The Manhattan District Attorney Thursday announced that Allen Weisselberg, Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty to 15 charges of defrauding federal, New York State and New York City tax authorities. According to the District Attorney, Weisselberg evaded paying taxes on over $1.76 million in unreported income. Weisselberg received the unreported income in [...]
A federal judge Wednesday ordered former Pennsylvania judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan to pay more than $200 million in damages to victims in the 2010 “kids for cash” juvenile detention scandal. US District Judge Christopher Conner told Ciavarella and Conahan to pay more than $106 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive [...]
A federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Western District of Missouri indicted Walter Lee Hoornstra Wednesday for threatening an Arizona election official. The indictment asserts that Hoornstra left a threatening voicemail on the personal cell phone of an election official in Arizona. The alleged voicemail threatened the election worker that they [...]
A US Circuit Court judge Wednesday lifted an injunction against a federal “pause” on oil and natural gas leasing after a previous enjoinment prevented the ban from going into effect. Fifth Circuit Court Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham vacated a previous judgment from June 2021 that stopped the federal government from enforcing Section 208 of Executive Order [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Tuesday held that Arkansas’ three-drug execution protocol does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The case, Stacey Johnson v. Asa Hutchinson, was initially brought by death-row prisoners seeking to avoid the execution protocol in Arkansas. Though Arkansas’ supply of the three [...]
The first plaintiff scheduled to go to trial against drug manufacturers for the heartburn medication Zantac Tuesday dropped his suit. Joseph Bayer, who claimed Zantac (also known as ranitidine) caused him to develop esophageal cancer, told the court and drug manufacturers that he intended to file a notice of voluntary dismissal. Notably, there was no settlement [...]
The Department of Justice (DOJ) Tuesday unsealed a 28-count indictment against former California congressman TJ Cox. Cox was indicted for 10 counts of wire fraud, 11 counts of money laundering, 5 counts of wire fraud affecting financial institutions, and one count of contributions in the name of another. The bulk of the charges come from [...]
US President Joe Biden Tuesday signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. Biden lauded the act’s sweeping healthcare, tax, and climate reforms. According to Senate Democrats, the IRA achieves eight main objectives: Expands Medicare benefits by ensuring free vaccines and price caps on insulin and out-of-pocket drug costs; Lowers energy costs through tax credits [...]
Florida’s First District Court of Appeal has affirmed a trial judge’s decision that a parentless 16-year-old is not “sufficiently mature to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy.” Under Florida law, a pregnant minor’s parent or legal guardian needs to consent to the termination of that minor’s pregnancy, with certain exceptions. The minor sought before Escambia County [...]
Federal police officers Monday filed a complaint against Pennsylvania resident Adam Bies for making threats against federal law enforcement officers. The complaint alleges that Bies made numerous online threats using a social media platform called Gab. Most of the threats came just days after the FBI searched President Donald Trump’s residence on August 8. The [...]
