmation of the likelihood or timing of charges being brought

Donald Trump has posted on his platform Truth Social that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday in the criminal case in New York involving hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Earlier this year the former US president called for protests by his supporters if he was indicted in any of the numerous criminal investigations in New York, Georgia and by federal authorities into various allegations involving illegal campaign payments, election interference, efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss and keeping top secret documents at home after leaving office. On Saturday he posted: “Protest, take our nation back!”

Continue reading...

Trump should quit 2024 race if indicted in New York, Republican rival says

Posted on by

Ex-Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson: man facing charge over porn star payment should ‘respect institution of the presidency’

Donald Trump should quit the race for the Republican nomination in 2024 if he is indicted in New York over a hush money payment to a porn star during his victorious run in 2016, a prospective rival said.

“It doesn’t mean that he’s guilty of it or he should be charged,” said Asa Hutchinson, a former governor of Arkansas. “But it’s just such a distraction that would be unnecessary for somebody who’s seeking the highest office in the land.”

Continue reading...

Michael Cohen to testify in Donald Trump hush-money investigation

Posted on by

His appearance comes as the inquiry into the $130,000 the former president paid to Stormy Daniels comes to an end

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer and intermediary in the Stormy Daniels hush-money affair, is scheduled to testify before a Manhattan grand jury on Monday about payments made to the adult film performer, according to a report on Saturday.

Cohen’s appearance before a grand jury convened by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg comes as prosecutors are believed to be nearing the end of an investigation into payments totaling $130,000 that Trump made to Daniels shortly before the 2016 election to stop her discussing their alleged affair.

Continue reading...

Donald Trump Access Hollywood tape can be used in civil rape trial, judge rules

Posted on by

E Jean Carroll can use tape of former president boasting of touching women’s genitals without consent in New York trial

The tape of Donald Trump boasting about sexual aggression towards women that detonated late in the 2016 election campaign but did not prevent him from winning the presidency will be permitted at a forthcoming civil trial in New York.

A federal judge ruled on Friday that the columnist E Jean Carroll can use the 2005 remarks by Trump, caught on tape in conversation with an Access Hollywood TV show personality, in support of her lawsuit accusing Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.

Continue reading...

Ex-Goldman banker given 10 years in prison for role in 1MDB fraud scandal

Posted on by

Roger Ng, 50, found guilty by Brooklyn jury in massive embezzlement linked to Malaysian state investment fund

Roger Ng, the former Goldman Sachs banker at the center of the multibillion 1MDB embezzlement scandal, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Thursday, placing a capstone on one of the largest and most bizarre financial frauds of the past decade.

A jury in Brooklyn, New York, found Ng, 50, from Malaysia, guilty of violating US anti-bribery laws, money laundering and illegally skirting Goldman’s accounting controls, after a seven-week trial.

Continue reading...

Architect Rafael Viñoly, designer of Walkie Talkie building, dies aged 78

Posted on by

Uruguayan-born Viñoly’s sometimes controversial work included more than 600 structures around world

Rafael Viñoly, the Uruguayan-born and New York-based architect known for designing landmark buildings around the world, has died aged 78.

Viñoly’s death on Thursday was announced by his son, Roman, on the website of the family firm, Rafael Viñoly Architects.

Continue reading...

Investigation finds fatal drugging of two men in New York City to be homicide

Posted on by

Julio Ramirez, 25, and John Umberger, 33, were drugged and robbed while leaving gay bars last year

Two men who were fatally drugged in New York City while leaving gay bars last year and whose bank accounts had been drained were both homicide victims, according to the local chief medical examiner’s office.

The medical examiner said Friday that the deaths of social worker Julio Ramirez, 25, and political consultant John Umberger, 33, were caused by a “drug-facilitated theft”, NBC News reported.

Continue reading...

Alligator rescued in New York City park has bathtub stopper stuck in body

Posted on by

The object cannot be removed from the reptile, named ‘Godzilla’, due to her weakened state, said the Wildlife Conservation Society

The alligator discovered in a New York City park reportedly has a bathtub stopper stuck in her body, and her caretakers have been unable to remove it because of her poor state of health.

The 4ft-long female reptile, rescued from a lake in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on 19 February, was named “Godzilla” because of her size. However, her health was in a dire state when she was recovered, and she was “extremely emaciated”, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said in a statement on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

Piece of New York flotsam may be part of 200-year-old shipwreck SS Savannah

Posted on by

‘Thrilling’ discovery on Fire Island could have come from a historic steam vessel that ran aground in 1821

A chunk of flotsam that washed up on a New York shoreline after Tropical Storm Ian last year has piqued the interest of experts who say it is likely part of the SS Savannah, which ran aground and broke apart in 1821, two years after becoming the first vessel to cross the Atlantic partly under steam power.

The roughly 13ft (four-meter) square piece of wreckage was spotted in October off Fire Island, a barrier island that hugs Long Island’s southern shore, and is now in the custody of the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society. It will work with National Park Service officials to identify the wreckage and put it on public display.

Continue reading...

Alligator found in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park

Posted on by

Reptile rescued from lake on Sunday is most likely an unwanted pet and has been taken to Bronx Zoo for rehabilitation

In an unusual scene for this part of the country, a 4ft-long alligator was rescued from the famed Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn on Sunday.

The itinerant crocodilian – most likely an unwanted pet – was in poor condition and described as sluggish by park officials, the local news station PIX11 reported. Authorities said the lethargic alligator might have been shocked by the cold.

Continue reading...

US protesters turn ire on wind farms to explain whale deaths – but where’s the evidence?

Posted on by

Controversy stirs in New Jersey along political lines as some scientists say wind turbine theory is ‘cynical disinformation’

Thousands gathered at New Jersey’s Point Pleasant beach on Sunday with a united mission: to pause offshore wind projects in response to recent whale deaths along the New York-New Jersey coast.

The gathering unfolded even as officials dispute the notion that the projects may be to blame for the dead whales, a controversy that – like many – is breaking along political party lines.

Continue reading...

Fecal bacteria ‘rampant’ on New York sidewalks, researchers find

Posted on by

Co-author advises taking off your shoes at the door after studying dog poop on Upper East Side

Researchers at New York’s Marymount College have published a study that, in its essence, attempts to establish how much dog poop footwear carries into the homes of New Yorkers on the affluent Upper East Side.

The study, released to the Indoor and Built Environment journal, concludes there’s a strong argument for leaving your outside shoes at the door – or risk tracking fecal bacteria around the house.

Continue reading...

Rats! New York mayor fined $300 over rodents at Brooklyn property

Posted on by

Eric Adams gets split decision while spokesman says: ‘One decision is clear, however: the mayor still hates rats’

In the latest round of his long battle against rats, the New York mayor, Eric Adams, scored a split decision on Tuesday when a hearing officer dismissed one summons while upholding another citing Adams for not doing enough to keep rodents at bay at his Brooklyn townhouse.

Adams was fined $300. A spokesperson, Fabien Levy, said the mayor was “grateful” one summons was dismissed and would consider his options about the second.

Continue reading...

George Santos: puppy theft charge news follows Romney’s ‘sick puppy’ barb

Posted on by

Republican at centre of string of scandals was charged in Pennsylvania with theft over purchase of puppies in 2017

The New York Republican congressman George Santos, who is at the centre of a bizarre string of scandals and who the Utah senator Mitt Romney this week called a “sick puppy”, was charged with theft in Pennsylvania in 2017 – over a purchase of “puppies”.

The scandal, reported by Politico, is not Santos’s first involving dogs and his charity, Friends of Pets United. A New Jersey veteran alleges Santos raised money for an operation for his dog, then absconded with the money.

Continue reading...

‘Finch-smuggling kingpin’ sentenced to prison for bird trafficking into US

Posted on by

Insaf Ali smuggled songbirds in hair curlers from Guyana to New York when JFK airport authorities discovered the ruse

A man who repeatedly admitted scheming to smuggle finches from Guyana into New York for birdsong competitions was sentenced on Thursday to a year and a day in prison.

It was Insaf Ali’s second time being sentenced in a Brooklyn federal court for a crime related to bird trafficking, and he vowed it would be his last.

Continue reading...

Woman who poisoned lookalike with cheesecake to steal identity convicted

Posted on by

Woman found guilty of trying to kill 35-year-old woman with cake laced with powerful sedative and then stealing her passport

A New York City woman accused of feeding poisoned cheesecake to her lookalike in a bid to steal the other woman’s identity has been convicted of attempted murder, prosecutors said Thursday.

Viktoria Nasyrova, 47, was found guilty by a jury on Wednesday of trying to kill 35-year-old Olga Tsvyk with cheesecake laced with a powerful sedative and then stealing her passport and other valuables in August 2016, Queens district attorney Melinda Katz said in a news release.

Continue reading...

George Santos is a ‘sociopath’, fellow New York Republican congressman says

Posted on by

Nick LaLota is one of a growing number of people from both parties to call on Santos to quit over made-up résumé and investigations

George Santos is a “sociopath” who thrives on negative attention, another New York Republican congressman said.

“He’s a sociopath,” Nick LaLota told CNN on Wednesday, after Santos’s confrontation with Mitt Romney at Joe Biden’s State of the Union address made headlines the night before.

Continue reading...