DRULAP

Son Eric Testifies in Trump Civil Fraud Trial He Relied on Accountants

With Donald Trump due on the witness stand next week, testimony from his adult sons in his civil business fraud trial wrapped up Friday with Eric Trump saying he relied completely on accountants and lawyers to assure the accuracy of financial documents key to the case.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the ex-president, his sons and their company again pressed allegations that Judge Arthur Engoron is being improperly influenced by his principal law clerk. Engoron strongly denied the claims and, as he had a day earlier, told the attorneys not to broach the matter again.

Donald Trump is scheduled to testify Monday in the case, which comes as he leads Republican 2024 presidential hopefuls and fights four separate criminal cases.

The unrelated civil case, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, accuses him, his company and executives of deceiving banks and insurers by exaggerating his wealth on his annual financial statements.

Trump and the other defendants, including sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., deny the allegations.

“We’re going to win this thing. I promise you we’re going to win it because we haven’t done a damn thing wrong,” Eric Trump said outside court.

He and his older brother are executive vice presidents of the family’s Trump Organization, and they became trustees of a trust set up to run the company when their father went to the White House.

The sons signed, for example, yearly letters that certified their father’s financial wherewithal to lender Deutsche Bank. As Donald Trump Jr. did in testimony earlier this week, Eric Trump said he trusted company finance executives and an outside accounting firm to ensure the information was correct.

“I would not sign something that was not accurate,” he said Friday, his second day on the stand. “I relied on one of the biggest accounting firms in the country. And I relied on a great legal team. And when they gave me comfort that the statement was perfect, I was more than happy to execute.”

He testified anew that he didn’t dig into the details of his father’s “statement of financial condition.” James’ office says the documents contained grossly inflated values for assets ranging from Trump Tower in New York to the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Emails shown in court indicate that Eric Trump was asked for information to help complete the statement in 2013, and another Trump Organization executive has testified that the younger Trump was on a video call about the document as recently as 2021. He reiterated Friday that he had no memory of the call.

“I get thousands of calls,” he said, saying he picks up his phone at 5 a.m. and puts it down at midnight.

Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, Eric Trump called the case a “charade” and waste of taxpayer dollars. Echoing his father, he also cast the case as a political “witch hunt.”

James and Engoron are Democrats, and his principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield, ran as a Democrat for a civil court judgeship last year.

A Trump social media post disparaging Greenfield a month ago spurred a partial gag order that bans parties to the trial from commenting publicly on the judge’s staff. Fines followed, after Engoron said the ex-president violated the order.

Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly complained in court about the clerk’s notes to the judge during testimony.

The contents of the notes have not been disclosed. But the attorneys argue that the messages indicate possible bias against their case.

Engoron insists that he has an “absolute, unfettered right” to input from his clerk, and that he doesn’t see how such advice is a bellwether of bias. He told the defense Thursday that he might expand the gag order to include attorneys if anyone refers to a member of his staff again.

After the judge started Friday’s court session by saying he hoped he’d made himself clear, Trump attorney Christopher Kise argued anew that if the judge was “receiving input from someone with potentially demonstrable bias — or, at least, there’s an appearance of that — we have to make a record of that.”

A record documenting questions or objections that were raised during a trial is key to any appeal.

Engoron said the record had been made, and he didn’t want “any further comments about my staff and how I communicate with them.”

Later Friday, he issued a written order barring all lawyers in the case from making public statements about “any confidential communications, in any form, between my staff and me” and threatening “serious sanctions” for any violations.
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NASA Spacecraft Discovers Tiny Moon Around Asteroid

The little asteroid visited by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft this week had a big surprise for scientists.

It turns out that the asteroid Dinkinesh has a dinky sidekick — a mini moon.

The discovery was made during Wednesday’s flyby of Dinkinesh, 480 million kilometers (300 million miles) away in the main asteroid belt beyond Mars. The spacecraft snapped a picture of the pair when it was about 435 kilometers (270 miles) out.

In data and images beamed back to Earth, the spacecraft confirmed that Dinkinesh is barely a half-mile (790 meters) across. Its closely circling moon is a mere one-tenth-of-a-mile (220 meters) in size.

NASA sent Lucy past Dinkinesh as a rehearsal for the bigger, more mysterious asteroids out near Jupiter. Launched in 2021, the spacecraft will reach the first of these so-called Trojan asteroids in 2027 and explore them for at least six years. The original target list of seven asteroids now stands at 11.

Dinkinesh means “you are marvelous” in the Amharic language of Ethiopia. It’s also the Amharic name for Lucy, the 3.2 million year old remains of a human ancestor found in Ethiopia in the 1970s, for which the spacecraft is named.

“Dinkinesh really did live up to its name; this is marvelous,” Southwest Research Institute’s Hal Levison, the lead scientist, said in a statement.
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Blinken: Preventing Israel-Hamas Conflict From Expanding Among Top Priorities

Latest developments:

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he stressed preventing escalation of the conflict, doing more to protect Palestinians and substantially increasing aid to Gaza during a meeting Friday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s war cabinet. He said humanitarian pauses would help accomplish each of those priorities.
Israel is returning to Gaza thousands of Palestinian workers who were trapped in Israel following the Hamas attack on Israelis.
Israel says its troops have surrounded Gaza City amid diplomatic efforts to bring a halt to the fighting and address a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.
U.S. President Joe Biden says 74 Americans were evacuated Thursday from Gaza to Egypt.
U.N. expresses concern over deadly Israeli strikes around the Jabaliya refugee camp. The U.N. human rights office says, “We have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday preventing the escalation and spread of the Israeli-Hamas conflict was the top priority after he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s war cabinet in Tel Aviv.

Following the meeting, Blinken outlined for reporters the steps that must be taken to ensure an attack like the one that occurred October 7 never happens again and to ensure a “better tomorrow” for both the people of Israel and Palestinians. U.S.-designated terror group Hamas took 230 hostages and killed 1,400 people in that attack.

Blinken said, again, the U.S. stands behind Israel’s right “and obligation” to defend itself. He added that the U.S. believes it is vitally important Israel does so with the highest regard for the protection of civilians. He cited doing more to protect Palestinian civilians as the second priority.

“We’ve been clear that as Israel conducts its campaign to defeat Hamas, how it does so matters. It matters because it’s the right and lawful thing to do. It matters because failure to do so plays into the hands of Hamas and other terror groups,” said Blinken. “There will be no partners for peace if they’re consumed by humanitarian catastrophe and alienated by any perceived indifference to their plight.”

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been left homeless by Israeli airstrikes in response to the Hamas terror attack. The Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry said Thursday the death toll in the enclave has topped 9,000.

Blinken cited “substantially and immediately increase the sustained flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza and getting American citizens and other foreign nationals out of Gaza” as the third priority.

Blinken said 100 trucks a day are now entering the area through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt, but it is still not enough. He said Israel indicated it was committed to enabling increased aid into the area.

The secretary of state noted humanitarian pauses in fighting would be important in achieving all these goals. He also discussed how any pauses might be tied to the release of hostages, emphasizing the U.S. is committed to their safe release.

But after meeting with Secretary Blinken, Netanyahu said there would be no humanitarian pauses until the hostages are released. He told reporters, “We’re continuing with all our force and Israel is refusing a temporary truce that doesn’t include the release of our hostages.”

Blinken was asked about threats made Friday by Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to widen the conflict by escalating cross-border fighting with Israel.

“With regard to Lebanon, with regard to Hezbollah, with regard to Iran — we have been very clear from the outset that we are determined that there not be a second or third front opened in this conflict,” Blinken told reporters in Israel, noting the United States has deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups in the region as a deterrent to a widening conflict.

“President [Joe] Biden said on day one to anyone thinking of opening a second front, taking advantage of the situation … don’t,” said Blinken.

The secretary also reiterated the U.S. continues to believe the only path to a lasting peace in the region is a two-state solution.

“That’s the only guarantor of a secure Jewish and democratic Israel,” Blinken said, “the only guarantor of Palestinians realizing their legitimate right to live in a state of their own, enjoying equal measures of security, freedom, opportunity and dignity. The only way to end a cycle of violence once and for all.”

Protest by hostages’ families

Earlier Friday, Blinken met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog at Ben Gurion House, as families of Israelis still being held hostage by the militant group Hamas protested outside, calling for greater efforts to win the hostages’ release.

Herzog said, “We are hearing outside the demonstration of the families. Our heart goes out to them. We understand it and want their immediate release.”

Blinken also said the U.S. is determined to do everything possible to bring back the hostages.

Earlier this week, Israel carried out airstrikes on the Jabaliya camp for Palestinian refugees in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces say the airstrikes targeted a Hamas commander. Hamas has denied the presence of any commanders at the camp and said 195 civilians were killed in the strikes.

War crimes concerns from U.N.

The U.N. human rights office said, “We have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes.”

Blinken’s visit comes as Israeli ground troops have surrounded Gaza City amid wider diplomatic efforts to bring a halt to the Israeli-Hamas war so greater humanitarian aid can enter Gaza.

In another development Friday, Israel began sending back thousands of Palestinian workers who were stranded in Israel following the Hamas attack almost a month ago.

Meanwhile, more foreign nationals who were trapped in Gaza since the start of the war are expected to leave the territory Friday through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.

Hundreds of foreigners left Gaza through Rafah on Wednesday and Thursday, as did dozens of critically injured Palestinians.

The reopening of the Rafah border crossing to allow foreign passport holders to leave was part of a Qatari-brokered deal among Israel, Egypt and Hamas.

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Russian Money Launderer Sanctioned for Helping Oligarchs

The U.S. Department of Treasury on Friday sanctioned Ekaterina Zhdanova, an accused Russian money launderer who allegedly helped her country’s oligarchs move funds out of Moscow using cryptocurrency to evade Western sanctions.

According to an official Treasury announcement, Zhdanova allegedly also helped ransomware groups and other “illicit actors” launder their gains.

“We remain focused on safeguarding the U.S. and international financial system against those who seek to exploit this technology [cryptocurrency], among other illicit finance risks in the virtual assets ecosystem,” said Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

Zhdanova has reportedly used cryptocurrency exchanges such as Garantex to shift large sums of money across borders. She also is accused of transporting cash physically, as well as using traditional businesses as fronts for her operation, including an international luxury watch business that was not identified by name in the Treasury’s announcement.

Her main clientele are Russian elites living outside of the country. According to one allegation, a Russian oligarch based in the United Arab Emirates contacted Zhdanova to move more than $100 million; she did so by using physical cash and virtual currency.

Once an account becomes based in a country that is not sanctioned, a Russian oligarch can transfer the money all over the world, undermining international restrictions that were imposed in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The new sanctions placed on Zhdanova mean that she is now blocked from accessing any property of hers in the U.S., and banks and cryptocurrency exchanges that continue to do business with her will be exposed to sanctions themselves.
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Maine Mass Shooting Puts Spotlight on Complex Array of Laws

Across the nation, much of the debate around gun rights and restrictions centers on mental health. Many advocates on both sides agree that getting people with serious mental health struggles into treatment, and preventing people who are dangerous from accessing guns, is key to preventing mass shootings.

Yet in the weeks and months before the mass shooting in Lewiston, there were so many warning signs from the killer that people all around him were raising concerns to authorities. He was still able to massacre 18 people, wound another 13 and shatter a community’s sense of security.

Lawmakers want answers as to why laws in two states — Maine and New York — didn’t prevent the tragedy.

“It’s a massive failure,” said Maine state Senator Lisa Keim, sponsor of Maine’s so-called “yellow flag” law. “This one, it seems that there were too many touchpoints for neither law to come into play.”

The law in Maine, a state that is staunchly protective of gun rights, requires more hurdles than “red flag” laws in more than 20 states, including New York. Also known as extreme risk protection orders, they generally allow family members or police to ask a judge to temporarily keep guns away from someone who presents a danger to themselves or other people, said Allison Anderman of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Maine’s requirement of a medical evaluation adds an extra hurdle, especially in cases in which people are acting dangerously but don’t have a diagnosed mental illness, Anderman said. “They’re really very different laws,” she said.

Keim, meanwhile, said the “yellow flag” law process can begin with a phone call and noted it has been successfully invoked 82 times since taking effect in 2020.

Leroy Walker, whose son was killed in the shootings, said he’s pleased Maine’s governor is bringing together an independent panel of experts “to find how out how this slipped through the cracks and we ended up losing 18 beautiful lives.”

The Auburn city councilor said he’s not ready to point fingers but feels frustrated to learn from news outlets about the missed opportunities, including those under red and yellow flag laws.

“None of ’em worked. We definitely need to go back and figure out where these mistakes were made,” Walker said.

Behind the October 25 tragedy is a confusing web of federal and state laws

Under Maine’s yellow flag law, a warning to police can trigger a process in which an officer visits an individual and makes a judgment call on whether that person should be placed in temporary protective custody, in turn triggering assessments that with a judge’s approval can lead to a 14-day weapons restriction. A full court hearing could lead to an extension of restrictions for up to a year.

There were plenty of warnings that Card might snap.

During military training in New York, he said people were accusing him of being a pedophile. He pushed one reservist and locked himself in his motel room, leading commanders to take him to the base hospital. From there, he was taken to a private mental health facility where he was hospitalized for 14 days. His military weapons were taken away.

Maine officials say they were unaware of any alerts from officials in New York. And it’s unclear if there was any effort to invoke New York’s red flag law while he was in the state.

Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Ruth Castro said she couldn’t tell The Associated Press whether Card was committed to a psychiatric facility on his own free will or involuntarily because of a federal health privacy law. She said the same law prevented her from saying what Card’s diagnosis was after he was evaluated.

She denied requests to answer other questions about what the Army did or did not do to inform others of Card’s condition, citing ongoing law enforcement investigations.

Back in Maine, reservists kept voicing their worries about Card after he returned in early August. Family members told a deputy that his mental health deterioration had begun in January and that his ex-wife and son had alerted police in Maine that Card was angry and paranoid, as well as heavily armed with 10 to 15 guns he’d taken from his brother’s home.

People can be legally barred from having guns for a few reasons, including felony convictions and domestic-violence protection orders. But whatever the reason, removing guns a person already has is often complicated, said Anderman, the senior counsel at the gun violence law center.

“Most states do not have adequate relinquishment provisions for when people become prohibited,” she said.

A commitment to a mental health facility also bars people from having guns under federal law, but that measure doesn’t have a mechanism to take away any weapons a person already has. And although Card was treated at a facility, the FBI says nothing was entered into the federal background check system that would have prevented him from buying weapons.

In a text early on September 15, one of Card’s fellow reservists urged a superior to change the passcode to the gate and have a gun if Card arrived at the Army Reserve drill center in Saco. The reservist said Card refused to get help for his mental illness “and yes, he still has all his weapons.”

“I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting,” the reservist wrote.

That was the same day a deputy went to Card’s home in Bowdoin, but no one was home. The deputy returned the following day and heard noises inside, but Card didn’t answer the door. The deputy called for backup, but they eventually left.

The sheriff said his deputies didn’t have legal authority to break down the door and take Card, and there’s no indication the deputy ever spoke to him — the first step to triggering the yellow card law.

The sheriff’s office canceled its statewide alert seeking help locating Card, who they described as “armed and dangerous,” a week before Lewiston became the 36th mass killing in the United States this year.
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To Combat US Islamophobia, Biden Must Call Cease-fire in Gaza, US Muslim Groups Say

American Muslim groups say that the Biden administration’s efforts to combat rising Islamophobia in the United States must go hand in hand with the protection of civilians in Gaza from Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hamas that have killed thousands of Palestinian civilians. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report
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Vaping by US High School Students Dropped This Year, Report Says

Fewer high school students are vaping this year, the government reported Thursday.

In a survey, 10% of high school students said they had used electronic cigarettes in the previous month, down from 14% last year.

Use of any tobacco product — including cigarettes and cigars — also fell among high schoolers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

“A lot of good news, I’d say,” said Kenneth Michael Cummings, a University of South Carolina researcher who was not involved in the CDC study.

Among middle school student, about 5% said they used e-cigarettes. That did not significantly change from last year’s survey.

This year’s survey involved more than 22,000 students who filled out an online questionnaire last spring. The agency considers the annual survey to be its best measure of youth smoking trends.

Why the drop among high schoolers? Health officials believe a number of factors could be helping, including efforts to raise prices and limit sales to kids by raising the legal age to 21.

“It’s encouraging to see this substantial decrease in e-cigarette use among high schoolers within the past year, which is a win for public health,” said Brian King, the Food and Drug Administrations tobacco center director.

The FDA has authorized a few tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes intended to help adult smokers cut back but has struggled to stop sales of illegal products.

Other key findings in the report:

Among students who currently use e-cigarettes, about a quarter said they use them every day.
About 1 in 10 middle and high school students said they recently had used a tobacco product. That translates to 2.8 million U.S. kids.
E-cigarettes were the most commonly used kind of tobacco product, and disposable ones were the most popular with teens.
Nearly 90% of the students who vape used flavored products, with fruit and candy flavors topping the list.

In 2020, FDA regulators banned those teen-preferred flavors from reusable e-cigarettes like Juul and Vuse, which are now only sold in menthol and tobacco. But the flavor restriction didn’t apply to disposable products, and companies like Elf Bar and Esco Bar quickly stepped in to fill the gap.

The growing variety in flavors like gummy bear and watermelon has been almost entirely driven by cheap, disposable devices imported from China, which the FDA considers illegal. Those products now account for more than half of U.S. vaping sales, according to government figures.

In the latest survey, about 56% of teens who vape said they used Elf Bar, trailed by Esco Bar and Vuse, which is a reusable e-cigarette made by R.J. Reynolds. Juul, the brand widely blamed for sparking the recent spike in teen vaping, was the fourth most popular brand, used by 16% of teens.

The FDA tried to block imports of both Elf Bar and Esco Bar in May, but the products remain widely available. Elf Bar has thwarted customs officials by changing its brand name, among other steps designed to avoid detection.

On Thursday, the FDA announced another round of fines against 20 stores selling Elf Bar products. The agency has sent more than 500 warning letters to retailers and manufacturers of unauthorized e-cigarettes over the past year, but those citations are not legally binding and are sometimes ignored.

In the latest report, the CDC highlighted one worrisome but puzzling finding. There was a slight increase in middle schools students who said they had used at least one tobacco product in the past month, while that rate fell among high school students. Usually those move in tandem, said Kurt Ribisl, a University of North Carolina researcher. He and Cummings cautioned against making too much of the finding, saying it might be a one-year blip.
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FTX Founder Convicted of Defrauding Cryptocurrency Customers

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s spectacular rise and fall in the cryptocurrency industry — a journey that included his testimony before Congress, a Super Bowl advertisement and dreams of a future run for president — hit rock bottom Thursday when a New York jury convicted him of fraud in a scheme that cheated customers and investors of at least $10 billion.

After the monthlong trial, jurors rejected Bankman-Fried’s claim during four days on the witness stand in Manhattan federal court that he never committed fraud or meant to cheat customers before FTX, once the world’s second-largest crypto exchange, collapsed into bankruptcy a year ago.

“His crimes caught up to him. His crimes have been exposed,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon told the jury of the onetime billionaire just before they were read the law by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan and began deliberations. Sassoon said Bankman-Fried turned his customers’ accounts into his “personal piggy bank” as up to $14 billion disappeared.

She urged jurors to reject Bankman-Fried’s insistence when he testified over three days that he never committed fraud or plotted to steal from customers, investors and lenders and didn’t realize his companies were at least $10 billion in debt until October 2022.

Bankman-Fried was required to stand and face the jury as guilty verdicts on all seven counts were read. He kept his hands clasped tightly in front of him. When he sat down after the reading, he kept his head tilted down for several minutes.

After the judge set a sentencing date of March 28, Bankman-Fried’s parents moved to the front row behind him. His father put his arm around his wife. As Bankman-Fried was led out of the courtroom, he looked back and nodded toward his mother, who nodded back and then became emotional, wiping her hand across her face after he left the room.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams told reporters after the verdict that Bankman-Fried “perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history, a multibillion-dollar scheme designed to make him the king of crypto.”

“But here’s the thing: The cryptocurrency industry might be new. The players like Sam Bankman-Fried might be new. This kind of fraud, this kind of corruption is as old as time, and we have no patience for it,” he said.

Bankman-Fried’s attorney, Mark Cohen, said in a statement they “respect the jury’s decision. But we are very disappointed with the result.”

“Mr. Bankman Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him,” Cohen said.

The trial attracted intense interest with its focus on fraud on a scale not seen since the 2009 prosecution of Bernard Madoff, whose Ponzi scheme over decades cheated thousands of investors out of about $20 billion. Madoff pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 150 years in prison, where he died in 2021.

The prosecution of Bankman-Fried, 31, put a spotlight on the emerging industry of cryptocurrency and a group of young executives in their 20s who lived together in a $30 million luxury apartment in the Bahamas as they dreamed of becoming the most powerful player in a new financial field.

Prosecutors made sure jurors knew that the defendant they saw in court with short hair and a suit was also the man with big messy hair and shorts that became his trademark appearance after he started his cryptocurrency hedge fund, Alameda Research, in 2017 and FTX, his cryptocurrency exchange, two years later.

They showed the jury pictures of Bankman-Fried sleeping on a private jet, sitting with a deck of cards and mingling at the Super Bowl with celebrities including the singer Katy Perry. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos called Bankman-Fried someone who liked “celebrity chasing.”

In a closing argument, defense lawyer Mark Cohen said prosecutors were trying to turn “Sam into some sort of villain, some sort of monster.”

“It’s both wrong and unfair, and I hope and believe that you have seen that it’s simply not true,” he said. “According to the government, everything Sam ever touched and said was fraudulent.”

The government relied heavily on the testimony of three former members of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle, his top executives including his former girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, to explain how Bankman-Fried used Alameda Research to siphon billions of dollars from customer accounts at FTX.

With that money, prosecutors said, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate gained influence and power through investments, contributions, tens of millions of dollars in political contributions, congressional testimony and a publicity campaign that enlisted celebrities like comedian Larry David and football quarterback Tom Brady.

Ellison, 28, testified that Bankman-Fried directed her while she was chief executive of Alameda Research to commit fraud as he pursued ambitions to lead huge companies, spend money influentially and run for U.S. president someday. She said he thought he had a 5% chance to be U.S. president someday.

Becoming tearful as she described the collapse of the cryptocurrency empire last November, Ellison said the revelations that caused customers collectively to demand their money back, exposing the fraud, brought a “relief that I didn’t have to lie anymore.”

FTX cofounder Gary Wang, who was FTX’s chief technology officer, revealed in his testimony that Bankman-Fried directed him to insert code into FTX’s operations so that Alameda Research could make unlimited withdrawals from FTX and have a credit line of up to $65 billion. Wang said the money came from customers.

Nishad Singh, the former head of engineering at FTX, testified that he felt “blindsided and horrified” at the result of the actions of a man he once admired when he saw the extent of the fraud as the collapse last November left him suicidal.

Ellison, Wang and Singh all pleaded guilty to fraud charges and testified against Bankman-Fried in the hopes of leniency at sentencing.

Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas in December and extradited to the United States, where he was freed on a $250 million personal recognizance bond with electronic monitoring and a requirement that he remain at the home of his parents in Palo Alto, California.

His communications, including hundreds of phone calls with journalists and internet influencers, along with emails and texts, eventually got him into trouble when the judge concluded he was trying to influence prospective trial witnesses and ordered him jailed in August.

During the trial, prosecutors used Bankman-Fried’s public statements, online announcements and his congressional testimony against him, showing how the entrepreneur repeatedly promised customers that their deposits were safe and secure as late as last Nov. 7 when he tweeted, “FTX is fine. Assets are fine” as customers furiously tried to withdraw their money. He deleted the tweet the next day. FTX filed for bankruptcy four days later.

In his closing, Roos mocked Bankman-Fried’s testimony, saying that under questioning from his lawyer, the defendant’s words were “smooth, like it had been rehearsed a bunch of times?”

But under cross examination, “he was a different person,” the prosecutor said. “Suddenly on cross-examination he couldn’t remember a single detail about his company or what he said publicly. It was uncomfortable to hear. He never said he couldn’t recall during his direct examination, but it happened over 140 times during his cross-examination.”

Former federal prosecutors said the quick verdict — after only half a day of deliberation — showed how well the government tried the case.

“The government tried the case as we expected,” said Joshua A. Naftalis, a partner at Pallas Partners LLP and a former Manhattan prosecutor. “It was a massive fraud, but that doesn’t mean it had to be a complicated fraud, and I think the jury understood that argument.”
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Jewish, Muslim and Christian Communities Hold LA Vigil for Peace

Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities gathered Wednesday night at the University of California, Los Angeles to hold a vigil for peace that mourned lives lost in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the last month. Genia Dulot reports.
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Senate Sidesteps Tuberville’s Hold, Confirms New Navy Head and First Female on Joint Chiefs of Staff

The Senate circumvented a hold by Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville on Thursday and confirmed Admiral Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy, making her the first woman to be a Pentagon service chief and the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Franchetti’s historic confirmation as the chief of naval operations comes as Tuberville has drawn bipartisan criticism for holding up almost 400 military nominations in an effort to protest Pentagon abortion policy. In a remarkable display, several Republican senators angrily held the floor for more than four hours on Wednesday evening and called up 61 of the nominations for votes, praising each nominee for their military service.

Tuberville showed no signs of letting up, standing and objecting to each one.

The Senate confirmed Franchetti with an overwhelming 95-1 vote. Senators are scheduled to confirm two other top officers on Thursday — General David Allvin to be chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force and Lieutenant General Christopher Mahoney to serve as assistant commandant for the U.S. Marine Corps.

If confirmed, Mahoney could immediately step in as acting commandant, temporarily taking over after General Eric Smith, the commandant, was hospitalized on Sunday after suffering a medical emergency at his official residence in Washington.

Smith, who is listed in stable condition and is recovering, was confirmed to the top job last month, but he had been holding down two high-level posts for several months because of Tuberville’s holds.

When Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the vote this week on Mahoney’s nomination to be assistant commandant, he said Smith’s sudden medical emergency is “precisely the kind of avoidable emergency that Senator Tuberville has provoked through his reckless holds.”

Tuberville has challenged Schumer to put each nomination on the floor — a process that could take weeks or months as each nomination requires multiple days and multiple votes to get around the objection. Schumer has so far resisted, hoping to force Tuberville’s hand, but he has relented in the case of some top military officers.

Franchetti, the vice chief of operations for the Navy, has broad command and executive experience. A surface warfare officer, she has commanded at all levels, heading U.S. 6th Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Korea. She was the second woman to be promoted to four-star admiral, and she did multiple deployments, including as commander of a naval destroyer and two stints as aircraft carrier strike group commander.

“She has worked her way up the ranks of the United States Navy. She has commanded at sea,” said Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Senator Jack Reed ahead of the vote. “She has accepted and excelled at every challenge presented to her. She is superbly prepared to be the chief of naval operations.”

Several women have served as military service secretaries as political appointees, but never as their top uniformed officer. Admiral Linda L. Fagan is the commandant of the Coast Guard, but she is not a member of the Joint Staff.

Tuberville said Wednesday there is “zero chance” he will drop the holds, which he first announced in February. Despite several high-level vacancies and the growing backlog of nominations, he has said he will continue to hold up the nominees unless the Pentagon ends — or puts to a vote in Congress — its new policy of paying for travel when a servicemember has to go out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care. Biden’s Democratic administration instituted the policy after the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to an abortion, and some states have limited or banned the procedure.

Confronting Tuberville publicly for the first time since he announced the holds, the Republican senators — Alaska’s Dan Sullivan, Iowa’s Joni Ernst, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, Indiana’s Todd Young and others — read lengthy biographies, praised nominees and lashed out at Tuberville as they called for vote after vote. They said they agree with the Alabama senator in opposing the abortion policy but questioned — as Democrats have for months — why he would hold up the highest ranks of the U.S. military.

Sullivan said Tuberville is “100% wrong” that his holds are not affecting military readiness. Ernst said the nominees are being used as “political pawns.” Republican Utah Senator Mitt Romney advised Tuberville to try to negotiate an end to the standoff. All of them warned that good people would leave military service if the blockade continues.

The GOP effort to move the nominations came after Schumer said Wednesday morning they are trying a new workaround to confirm the officers. Schumer said the Senate will consider a resolution in the near future that would allow the quick confirmation of the now nearly 400 officers up for promotion or nominated for another senior job.

To go into effect, the Senate Rules Committee will have to consider the temporary rules change and send it to the Senate floor, where the full Senate would have to vote to approve it. That process could take several weeks and would likely need Republican support to succeed.

“Patience is wearing thin with Senator Tuberville on both sides of the aisle,” Schumer said.
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US Imposes Sweeping New Sanctions Targeting Russia Over War in Ukraine

The United States on Thursday imposed sweeping new measures against Moscow over the war in Ukraine, targeting Russia’s future energy capabilities, sanctions evasion and a suicide drone that has been a menace to Ukrainian troops and equipment, among others, in sanctions on hundreds of people and entities.

The latest measures target a major entity involved in the development, operation and ownership of a massive project in Siberia known as Arctic-2 LNG, the State Department said in a statement. The project is expected to ship chilled natural gas, known as liquefied natural gas, to global markets.

Washington also targeted the KUB-BLA and Lancet suicide drones being used by the Russian military in Ukraine, designating a network it accused of procuring items in support of their production as well as the creator and designer of the drones.

The U.S. Department of Commerce on Thursday added 13 entities in Russia and Uzbekistan to its export control list for acting contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests.

The U.S. also cracked down on sanctions evasion in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and China, as the Treasury Department said companies based in the countries continue to send high priority dual-use goods to Russia, including components Moscow relies on for its weapons systems.

The Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on seven Russia-based banks and dozens of industrial firms, including Gazpromneft Catalytic Systems LLC, which Treasury said manufactures chemical agents for advanced oil refining in Russia.

The Kremlin said on Thursday ahead of the action that it expected the West to impose ever tougher sanctions on it over the war, but that there was a growing sense that such penalties hurt Western interests while Russia’s economy was adapting well.

With the sanctions on limited liability company Arctic LNG 2, along with previous measures imposed on the project in September, the U.S. is trying to target Russia’s upcoming energy production, similar to how it targeted its future deep-sea, shale and Arctic oil production after Moscow’s invasion of Crimea in 2014. All of these hard-to-produce projects depend on Western technology.

The U.S., itself a large liquefied natural gas producer that exports to Europe, is also trying to reduce Russia’s LNG shipments to Europe, which has only banned Russian gas sent via pipeline.

Arctic LNG 2 has been expecting to start exporting soon, and it is uncertain how much Russian LNG would be blocked by the new measures. The largest Russian LNG producer, Novatek NVTK.MM, said in September it would start shipments from Arctic LNG 2 early next year.

Thursday’s action marks the first measures Washington has taken directly targeting the Lancet drone, an angular gray tube with two sets of four wings that has been an increasing threat on Ukraine’s frontlines, according to Ukrainian solders.

Washington targeted limited liability company ZALA Aero, a Russia-based manufacturer the State Department said designs, manufactures and sells loitering munition and suicide drones to the Russian Ministry of Defense, as well as A Level Aerosystems CST, a Russia-based entity manufacturing and selling drones under the ZALA brand.

The owner of the companies, Aleksandr Zakharov, was also targeted, as were his wife, daughter and sons, and companies they own. The State Department said Zakharov is the creator and designer of the drones.

Washington has stepped up diplomatic pressure on countries and private companies globally to ensure enforcement of the barrage of sanctions it has unleashed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Among those designated on Thursday were Turkish and UAE firms, including companies that sent high-priority goods to Russia and firms that have shipped aviation parts and equipment.

Three Chinese entities — two that the Treasury said have conducted hundreds of shipments of electro-optical equipment, cameras and other items, and one that has shipped radar components to Russia-based firms — were also targeted.

The State Department also imposed sanctions on multiple defense-related entities and procurement companies in the UAE.

Construction companies, Russian officials and a metals and mining company implementing a project to develop the largest titanium ore deposit in the world located in Russia were also hit with sanctions.
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New Yorkers are Shifting Their Attitude Toward Recent Migrant Influx

As more than 10,000 migrants continue to make their way to New York City each month, concerns are arising among residents regarding the city’s capacity to support them. Aron Ranen brings us this story. (Camera: Aron Ranen)
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US House to Vote on Republicans’ Standalone $14.3 Billion Israel Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives plans a vote on Thursday on a Republican plan to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel by cutting Internal Revenue Service funding, setting up a clash with the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House.

Republicans unveiled the bill on Monday, in the first major legislative action under new House Speaker Mike Johnson, despite President Joe Biden’s request for a broad $106 billion package that would include funding for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine, as well as humanitarian aid.

The bill will face its first test of support in a morning procedural vote, a hurdle it needs to clear before a final vote on passage later in the afternoon.

Republicans have a 221-212 majority in the House, but Biden’s fellow Democrats control the Senate 51-49. To become law, the bill would have to pass both the House and Senate and be signed by Biden.

The top Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said the Republican bill would be dead on arrival in the upper chamber, even if it passed the House. The White House has threatened a veto.

Democrats objected to cutting money for the IRS, saying it will increase the country’s budget deficit by cutting back on tax collection.

They also said it was essential to continue to support Ukraine as it fights against a Russian invasion that began in February 2022.

While Democrats and many Republicans still strongly support Ukraine, a smaller but vocal group of Republicans question sending more money to the government in Kyiv at a time of steep budget deficits.

Congress has approved $113 billion for Ukraine since the invasion began.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday said the IRS cuts and the Israel aid in the standalone bill would add nearly $30 billion to the U.S. budget deficit, currently estimated at $1.7 trillion.
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China Says Official to Lead Delegation in China-US Nuclear Talks

The Chinese foreign ministry said Thursday a leading official from its department of arms control affairs will lead a delegation in China-U.S. nuclear talks.

The ministry did not name the official.

“Next week in Washington, China and U.S. will hold arms control and non-proliferation consultations at director-general level,” spokesperson Wang Wenbin said when asked about a report that China agreed to nuclear arms-control talks with the United States.

According to plans agreed by both sides, Wang said China and the U.S. will conduct dialogue and exchanges on a wide range of issues such as implementation of international arms control treaties.

The talks come days after Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with senior U.S. officials, with both sides agreeing to hold a series of consultations in the near future.

Wang also met with U.S. President Joe Biden in talks that the White House described as a “good opportunity” in terms of keeping lines of communication open between the two geopolitical rivals with deep policy differences.
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Rangers Crush Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game Five to Win Franchise’s First World Series Title

The Texas Rangers kept up their sensational play on the road and beat the Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game Five of the World Series in Arizona on Wednesday to deliver the franchise its first Major League Baseball championship.

Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen took a no-hitter into the seventh inning but gave up three consecutive hits ending with an RBI single up the middle by Mitch Garver to break up the scoreless affair.

The Rangers added four more runs in the top of the ninth to end any hope of a late Diamondbacks comeback, with Josh Sborz striking out Ketel Marte looking to seal the triumph.

“Everything I’ve ever worked for was for this moment,” said shortstop Marcus Semien, who blasted a two-run homer in the ninth.

“Kind of a crazy game when you’re getting no-hit through six, Gallen was unbelievable tonight, but we came through. Once Corey (Seager) got the first hit, everybody kind of woke up.”

It was the Rangers 11th straight road victory in the postseason. The championship is the first for the franchise, which was founded in 1961 and which has played in Texas since 1972.

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Attacks on US Forces in Iraq, Syria Keep Coming

In the days following the massacre of hundreds of Israelis by Iranian-backed Hamas, the US military has blamed other Iranian-backed proxy groups for about 30 near-daily attacks against its forces in Iraq and Syria. Last week, the US retaliated with precision strikes against facilities in Syria tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and affiliated groups, but the attacks against American personnel, while largely unsuccessful, have not stopped.  VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has more.
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Pakistan Rejects ‘Flawed’ US List of Potential Afghan Resettlers

Pakistan has started rounding up and deporting undocumented foreigners — including 1.7 million Afghan nationals — following a one-month deadline for voluntary departure that expired Wednesday.

Authorities have reported that nearly 250,000 Afghans have returned to their home country voluntarily in the run-up to the November 1 deadline to avoid being arrested and forcibly expelled.

The United Nations and Pakistani officials say those facing deportation include more than 600,000 people who fled Afghanistan after the Islamist Taliban returned to power in August 2021, when the United States and NATO withdrew their troops from the country.

U.S. officials say they are working closely with Pakistani counterparts to ensure the protection of at least 25,000 Afghans who could be eligible for relocation to the United States under a special immigration program for their services during the two-decade-long presence of American forces in Afghanistan.

But a senior Pakistani official said Wednesday that Islamabad had rejected the list because of significant discrepancies.

“The list of 25,000 Afghans was shared with Pakistan just days before the deportation deadline was to expire. We examined it thoroughly but found it flawed and incomplete,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for not being authorized to discuss the subject publicly.

The official added that the U.S. side eventually withdrew the list in response to Pakistan’s objections and promised to resubmit it after removing the flaws. Washington did not comment immediately on Pakistani assertions.

On Tuesday, a U.S. official said that facilitating “the safe and efficient” resettlement of Pakistan-based eligible Afghan refugees and asylum seekers is a priority for the U.S. administration.

“To help protect vulnerable individuals, we have shared a list with the government of Pakistan of more than 25,000 Afghan individuals in the U.S. resettlement and relocation pipelines,” said the U.S. official, who spoke anonymously to discuss the policy. “We are in the process of sending letters to those individuals that they can share with local authorities to help identify them as individuals in the U.S. pipeline.”

Dozens of Afghan nationals jailed for “minor crimes” also were released from a prison near the capital of Islamabad and were transported along with others to the border for repatriation Wednesday.

“This action is a testament to Pakistan’s determination to repatriate any individuals residing in the country without proper documentation,” Pakistani Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said on social media platform X.

The Taliban have repeatedly called on Pakistan and other neighboring countries hosting Afghan refugees to halt their deportation. The U.N. and human rights groups have warned the Pakistani plan could expose many individuals to retribution and abuses by de facto Afghan authorities.

“We call on them not to deport Afghans forcefully without preparation; rather give them enough time, and countries should use tolerance,” a Taliban statement said Wednesday. “Those Afghans who have left the country due to political concerns, we assure them to return and live peacefully in their country.”

The Taliban have set up temporary camps on the Afghan side for returning families to provide them with immediate shelter, health care, food and other services.

Pakistan has been praised globally for hosting millions of Afghan refugees who fled the decadelong Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and ensuing factional fighting in the 1990s. Currently, more than 4 million Afghans reside in the country, including 1.4 million legally registered refugees and hundreds of thousands of documented economic migrants.

Pakistani authorities have stated that Afghans living legally in the country are not subject to the crackdown.

Islamabad defends its policy regarding foreigners without legal status, saying Afghan nationals have carried out several suicide bombings in Pakistan amid a recent spike in deadly attacks in the country being orchestrated by Taliban-allied militants from Afghan soil.

The violence has led to anti-Afghan sentiment and calls for forcing the refugee community out of the country. It comes as Pakistan struggles to address a protracted economic crisis, which has led to historic levels of inflation and energy prices.

VOA Pakistan Bureau Chief Sarah Zaman contributed to this report.
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Blinken Heads to Israel, Jordan and Asia

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Israel and Jordan Thursday as Israel intensifies its retaliatory assault on Hamas targets in Gaza.

Blinken then continues to Japan next week for the G7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Tokyo, followed by visits to South Korea and India.

It is Blinken’s second trip to Israel since the deadly Hamas attack on October 7. The United States has been providing support to Israel for its war against Hamas militants and facilitating humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has said that Israel’s airstrikes have killed more than 8,500 people, bringing widespread outrage in the region and around the world.

The U.S. has called on Israel to respect international humanitarian law while defending its citizens and combating Hamas attacks.

In a phone call with Israeli President Isaac Herzog Tuesday, Blinken “emphasized the need to take feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians,” according to the U.S. State Department.

Both also discussed the continuing efforts to bring home more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas, and the urgent need to increase “the pace and volume of humanitarian assistance” that is entering Gaza for distribution to Palestinian civilians.

In a separate phone call Tuesday night, U.S. President Joe Biden and Jordan’s King Abdullah II stated a shared commitment to facilitating the increased, sustained delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the resumption of essential services.

They also agreed that it is critical to ensure that Palestinians are not forcibly displaced outside of Gaza, according to the White House.

While in Tel Aviv on Friday, Blinken will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli government.

Blinken has told U.S. senators that the Palestinian Authority should regain control of the Gaza Strip from Hamas, which has ruled the territory since 2007.

“At some point, what would make the most sense would be for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza,” said Blinken as he testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations.
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Washington brings ‘Made in America’ to APEC Summit

In mid-November, Washington’s trade representatives will be in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Week. Trade experts say the US has moved away from unlimited free trade and toward targeted trade policies, which could help Washington attract more APEC nations to invest in a US manufacturing boom already underway. VOA’s Jessica Stone reports. Video edit: Chenny Yu Chen
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