Trump ordered to pay $350 million, barred from running his company for three years

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Written by northsouth

Category: Americas

Published: 16 February 2024

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NEW YORK - A New York judge on Friday handed Donald J. Trump a crushing defeat in his civil fraud case, finding the former president liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth and ordering him to pay a penalty of $355 million that could wipe out his entire stockpile of cash.

The judge also barred the former president’s adult sons from serving in top roles at any New York company for two years.

The decision by Justice Arthur F. Engoron caps a chaotic, yearslong case in which New York’s attorney general put Mr. Trump’s fantastical claims of wealth on trial. With no jury, the power was in Justice Engoron’s hands alone, and he came down hard: The judge delivered a sweeping array of punishments that threatens the former president’s business empire as he simultaneously contends with four criminal prosecutions and seeks to regain the White House.

Not only did Justice Engoron impose a three-year ban preventing Mr. Trump from serving in top roles at any New York company, including his own, but the judge also applied that punishment to the former president’s adult sons for two years and ordered that they pay more than $4 million each. One of the sons, Eric Trump, is the Trump Organization’s de facto chief executive, and the ruling throws into doubt whether any member of the family can run the business in the near term.

Mr. Trump will appeal the financial penalty — which could climb to $400 million or more once interest is added — but will have to either come up with the money or secure a bond within 30 days. The ruling will not render him bankrupt, because most of his wealth is tied up in real estate.

Mr. Trump will also most likely ask an appeals court to halt the restrictions on him and his sons from running the company while it considers the case.

But there might be little Mr. Trump can do to thwart one of the judge’s most consequential punishments: extending for three years the appointment of an independent monitor who will be the court’s eyes and ears at the Trump Organization, watching for fraud and second-guessing transactions that look suspicious.

Trump’s lawyers have railed against the monitor, Barbara Jones, saying that her work has already cost the business more than $2.5 million; the decision to extend her oversight of the privately held family company could enrage the Trumps, who see her presence as an irritant and an insult.

The attorney general, Letitia James, had sought those consequences and more, asking for Mr. Trump to be permanently barred from New York’s business world.

In the 2022 lawsuit that precipitated the trial, she accused Mr. Trump of inflating his net worth to obtain favourable treatment from banks and other lenders, attacking the foundation of his public persona as a billionaire businessman.

Even though the lenders made money from Mr. Trump, they were the purported victims in the case, with Ms. James arguing that absent his fraud, they could have made even more. The financial penalty reflects those lost profits, with nearly half of the $355 million — $168 million — representing the interest that Mr. Trump saved, and the remaining sum representing his profit on the recent sale of two properties, money that the judge has now clawed back.

Before the trial began, Justice Engoron ruled that the former president had used his annual financial statements to defraud the lenders, siding with the attorney general on her case’s central claim.

The judge’s Friday ruling ratified almost all of the other accusations Ms. James had leveled against Mr. Trump, finding the former president liable for conspiring with his top executives to violate several state laws.

The judge’s decision for now grants Ms. James, a Democrat, a career-defining victory. She campaigned for her office promising to bring Mr. Trump to justice, and sat calmly in the courtroom during the trial as the former president attacked her, calling her a corrupt politician motivated solely by self-interest.

Her win is Mr. Trump’s second major courtroom loss in two months, following a January jury verdict in a defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll, a writer whom he was found liable of sexually abusing. The jury penalized him $83.3 million.

And the civil fraud ruling comes as Manhattan prosecutors are set to try Mr. Trump on criminal charges late next month. He is also contending with 57 other felony counts across three other criminal cases.

Palestinians sue US administration over alleged complicity in genocide

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Written by northsouth

Category: Americas

Published: 27 January 2024

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By Brooke Anderson

WASHINGTON - In a historic move, Palestinians have taken the US administration to Federal Court, alleging complicity in genocide.

Palestinians have taken the US administration to Federal Court, alleging complicity in genocide by President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction for the United States to cease its military and financial support of Israel's attacks on Gaza.

Early on Friday, at a federal courtroom in Oakland, California, hundreds of people, carrying signs, banners and Palestinian flags, gathered in the courtyard of the federal complex to show their support for the plaintiffs while they gave testimony in a courtroom with space available for around 30 attendees.

Presiding Judge Jeffrey White said the case "will be the most difficult judicial decision I've ever made".

The case, Defense for Children International - Palestine v. Biden, was filed on 13 November by the Center for Constitutional Rights along with aid organisations Defense for Children International – Palestine and Al-Haq, representing plaintiffs who had lost family in Gaza.

The complaint alleges that the US administration failed to influence Israel to prevent the genocide of Palestinians.

Katherine Gallagher, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, said that the case raises two questions - whether US officials have violated international law in failing to prevent genocide when knowing about the serious risk to the population in Gaza, and whether they violated international law with their substantial assistance to Israel's attacks on Gaza.

The plaintiffs invoked the genocide convention, which was unanimously adopted by the United Nations in 1948.

Article 3 forbids genocide, defined as acts "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the national, ethnic or racial group as such". The treaty also forbids complicity in genocide, which the plaintiffs argue implicates the US in this role.

Moreover, Gallagher noted that Biden, upon taking office, said that "the prevention and punishment of mass atrocities, including genocide, are cases of national interest and a matter of national policy".

The opposing side, representing the US administration, did not go into the same level of detail as the other side, possibly a sign of the security of the executive office in a case that would not be expected to be ruled in favour of the plaintiffs.

Jean Lin, an attorney for the US Department of Justice, argued that US courts don't have jurisdiction over this matter, which falls under the category of foreign policy, something that would be considered a political question.

Such matters, she suggested, could be addressed at the United Nations. This international body, the plaintiffs noted, is where the US has vetoed resolutions related to Palestinian human rights.

Seeing the limitations of his position in a case that he described as not having a legal precedent to refer to, Judge White, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, described these circumstances to the courtroom.

"At the heart of the political question doctrine is the separation of powers among the three branches of government, a fundamental and guiding concept enshrined in the United States Constitution," he said.

"I understand what is at stake here, and the importance of the plaintiff's lawsuit. I also understand the limitations placed on my office by the separation of powers and binding legal precedent," he added.

The political question doctrine would be a recurring theme in the arguments made by both sides. And though its interpretation is seen differently, there is little doubt of the power wielded by the executive branch.

As the Palestinian plaintiffs took the witness stand, answering their attorneys' questions, they gave testimony of their families, memories and their ties to Gaza.

Speaking by video from a hospital in Rafah was Omar Al-Najjar, a doctor sitting on what appeared to be a hallway floor. As he tried to communicate through background noise, the judge asked him if he could move to a quieter place, which he said wouldn't be possible.

The young doctor described the effects of Gaza's depleted healthcare system. At the hospital where he works, which is operating far beyond capacity, he is seeing cases of infectious diseases, diarrhoea and dehydration. He said his family is on their fourth displacement, calling the situation a heavy burden on his heart.

"I have nothing left but grief," he said. "This is what Israel and its supporters have done to us."

Ahmed Abofoul, who was born and raised in Gaza and now lives in the Hague, where he works as a legal researcher for Al-Haq, described the current situation in Gaza as "like nothing we've seen before".

He said that growing up he had heard his family's stories of the Nakba, but he said: "I never imagined we'd live it and experience it."

He told the courtroom that for the first time, he and his organisation were unable to cover Gaza. properly, having to choose between documenting human rights violations and the survival of their staff, leading to the suspension of their core work.

"The Gaza we know no longer exists," he said, as he named buildings and areas where he used to spend time that are now destroyed. Amid the ongoing destruction, he says his family continues to search for relatives under the rubble.

His grandfather, fearing another permanent displacement after what he had experienced in 1948, had to be carried to a new safe location.

Laila el-Haddad, a Palestinian culinary writer living in Maryland, described how she had worked over the years to preserve his family's heritage through her work and had spent extended periods in Gaza. Now, she says: "My family is being killed on my dime."

For the defendants, the most controversial testimony came at the end, from Barry Trachtenberg, a professor of Jewish history and a Holocaust and genocide scholar, who had been called as an expert witness by the plaintiffs.

"Everything that we feared and more is unfolding," he said, as the defence repeatedly objected to his presence, several of his statements, and the admission of his CV as evidence.

"What makes this situation so unique is that we’re watching the genocide unfold as we speak. And we’re in this incredibly unique position where we can intervene to stop it using the mechanisms of international law that are available to us," he said.

Friday's hearing in Oakland took place hours after the International Court of Justice in the Hague, in a case brought by South Africa, found that it was possible Israel was committing genocide and ordered it to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation.

During the breaks, those inside the courthouse could see through the glass windows the crowd of supporters growing outside. After the testimonies ended, Judge White assured the witnesses that they had been heard, adding that a decision should be expected soon.

As the plaintiffs' attorneys and witnesses exited the courthouse, they were greeted with a long round of applause.

"I felt a particular need to do this, as a Jewish lawyer here, who's been fighting on the side of Palestine for five decades now," said Marc Van Der Hout, as he spoke before the cheering crowd.

He thanked the plaintiffs and witnesses and expressed optimism that the judge would decide in their favour.

"It was amazingly powerful," he said. "They were able to tell the world what is going on in Gaza in a United States district court."

Secret tunnel found under synagogue sparks riot in New York

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Written by alib

Category: Americas

Published: 10 January 2024

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NEW YORK - A group of Hasidic Jewish men were arrested on Monday after a riot broke out at an historic Brooklyn synagogue after a rebelling faction illegally dug a secret underground tunnel into the temple.

“Young agitators” within the Chabad-Lubavitcher movement are believed to have dug the passageway to gain access to the group’s headquarters from a nearby building.

The clandestine operation was discovered after neighbours began hearing noises underneath their homes.

The Chabad leaders had tried to refill the passageway, but a brawl broke out when some of the men attempted to block efforts when a cement truck arrived on Monday.

Bizarre footage shows men tearing down wood paneling and throwing benches across the room as they clash with New York Police Department (NYPD) officers.

Some men appear to be guarding the tunnel entrance by sitting inside the passageway, while other clips show police arresting some Hasidic men. One man emerged from the tunnel covered in dust to cheers from supporters.

A separate video showed a Hasidic man climbing out of what appeared to be a sewer system.

Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Chairman of Chabad, denounced the “young agitators”, adding: “These odious actions will be investigated, and the sanctity of the synagogue will be restored”.

’’This is, obviously, deeply distressing to the Lubavitch movement, and the Jewish community worldwide,” he said. “We hope and pray to be able to expeditiously restore the sanctity and decorum of this holy place.”

The building, 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, was once home to the movement’s leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the rebbe, who died in 1994.

A faction within the movement believe the rebbe is the Messiah, with some claiming he never died.

The group of mostly young men reportedly dug the tunnel because they wanted to expand the headquarters, a move the rebbe called for more than three decades ago.

“They did it to expand 770 and make it bigger,” Zalmy Grossman, who knows some of those arrested, told the New York Times. “They have come to fulfill the rebbe’s wishes.”

Motti Seligson, a spokesman for Chabad, said a “group of extremist students” had secretly broken through the walls of a vacant building behind the headquarters.

The property’s manager brought in a construction crew Monday to fix the damaged walls, leading to a standoff with those who wanted the passageway to remain.

”Those efforts were disrupted by the extremists who broke through the wall to the synagogue, vandalising the sanctuary, in an effort to preserve their unauthorised access,” Mr Seligson said.

A NYPD spokesperson said officers were called to the building Monday afternoon to respond to a disorderly group that was trespassing and damaging a wall.

Ten people were arrested for criminal mischief and criminal trespass and one for obstructing governmental administration, police said.

As inspectors with the city’s building safety agency assessed the damage Tuesday, a group of police officers stood behind barricades surrounding the headquarters, blocking a line of young men from entering the building.

New York City Fire Department spokeswoman Amanda Farinacci said the agency received an anonymous tip about the location last month. But when a fire prevention team responded, they found all of the exits operable and up to code.

The building is now closed pending a structural safety review, Mr Seligson said.