‘Pharma Bro’ convicted on federal fraud charges
‘Pharma Bro’ convicted on federal fraud charges
NEW YORK (AP) — Martin Shkreli, the eccentric former pharmaceutical CEO notorious for a price-gouging scandal and for his snide “Pharma Bro” persona on social media, was convicted Friday on federal charges he deceived investors in a pair of failed hedge funds.
A Brooklyn jury deliberated five days before finding Shkreli guilty on three of eight counts. He was charged with securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Shkreli, upbeat and defiant outside the Brooklyn courthouse afterward, called his prosecution “a witch hunt of epic proportions” but conceded maybe the government found “one or two broomsticks.”
Asked about his client’s social media antics, attorney Ben Brafman said it was something they would be working on.
“There is an image issue that Martin and I are going to be discussing in the next few days,” he said, adding that while Shkreli was a brilliant mind, sometimes his “people skills” need work. As he spoke, Shkreli smiled and cocked his head quizzically in mock confusion.
Attorney general vows crackdown on leaks of classified information
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions pledged Friday to rein in government leaks he said undermine American security, taking an aggressive public stand after being called weak on the matter by President Donald Trump.
The nation’s top law enforcement official cited no current investigations in which disclosures of information jeopardized the country, but said the number of criminal leak probes has dramatically increased in the early months of the Trump administration. Justice Department officials also said they were reviewing guidelines meant to make it difficult for the government to subpoena journalists about their sources, and would not rule out the possibility a reporter could be prosecuted.
Meanwhile, a White House adviser raised the possibility of lie detector tests for the small number of people in the West Wing and elsewhere with access to transcripts of Trump’s phone calls. The Washington Post on Thursday published transcripts of his conversations with the leaders of Mexico and Australia.
All-powerful Venezuelan assembly opens amid protests
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Defying criticism from Washington to the Vatican, Venezuela’s ruling party on Friday installed a new super assembly that supporters promise will pacify the country and critics fear will be a tool for imposing dictatorship.
The constitutional assembly’s first order of business was selecting its head — former Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, a loyal follower of President Nicolas Maduro.
The nomination was approved unanimously by the 545 delegates, who marched to the neo-classical legislative palace led by socialist party leader Diosdado Cabello and first lady Cilia Flores and accompanied by hundreds of red-shirted government supporters carrying roses and portraits of the late Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s predecessor and mentor.
Some shouted, “He’s returned!” as a jab at the opposition, which had ordered images of Chavez removed from an adjacent building when it won control of congress in 2015.
The assembly was scheduled to meet again Saturday, and Rodriguez pledged it would be taking action against Maduro’s political opponents.
Huff, puff, pass? AG’s pot fury not echoed by task force
WASHINGTON (AP) — The betting was that law-and-order Attorney General Jeff Sessions would come out against the legalized marijuana industry with guns blazing. But the task force Sessions assembled to find the best legal strategy is giving him no ammunition, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety, a group of prosecutors and federal law enforcement officials, has come up with no new policy recommendations to advance the attorney general’s aggressively anti-marijuana views. The group’s report largely reiterates the current Justice Department policy on marijuana.
It encourages officials to keep studying whether to change or rescind the Obama administration’s more hands-off approach to enforcement — a stance that has allowed the nation’s experiment with legal pot to flourish. The report was not slated to be released publicly, but portions were obtained by the AP.
Sessions, who has assailed marijuana as comparable to heroin and blamed it for spikes in violence, has been promising to reconsider existing pot policy since he took office six months ago. His statements have sparked both support and worry across the political spectrum as a growing number of states have worked to legalize the drug.
Threats of a federal crackdown have united liberals, who object to the human costs of a war on pot, and some conservatives, who see it as a states’ rights issue. Some advocates and members of Congress had feared the task force’s recommendations would give Sessions the green light to begin dismantling what has become a sophisticated, multimillion-dollar pot industry that helps fund schools, educational programs and law enforcement.
Flynn files new financial form reporting ties to data firm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, disclosed a brief advisory role with a firm related to a controversial data analysis company that aided the Trump campaign, according to a filing Flynn submitted to the White House.
The disclosure of Flynn’s link to Cambridge Analytica came in an amended public financial filing in which the retired U.S. Army lieutenant general also discloses income that includes payments from the Trump transition team. The filing was made public by the White House on Friday in response to an Associated Press reporter’s request.
The amended disclosure lists Flynn as an adviser to SCL Group, a Virginia-based company related to Cambridge Analytica, the data mining and analysis firm that worked with Trump’s campaign.
A person close to Flynn told the AP that just before the end of the campaign, Flynn agreed to do consulting for the firm, but he never performed any work or accepted any payment as part of the agreement with SCL Group. The person spoke to AP on condition of anonymity Thursday to describe details of the filing made to the White House.
The details of Flynn’s role with SCL weren’t fully laid out, the person said, noting that Flynn terminated his involvement shortly after Trump won the presidency.
Neymar says move not cash-driven; PSG expects financial lift
PARIS (AP) — Neymar opened a new extravagant chapter in soccer history Friday as the game’s costliest player by fending off questions about his financial motivations as deftly as he repels opponents on the pitch.
Paris Saint-Germain’s 222 million euro ($262 million) recruit was sticking to the script at his presentation in the French capital. Leaving the prestige of Barcelona for the less exalted surroundings of PSG was about seizing the chance to raise the status of an ambitious club, rather than about the size of an annual salary reported to be 30 million euros.
“I was never motivated by money,” Neymar told a crowded news conference at the Parc des Princes home of PSG. “What I think about is happiness. If I was following the money I would maybe be in some other country.”
It is, however, Qatari cash that has fueled the rise of PSG over the last six years, making Neymar’s world-record transfer feasible.
So while the last thing Neymar wanted to do was talk about money on his first full day as a PSG player, the man alongside him had little choice. PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi was keen to justify the outlay for the 25-year-old Brazilian, touting the financial uplift that the club expects to follow with one of the game’s superstars on its squad.