Mazars, Donald Trump’s longtime accountancy firm, sever links amid criminal and civil investigations of ex-president’s business
Donald Trump’s longtime accountancy firm cut ties with his business last week, saying that nearly a decade’s worth of Trump’s filings should “no longer be relied upon”.
The move comes amid ongoing criminal and civil investigations into whether Trump illegally inflated the value of his assets.
Continue reading...Roger Ng pleads not guilty to helping launder millions of dollars looted from Malaysian sovereign wealth fund
On the first day of a trial over the multibillion-dollar looting of a Malaysian government fund, US prosecutors on Monday accused a former Goldman Sachs banker of taking $35m in kickbacks as his defense team slammed the prosecution’s star witness as a bigamist who used their client as a fall guy.
Roger Ng, Goldman’s former head of investment banking in Malaysia, is charged with conspiring to launder money and violating anti-bribery law in his dealings with Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.
Continue reading...Lawyers want new trial after juror Scotty David gave interviews in which he said he had been sexually abused as a child
Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers cannot keep sealed their detailed legal arguments about a juror in her trial who might not have disclosed childhood sex abuse during jury selection, a judicial decision issued Friday said.
Judge Alison Nathan wrote: “[The] defendant’s motion to temporarily seal, in their entirety, all documents related to the motion for a new trial, is denied.”
Continue reading...Harassment often goes unreported, meaning metrics don’t always convey experiences – especially for women and people of color
Around 9.30am on 15 January of this year, Michelle Go was waiting for a train at Times Square subway station. Go, 40, a senior manager at Deloitte, was on her way to work. As she was checking her phone, a man shoved her from behind as a train roared into the station. She was hit by the incoming train and killed.
Go’s murder prompted shock and outrage. She was of Asian descent, at a time when anti-Asian hate crimes have been surging across New York City, including in the subways. The chief suspect in her killing, Martial Simon, has two violent felonies on his record and a warrant out for allegedly violating his parole. He reportedly had a history of severe mental illness, including schizophrenia, and had cycled between hospitals and jails over the years; the New York Times reported he was unhoused. Although police said there was no indication that Go’s death was an anti-Asian hate crime, prosecutors said they were examining “every piece of evidence to determine if defendant’s actions were motivated by racial bias”.
Continue reading...Analysis: From Pakistan to the US, Australia to Germany, the cost of living is rising to new highs and causing new hardships
After decades lurking in the shadows, inflation is back. On Amazon, you can find fridge magnets printed with words spoken 40 years ago by Ronald Reagan, before the election that swept him into the White House.
“Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.”
Continue reading...They scored beautiful New York City homes for far below market rate – and no, they’re never leaving
For most, finding an apartment with the right balance of square footage, amenities, neighborhood, and monthly rent is akin to a competitive sport. These New Yorkers – who lucked into the housing lottery, moved in decades ago, or inherited – placed on the podium and are staying put.
Continue reading...Dr Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just said that the agency continues to recommend masking in “areas of high and substantial transmission”.
According to the CDC’s own data, 99.5% of all US counties currently qualify as areas of high and substantial transmission, even as the number of new coronavirus cases across the US has decreased in the past few weeks.
Continue reading...The exclusive buildings, which make up most of Manhattan’s apartment stock, operate with impunity. Getting access can be a nightmare
At the end of last summer, Claire and her partner, Alan, found the perfect New York apartment.
“At the time we naively thought the mortgage process would be the most difficult part,” recalled Claire. “Little did we know.” The first-time buyers were suddenly confronting the reality of trying to purchase an apartment in a market-rate co-op building.
Continue reading...House speaker Nancy Pelosi applauded Joe Biden for overseeing the US military operation that resulted in the death of Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.
“Last night, America delivered justice to the leader of ISIS and struck a serious blow to this terrorist group,” Pelosi said in a statement.
Continue reading...Lawyers say Maxwell was denied her constitutional right after juror revealed in post-trial interview he was victim of sexual abuse
Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal team has argued in court papers that the juror who might not have disclosed prior sexual abuse during the jury selection process “violated” her right to a fair trial.
Maxwell’s attorneys have implored Alison Nathan, the judge, “to right a grievous wrong that deprived Ms Maxwell of a fundamental constitutional right – her right to be tried by a fair and impartial jury”. They are requesting a retrial.
Continue reading...A nor’easter with hurricane-force wind gusts battered much of the US east coast on Saturday, flinging heavy snow that made travel treacherous or impossible, flooding coastlines and threatening to leave bitter cold in its wake.
The storm thrashed parts of 10 states, with blizzard warnings from Virginia to Maine. Philadelphia and New York saw plenty of wind and snow, but Boston was in the crosshairs. The city could get more than 2ft of snow by early Sunday.
Continue reading...Palin, who is unvaccinated, was spotted at multiple city restaurants in violation of state and CDC health guidance
Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate, has continued to dine out at New York City restaurants despite testing positive for Covid-19.
The ex-Alaska governor, who is not vaccinated, was spotted on Wednesday eating outdoors at the upper east side restaurant Elio’s after testing positive for the illness, according to photos published by Mediaite. Palin had dined at the same restaurant on Saturday night, where she was seen eating indoors in violation of city rules requiring proof of vaccination for indoor dining.
Continue reading...Governor Kathy Hochul has insisted students and teachers should continue to wear face covering despite a judge’s ruling
Republicans in New York reacted furiously on Tuesday after state officials told school administrators to continue enforcing a mask mandate for students and teachers despite a judge overturning it, causing confusion as some districts rushed to make masks optional.
Lee Zeldin, a US congressman from Long Island, addressed the governor he hopes to replace in November.
Continue reading...Democrat spent two decades as speaker of state assembly before conviction over real-estate dealings
Sheldon Silver, one of the most powerful figures in New York state government for two decades before his conviction on corruption charges, has died in federal custody. He was 77.
Silver, who served as the speaker of the New York state assembly, died on Monday, the federal Bureau of Prisons said, adding that the official cause of death would be determined by the medical examiner. Silver’s supporters had said he was in failing health from multiple medical conditions.
Continue reading...Some Trumpland observers are convinced that he is in serious legal trouble as New York’s AG investigation of Trump Organizations’s finances intensifies
When Donald Trump announced plans in 2006 to build a golf complex on ancient sand dunes on the Aberdeenshire coast in Scotland he told reporters it was love at first sight. “As soon as I saw it there was no question about it,” he said. It would be the world’s “greatest golf course”.
This week Trump International Scotland became a central element of a case that looks poised to dominate his post-presidential life, and could even put him behind bars.
Continue reading...Court filing says investigators are seeking to question Donald Trump and his two eldest children
The New York attorney general’s office has told a court that its investigators have uncovered evidence that Donald Trump’s company used “fraudulent or misleading” asset valuations to get loans and tax benefits.
The court filing late on Tuesday said state authorities had not yet decided whether to bring a civil lawsuit in connection with the allegations, but that investigators needed to question Trump and his two eldest children as part of their inquiries.
Continue reading...Despite decreasing positivity rates, hospitals continue to struggle amid a surging patient load and staff shortages
New York City and some north-eastern US states appear to be seeing rapid decreases in their numbers of Covid-19 cases in recent days, raising the possibility that the Omicron wave has now already peaked in some parts of America.
In New York City the rolling seven-day average of new cases was less than 28,000 a day on 16 January, down from an average of more than 40,000 on 9 January.
Continue reading...For nine years, New York Times journalist Andrea Elliott followed the fortunes of one family living in poverty. In this extract from her new book, Invisible Child, we meet Dasani Coates in 2012, aged 11 and living in a shelter
• Read an interview with Andrea Elliott here
She wakes to the sound of breathing. The smaller children lie tangled under coats and wool blankets, their chests rising and falling in the dark. They have yet to stir. Their sister is always first. She looks around the room, seeing only silhouettes – the faint trace of a chin or brow, lit from the street below. Mice scurry across the floor. Roaches crawl to the ceiling. A little sink drips and drips, sprouting mould from a rusted pipe.
A few feet away is the yellow mop bucket they use as a toilet, and the mattress where the mother and father sleep, clutched. Radiating out from them in all directions are the eight children they share: two boys and five girls whose beds zigzag around the baby, her crib warmed by a hairdryer perched on a milk crate.
Continue reading...Police have a man in custody in connection with the 40-year-old woman’s death at Times Square station in Manhattan
A woman was pushed to her death in front of a subway train at New York’s Times Square station.
The man believed responsible for the incident on Saturday morning fled the scene but turned himself in to transit police a short time later, the police commissioner, Keechant Sewell, said at a news conference with the mayor, Eric Adams, at the station.
Continue reading...Maxwell was convicted last month of recruiting and grooming teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse
Ghislaine Maxwell is due to be sentenced in late June after her conviction last month on charges including sex trafficking and conspiracy relating to the recruitment of teenage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse.
US district judge Alison J Nathan announced the 28 June date on Friday even as she waits to resolve defence claims that a new trial should be ordered after a juror’s public admissions after the verdict about his childhood sexual abuse.
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