The Palm Beach federal court's finding that prosecutors violated the rights of Jeffrey Epstein's victims by failing to notify them that the govt would enter into a non-prosecution agreement with Epstein. It illustrates a v cozy relationship w the defense. assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5746…
...the opinion also illustrates that, while working hand in glove with the defense, the prosecutors in Alex Acosta's U.S. Attorney's office developed no relationship whatsoever with the minor victims of Epstein's crimes.
As the prosecution and defense approach a deal, Alex Acosta himself gets involved, negotiating directly with Epstein's lead defense lawyer Jay Lefkowitz, and the results are--at least to me--stomach turning.
The year after the non-prosecution agreement with Epstein was signed, Acosta's US Attorney's office repeatedly misled victims and their attorneys to conceal the existence of the agreement.
This isn't just my gloss on the opinion, btw. The judge expressly found Acosta's office misled Epstein's victims--minors whom he sexually abused.
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A NY state court hearing is kicking off on the NYAG's motion to compel testimony from former president Trump, Don Jr., and Ivanka, who've all moved to quash their subpoenas.
Trump Sr. is represented at the hearing by Alina Habba, a litigator with offices in Bedminster, NJ. Alan Futerfas is representing the adult Trump children; he previously repped Don Jr. before the Mueller investigation, as well as (a long time ago) a number of NY mafia figures.
Futerfas is monopolizing the beginning of the hearing to push the idea that the NYAG's investigation should be treated as a criminal matter, even though the AG's office has no criminal jurisdiction, because (he says) they're openly working hand-in-glove with the Manhattan DA.
News - Mazars has effectively fired the Trump Organization, citing a non-waivable conflict, and determined that Trump's financial statements from 2011-20 should not be relied on, per a letter to Alan Garten filed in court today.
The rest of the letter
I apologize for not including in my initial tweet the cryptic reference to missing information about "the Matt Calimari Jr. apartment" which Donald Bender apparently cannot get for love or money. It's amazing stuff, obv.
BuzzFeed has obtained through FOIA newly unredacted sections of the Mueller report that show the Special Counsel considered and rejected the idea of charging Donald Trump Jr. and Roger Stone with computer crimes. buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
The SCO also looked at charging J.D. Gordon for changing the Republican platform to weaken the language on supporting Ukraine—a live issue back in 2016 as much as today because that war has been going on so long—but the prosecutors decided they couldn’t prove Russian influence.
Reporting has long been that J.D. Gordon told people the direction to change the language came directly from Trump. npr.org/2017/12/04/568…
“Two individuals were arrested this morning in Manhattan for an alleged conspiracy to launder cryptocurrency that was stolen during the 2016 hack of Bitfinex, … valued at approximately $4.5 billion. Thus far, law enforcement has seized over $3.6 billion.” justice.gov/opa/pr/two-arr…
That’s just …. a lot of money for one law enforcement action.
Like, how many surveillance vans will they buy?
DAG Lisa Monaco says it’s “the department’s largest financial seizure ever.”
I feel so strangely disconnected from pretty much the entirety of Covid discourse I see. I thought I’d offer my own testimony in a thread, mostly to see if it’s familiar to anyone else.
In my little slice of the world, when Omicron came in mid-December and testing lines started stretching down the blocks, govt officials were pretty adamant that they would not be reimposing mitigation measures like indoor dining restrictions. But some restaurants closed anyway.
I was planning to fly to California to see my family over the holidays, so I voluntarily cut out a lot of activities—indoor dining, movie theaters, etc.—but no one ordered me to. And obv I could still travel from a place with lots of Omicron to a place with less.