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Actor <keyword id="19897962" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tamannaah-Bhatia" source="keywords">Tamannaah Bhatia</keyword>, who made waves with her recent cameo in Stree 2, is in the news again — but for a very unexpected reason this time. The actor was questioned by the <keyword id="19895344" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Enforcement-Directorate" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Enforcement Directorate" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Enforcement Directorate">Enforcement Directorate</keyword> (ED) in Guwahati on Thursday in connection with a high-profile <keyword id="19899231" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="money-laundering" source="keywords">money laundering</keyword> case involving the ‘<keyword id="19984854" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="HPZ-Token" source="keywords">HPZ Token</keyword>’ mobile app, where several investors were allegedly duped on the pretext of <keyword id="23296351" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cryptocurrency-mining" source="keywords">cryptocurrency mining</keyword>. The 34-year-old actor’s statement was recorded under the <keyword id="19912399" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Prevention-of-Money-Laundering-Act" source="keywords">Prevention of Money Laundering Act</keyword> (PMLA), according to the Press Trust of India (PTI). Bhatia allegedly received payments for making a "<keyword id="23595308" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="celebrity-appearance" source="keywords">celebrity appearance</keyword>" at an event linked to the app, though there were no incriminating charges against her. Initially called for questioning earlier, she deferred the summons due to professional commitments but appeared on Thursday, as per PTI. The money laundering probe is tied to an FIR filed by the <keyword id="21156024" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cyber-crimes-unit" source="keywords">cyber crimes unit</keyword> of Kohima Police, where several accused were booked under the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act. The app in question, 'HPZ Token,' was reportedly used to deceive investors by promising hefty returns on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency mining. For an investment of ₹57,000, investors were promised returns of ₹4,000 per day for three months, but payments were halted after the first round, and fresh funds were solicited. The ED’s investigation uncovered 299 entities involved, including 76 Chinese-controlled entities, accused of creating "shell entities" to launder funds. The agency seized assets worth ₹455 crore following searches across the country. This case is part of a broader crackdown on fraudulent online schemes and <keyword id="20454123" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="illegal-betting" source="keywords">illegal betting</keyword> tied to cryptocurrency investments. (With inputs from sources)

Why is actor Tamannaah Bhatia being questioned by the ED for a money laundering case?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Some brazen illegal acts are commonly used by the rich to get richer.</li><li>Tax evasion and insider trading are among the most common unlawful tactics, defense attorneys said.</li></ul>Tax evasion, insider trading, and money laundering.These are just a few of the brazen unlawful tactics that a segment of the country's wealthiest residents take part in — with seemingly little fear of prosecution — to boost their fortunes, according to white-collar criminal defense attorneys.When high-profile figures like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/todd-julie-chrisley-1-million-lawsuit-appeals-prison-release-2024-1">Todd and Julie Chrisley</a> of "Chrisley Knows Best" or <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-situation-mike-sorrentino-indicted-on-tax-charges-2014-9">Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino</a> of "Jersey Shore" get busted for financial crimes like tax fraud, critics opine that the crimes are common — and that's not untrue."There are routine categories of illicit acts that wealthy individuals often endeavor out of sheer greed," Matthew Barhoma, a Los Angeles defense attorney, told Business Insider.Tax evasion, Barhoma said, is "perhaps the most infamous method."In a 2021 report, the United States Treasury Department estimated that the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wealthiest-americans-dodge-taxes-treasury-department-economic-inequality-tax-evasion-2021-9">wealthiest 1% of Americans evade</a> a whopping $163 billion in owed taxes every year. That accounts for about 28% of the total US tax gap — the difference between the amount of taxes owed and the amount taxpayers pay on time.The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/janet-yellen-us-labor-market-jobs-data-nonfarm-payrolls-2024-9">Treasury Department</a> said in the report that tax evasion tends to be concentrated among the wealthy, in part, because they can tap accountants and other experts "who help shield them from bearing their true income tax liability.""Because these individuals know enforcement authorities lack the resources needed to pursue them, the consequences of their underpayments are viewed as minor, and so voluntary compliance rates tend to be lower," the Treasury Department said.Barhoma explained that to cut corners on their taxes, high-net-worth individuals often set up <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rich-people-that-use-tax-havens-2013-4">offshore accounts</a> in "tax havens" like Switzerland or the Cayman Islands "where financial secrecy is paramount."These individuals, he said, "often will use shell companies to obscure the true ownership of assets, making it difficult for tax authorities to trace the money.""Such deliberate acts are criminally culpable," said Barhoma.Veteran criminal defense attorney Tama Kudman said that in cases of tax fraud, individuals sometimes believe that their schemes are so complex and obscured that they will never be exposed."They feel like it's buried in there so deeply nobody will ever find it because they've got so many assets and they've set up so many fancy sort of shields, like trusts and corporations, and things that are designed to be asset protectors or tax protectors," said Kudman.And a lot of the time, those offenders are right. But, sometimes, they get caught."Financial crime can be invisible," said Barhoma. "It takes forensic accounting and high-level review to detect."Defense attorney Mark Ressler, a former federal prosecutor, said he's defended many wealthy people who have faced allegations of tax evasion through the use of illegal tax shelters.These tax shelters typically involve "convoluted" financial transactions that are intended to "trick the IRS into believing that the transactions have some kind of economic basis — that the sole purpose of these transactions is not just to shield your money from Uncle Sam," said Ressler, a partner at the New York City-based firm Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP.The transactions create bogus losses on paper, which are then used to offset legitimate investment gains, in turn cutting overall tax liability, according to Ressler."Many feature interest rate swaps, foreign currency exchanges, shell companies, nominee accounts and variations on these themes," he said. "The IRS is on point to challenge these efforts, but it's a game of whack-a-mole, as creative tax shelter engineers continue to spin up new dodges every few years."<h2 id="d1e33015-8166-4f2c-86ad-f19467485cb4">Insider trading is 'rampant' among some wealthy circles</h2>Another common unlawful method that some of the rich use to get richer is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/investing/insider-trading">insider trading</a>, according to the attorneys."While it's the classic financial crime, insider trading is still rampant among those with access to privileged information," said Barhoma, noting, "Often by nature of gaining wealth, you also gain valuable information regarding the market."By trading confidential information about a company's stock before it's made public, Barhoma said, the wealthy can make big money while the average investor is left in the dark.Kudman, who has about 30 years of expertise in cases of financial fraud, said that in wealthy circles material non-public information can casually come up in conversation and be viewed by those engaging in it as "locker room talk.""Everybody thinks fraud happens in some moment in the movies, where you hear the music in the background, and it's like it jumps out at you, but sometimes it happens in the most casual circumstances," Kudman said."They just don't recognize at the moment that they're trading on inside information that constitutes a violation of securities fraud," she said.Like insider trading, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-miles-helped-investigators-crack-money-laundering-scheme-dubai-london-2024-1">money laundering</a> — a process used to conceal the source of illegally obtained cash — is another illicit tactic used by some wealthy individuals, according to the defense attorneys."Some high-net-worth individuals didn't come by their money legitimately to begin with, so they need to find a way to launder it, and a lot of times, the laundering takes the form of the most legitimate of activities" like the buying of real estate, Ressler explained.Barhoma added that legitimate businesses, including restaurants and real estate, are typically used to mask the origins of "dirty" funds."An example of how easy this can be is when a wealthy art dealer buys expensive paintings with dirty money, sells them at a legitimate auction, and voila, the money is now 'clean,'" he said.<h2 id="be18047f-ac0e-4937-9105-1019c0fe450e">When the rich, or those pretending to be, prey on the rich</h2>Kudman pointed out that straight-up misrepresentation by high-net-worth individuals — and those pretending to be wealthy — is also prevalent among affluent networks."The country club is the single greatest place for a fraudster because they get people either to buy into their penny stocks and then they can do a dump, or they get people to invest in their real estate or companies," she said.When you're in that world, said Kudman, your guard is sometimes down because you assume that those around you are also successful."Sometimes the wealthy prey upon the other wealthy people and, most often, that gets litigated in a civil context rather than a criminal context," she said.According to the attorneys, financial crime is notably tough to prosecute often because of the sophisticated nature of the schemes, emboldening the individuals behind them to act with impunity. "Having dealt a lot with people who devise these kinds of fraudulent financial transactions, I will say that many of them are absolutely brilliant," said Ressler. "And had they devoted their genius and their energy to the legitimate pursuit of wealth, they would have been successful as well."

The illegal maneuvers the rich use to get richer

Three <keyword id="19909452" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="labourers" source="keywords">labourers</keyword> died of <keyword id="20100581" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="asphyxiation" source="keywords">asphyxiation</keyword> at an <keyword id="454970" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="illegal-coal-mine" source="Orion">illegal coal mine</keyword> in Gujarat's Surendranagar district, police said on Sunday. A case has been registered against four persons for <keyword id="20497088" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="culpable-homicide" source="keywords">culpable homicide</keyword> not amounting to murder, and efforts are on to apprehend them, an official said. The victims, Lakshman Dabhi (35), Khodabhai Makwana (32) and Viram Keraliya (35), were digging at a mine near Bhet village in Thangadh taluka of the district when they died of asphyxiation on Saturday, the official from Muli Muli police station said. The trio did not have helmets, masks or other <keyword id="20754876" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="safety-equipment" source="keywords">safety equipment</keyword> when they were working for the accused, he said. As per the first information report (FIR), the accused did not provide helmets or other safety equipment to the deceased while employing them to dig a well. They died after inhaling gas from the well, it stated. A case was registered against Jashabhai Keraliya, Janak Aniyaria, Khimjibhai Saradia, and Kalpesh Parmar, the official said. Bodies of the deceased labourers have been sent for post-mortem, he added. Earlier in February, three workers died after inhaling toxic gas that emanated after a blast triggered by gelatin sticks for an <keyword id="19932636" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="illegal" source="keywords">illegal</keyword> mining operation in the district.

Three die of asphyxiation at illegal coal mine in Gujarat

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The CEO of optics giant Olympus has resigned after it was alleged that he had bought illegal drugs.</li><li>Stefan Kaufmann's departure as CEO pushed the company's shares almost 6% lower Monday.</li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/olympus-ceo-resigns-amid-allegations-1033896996">Olympus Corporation's</a> CEO, Stefan Kaufmann, has exited the optics giant following allegations he purchased illegal drugs.The company announced Monday that Kaufmann had been asked to resign after an investigation and a unanimous board decision.Director and executive director Yasuo Takeuchi will take on Kaufmann's responsibilities in the interim while a new CEO is selected. He previously served as boss from 2019.The firm's shares slid 5.6% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange following the announcement."Upon receiving an allegation that Mr. Stefan Kaufmann had purchased illegal drugs, Olympus, in consultation with outside legal counsel, immediately investigated the facts, made a report to the investigative authorities, and cooperated fully with their investigation," the company said in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.olympus-global.com/ir/data/announcement/2024/contents/ir00031.pdf">statement</a>.It said that based on the results, Kaufmann had likely acted inconsistently with Olympus' global code of conduct, core values, and corporate culture.As a result, he was asked to offer his resignation and accepted the request, which is effective immediately, the firm added.Kaufmann worked at Olympus for over 20 years, becoming CEO in April 2023. He has been a board member since 2019.No further information has been made public about what type of drug Kaufmann is alleged to have purchased. He has not been charged with any crime. Police searched his home in June, but found no illegal substances, the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/10/0ac3ed892735-update1-olympus-ceo-kaufmann-resigns-amid-illegal-drug-purchase-allegation.html">Kyodo news agency reported.</a>Founded in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tokyo-confidential-bar-bartender-owner-foreigner-challenges-working-living-japan-2024-8">Tokyo</a> in 1919, the company is best known to the mass market for its cameras, though it sold that arm of its business in 2021.Its main business is in manufacturing medical technology, including surgical endoscopes and ultrasound processors.As of 2022, the company said it has a 70% share of the global market for gastrointestinal endoscopes.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/things-american-wishes-she-knew-before-visiting-japan-mistakes-2024-9">Japan</a> has strict laws against the use of drugs. In 2015, Julie Hamp, a senior media advisor at Toyota Motor Corporation, spent 20 days at a prison in Tokyo before walking free after being arrested on suspicion of importing a pain medication into the country without prior approval.Business Insider was unable to reach Stefan Kaufmann for comment.

The CEO of optics giant Olympus has resigned after accusations he bought illegal drugs, sending its shares plummeting

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Thousands of <keyword id="19953645" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Chinese-migrants" source="keywords">Chinese migrants</keyword> flew into Ecuador last year in hopes of walking into the US.</li><li>But Ecuador is now cutting its yearslong <keyword id="22159339" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="visa-free-access" source="keywords">visa-free access</keyword> to Chinese citizens after a surge in <keyword id="19929766" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="migrants" source="keywords">migrants</keyword>.</li></ul>Ecuador is suspending visa-free access for Chinese travelers starting July 1, closing off a popular arrival spot used last year by thousands of Chinese migrants trekking to the <keyword id="19953646" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="US-Mexico-border" source="keywords">US-Mexico border</keyword>. Since 2016, Ecuador has allowed Chinese nationals to enter its borders without a visa and stay for up to 90 days. But in a statement on Tuesday seen by Business Insider, the <keyword id="20245662" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ministry-of-foreign-affairs" source="keywords">Ministry of Foreign Affairs</keyword> and Human Mobility said it was ending the program "due to the unusual increase in irregular migratory flows of Chinese citizens" who overstayed their 90 days. It is only one of two nations in the Americas that offers visa-free access to Chinese nationals. The other is Suriname, a smaller country of about 618,000 people. The Ecuadorian ministry noted that about 50% of all Chinese arrivals "have not left through regular routes and within the times established by law." Many people have used the country as a "starting point to reach other destinations in the Hemisphere," the ministry added. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.niskanencenter.org/new-data-suggests-political-repression-slowing-economy-driving-irregular-chinese-migration-to-u-s/">The Niskanen Center</a> assessed in May that Chinese travelers entered Ecuador 48,381 times in 2023 but only left the country legally 24,240 times that year. The deficit was "by far the highest number of any nationality," the US think tank wrote. It comes amid a surge in Chinese arrivals that year, with a 235% increase compared to the previous five-year average, per the Niskanen Center. The visa-free access recently made Ecuador a major entry point into the Americas for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukkLIFQWG4g&amp;t=1735s&amp;ab_channel=CNAInsider">Chinese migrants looking to travel through Central America and reach the US-Mexico border.</a> In response to Ecuador's Tuesday decision, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/fyrbt_673021/jzhsl_673025/202406/t20240618_11437859.shtml">Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson</a> said the country "firmly opposes any form of <keyword id="22159340" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="smuggling-activities" source="keywords">smuggling activities</keyword>." "In recent years, Chinese law enforcement agencies have cracked down on crimes that hinder national border management and have maintained a high-pressure crackdown on various smuggling organizations and criminals engaged in smuggling activities, achieving remarkable results," the spokesperson said. <h2>How Chinese migrants use Ecuador to get to the US</h2>Thousands of migrants fly into Ecuador before traveling through Colombia, where they begin a grueling trek on <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/15/americas/darien-gap-migrants-colombia-panama-whole-story-cmd-intl/index.html" target="_blank">a perilous, cartel-run route</a> through a stretch of jungle called the <keyword id="22159341" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Darin-Gap" source="keywords">Darién Gap</keyword>. If successful, they emerge in Panama. Over 15,500 Chinese migrants were counted exiting the Darién Gap in 2023, per <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/through-darien-gap-new-path-chinese-asylum-seekers-united-states">Washington-based think tank The Wilson Center.</a> "This figure is nearly eight times as many from the same period in 2022 and more than 40 times that of 2021," wrote Joshua Peng, a program associate in refugee and displacement research at The Wilson Center. Many migrants then travel to Mexico, attempting to reach the US through its southern border. <keyword id="19959298" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="US-border" source="keywords">US border</keyword> officials said they <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/article/china-immigration-border-deportation-mayorkas-514f42ee56e80fe7eb7f9fcc71c4d55c">detained 37,000 Chinese migrants attempting to cross the border in 2023</a>, or 10 times the number detained in the year before. The true number of those attempting to cross the border is likely higher. <div type="image" title="Chinese migrants huddle in a line to receive colored wristbands from a US Border Patrol agent at a makeshift camp." height="2667" width="4000" msid="111136208" hostid="261"></div>The flow of Chinese migrants continued to surge in 2024, with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-border-mexico-chinese-migrants-60-minutes/">CBS reporting</a> in February that it observed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-migrants-guide-douyin-how-to-cross-us-border-cbs-2024-2">600 migrants, many of whom were Chinese, entering the US in a single day.</a> The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability <a target="_blank" href="https://homeland.house.gov/2024/05/11/media-advisory-homeland-subcommittee-hearing-on-unprecedented-surge-of-chinese-illegal-immigration/">said in May</a> that the number of Chinese nationals encountered by authorities at the US border in March had jumped 8,000% from the same period in 2021. <keyword id="19959299" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="illegal-immigration" source="keywords">Illegal immigration</keyword> from the southern border has been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-want-to-kill-bipartisan-border-bill-help-trump-campaign-2024-1">rising in political prominence</a> in the US, with Republican leaders <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-spent-nearly-9-million-busing-migrants-over-holidays-2023-1">pushing for increased border security</a> and saying southern states are unable to cope with a surge in migrants. Data on Chinese arrivals in Ecuador give some clues to the demographics of migrants reaching the US. According to the Niskanen Center, Shanghai is the Chinese region with the highest per-capita rate of people leaving to reach Ecuador, with 274 arrivals for every 1 million people in Shanghai. Hong Kong is second, with 257 arrivals per 1 million people, followed by Beijing, with 161 arrivals per 1 million people. Xinjiang is sixth, with 24 arrivals per 1 million people. Correction: June 21, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the country Colombia.

The thousands of Chinese migrants headed to the US-Mexico border just lost their key entry point to America

<ul class="summary-list"><li>DOJ prosecutors brought charges against Michelle Bond, a failed Republican congressional candidate.</li><li>They allege she illegally used money from her boyfriend, Ryan Salame, to fuel her campaign.</li></ul>Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have brought criminal charges against Michelle Bond, a cryptocurrency advocate who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2022.According to an indictment unsealed Thursday, Bond had a fake consulting agreement with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-crypto-king-sam-bankman-fried-rise-and-fall-2022-11">FTX, the notorious cryptocurrency exchange</a> run by <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-considered-tucker-carlson-alliance-after-ftx-bankruptcy-2024-3">Sam Bankman-Fried</a>. Her boyfriend, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ryan-salame-posting-ftx-crypto-trump-sbf-awaiting-prison-2024-8">Ryan Salame</a>, was an executive at one of FTX's affiliate companies in the Bahamas.The $400,000 she received — along with gobs of more stolen money from FTX — fueled her congressional campaign, prosecutors say.Bond then lied about the money in forms submitted to the House Ethics Committee, as well as the Federal Elections Commission, the indictment alleges. She told board members at her job at a trade group seeking to influence crypto policy in Congress that she never actually consulted for FTX, according to the indictment."BOND did not perform any services for the Exchange pursuant to the Consulting Agreement," the indictment says.Bond ran for US Congress as a Republican in New York's first district, on Long Island. She lost the primary election and has since launched a crypto think tank called Digital Future. Neither Bond nor a spokesperson for Digital Future immediately responded to requests for comment from BI.Bond and Salame are romantic partners and have a child together, who is about eight months old.The charges against Bond come one day after she finalized a divorce with her previous partner, according to Salame."The love of my life, after a brutal and long and downright aggressive process, is finally divorced!!! ❤️ We're going through hell still but we got this !" Salame <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/rsalame7926/status/1826419995368120403">posted to X</a>, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday night.Salame was one of four executives at FTX and Alameda Research, a crypto trading firm controlled by Bankman-Fried, who faced criminal charges from federal prosecutors in Manhattan following the dramatic collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange in November 2022.He — along with executives Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, and Caroline Ellison — <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-ryan-salame-guilty-plea-sam-bankman-fried-trial-2023-9">pleaded guilty to the charges against him</a>. Wang, Singh, and Ellison all testified at Bankman-Fried's trial late last year, where he was <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jury-sam-bankman-fried-guilty-seven-counts-fraud-manhattan-trial-2023-10">convicted on fraud and money laundering charges</a> and later <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-sentenced-prison-ftx-alameda-research-2024-3">sentenced to 25 years in prison</a>.Prosecutors never offered a cooperation agreement to Salame, according to a source familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity because of the ongoing litigation surrounding the case.Salame was initially meant to serve <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-exec-sbf-deputy-ryan-salame-prison-sentence-2024-5">a 7 ½-year prison sentence</a> on August 29, but it was delayed so that he could receive medical treatment after a dog bit him on his face. On social media, he has grumbled about the unfairness of the legal system.According to the indictment against Bond, Salame, who is referred to in the document as "CC-1," arranged for the fake $400,000 consulting job with FTX, along with additional funds. In total, Salame and FTX gave Bond over $900,000, according to the indictment — far above the legal limits.According to prosecutors, Salame even once asked a friend to donate to Bond's campaign, who joked about Salame reimbursing them."lol don't type that, that's not allowed," Salame said in a text message included in the indictment.Salame didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.<h2 id="f808e021-58e2-4dde-be62-7dd98383dfff">Salame says the Justice Department promised to stop investigating Bond</h2>Just before Bond's indictment was unsealed, on Wednesday night, Salame's lawyers asked US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who sentenced him, to toss out his plea deal.They alleged that Danielle Sassoon, a Manhattan federal prosecutor involved in the FTX prosecutions, reneged on "implied assurances" that her office would cease investigating Bond — who they also represent."A significant contributing factor to my accepting the plea arrangement was the understanding that, if I did so, the government would not pursue the campaign-finance charges against Bond," Salame wrote in a filing filed to court Wednesday. "And I took the government at its word, expecting that the implied commitment would be honored."In a response Wednesday night, Sassoon called Salame's filings "self-serving" and "demonstrably false."She wrote that prosecutors had a follow-up meeting with Salame's attorneys where they "spelled out, for the avoidance of any doubt, that a Salame guilty plea would not stop any ongoing investigation into Bond's conduct."Prosecutors brought four separate criminal counts against Bond related to campaign finance violations, each of which carries a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison.In a letter to Judge Kaplan earlier this year, pleading for a low sentence for Salame, Bond wrote that he was a "pillar of support" for her, their child together, and her two children from a previous marriage."He's been deliberate about preparing our family for the possibility of incarceration by spending as much time with us as he can now, assisting with multiple medical and mental health resources for the kids, and assisting me with getting back on my feet given all the loss experienced as a result of FTX's collapse," Bond wrote.

Ex-FTX exec's girlfriend accused of using his money to illegally fuel her political career

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A Toronto-based law firm began a 3-year independent monitorship of Pornhub's parent company Friday.</li><li>The monitorship is part of a deferred-prosecution agreement Pornhub's owners agreed to in December.</li></ul>A Toronto-based law firm has begun a three-year independent monitorship of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pornhub-is-awash-in-lawsuits-unverified-videos-2024-7">Pornhub and its parent company, Aylo Holdings</a>.Department of Justice approval of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://hhllp.ca/">Henein Hutchinson Robitaille LLP</a> was revealed Friday <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25038100-aylo-monitorship-20240809">in a letter</a> to US District Judge Brian M. Cogan, who will oversee the monitorship.The firm will review how Aylo responds to takedown requests and screens for illegal content — including child-sexual-abuse images and non-consensual videos of sexual assault and trafficking — on its flagship website Pornhub and such sister sites as YouPorn and RedTube.The monitorship is part of a deferred prosecution agreement between Aylo and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, who charged the company with money laundering in December.As part of that agreement, Aylo — formerly MindGeek— admitted profiting from videos produced by <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/girls-do-porn-victims-sue-pornhub-mindgeek-40-million-2020-12">the sex trafficking ring Girls Do Porn</a>. In addition to agreeing to independent monitoring, Aylo officials paid a $1.8 million fine and agreed to undisclosed additional payments to victims whose images appeared on the company's platforms.To date, five Girls Do Porn employees have pleaded guilty in San Diego to federal sex trafficking charges. Accused Girls Do Porn mastermind Michael James Pratt was extradited to California from Spain in March. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting a possible trial.Aylo is owned by the Canadian private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners. Two firm officials, partner Solomon Friedman and spokeswoman Sarah Bain, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Bain has previously told Business Insider that Aylo has taken significant steps to keep illegal content off the site, including through increased human monitoring and the use of AI technologies that can identify possible child-sexual-abuse images.A spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn declined to comment on the monitorship.

A DOJ-approved monitor begins policing how Pornhub screens for illegal videos, including potential sexual abuse

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A US Navy leader was demoted for installing an illegal WiFi network on a warship, a new report says.</li><li>Grisel Marrero installed a Starlink network on the USS Manchester and named it "STINKY."</li></ul>A senior US Navy enlisted leader who was demoted after she was caught running illegal WiFi on a warship used a leadership association's debit card to pay for its monthly bills and named it "STINKY," according to a new report.Grisel Marrero, who was the command senior chief of the USS Manchester, installed and operated the unauthorized network during a deployment in 2023, lying to her commanders and falsifying records to cover up its presence, according to a Navy charge sheet seen by Business Insider.According to a judgment filed on May 29, Marrero was demoted from senior chief petty officer to chief petty officer after being found guilty of dereliction of duty and providing false official statements to her commanders.A new report from <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" href="https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2024/09/03/how-navy-chiefs-conspired-to-get-themselves-illegal-warship-wi-fi">Navy Times</a>, citing documents from a Navy investigation, reveals new information on Marrero's conduct, saying she worked secretly with other enlisted chiefs to install and maintain a $1,000-a-month Starlink network on the Manchester.Marrero had paid for the $2,800 Starlink dish and kit with a personal credit card and was the network administrator, maintaining the sole authority to add others to the network, per the outlet.She and another chief installed the dish on the Manchester's weather deck during a blanket "aloft" period when duties aren't recorded in the ship's logs, per Navy Times.Though Marrero had paid for the dish with a personal credit card, the chiefs on the Manchester split the cost of Starlink's recurring bills and paid them with a Chief Petty Officer Association debit card.The chief's mess then kept access to the Starlink network — which they named "STINKY" — only to themselves, Navy Times reported.When junior sailors and commanding officers began noticing the WiFi network, Marrero denied its existence, according to Navy Times.Marrero's charge sheet said she lied to her commanding officer on at least three occasions from July to August 2023, telling them each time that there was no WiFi onboard.Later, she changed the network's name from "STINKY" to something that sounded like a wireless printer, although there were no such printers on the ship, Navy Times wrote, citing the investigation.The Starlink dish was eventually discovered on August 18 by a civilian installing a separate, authorized satellite communication system."The gig is up," Marrero texted a crew member at the time, according to the investigation seen by Navy Times.After being confronted, she and the other chiefs tried to remove the dish, then told commanders that they only used it while in port, per Navy Times. Marrero's charge sheet also said that she altered data usage records for the Starlink account.Navy Times reported that Marrero admitted to her commanding officer on August 26, 2023, that she had installed the illegal WiFi network.Court records show that Marrero pleaded guilty to two counts of dereliction of duty, and not guilty for one count of obstruction of justice, though she was found guilty of all three.The US Navy press office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, sent outside business hours.

A US Navy chief who wanted WiFi on her warship secretly ran an illegal Starlink network that she named 'STINKY': report

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A Tesla Cybertruck owner went viral for polishing his vehicle to have a mirrorlike finish.</li><li>Some social media users raised concerns that the customization presents road safety hazards.</li></ul>Having a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/polished-cybertruck-stainless-steel-2024-6">Cybertruck with a mirrored body</a> may not be the safest idea, but it's not illegal, highway safety experts and a traffic court attorney told Business Insider.In May, Tyson Garvin went viral on social media for polishing his <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-cybertruck-review-annoying-features-windshield-wheel-covers-safety-2024-4">Tesla Cybertruck</a> to have a mirrorlike exterior.Garvin told BI that he felt the polishing job was not only an aesthetic improvement but also a practical upgrade. He said the new look helped with the common issue of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cybertruck-upkeep-barkeepers-friend-tesla-fanatics-2024-3">fingerprint stains</a> on the vehicle's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cybertruck-steel-body-panel-gaps-production-issue-report-2023-11">stainless steel exterior</a>.<h2 id="238f9912-7758-4298-af52-8a8cab620e4d">But is it safe?</h2>Social media users reacting to Garvin's customization raised concerns that the car could be a road safety hazard if the truck's exterior reflected headlights back at drivers — and if the vehicle blends in with its environment on the road as well as it appears to in photos.<div type="image" title="Cybertruck" height="1280" width="960" msid="110822401" hostid="261" sizebytes="224992"></div>Garvin told BI he had similar concerns about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-drivers-have-a-blinding-headlight-problem-2023-2">drivers' headlights</a> bouncing off the truck's tailgate when driving at night. He said a road test he conducted with his wife showed that the tailgate only reflected the road because it is slightly slanted downward.Experts told BI there isn't much literature on whether reflective exteriors present higher risks."Reflective glare may pose the same problem for other drivers as headlight glare, but I am not aware of any research documenting whether this leads to or is associated with increased crash risk," David Zuby, chief research officer for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, told BI in an email.Johnathon Ehsani, a research director at Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, told BI he wasn't aware of studies that revealed the impacts of a vehicle's exterior color.However, Ehsani added that there are two possible "mechanisms" that could make a reflective Cybertruck a road risk.The first regarded concerns raised online: It's certainly possible that reflected glare from the vehicle can temporarily blind other drivers, Ehsani said, cautioning that he would have to see the vehicle in person to make a more certain conclusion.Garvin told BI that the Cybertruck's shape causes sunlight to reflect onto the ground rather than towards other drivers.<div type="image" title="Cybertruck" height="1600" width="1002" msid="110822403" hostid="261" sizebytes="305798"></div>The far more plausible scenario for road risks is not unique to the reflective Cybertruck, Ehsani said."The far more plausible case is a crash mechanism that is far more common, that people crash from every single day," he said," and that's that it might attract attention because it's such an unusual-looking vehicle."Ehsani co-authored a 2013 study published in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(13)00779-9/fulltext">Journal of Adolescent Health</a> that documented the impact of a distracted driver. His research found that drivers are 3.8 times more likely to crash if they divert their attention from the road for more than two seconds.This issue, of course, is not limited to exotic or highly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/20-million-dollar-exotic-car-hamilton-collection-2022-4">unusual vehicles</a>, Ehsani said."It's not that different to, for example, looking at a billboard for longer than you need to or even messing around with your entertainment console," he said.<h2 id="c44427f3-b977-4c5a-a62c-b7f94af90931">'Asking to be pulled over'</h2>A polished Cybertruck may attract some legal burdens even if there are no laws regarding <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/yiannimize-celebrity-car-customizer-car-wrapping-2019-2">customizing a vehicle's exterior color</a>.Martin A. Kron, a longtime New York traffic court attorney and former judge, told BI in an interview that he's never dealt with a legal issue for a car's paint job in his 38 years of practice.But having a car with an outlandish color attracts the attention of everyone — including police officers, he said."Although there may not be a spelled out legal prohibition against it, in the real world, if you're driving a customized car, you're asking to be pulled over," Kron said, adding that officers could pull the driver over and sniff out other reasons to give a ticket.Zuby, the chief research officer for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, told BI that the car's paint job also likely has no impact on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-long-does-a-car-accident-affect-my-insurance-rates">insurance rates</a>.He said that insurers are mostly restricted to using past experiences rather than "predictive assessments" to set rates."So, unless an insurer had somehow documented that shinier vehicles had higher losses than less shiny ones, it would be unlikely to affect premiums paid," Zubu said. "Plus, it's unclear how an insurer would know that an insured made the vehicle shiny after purchase."That is unless your vehicle is featured in a global publication, of course.

Polishing a Cybertruck might not be the safest idea, but it's not illegal, traffic experts say

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Google employees who were fired for protesting the company's work with Israel have gone to the NLRB.</li><li>About 50 employees were fired or placed on leave, the NLRB complaint said.</li></ul>Google workers who were fired for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/googlers-arrested-and-fired-israel-protest-project-nimbus-nyc-sunnyvale-2024-4">protesting against the company's cloud contract with the Israeli government</a> filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday.An attorney for the workers said in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24628681-google-charge">complaint</a> that Google "retaliated against approximately 50 employees" by terminating them or putting them on administrative leave. Last month, Google said that it fired 28 employees for staging in-office protests in New York City and Sunnyvale, California.Google's actions, the workers' attorney wrote, were "in response to their protected concert activity, namely, participation (or perceived participation) in a peaceful, non-disruptive protest that was directly and explicitly connected to their terms and conditions of work."In a statement to Business Insider, a Google spokesperson said the behavior was "completely unacceptable." "This is a very clear case of employees disrupting and occupying work spaces, and making other employees feel threatened and unsafe," the statement said. "We carefully confirmed and reconfirmed that every single person whose employment was terminated was directly and definitively involved in disruption inside our buildings."Representatives for the NLRB didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.Google said in an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-memo-warning-employees-think-again-before-sit-in-protests-2024-4">internal memo</a> on April 17 that the protesters had taken over office spaces and defaced company property."Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it," the company wrote.The workers had voiced their dissent against <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/project-nimbus-google-sundar-pichai-2022-9">Project Nimbus</a>, Google's $1.2 billion joint contract with Amazon to provide artificial intelligence and cloud computing services to Israel.Protesters claimed that the contract — the details of which became public in 2021 — would allow the Israeli government to surveil and displace Palestinians.But Google told BI last month that the company's work was not directed at highly sensitive or classified military projects relevant to weapons or intelligence services."We have been very clear that the Nimbus contract is for workloads running on our commercial cloud by Israeli government ministries, who agree to comply with our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy," a spokesperson for Google told BI.The ongoing dispute between Google and some of its employees highlights companies' tricky balance between their business interests and their workers' desire for self-expression.In December, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/02/amazon-israel-gaza-war/">The Washington Post</a> reported that around 1,700 Amazon employees had signed a petition against Project Nimbus.Signatories argued that Amazon's cloud technology was going to be used by the Israelis to "repress Palestinian activists and impose a brutal siege on Gaza."When asked about the petition, Amazon spokesperson Rob Munoz told The Post that the tech giant "is focused on making the benefits of our world-leading cloud technology available to all our customers, wherever they are located."

You Searched For "illegal" and got 10 results

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A DOJ-approved monitor begins policing how Pornhub screens for illegal videos, including potential sexual abuse

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A US Navy chief who wanted WiFi on her warship secretly ran an illegal Starlink network that she named 'STINKY': report

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Google workers fired for Israel contract protests claim terminations were illegal

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