Month: May 2024

Georgia’s Court of Appeals said on Wednesday that it will consider an appeal from former President Donald Trump on a lower court ruling’s decision to not disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis, who is overseeing the 2020 election interference racketeering trial against Trump and alleged co-conspirators. The Georgia Court of Appeals issued a brief order granting Trump’s request, saying that he can file a notice of appeal within the next 10 days; it’s unclear when arguments will be held.   The DA’s office declined to comment.

Trump attorney Steve Sadow said in a statement on social media that the court granted Trump’s appeal of Judge Scott McAfee’s decision to allow Willis to continue leading the prosecution, and that the case should be dismissed and Willis disqualified: “President Trump looks forward to presenting interlocutory arguments to the Georgia Court of Appeals as to why the case should be dismissed and Fulton County DA Willis should be disqualified for her misconduct in this unjustified, unwarranted political persecution.” 

Judge McAfee ruled in mid-March that Willis shouldn’t be disqualified from prosecuting Trump and his co-defendants despite their allegation that she had a conflict of interest in the case. They accused Willis of misconduct, alleging she financially benefited from her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, which led to days of testimony in court about their romance. McAfee ultimately decided found the “appearance of impropriety” created by their personal relationship should result in either Willis or Wade leaving the case. Hours later, Willis’ office confirmed Wade had resigned and she had accepted his resignation.

McAfee granted a certificate of immediate review days later, giving Trump and eight of his co-defendants permission to appeal his decision to keep Willis on the case. This gave the court of appeals 45 days to decide whether to hear an appeal on the matter. Lawyers for Trump and the other defendants then asked the appeals court to allow them to challenge the ruling.

The appeals court decision Wednesday comes as Trump continues to sit for trial in the criminal case he faces in New York; one of four criminal cases against him going to trial.

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Failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX says that nearly all of its customers will receive money back that they are owed which was tied to the platform, along with additional compensation.

In a bankruptcy court filing FTX said that it owes about $11.2 billion to its creditors. The exchange estimates that it has between $14.5 billion and $16.3 billion to distribute to them. FTX said customers with claims of $50,000 or less — about 98% of all of its creditors — will get at least 118% of allowed claims in cash within 60 days of court approval of the proposed plan.

ABC NEWS reports that the filing states that after paying claims in full, the plan provides for supplemental interest payments to creditors, to the extent that funds still remain. The interest rate for most creditors is 9%. It added that other creditors would receive “100% of allowed claims plus billions in compensation for the time value of their investments.”  The filing added that “the monetization effort has been successful and the debtors currently expect to have approximately $12.8 billion in cash as of the expected effective date of the plan, enough to pay all non-governmental customers and creditors in full based on the petition date value of their claims, subject to the conditions and assumptions described in this disclosure statement.”

FTX said in a Wednesday statement that “subject to being finalized and approved by the bankruptcy court, the plan contemplates the centralized distribution to customers and other creditors around the world of virtually all of the assets associated with FTX at the time of its collapse in November 2022, regardless of where the assets were located at that time.” 

The repayment plan includes a proposed agreement with the Department of Justice to distribute more than $1.2 billion of forfeiture proceeds to FTX customers and creditors through the Chapter 11 cases. John J. Ray III, CEO and Chief Restructuring Officer of FTX, said in a statement: “We are pleased to be in a position to propose a Chapter 11 plan that contemplates the return of 100% of bankruptcy claim amounts plus interest for non-governmental creditors.” 

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TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance filed a lawsuit against the federal government Tuesday over what it called an “unconstitutional” potential ban in the U.S. of the social media platform.  The company is suing to stop enforcement of a recently signed law that effectively would ban the app unless they sell it. The White House did not immediately comment on the lawsuit.

TikTok said in its 65-page petition filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday: “For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide.”

In March, the House Energy and Commerce Committee had unanimously approved the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act that would essentially ban TikTok from American app stores unless ByteDance sold the app in a year or less. President Biden and some congressional leaders have argued that the ultimatum against TikTok was necessary because of security concerns about ByteDance and its connections to the Chinese government. The House on March 13 passed the bill in a 352-65 vote, and Biden signed it into law on April 24 as part of a massive, $95 billion foreign aid package to commit foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

In TikTok’s lawsuit, they argue that what the United States has proposed is not based in any kind of workable reality, and “certainly not on the 270-day timeline required by the Act.”  ByteDance also argued there has been no tangible evidence that the app poses any security risk: “Congress itself has offered nothing to suggest that the TikTok platform poses the types of risks to data security or the spread of foreign propaganda that could conceivably justify the act … The ‘qualified divestiture’ demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally.”

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Drake’s home in Toronto is at the center of an investigation following a shooting late on Tuesday, May 7, in which the rapper’s security guard was reportedly the victim.  According to TMZ, the 48-year-old man was shot in the chest and rushed to the hospital, and is said to be in stable condition.  In addition, the Toronto Police Department posted on X: “SHOOTING:(UPDATE) – occurred at a a residence on Park Lane Circle – the man shot was a security guard who was standing outside the gates, o/f of the home – the man remains in hospital – a vehicle fled the scene – anyone with info 416-808-2510 or Crime Stoppers”

ABC News reports that according to Inspector Paul Krawczyk with the Toronto Police Service’s Integrated Gun and Gang Task Force, the male security guard was shot while standing outside the gate of the residence at approximately 2 a.m. Tuesday. According to video evidence of the incident obtained by police, the suspects fled the scene in a vehicle.

Emergency crews were called to Park Lane Circle near Bayview Avenue and Lawrence Avenue East just after 2 a.m. local time. The entrance to the property on Park Lane Circle in the expensive Bridle Path neighborhood was taped off by officers early Tuesday. The security guard was found suffering from an apparent gunshot wound and remains hospitalized in serious condition, Krawczyk said.

Inspector Krawczyk said that police have not yet confirmed whether Drake, 37, was home at the time of the shooting, but told reporters that the Canadian rapper’s team is cooperating with the investigation, sharing during a press conference: This is no different than any other investigation. It’s maybe more high profile because there’s more people here, but we treat it like any other incident. We’ll be using all our resources. Our teams will be doing as much as they can to investigate this.”

The suspects remain at large, and authorities do not currently have a vehicle description or number of suspects at this time, Krawczyk said. A motive also remains unknown.  Police are also staying quiet about the possible connection to the shooting and Drake’s ongoing, very public feud with fellow artist Kendrick Lamar

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Columbia University has cancelled its university-wide graduation ceremony on Monday in favor of smaller, school-based events amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protest demonstrations in the city and other college campuses across the country. A university official told NBC News that the decision to alter the graduation ceremony plans were made largely due to security concerns.

The decision from Columbia comes as universities around the country are deciding with how to handle their graduation ceremonies amid the protests. Emory University also announced Monday that it would move its commencement from its campus quadrangle in Atlanta to a suburban arena; and the University of Southern California earlier canceled its main graduation ceremony while allowing other commencement activities to continue. Other universities have held their graduation ceremonies with additional security, including The University of Michigan and Northeastern University’s commencement in Fenway Park, Boston, MA.

Columbia said in a statement that the past few weeks have been “incredibly difficult for our community,” adding: “we have decided to make the centerpiece of our commencement activities our Class Days and school-level ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, rather than the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15.” The University added that the decision was made following discussions with faculty and students leaders, sharing: “based on their feedback we have decided to make the centerpiece of our Commencement activities our Class Days and school-level ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, rather than the University-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15.” Typical commencement is held on Columbia’s main campus where the encampment was; however, the majority of the upcoming ceremonies will now be hosted at Columbia’s Baker Athletics Complex with some exceptions, according to the university.

The protests at Columbia have inspired similar demonstrations at dozens of universities around the U.S. Students have called for a ceasefire in Gaza and have demanded their schools divest from companies with ties to Israel.

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Former president Donald Trump was fined again and held in criminal contempt for violating a gag order for the 10th time – with possible jail time being threatened — as week 4 of Trump’s hush-money trial got underway on Monday. Violations of the gag order are punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, by jail time of up to 30 days – or both. The gag order blocks the defendant from speaking out about potential witnesses and most people in or associated with the court or the New York district attorney’s office.

Per The Associated Press, the $1,000 fine imposed Monday marks the second time since the trial began last month that Trump has been sanctioned for violating the gag order. He was fined $9,000 last week, $1,000 for each of nine violations. The latest violation stems from an April 22 interview with television channel ‘Real America’s Voice’ in which Trump criticized the speed at which the jury was picked and claimed, without evidence, that it was stacked with Democrats.

Judge Juan Merchan told Trump on Monday: “going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction. Mr. Trump, it’s important you understand, the last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well”, but it appears to the judge that the continuous flow of $1,000 fines “are not serving as a deterrent.” Merchan added: “rhe magnitude of this decision is not lost on me but at the end of the day I have a job to do. So as much as I don’t want to impose a jail sanction … I want you to understand that I will if necessary and appropriate.”

Trump has repeatedly called Merchan “conflicted” as he criticized the judge just before going in this court in the morning, telling reporters outside: “It’s a ridiculous case, I did nothing wrong. And yet the judge gags me and I’m not allowed to talk about, I guess, his total conflict.”

In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the gag order “unconstitutional and un-American”, adding: “President Trump has not violated this wrongful edict by a partisan operative. The threat to throw the 45th President of the United States and the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election in jail for exercising his First Amendment rights is a Third World authoritarian tactic typical of Crooked Joe Biden and his comrades.”

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