The former CEO of an investment firm was sentenced to nine months in prison for bribing his children’s way into elite universities. It is the longest sentence yet of any parent involved in the college admissions scandal known as “Operation Varsity Blues.” Prosecutors say Douglas Hodge, ex-CEO of Pacific Investment Management Co., or PIMCO, paid $850,000 in bribes to get four of his children into USC and Georgetown University as fake athletic recruits. Prosecutors had recommended sending Hodge, 62, to prison for two years
A federal judge branded the former head of bond giant Pimco a “common thief” and sentenced him to nine months in prison for his role in the sweeping college admissions cheating scandal. Douglas Hodge, who had earlier admitted paying $850,000 in bribes to get four of his seven children admitted to elite colleges, also had his request to serve out part of his sentence at home turned down by the judge.
“I have in my heart the deepest remorse for my actions,” a teary-eyed Hodge told Judge Nathaniel Groton in Boston. “I do not believe that ego or desire for high social standing drove my decision-making. Rather, I was driven by my own transformative educational experiences and my deep parental love.” In his statement, Hodge also absolved his children, saying they “did nothing to deserve the consequences they have suffered as a result of my actions.”
Groton was unmoved. “Mr. Hodge, your conduct in this whole sordid affair is appalling and mind-boggling,” Groton said. “There is no term in the English language that describes your conduct as well as the Yiddish term chutzpah.” Groton then imposed on Hodge, a Dartmouth and Harvard graduate, charged with money laundering and wire and mail fraud charges, the stiffest punishment among 14 parents who have been sentenced thus far. Groton also denied Hodge’s request to split his sentence with home confinement int the palatial Pacific Coast mansion in Laguna Beach, California. He also ordered him to pay $750,000 in fines, and perform 500 hours of community service.
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A leaked audio recording between an air traffic controller and an Iranian pilot appears to show aviation authorities were aware that a Ukrainian passenger jet had been shot down last month, killing all 176 people on board. The Iranian government denied it was involved in the plane’s downing for three days following the crash, before conceding the Iranian Revolutionary Guards accidentally launched a missile at the Boeing 737 jet.
Tehran has said it is halting cooperation with Kiev following the release of the leaked exchange by Ukrainian media. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged the recording’s authenticity in a report aired by a Ukrainian television channel. He also repeated his demands to decode the plane’s flight recorders in Kyiv – something Iranian officials had promised last month but later backtracked on.
A transcript of the recording shows a conversation between the air-traffic controller and a pilot reportedly flying a Fokker 100 jet for Iran’s Aseman Airlines from the southern Iranian city of Shiraz to capital Tehran. “A series of lights like … yes, it is missile, is there something?” the pilot calls out to the controller. “No, how many miles? Where?” the controller asks. The pilot responds that he saw the light by Payam airport, near where the IRGC’s Tor M-1 anti-aircraft missile was launched from.
The controller says nothing has been reported to them, but the pilot remains insistent. “It is the light of missile,” the pilot says. “Don’t you see anything anymore?” the controller asks. “Dear engineer, it was an explosion. We saw a very big light there, I don’t really know what it was,” the pilot responds. The controller then tries to contract the Ukrainian aircraft, but unsuccessfully.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is preparing for the new coronavirus, which has killed at least 1,115 and sickened more than 45,000 worldwide, to “take a foothold in the U.S.” Health officials have confirmed 13 U.S. cases of the virus, now named COVID-19, short for Corona Virus Disease. They are awaiting test results of 61 additional test subjects. A total of 420 people in the US have been investigated for possible infection with 347 testing negative.
Since mid January, the CDC has monitored more than 30,000 travelers coming to the U.S. from China. They have not detected any cases from returning travelers. Health officials are asking the travelers to monitor their own symptoms and limit their outdoor activities. A mistake at a lab led U.S. health officials to release an infected coronavirus patient from a San Diego hospital. The patient had been evacuated from Wuhan. The CDC said there are new measures in place to make sure it does not happen again.
World Health Organization officials have said they are worried about the virus mutating. The coronavirus produces mild cold symptoms in about 80% of patients. About 15% of the people who contract the virus have ended up with pneumonia, with 3% to 5% of all patients needing intensive care.
The city of Wuhan, where the outbreak originated, has ordered residents to report their body temperature daily, and the large port city of Tianjin said it would restrict residents’ movement, part of steps across the country to stop the coronavirus outbreak from spreading. The city is conducting door-to-door inspections as well, and will send someone to check on people displaying a fever, according to a notice posted by the provincial government. People with symptoms will be sent to a community health center for evaluation.
In Beijing, the Chinese government voiced anger as countries placed more restrictions on travelers. More than 50 countries or territories have imposed travel restrictions and tightened visa requirements to contain the spread of coronavirus, according to the International Air Transport Association. The U.S. government has continued to charter evacuation flights for US Nationals departing Wuhan, China. All evacuees spend a mandatory two weeks under quarantine while they’re monitored for symptoms of the flu-like virus.
A cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, is still under quarantine after a former passenger, who disembarked in Hong Kong last month, tested positive for the virus. The ship, which is currently off Japan’s coast, now has 174 confirmed cases of coronavirus as the virus spreads. There are more than 3,700 passengers and crew on the ship under quarantine.
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As the outbreak of the mysterious new coronavirus rapidly spreads, the Chinese authorities said that the official count of known cases jumped again overnight, with the death toll now exceeding 400. According to the National Health Commission, the number of confirmed cases increased to over 20,000 but a shortage of test kits has led experts to warn that the real number may be higher.
Officials also announced that after repeated offers of assistance, Chinese authorities agreed to allow in teams of international experts, coordinated by the World Health Organization, to help with research and containment. Government scientists as well as those working at Johnson & Johnson, Moderna Therapeutics and Inovio Pharmaceuticals are all working quickly to develop a vaccine. Hundreds of Americans have been evacuated from Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, but some of their family members without U.S. visas have been left behind. British Airways has suspended all flights in and out of China.
The U.S. government declared a public health emergency last week and barred foreign nationals from entering the country within two weeks of visiting China, unless they are immediate family members of U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The State Department has warned Americans against all travel to China, and is planning more evacuation flights to bring Americans home from the country this week. Those flights will land at four U.S. military bases, and similar to the evacuation flight that landed in California last week, passengers will be placed under federal quarantine for 2 weeks. The planes will be loaded with medical supplies and humanitarian goods, which the U.S. hopes to deliver to Wuhan on the first leg of the journey.
The head of the World Health Organization Ghebreyesus said some nations are lagging in the global fight against the deadly new coronavirus outbreak. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accused some governments of wealthy countries of being “well behind” in sharing data on virus cases. “While 99 percent of cases are in China, in the rest of the world we only have 176 cases,” Tedros said in a technical briefing to the WHO’s Executive Board in Geneva. “That doesn’t mean that it won’t get worse. But for sure we have a window of opportunity to act… Let’s not miss this window of opportunity.”
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On Sunday, January 26th, nine people were killed in a helicopter crash in Casablancas California. The crash claimed the lives of basketball ball legend Kobe Bryant and his 13 year old daughter Gianna. The other crash victims were identified as John Altobelli, 56; Keri Altobelli, 46; Alyssa Altobelli, 13; Sarah Chester, 45; Payton Chester 13, Christina Mauser, 41 and the 50 year old pilot, Ara Zobayan. The private helicopter was headed to the Lady Mambas’ basketball game at Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks where Gianna was scheduled to play and Kobe scheduled to coach.
Minutes before the crash, the pilot was trying to get special permission to fly though foggy conditions. Just seconds before the crash, the pilot told air traffic control he was trying to avoid a cloud layer. It was the last time anyone on the ground heard from him. While federal investigators try to determine what caused the crash, excerpts of air traffic control recordings will help build a timeline of what happened in the final moments of the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter before it crashed into the hillside. Meanwhile, the nation is mourning alongside the families of those lost in the crash.
Kobe and Vanessa Bryant were married for 19 years before the basketball star’s sudden death. They shared four daughters, Gianna, 13, was the second oldest. Left behind are Natalia Bryant, 17; Bianka Bryant, 3 and Capri Bryant, 7 months old.
Passengers’ relatives and loved ones are telling their stories. Christina Mauser was an assistant basketball coach at Mamba who had been personally selected for the job by Kobe Bryant, her husband, Matt Mauser. Both Matt and Christina were teachers working at a small private school that Bryant’s daughters attended. Christina left behind three children ages 11, 9 and 3.
John Altobelli was a respected baseball coach, a man who treated his players like family and was known as “Coach Alto.” Altobelli’s daughter Alyssa, was best friends with Kobe’s daughter Gianna and also loved playing basketball for the academy. Keri Altobelli was described as a great mom to the couple’s children. They have two surviving children, a daughter Lexi, in high school, and J.J., who is in his 20s. Payton Chester, a 13-year-old basketball player, and her mother, Sarah, were also passengers on the helicopter. They are survived by husband and father Chris and two boys Hayden and Riley, both 16.
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The trial of Harvey Weinstein is underway in New York and the courtroom will continue to hear testimony from his accusers. Weinstein faces life in prison on the New York charges and up to 28 years in a separate criminal case in Los Angeles County. Over 100 women have accused Weinstein of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment and professional retaliation.
Actress Annabella Sciorra told a packed courtroom that the disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein barged into her New York City apartment one night in the early 1990s, where he held her down and raped her. She testified that he entered her residence, chased her around and pinned her to the bed during the alleged attack. She said she tried to run to the bathroom, but “he kept coming at me. I felt overpowered because he was very big,” Sciorra told jurors.
She said that she confronted Weinstein about the incident at a dinner in New York weeks after. She described his response as very menacing “That’s what all the nice Catholic girls say.” He then leaned into her and said “this remains between you and I.” She described the exchange “It was threatening, and I was afraid,” she said. She testified that the experience left her so scarred that she fell into a deep depression, started cutting herself and began drinking heavily. It was the first time one of Weinstein’s accusers has confronted him directly in court since his arrest in May of 2018 on charges of rape and criminal sexual acts.
The courtroom also heard the testimony of Mimi Haleyi, a former production assistant who has accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. Haleyi, who met Weinstein in 2004 and then had a series of dealings with him in 2006 before, during and after a stint as a production assistant on Project Runway, accuses Weinstein of sexually assaulting her on two separate occasions. Haleyi said she accepted an invitation from Weinstein to fly her out to California for the premiere of “Clerks 2” in July 2006 as her friend was expecting a baby in Los Angeles.
She testified that a driver escorted her to his apartment where they were “having normal conversation,” and then he suddenly “lunged at me, trying to kiss me,” she claimed. She said he backed her into a bedroom, where she fell onto a bed and he pushed her down. She said she told him “no,” that she didn’t “want this to happen,” and that she was on her period, all in attempts to “make him stop.” After deciding no one would hear her scream and that she couldn’t sprint for the elevator or get out of the apartment in any way, she said, she “checked out.”
Four more of Weinstein’s accusers are expected to testify during the trial, though the statute of limitations has expired for all but two of their claims. The remaining four will testify about their encounters with him to show a pattern of abuse. Mr. Weinstein is accused of five felony counts, including rape and predatory sexual assault. Weinstein has maintained that the encounters were consensual. The women, he said, engaged in transactional relationships meant to advance their own careers.
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Attorney General William Barr is demanding that Apple unlock the phones of the alleged gunman of a deadly shooting at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. The request has escalated tensions between the Justice Department and Apple in a legal battle over personal privacy. The FBI identified the gunman, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, 21, as the sole shooter.
Barr yesterday declared the shooting “an act of terrorism.” Twenty-one Saudi military cadets who were training in the U.S. are now being expelled from the country and sent back to Saudi Arabia, following an investigation launched after the Pensacola shooting. He said “We have asked Apple for their help in unlocking the shooter’s iPhones. So far Apple has not given us any substantive assistance. This situation perfectly illustrates why it is critical that investigators be able to get access to digital evidence once they have obtained a court order based on probable cause. We call on Apple and other technology companies to help us find a solution so that we can better protect the lives of Americans and prevent future attacks.”
Apple released a statement addressing Barr’s claim, “We reject the characterization that Apple has not provided substantive assistance in the Pensacola investigation.” Apple said it responded to law enforcement requests “promptly, often within hours” and that it has turned over “many gigabytes of information” to investigators.
Last month, Saudi Air Force officer Mohammed Alshamrani killed three sailors and wounded eight others on the base. Alshamrani, a 2nd lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force, was participating in a training program sponsored by the Pentagon as part of a security cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia. There are more than 850 Saudi nationals in the U.S. participating in the training program, which includes English, basic aviation, and initial pilot training.
The three victims who died in the shooting were identified as Airman Mohammed Sameh Haitham, 19, from St. Petersburg, Fla.; Airman Apprentice Cameron Scott Walters, 21, from Richmond Hill, Ga and Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, from Coffee Ala. After being shot five times, Watson made it outside to alert the first response team with a description and location of the shooter. Watson later died at an area hospital. The suspect was shot and killed after two deputies from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office exchanged gunfire with him.
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A grand jury indicted the suspect in the Hanukkah attack with five more federal hate crimes charges. Grafton Thomas allegedly stabbed at least five Jewish worshipers who were celebrating Hanukkah at a rabbi’s house in Monsey last month. The grand jury in Rockland County had already indicted Thomas, 37, on six counts of attempted murder in the second degree, three counts of assault in the first degree, three counts of attempted assault in the first degree and two counts of burglary in the first degree in the mass slashing on Dec. 28.
The indictment charges Grafton Thomas with five counts each of attempting to kill victims based on their religion and obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by attempting to kill with a dangerous weapon. He is being held without bail on the federal charges. “We now allege that he did this with the intention of targeting his victims because of their religion,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a news release. “Thomas faces life in prison for his alleged violent acts of prejudice and intolerance.”
Newly elected DA Thomas E. Walsh, who took office on New Year’s Day, announced the state charges at a brief press conference. “Thomas violently attacked numerous individuals inside the home, slashing at least six individuals, with the intent to cause their deaths,” he said. Initial reports said there were five injured in the attack, though there were no details on what injuries the newly-added victim suffered. Those charges carry a maximum of 25 years in state prison.
Thomas was arrested shortly after the attack with 2 bloodied weapons in his car. Police say he also had handwritten journals containing anti-Semitic references and recently used his phone to look up information on Hitler and the location of synagogues. The worst of the injured victims was clinging to life after suffering devastating machete blows to his head; the man, great-grandfather Josef Neumann, 72, remained comatose, partially paralyzed and on a respirator.
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The family of Damon Grimes, a teenager who died in 2017 after a Michigan state trooper stunned him with a Taser has reached a $12 million settlement with the Michigan State Police. Fifteen-year-old Grimes was riding an ATV in a residential area of Detroit, when a police officer tased him for not pulling over fast enough. The teen then crashed into the back of a parked truck and died quickly after.
This is the Michigan State Police Department’s largest-ever settlement for a single incident. The Grimes family, including Damon’s mother Monique Grimes and his sisters Dezjanai and Dezanique Grimes, are to get about $8 million of the settlement. Most of the remaining $4 million is to go to the family’s lawyers at the Fieger law firm.
The family’s attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against Bessner, fellow trooper Ethan Berger and Michigan State Police Sgt. Jacob Liss said “I’m very thankful that the attorney general recognized the grave injury that occurred in this case, and the intolerable circumstances, and therefore accepted responsibility and allowed justice to be done.” Fieger added Grimes’ family is “very pleased” with the settlement.
“The facts of this case are so horrendous, and it was difficult dealing with the bureaucracy of the state of Michigan and dealing with the police agencies, but having cut through all that, the attorney general did the right thing and settled the case, and didn’t subject the state to a trial that could have resulted in a much larger verdict,” Fieger said.
The now-former Michigan State Police trooper who used the taser, Mark Bessner, was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter. It is a violation of Michigan State Police policy to deploy a Taser from a moving vehicle. The State Police revised its chase policy for ATVs in the aftermath of Damon’s death and stopped doing chases in Detroit involving traffic or misdemeanor violations. That new policy was later adopted statewide.
The settlement will end a federal lawsuit filed by Damon’s family in U.S. District Court in Detroit against Bessner and two other troopers, Ethan Berger and Sgt. Jacob Liss, a supervisor. Berger, who was driving the patrol car when Bessner fired the Taser, has since resigned from the agency. A State Police internal affairs report in 2018 accused Berger and Liss of attempting to cover up details of the ATV incident, such as the use of the Taser. Neither were charged in relation to the incident. The Michigan State Police internal affairs investigation had been critical of Liss, the supervisor at the crash scene, for omitting key details from his incident report, but Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy did not pursue criminal charges.
Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw said in a written statement: “The Michigan State Police extends its continued condolences to the Grimes family, friends and supporters. Damon Grimes’ death is a tragedy that could have been avoided if not for the criminal and unforgivable actions of a former Michigan State Police trooper.
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On December 28, 2019, the seventh night of Hanukkah, a masked intruder wielding an 18 inch machete entered the home of a Hasidic Rabbi in Monsey, Rockland County, NY where a Hanukkah party was underway and began attacking the guests. Five people were wounded, two of whom were hospitalized in critical condition. Grafton Thomas, 37, was arraigned in a Rockland County court and pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder and one count of first-degree burglary. He is also charged with a federal hate crime and his bail was set at $5 million.
The frenzied attack took less than 2 minutes at the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, where almost 100 people had gathered to watch the rabbi light the candles and to celebrate a Hanukkah party. Around 10 pm, Thomas entered the home with his face covered by a scarf and immediately began stabbing guests with a machete. Rabbi Rottenberg’s son was among the injured. Guests struck back, hitting the attacker with chairs and a small table, forcing him to flee the home.
Thomas attempted to enter the synagogue next door, Congregation Netzach Yisroel, but the doors were locked. Thomas then fled the scene in a car but a witness provided police with the license plate number of the car. At 11:45 pm, a license plate reader on the George Washington Bridge captured the license plate of the car as it entered New York City. Police stopped the car in Harlem and arrested him without incident after midnight. Rockland County Senior District Attorney Michael Dugandzic said police found the suspect with blood on his clothes and smelling “strongly” of bleach at the time of his arrest.
Thomas’ family said in a statement Sunday night that Thomas has “a long history of mental illness and hospitalizations” and that his attorney, Michael H. Sussman, had been instructed to seek “immediate mental health evaluation of Grafton.” Thomas was arrested at least seven times since 2001, on charges which include assault, resisting arrest, killing or injuring a police animal, driving under the influence, possessing controlled substances, and menacing a police officer. In 2013, he was arrested for punching a police horse and was jailed briefly for possession of a controlled substance. In 2018, he was charged with weapon possession, endangerment, and menacing a policeman.
One of the two gravely injured victims is 72 year old Josef Neumann, who has been in a coma since the attack and is connected to a breathing tube. According to his family, he had been struck three times in the head and suffered a wound that penetrated directly into the brain. His doctor does not have high hopes of a recovery. He turned 72 on Dec. 30 while unconscious.
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