Month: May 2023

Rep. George Santos of New York pleaded not guilty to a 13-count federal indictment unsealed by the Justice Department at a Long Island courthouse on Wednesday. The 34-year-old Santos has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, according to the Justice Department.

Santos, who surrendered into custody Wednesday morning, pleaded not guilty at an 11-minute hearing and was released on $500,000 bond. Santos must submit to pretrial services, have random monitoring at his home and surrender his passport, and any travel outside New York state and Washington, D.C., must be approved by the court. He’s due in court again June 30. Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Santos said he was confident that he would be able to clear his name, adding that he doesn’t plan to resign from Congress and that he still plans to run for re-election next year. Santos later tweeted that he was facing a “witch hunt.”

Santos was elected to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District last November and has spent the months since dealing with questions about his education and professional experience, as well as his finances and campaign spending. The Justice Department alleges that Santos used campaign contributions for personal expenses, falsely collected more than $24,000 in unemployment benefits by claiming to be unemployed during the COVID-19 pandemic and lied to Congress on financial disclosure forms. The charges against Santos were filed by federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York; if convicted, Santos faces up to 20 years in prison for the most serious charges. U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement: “Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself. He used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits that should have gone to New Yorkers who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and lied to the House of Representatives.”

Santos has only admitted to “embellishing” his resume, but has otherwise denied any other wrongdoing.
Calls for his resignation were reiterated after Santos’ arrest, with many lawmakers demanding Santos to step down from his House seat in light of the criminal charges filed against him.

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A Utah mother who published a children’s book on grief following her husband’s death last year has now been accused of poisoning him with a lethal dose of fentanyl. Court documents show that 33-year-old Kouri Richins faces charges including aggravated murder in connection with the death of her husband, Eric Richins, 39, who was found dead at the foot of their bed on March 4, 2022. Prosecutors allege that Eric Richins was poisoned by a lethal dose of fentanyl on the night of March 3, 2022, according to the charging document. Kouri Richins has also been charged with three counts of possession of drugs with intent to distribute. Her next hearing is scheduled for May 19.

According to the probable cause statement, Kouri Richins allegedly told police following his death that they were celebrating her closing on a house for her business that night and she “made Eric a Moscow Mule in the kitchen and brought it to their bedroom where Eric consumed it while sitting in bed.”  She then said she went to sleep with one of their children, and when returning to the bedroom around 3 a.m. she found him “cold to the touch.”  An autopsy determined that Eric Richins died from a fentanyl overdose, and that the level of fentanyl in his system was five times the lethal dosage. The medical examiner indicated the fentanyl was “illicit fentanyl,” not medical grade, and that it was likely ingested orally.

Kouri and Eric Richins were married for nine years and had three young sons together, according to his obituary. While appearing on a “Good Things Utah” segment last month on Salt Lake City’s KTVX to promote her new children’s book, Kouri Richins said her husband died unexpectedly, and that his death “completely took us all by shock … My kids and I kind of wrote this book on the different emotions and grieving processes that we’ve experienced last year. [I am] hoping it can kind of help other kids deal with this and kind of find happiness some way or another.”

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A Manhattan jury unanimously found former President Donald Trump liable for battery and defamation in the sexual assault case brought by E. Jean Carroll. The jury found, beyond a preponderance of evidence, that Trump unlawfully touch Carroll without her consent in a New York City department store in the 1990s. However, it did not reach a unanimous agreement that he raped Carroll. For Trump to face punishment, the jury had to unanimously determine that Carroll’s claims had been proven by a preponderance of evidence, a lower bar of scrutiny than beyond a reasonable doubt.

According to NBC News, after receiving instructions on the law and a 10-question verdict from by U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, the jury entered deliberations shortly before noon. The six men and three women on the jury were charged with determining if Trump sexually assaulted Carroll or defamed her by publicly accusing her of lying about the alleged incident. The jury ruled that Trump must pay $2 million in compensation and $20,000 in punitive damages for battery. For defamation, the jury awarded Carroll $1.7 million for reputational repair and $1 million in compensatory damages and $280,000 in punitive damages.

Judge Kaplan had given Trump until Sunday afternoon to determine whether or not he would take the stand in the rape case, which he declined to do. Carroll had alleged that Trump raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Two witnesses for the prosecution testified that Carroll told them about the assault shortly after it happened; and Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff testified that Trump had similarly sexually assaulted them in separate incidents. Though Trump did not testify in the case, video of his deposition by Carroll’s attorneys was made public on Friday.

Trump’s defense team has repeatedly claimed that the case against the former president is politically motivated. In closing statements on Monday, Trump attorney Joe Tacopina said the jury must disregard its feelings about Trump and focus on the facts of the case: “People have very strong feelings about Donald Trump. There’s a time and a secret place to do that. It’s called a ballot box during an election.” On his Truth Social social media page earlier on Tuesday, Trump reasserted his dismissal of the allegations against him:  “In the meantime, the other side has a book falsely accusing me of rape, and is working with the press. I will therefore not speak until after the trial, but will appeal the unconstitutional silencing of me, as a candidate, no matter the outcome!”

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