Harvey Weinstein indicted again in New York after conviction overturned

(NEW YORK) — Two now-retired chiefs from the New York City Fire Department were arrested early Monday morning following a yearlong corruption investigation, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Retired Chief Brian Cordasco was arrested at home on Staten Island. Retired Chief Anthony Saccavino was arrested at home in Manhattan, the sources said.

Saccavino and Cordasco “repeatedly abused their positions of trust as high-ranking officials in the New York City Fire Department” by soliciting and accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribe payments in exchange for providing preferential treatment to certain individuals and companies, according to an indictment unsealed Monday in Manhattan federal court.

The two men were chiefs with the FDNY Bureau of Fire Prevention, which regulates the installation of fire safety and suppression systems in commercial and residential buildings. For nearly two years, the indictment said, Saccavino and Cordasco misused this authority for their own financial gain.

The two allegedly accepted $190,000 in bribes in exchange for expediting inspections, according to the indictment.

The FBI had searched their homes and offices earlier this year. he FDNY placed the chiefs on modified duty at the time. The New York City Department of Investigation searched FDNY headquarters as well.

The alleged scheme appears to have been discovered as an offshoot of the investigation into whether Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign took illegal money from Turkey in exchange for expediting the inspection of the new Turkish consulate.

Cordasco publicly complained about a so-called “City Hall List” of building projects that should be prioritized by FDNY inspectors, according to the indictment.

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(BOSTON, Mass.) — Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman who prosecutors said “perpetrated one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history,” was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release.

Judge Indira Talwani issued the sentence on Tuesday in Boston federal court.

Teixeira pleaded guilty in March to six counts of willfully retaining and transmitting national defense information.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to impose the maximum prison sentence of 200 months — more than 16 years — in prison.

“The harm the defendant caused to the national security from his disclosures of national defense information is extraordinary,” prosecutors said in a memorandum filed ahead of the sentencing hearing. “By posting intelligence products on the social media platform Discord to feed his own ego and impress his anonymous friends, Teixeira caused exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States. The scope of his betrayal is breathtaking.”

The defense sought the minimum sentence, citing Teixeira’s autism and ADHD. They also argued he did not intend to harm the country, only to educate his online friends about world events.

“Jack is still essentially a child — at the very least, a ‘youthful offender’ — who has his whole life in front of him,” defense attorneys Michael Bachrach and Brandan Kelley stated in a memorandum presented to the judge ahead of sentencing. “At 22 years old, a sentence of 132 months’ imprisonment would provide more than enough time for him to grow and mature; informed by his behavior as well as from his punishment.”

“With the support of his family and mental health treatment providers, Jack should have little trouble living a productive life inside prison and upon his eventual release,” the memorandum continued.

Teixeira is also currently negotiating a disposition to his parallel, but related, military prosecution, the memo said.

According to the signed plea agreement filed with the court, Teixeira agreed to plead guilty to all six counts charging him with willful retention and transmission of national defense information. In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to charge him with additional counts under the Espionage Act.

Teixeira “accessed and printed hundreds of classified documents” and posted images of them on Discord prior to his arrest in April 2023, a prosecutor said during the plea hearing.

As part of his plea agreement, Teixeira must sit for a debrief with the Defense Department and the Justice Department and give back any sensitive materials that might remain in his possession.

Federal prosecutors have made clear Teixeira had no business peering at classified information because his low-level job did not require it.

“The defendant’s job was to troubleshoot computer workstations,” Assistant United States Attorney Jason Casey said during a March hearing.

Still, Casey said, Teixeira accessed “hundreds” of classified documents inside the secure facility where he worked and “purposefully removed classified documents and information despite admonishments from his superiors to stop.”

Teixeira has admitted in court to knowing the documents were marked classified.

Without mentioning specifics, federal prosecutors said Teixeira exposed information about the compromise by a foreign adversary of certain accounts belonging to a U.S. company and information about equipment the U.S. was sending to Ukraine, how it would be transferred and how it would be used upon receipt. Prosecutors said he also posted material about troop movements in Ukraine, a plot by a foreign adversary to attack U.S. forces abroad, and Western deliveries of supplies to the Ukrainian battlefield.

Teixeira enlisted in the Air National Guard in 2019, according to his service record, and had top secret security clearance beginning in 2021, according to the Department of Justice.

The Justice Department said he began posting classified documents online in January 2022.

Teixeira will also face a military court-martial on charges alleging he violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to the U.S. Air Force.

The U.S. military reserves the right to separately prosecute a service member who has already been convicted in a federal court.

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(NEW YORK) — A man accused of killing three people in an apparent unprovoked stabbing spree in Manhattan made his first appearance in court on Tuesday.

Ramon Rivera, 51, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, according to the New York Police Department. He confessed to the killings during questioning, according to police sources.

The judge on Tuesday granted the prosecution’s request for remand. Rivera is set to return to court on Nov. 22.

The attacks unfolded within three hours on Monday morning.

The first victim, 36-year-old Angel Lata Landi, was fatally stabbed in the abdomen at 8:22 a.m. in an unprovoked attack by the construction site where he was working on West 19th Street, the NYPD said.

About two hours later, 67-year-old Chang Wang was fatally stabbed multiple times on East 30th Street, police said.

The third victim, 36-year-old Wilma Augustin, was attacked around 10:55 a.m. at 42nd Street and First Avenue. She had multiple stab wounds and was taken to a hospital where she later died, officials said.

The suspect — who was staying at the Bellevue Men’s Shelter on East 30th Street — was apprehended around East 46th Street and First Avenue, police said.

He appeared to pick the victims at random, police said.

“He just walked up to them and began to attack them,” Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said at a news conference.

Two bloody kitchen knives were recovered, police said.

Rivera has eight prior arrests in New York City, according to law enforcement, and is believed to have severe mental health challenges, Mayor Eric Adams said. Rivera’s case renewed frustration with the city’s inability to treat people in mental distress and hold people with a history of low-level criminal activity.

“There’s a real question as to why he was on the street,” Adams said.

Rivera’s prior arrests mainly involved shoplifting, officials said. None involved a weapon.

He was out without bail pending trial on his most recent arrests.

He had two documented interactions with the city while in mental distress.

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