Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX infamy convicted on 7 counts
FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty on seven counts.
FTX, a once-vaunted cryptocurrency exchange, collapsed last year, wreaking havoc in the crypto industry.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office Southern District of New York, the 31-year-old Bankman-Fried "was convicted of two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering" and also "convicted of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud."
The convicted crypto figure's sentencing is scheduled for March 28, reports indicate.
Mark S. Cohen, counsel to Bankman-Fried, said in a statement that Bankman-Fried continues to assert that he is innocent.
"We respect the jury's decision. But we are very disappointed with the result," Cohen said in the statement. "Mr. Bankman Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him."
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U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said that Bankman-Fried had carried out one of the largest "financial frauds in American history. A multi-billion dollar scheme," intended to make Bankman-Fried "the king of crypto," Williams said.
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Alabama police officer convicted of murder in shooting death of suicidal man
An Alabama jury convicted Huntsville police Officer William Ben Darby of murder on Friday, for fatally shooting a suicidal man who was holding a gun to his own head three years ago.
What are the details?
On April 3, 2018, Huntsville resident Jeff Parker called 911 for help, telling dispatchers that he had a gun and was going to kill himself. When officers arrived at Parker's home, they found him seated on a couch with the gun to his own head.
The first officer to arrive was Genisha Pegues, a senior officer to Darby, who testified against Darby, telling "the jury that she was de-escalating the situation before he got there," AL.com reported. But Darby testified "that he shot parker in defense of himself and other officers because he feared Parker might shoot them."
According to The Hill:
Body camera footage from Darby shows him running into the house with a shotgun and shooting Parker within 11 seconds of entering.
"Point your f---ing gun at him," Darby yelled at Pegues before ordering Parker to drop his weapon, which was not aimed at the officers, the footage showed.
When Parker didn't drop the gun, Darby shot him in the face.
Prosecutor Tim Gann told jurors in his closing argument, "An innocent man was murdered. He called for help and got Ben Darby."
The jury's conviction of Darby came as a shock to the Huntsville Police Department. The officer had been cleared of any wrongdoing by a police review panel, and he was able to remain an officer following the incident, Fox News reported. The city council even voted to contribute $125,000 in taxpayer money to assist with the officer's defense.
HPD Chief Mark McMurray said in a statement after the guilty verdict:
"We are in the first stages of shock. While we thank the jury for their service in this difficult case, I do not believe Officer Darby is a murderer."
"Officers are forced to make split-second decisions every day, and Officer Darby believed his life and the lives of other officers were in danger. Any situation that involves a loss of life is tragic. Our hearts go out to everyone involved."
Darby's defense attorney, Robert Tuten, has already vowed to appeal. Tuten said in a statement that he believes the conviction "won't stand," adding, "Everyone's shocked by the jury's verdict."
Meanwhile, Darby is looking at a sentence of 10 years to life.
Keith Olbermann: Trump supporters 'must be prosecuted and convicted and removed from our society'
Longtime sportscaster-turned-far-left-pundit-turned-sportscaster Keith Olbermann is a far-left pundit again, leaving ESPN for the fourth time in order to host a YouTube show dedicated to helping Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden defeat President Donald Trump in the election.
But Olbermann told his audience on Thursday that the battle extends far beyond Election Day, and called for the president and his supporters to be "prosecuted and convicted and removed from our society."
What are the details?
Olbermann announced Tuesday that he would be leaving ESPN amicably in order to launch his new political show in an effort to impact the upcoming election.
During his second show that aired Thursday, Olbermann went on a tirade, declaring that "Trump can be, and must be, expunged. The hate he has triggered, Pandora's boxes he has opened, they will not be so easily destroyed."
"So, let us brace ourselves," he continued, saying, "The task is two-fold: the terrorist Trump must be defeated, must be destroyed, must be devoured at the ballot box, and then he, and his enablers, and his supporters, and his collaborators, and the Mike Lees and the William Barrs, and Sean Hannitys, and the Mike Pences, and the Rudy Gullianis and the Kyle Rittenhouses and the Amy Coney Barretts must be prosecuted and convicted and removed from our society while we try to rebuild it and to rebuild the world Trump has destroyed by turning it over to a virus."
Olbermann did not state what alleged crimes Trump and his supporters "must" be prosecuted for.
"Remember it, even as we dream for a return to reality and safety and the country for which our forefathers died, that the fight is not just to win the election, but to win it by enough to chase — at least for a moment — Trump and the maggots off the stage and then try to clean up what they left," Olbermann went on to say.
He added, "Remember it, even though to remember it, means remembering that the fight does not end on November 3rd, but in many ways, will only begin that day."
Remove ACB fr society. @KeithOlberman in YouTube rant: “Trump can be and must be expunged....His enablers...the Mik… https://t.co/34a7udJN1R— Brent Baker (@Brent Baker)1602271997.0
The Washington Post reported that during an interview Tuesday, Olbermann told the newspaper "that he had been watching cable news during the Trump era and concluded there was room, even a necessity, for a stronger anti-Trump voice — a claim that might leave viewers of MSNBC and CNN furrowing their brows."
Olbermann was quoted as saying, "As good as the hands-on reporting is, as good as they are at ferreting out and describing what's wrong, I see the cable and broadcast networks still hesitant to say, 'That's a lie' or, 'This is disloyal to the Constitution' or, 'This is an attempt to establish the preface to a dictatorship — or at least authoritarianism.'"
So, Olbermann believes he will be able to contribute more through his style to defeat Trump than left-leaning mainstream outlets.
"I think it's fair to say that conservatives in politics and media know a little bit better what to bring to a knife fight," he added. "Liberals — and I'm hearing it from Joe Biden — say, 'Well, there are Republicans we can work with,' and I'm like, 'I can't hear you; I'm getting the flamethrower ready.' I'm going to bring the flamethrower."
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CONVICTED: What Trump’s campaign MUST start preparing for
Trump might have been found guilty in the hush money trial, but that doesn’t spell the end of his campaign.
Not only did Trump raise more than $50 million after the news of his conviction hit the media, but the Supreme Court is going to rule on the former president’s immunity in the D.C. case.
Steve Deace believes Trump needs to start preparing immediately.
“I’d have my running mate ready to go right after that ruling, no matter how it goes. If they rule against me, then I immediately have this running mate here right now,” Deace explains. “If I’m Trump, and they rule against me, between the appeals in New York and the D.C. case, I’m spending the rest of this year in a courtroom until the election basically.”
“So, I need a running mate who can be essentially the face of the campaign around the country right away. I can’t lose anymore time,” he adds.
Deace believes this person needs to be “someone people like.”
“So I can send them out to the ‘normies’ and make me appear more likable. And then if they rule for me, I just do the exact same thing by pivoting to the campaign right away,” he explains.
BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre agrees.
“I think that’s largely right. I mean, ultimately what we’re looking at here is of course unprecedented, and so the strategy needs to be as well,” he says. “But I think when you look at the condition of the country, you look at the average person, most people don’t like Joe Biden. Even people on the left don’t like Joe Biden.”
This is why he’s less worried about the voters and more worried about the voting process.
“I do think that how the votes are going to be cast and the process of the election are probably far more important than the messaging of the election to be honest,” MacIntyre explains.
“I do agree that you probably want to make sure that you have somebody who’s relatively young, relatively competent, well liked. Somebody who can go ahead and take over that position right away. I do like somebody like a J.D. Vance in the slot,” he adds.
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