White House denies involvement in Julian Assange deal



Julian Assange, 52, will likely soon return to his native Australia as a free man, but not because of President Joe Biden, a White House spokesperson said.

Court papers released Monday night revealed that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent more than a decade either holed up at an embassy or locked away in prison, had finally reached a plea deal with U.S. officials. In 2010, Assange had coordinated with Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to release information about U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

'There’s nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia.'

A few years later, Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison, but President Obama commuted his sentence before leaving office in 2017. Meanwhile, Assange languished at the Ecuadoran embassy in London, attempting to avoid extradition to Sweden on allegations of sexual assault.

The statute of limitations on the sexual assault allegations — which Assange always denied — eventually expired, but Ecuador withdrew its offer of asylum in 2019, the same year the Trump administration indicted Assange in connection with the disclosure of U.S. military information. Assange then attempted to take refuge at the embassy but was arrested by British police and thrown in jail for skipping bail, the AP reported.

He then remained behind bars for five more years until reaching the deal with U.S. officials.

On Monday night, Assange reportedly flew from London to Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth. He is expected to appear in a U.S. federal court in Saipan on Wednesday, when he will likely plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information and receive a sentence of time served.

Assange is then expected to return to his family in Australia, where leaders are almost assuredly celebrating this sudden turn of events. Earlier this year, the Australian House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to urge the U.K. and U.S. governments to let Assange return home.

"Regardless of the views that people have about Mr. Assange’s activities, the case has dragged on for too long," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at the time. "There’s nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia."

As the U.S federal government secured a conviction and Assange will likely soon have his freedom, both sides can credibly claim victory in this case. However, the Biden administration is not taking any credit for it.

"This was an independent decision made by the Department of Justice, and there was no White House involvement in the plea deal decision," said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.

The New York Post sought comment on the subject from the DOJ but did not receive a response. The outlet also cited a source who "said they were unaware of what if any role Biden may have played in the final resolution of the case."

Back in April, Biden told reporters that he was "considering" bringing Assange's case to a conclusion but did not comment further.

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Video shows the fatal 100 mph crash that drove a Chinese national to flee the country



A Chinese national facing vehicular homicide charges in Bellevue, Washington, has fled the United States, leaving a body, a wrecked sports car, and an international scandal in her wake.

The Bellevue Police Department responded to a single-vehicle crash on 108th Avenue NE near the interchange with State Route 520 on Sept. 30. First responders found a dead male at the scene, 27-year-old Chinese national Yabao Liu.

Ting Ye, 26, identified as the driver, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

According to charging documents, both police and firefighters at the scene said Ye's breath reeked of booze, reported the Bellevue Reporter.

Ye appears to have been driving recklessly and speeding well over 90 mph in a 35 mph zone when she lost control of the 2020 Porsche 911 around 3:45 a.m., slammed into a concrete barrier, then went airborne.

BPD spokesman Seth Tyler suggested that the car was likely going in excess of 100 mph, reported the Daily Mail.

Footage of the incident captured by traffic cameras show the Porsche whip by at a breakneck speed, then begin to issue clouds of rubber dust while skidding perilously through an intersection. The Porsche slams sideways into a concrete barrier, then cartwheels through the air and into a ditch.

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After allegedly flouting the laws of the land and putting her passenger in the ground, Ye refused to cooperate with detectives. This refusal, coupled with the apparent inability of investigators to talk to the medics until a week after the incident, delayed efforts to establish probable cause for the Chinese national's arrest.

Although an investigator put in a request with the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office on Oct. 6 for Ye's arrest, she apparently was already scheming to get out of the country. That same day, she got out of the hospital, although it remains unclear whether she had help in doing so.

On Oct. 9, Ye had an acquaintance get her out of state and into Vancouver, Canada.

Although prosecutors filed the case on Oct. 10, requesting a $2 million bail and demanding that Ye turn over her passport and stay in Washington, she had already caught a flight back to China, reported the Seattle Times.

"At that point, she was not free to leave, but she had already left," said BPD spokesman Seth Tyler.

A conviction for vehicular homicide could land Ye up to 8.5 years in jail should she ever be brought back to face justice.

There is presently a national warrant for Ye's arrest, meaning that if she returns to the U.S., she will be flagged. However, unless she attempts to do so, she'll likely get off scot-free, as China and the U.S. do not have an extradition treaty.

Tyler indicated police are applying for an Interpol Red Notice so that countries that do have extradition treaties with the U.S. would flag her if she passes through.

Former U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke said, "The story is not over," reported the Daily Mail.

"Yes, she was able to elude the arrest warrant, but if she were to ever travel to another country, let's say to Europe on business or pleasure to an area, to a country that does have an extradition treaty with the United States she'll be flagged when she enters that country by Interpol and subject to extradition back to the United States if the United States government so desires," said Locke.

Tyler suggested that "this case has gained an intense interest in China," adding he expects "we'll hear more on that."

"Our plea to [Ye] is that she return and realize that there’s a grieving family involved here," said Tyler. "They really need closure on this. ... She can bring this matter to a close by returning to the United States."

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Biden's DOJ drops campaign finance charge against Democratic megadonor Sam Bankman-Fried



The Department of Justice has dropped its campaign finance violation charge against disgraced FTX founder and Biden donor Sam Bankman-Fried.

What's the background?

Following the November 2022 collapse of his former cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Democratic megadonor Bankman-Fried was hit with eight charges of fraud and conspiracy, including a campaign finance charge.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York wrote in a December 2022 letter to District Judge Ronnie Abrams, "The Government expects the evidence will show that the defendant violated campaign finance laws by causing political contributions to candidates and committees ... to be made in the names of co-conspirators, when in fact those contributions ere funded by Alameda Research with misappropriated customer funds."

Williams indicated this alleged scheme enabled the Democratic megadonor to evade "contribution dollar limits, corporate donation limits, and donation reporting requirements."

TheBlaze previously detailed how an indictment, unsealed in February in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, suggested that Bankman-Fried and "co-conspirators made over 300 political contributions, totaling tens of millions of dollars, that were unlawful because they were made in the name of a straw donor or paid for with corporate funds" (i.e., unsuspecting clients' money).

The indictment further accused the Democratic megadonor of seeking to acquire influence by way of these allegedly "unlawful political contributions" as well as to "improve his personal standing in Washington, D.C., increase FTX's profile, and curry favor with candidates that could help pass legislation favorable to FTX or BANKMAN-FRIED's personal agenda."

These efforts appears to have been extra to his ostensibly above-board donations.

Bankman-Fried reportedly donated $10 million to then-candidate Joe Biden in 2020.

The crypto hustler reportedly also hired a network of "political operatives" and spent at least $39,826,856 in an effort to help Democrats win their House races in the November 2022 midterm elections.

Among his beneficiaries were Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Cory Booker (D-N.J), and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Bankman-Fried told Jacob Goldstein of "What's Your Problem?" that he planned to possibly donate "north of $100 million" and up to $1 billion to Democrats in the 2024 presidential elections.

Bankman was extradited from the Bahamas back to the United States on December 21, 2022.

Biden DOJ drops charges

Forbes reported that the Biden DOJ will not pursue a campaign finance charge against Bankman-Fried as a means of placating the Bahamas, which has claimed this charge was not part of its initial extradition agreement with America.

In a Wednesday letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, U.S. Attorney Williams indicated that Bankman-Fried had moved to dismiss the conspiracy to make unlawful campaign contributions count on "rule of specialty grounds," but that this had been rejected.

While this motion had been rejected, Williams noted the DOJ subsequently "informed the Court that the United States had sought clarification from The Bahamas regarding whether this count was included in the defendant's extradition."

The Bahamas purportedly came back suggesting it had not intended to extradite the disgraced Democratic megadonor "on the campaign contributions count."

Williams wrote, "In keeping with its treaty obligations to The Bahamas, the Government does not intend to proceed to trial on the campaign contributions count."

Prosecutors removed five other charges against Bankman-Fried last month, punting them to 2024 after a Bahamas court ruling suggested the DOJ may have fouled up the procedure for charging the former billionaire, reported CNBC.

According to the New York Times, Bankman-Fried is now left only facing seven charges at his trial in October, although he will likely face the five punted charges at a subsequent trial.

John P. Fishwick Jr., a former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, told the Times prosecutors still had "overwhelming evidence against Sam Bankman-Fried" and that he still could face dozens of years behind bars.

Reuters reported that Judge Kaplan tightened Bankman-Fried's bail conditions Wednesday, hitting him with a gag order after he had shared his former lover Caroline Ellison's personal writings with the press, which prosecutors said amounted to more witness tampering.

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Alleged Russian ransomware money launderer extradited from the Netherlands to the US



Alleged cryptocurrency money launderer Denis Mihaqlovic Dubnikov made his first appearance in the Oregon U.S. District Court yesterday, the Department of Justice announced. This week, the 29-year-old Russian citizen was extradited from the Netherlands to the United States to face charges related to a ransomware laundering scheme.

The ruse included Ryuk ransomware attacks that targeted individuals and organizations in the United States and other countries. The case alleged that Dubnikov and his accomplices were involved in the 2019 money laundering scheme, which collected $70 million in ransom from victims. Prosecutors accused Dubnikov of being directly responsible for gathering $400,000 in revenue.

The Ryuk family of ransomware was first identified in 2018. Cybercriminals used the software to attack thousands of victims worldwide. When implemented on computers and networks, the ransomware program was capable of encrypting files and deleting system backups. It worked by gaining access to storage drives within and externally connected to the computer, as well as drives remotely connected to the computer's network.

After gaining access, Ryuk held the victim's system or files hostage while criminals demanded ransom payments. According to Malwarebytes, typical ransom amounts could be a few hundred thousand dollars. Ryuk cybercriminals used phishing emails to target high-profile organizations.

Authorities announced in 2020 that criminals using Ryuk were attacking many different industries, but U.S. hospitals and health care providers were at greater risk of being targeted. The Justice Department's Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force worked on investigating Dubnikov and his alleged co-conspirators.

After collecting the ransom payments from victims, Dubnikov and his accomplices allegedly used the funds for international financial transactions. These transactions were intended to cover up the crime by hiding the source, location, and other identifying information that could reveal Ryuk and its cybercriminals.

Authorities detained Dubnikov in the Netherlands in November 2021, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. The outlet stated that Dubnikov's U.S.-based lawyer Arkady Bukh said his client denied the charges and that all of his cryptocurrency exchanges complied with the law.

Dubnikov's five-day trial is scheduled to begin in October. If he is found guilty, he could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.