Appeals court upholds sex crimes conviction of Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell
(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court in New York on Tuesday upheld the sex crimes conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associated of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Ghislaine, in March, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to overturn her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for recruiting and grooming the underage girls who Epstein sexually abused, arguing she was immunized by an agreement federal prosecutors in Florida arranged with Epstein in 2007.
On Tuesday, the appeals court ruled that Maxwell was not covered by Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement and said the alleged crimes fell within the statute of limitations.
Maxwell’s attorneys had argued that she was made a “proxy” for Epstein, who died by suicide in prison while awaiting trial, to “satisfy public outrage” about his conduct.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 after prosecutors said that, from 1994 to 2004, she worked together with Epstein to identify girls, groom them, and then transport them to Epstein’s properties in New York, Florida, New Mexico, and elsewhere. The girls — some of whom were as young as 14 years old — were then sexually abused, often under the guise of a “massage,” prosecutors said.
Maxwell is currently incarcerated in a low-security prison in Tallahassee and eligible for release in 2037.
(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for the voting machine company Smartmatic and the cable channel Newsmax argued at a hearing Monday over evidence and witnesses expected to be presented when Smartmatic’s defamation case against the news channel goes to trial later this month.
Smartmatic has accused Newsmax of publishing dozens of false reports claiming that Smartmatic helped rig the 2020 election. Newsmax has argued, in part, that they were reporting on newsworthy claims of fraud.
Howard Cooper, an attorney for Newsmax, argued at Monday’s hearing that the news channel should be able to introduce videos of broadcast segments that he says rebut Smartmatic’s argument that “Newsmax took this position of election fraud [and] not calling the election” for winner Joe Biden.
“One of the ways that we can rebut that theory is by showing shows that were contrary to President Trump’s position,” Cooper said of former President Donald Trump, who falsely claimed there had been massive election fraud.
The two sides also argued over the inclusion of witnesses who would testify about whether Newsmax, in the course of its reporting, reached out to Smartmatic — or instead only reached out to Dominion, another voting machine company that was falsely accused of wrongdoing.
Dominion, in a separate case last year, reached a $787 million settlement with Fox News in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit.
Newsmax officials have said under oath that the company contacted or attempted to contact Smartmatic during its coverage of the election and its aftermath.
“We’re not disputing that Dominion and Smartmatic are not the same,” said an attorney for Newsmax. “Some of these Newsmax personnel did get to contact Dominion. It is relevant to the case. It’s relevant to their state of mind.”
“I’d love for you to make that argument if I’m on the other side,” Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said in response. “Here is the executive producer of this show, and he doesn’t know the difference between Exxon and Chevron.”
After a lengthy argument about other types of evidence the parties would like to introduce at the trial, the judge reviewed the potential witness list and emphasized the need for clear and concise jury instructions.
At one point during the hearing, an attorney for Newsmax requested permission to depose Smartmatic’s damages expert, arguing that the expert’s “reports and charts” on the damages have changed frequently.
“I would only add they were looking for somewhere, and we don’t know yet, between $400 and $600 million in this case,” an attorney for Newsmax said, criticizing “the idea that we would go to a trial without having a full opportunity to do an up-to-date examination of their damages expert.”
An attorney for Smartmatic pushed back, saying that Newsmax attorneys have previously deposed the expert and that “none of the information has changed.”
Judge Davis said he would rule soon on each of the motions.
The trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 30 in Delaware.
(NEW YORK) — One of the last messages sent from the doomed Titan submersible during its June 2023 voyage to the Titanic wreckage was “all good here,” according to a presentation from a U.S. Coast Guard hearing on the deadly implosion.
The Marine Board of Investigation for the U.S. Coast Guard’s two-week hearing into the incident began on Monday, 15 months after the OceanGate vessel catastrophically imploded during its deep-sea voyage, killing all five people aboard.
An animation created by the Coast Guard during the Monday hearing showed the text communications between the Titan and the surface vessel, Polar Prince, as the submersible descended toward the ocean floor on June 18, 2023. The short text messages were the only means of communication between the Titan crew and the personnel on the Polar Prince as the vessel attempted to reach the Titanic, which sits 3,800 meters below sea level.
At approximately 2,274 meters, the Titan sent the message, “All good here,” according to the animation.
The last communication from the submersible was sent at approximately 3,341 meters: “Dropped two wts,” meaning drop weights, according to the Coast Guard.
All communications and tracking from the submersible to Polar Prince were lost at 3,346 meters, according to the Coast Guard.
Debris from the Titan was found on the ocean floor four days later. All five crew members — including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush — were determined to have died in a catastrophic implosion.
The Coast Guard released a new image during the hearing Monday that shows Titan debris, including the tail cone, at the bottom of the ocean.
Tym Catterson, a former contractor for OceanGate, testified during Monday’s hearing that there were “no red flags” on the day of the incident. He said he believes the intention of shedding the two 35-pound weights was to slow the vessel down as it approached the ocean floor. He thought the weight was dropped a little early than is typical — not due to any emergency but to ensure a smooth landing, he said.
“Considering who was in the cab with Stockton at that particular time — there are two billionaires in there with him — I would absolutely guarantee that he’s trying to make sure that this just goes as absolutely perfect and spot-on as he can,” Catterson said.
He said when the tracking and communications were lost, the initial thought was that the transponder failed. When rescuers heard banging noises during their search for the vessel, he said they believed the vessel was drifting.
“This was all theories that were just flying around between people that were totally without sleep and very anxious,” he said. “It’s the worst thing that could be happening.”
Two witnesses say they wouldn’t go in the Titan
Some two dozen witnesses are scheduled to testify during the two-week hearing.
The hearing’s first witness — Tony Nissen, OceanGate’s former engineering director — testified that he was kept in the dark and didn’t know that OceanGate’s goal when he was initially hired was to go to the Titanic.
Asked whether he felt comfortable going down to the Titanic in the submersible, Nissen responded that Rush had asked him to be the pilot to run the Titanic missions, and he turned him down.
“I told him, I’m not getting in it,” Nissen said. “He asked me why, and I said, ‘Because the operations crew, I don’t trust them.'”
“He said, ‘Well, what if I’m mission director?'” Nissen continued. “I said, ‘You still have the same operations crew.’ But I didn’t trust Stockton either. Take a look at where we started and when I was hired, nothing that I got was the truth.”
Catterson also testified that he would not have felt comfortable going to the depths of the Titanic wreckage in the Titan, saying he had questions about the integrity of its carbon fiber and titanium construction.
“I don’t believe that the composites are the correct material for a pressure vessel that’s experiencing external compression,” he said. “I had my doubts.”
When asked if he ever voiced his concerns to OceanGate employees, he testified that he told Rush, Nissen and David Lochridge, the former OceanGate operations director — “pretty much anybody that would listen.”
Catterson said he had raised the issue about the integrity of the carbon fiber hull with Rush “no less than half a dozen” times. He said he thought the sub was “underbuilt” and that Rush responded to his concerns by saying, “I have several engineers working on this and they say otherwise.”
The company’s former finance director, Bonnie Carl, a former contractor for OceanGate, testified Monday that she was aware of a conversation between Lochridge and Renata Rojas, a mission specialist, when Lochridge told Rojas not to go on the Titan, warning that it was “unsafe.”
Titan not classified
It is common for submersibles to get classification, but both Catterson and Nissen testified that the Titan had not been classified. Catterson talked about recommending classification for it to Rush.
“The reason for the classification is basically that it’s proof of due diligence. It’s also primarily one of the ways that you can get insurance for the submersibles. That’s one of the very big things,” he said. “I had explained this to [Rush], and he, well, I guess that wasn’t as big of a worry for him as it would be for most people. I don’t know, I said my piece.”
According to a Coast Guard presentation during Monday’s hearing, the Titan was tested to 1.09 times its operating pressure — the industry standard is 1.25 times.
Issues with sub
The Coast Guard and witnesses detailed issues and concerns with the sub.
The vessel had 70 equipment issues in 2021 that needed correcting, and 48 more in 2022, according to the Coast Guard.
The Titan partially sank four weeks before the incident following a night of high seas and fog, according to the Coast Guard. Days before the implosion, passengers slammed against the vessel during resurfacing, the Coast Guard said.
Nissen testified that he believes the Titan was struck by lightning in April 2018.
“That is a difficult thing to prove, except I had to drag a lot of my engineering team down there to replace all the electronics in it. And I could find all the lightning traces. So it took high energy for sure,” he said.
He testified that he wouldn’t sign off on a dive to the Titanic in July 2019 due to a crack in the hull, and said he was subsequently fired.
Carl said she was concerned about some of the employees working on OceanGate submersibles.
“There were some young engineers — and by young, I mean late teens, early 20s — without any experience, we were aware of, wrenching on the sub, and without supervision right there on them,” she said. “And that made me nervous.”
Hearing to last two weeks
The hearing is scheduled to run through Sept. 27. Former OceanGate employees scheduled to testify later in the hearing include Lochridge; co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein; and Steven Ross, former scientific director, according to a schedule released by the Coast Guard.
The main purpose of the hearing is to uncover the facts related to the implosion and to make recommendations, according to Jason Neubauer, chair of the Marine Board of Investigation.
“The Marine Board’s investigation will determine as closely as possible the factors that contributed to the incident, so that proper recommendations for the prevention of similar casualties may be made,” Neubauer said at the start of Monday’s hearing.
The investigation will also examine whether there is any evidence of misconduct or criminal acts in connection with the incident, he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the implosion and will make its own determination as to the probable cause, according to Marcel Muise, an investigator with the agency’s Office of Marine Safety.
Attorneys with the firm Debevoise & Plimpton, which represents OceanGate, are also attending the hearing.
“There are no words to ease the loss endured by the families impacted by this tragic incident, but we hope that this hearing will help shed light on the cause of the tragedy and prevent anything like this from happening again,” Jane Shvets with Debevoise & Plimpton said during opening remarks.
In addition to Rush, those killed in the implosion included French explorer Paul Henri Nargeolet, British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman.
The submersible company suspended all exploration and commercial operations after the deadly implosion.
(LOS ANGELES) — Two men are dead after they fatally shot one another in an apparent road rage incident in Southern California, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
One of the men had his two children in the car — ages 2 and 5 — at the time of the double shooting.
“It could’ve been so incredibly simple, but unfortunately we have two people who lost their lives instead,” Mara Rodriguez, spokesperson for the sheriff’s department, told Los Angeles ABC station KABC.
Jonathan McConnell, 38, who was driving a motorcycle, was involved in a hit-and-run traffic collision on the 210 Freeway with Aaron Harris, 37, who was driving a sedan, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
McConnell split lanes and collided with the sedan occupied by Harris and his two children, the sheriff’s department said.
Harris then followed McConnell off the freeway and into a parking lot. McConnell met several people known to him in the parking lot, according to the sheriff’s department.
Harris then stopped his vehicle and shouted threats at McConnell. When McConnell approached the vehicle, Harris fired a gun at him, authorities said.
McConnell then returned fire. Both men died after they were shot, the sheriff’s department said.
An unnamed adult male at the scene also received a non-fatal gunshot wound to his hand during the incident, the sheriff’s department said.
The children were unharmed in the exchange of gunfire, officials sad.
“We all get angry on the roads sometimes, especially these days there’s so much traffic out there and so many things going on,” Rodriguez told KABC. “But this is a great example of how things can go so wrong so quickly.”