by | Mar 28, 2024 | Aggregate
The Gateway Pundit reported on Monday that Homeland Security agents raided rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Comb’s $40 million mansion as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation.
Combs was notably missing during the raid and was reportedly in Miami when the raid took place.
The Los Angeles Times reported Comb’s mansion, located in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, measures 17,000 square feet and has a 3,000 square-foot guesthouse.
The outlet also noted Comb’s mansion had an underwater swimming tunnel that connects to a grotto.
Diddy’s $40M Los Angeles house has grotto, underwater tunnel and more: Reports https://t.co/wDy1CNbT5a
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) March 28, 2024
Per Fox 5 Atlanta:
Music producer and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs purchased his swanky $40 million Los Angeles estate in 2014.
Located in the lavish neighborhood of Holmby Hills, the home measures 17,000 square feet and has a 3,000 square-foot guesthouse, according to TMZ.
The European-style villa has a 35-seat theater, a gym, a wine room and even has an underwater swimming tunnel which connects to a grotto, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The mansion is fairly new; built in 2014, it comes with eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. There’s also a separate spa house which comes with a steam room, massage room and a beauty salon, TMZ reported.
The Miami Herald reported that federal agents had confiscated electronic devices at Combs’ home and detained his associates while conducting the raid.
In a separate raid in Florida, one of Diddy’s associates, Brendon Paul, who is referred to as Diddy’s “drug mule” in the sex trafficking lawsuit, was arrested by Miami-Dade Police at the Opa-Locka airport on Monday
New bodycam video shows the alleged “drug mule” for hip hop mogul P. Diddy getting arrested Monday at a Miami airport. Former Syracuse basketball player #BrendanPaul was placed into cuffs and faces two felony charges. Paul’s arrest comes after #Diddy’s homes in Los Angeles and… pic.twitter.com/E1Xkmgcn54
— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) March 28, 2024
Paul was charged with possession of cocaine.
The post Diddy’s $40 Million Mansion That Was Raided Has Underwater Tunnel appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
by | Mar 28, 2024 | Aggregate
The day of reckoning finally came for Sam-Bankman-Fried.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the Southern District of New York court sentenced him to 300 months (25 years!)
“A man willing to flip a coin as to the continued existence of life on earth. Mr. Bankman-Fried knew that Alameda was spending customer funds on risky investments, political contributions and Bahamas real estate. The funds were not his to use.”
The billionaire crypto-bro SBF, second Democrat donor after only George Soros, came crashing down from glory to infamy after his crypto trading platform FTX went bankrupt in what prosecutors described as ‘one of the biggest financial frauds in American history’.
Jurors in his trial only needed three hours of deliberations to find Bankman-Fried guilty of all seven criminal counts.
SBF’s defense has proposed a prison term between five and six and a half years, because he is a vegan, good-natured do-gooder.
Prosecutors were not kidding around, seeking 40 to 50 years in prison, a sentence they say is warranted for someone who lied to investors and banks, and stole billions in deposits from customers.
Coming into sentencing things didn’t look good for SBF because tough-as-nails Judge Lewis A. Kaplan had already remanded him to prison pending trial for witness tampering.
The great Inner City Press live-tweeted from SDNY court, here you have some selected bits:
Judge Kaplan started out did not accept the defense claim that, because there is a plan by the FTX bankruptcy estate to pay costumers and creditors, that ‘there was no loss’ to them, a fact that defense thinks should lower his sentence.
“Judge Kaplan: I find the loss amount readily exceeds $550 million, the top tier [for sentencing]. I find investors lost $1.7 billion, lenders lost $1.3 billion, and customers, $8 billion.”
Then, there was the question of the obstruction of justice.
Judge Kaplan: “On obstruction of justice, I find that Mr. Bankman-Fried’s text to the former general counsel did in fact constitute attempted witness tampering. I make 3 perjury findings based on trial testimony
* he falsely testified that until the Fall of 2022 he had no knowledge that Alameda had spent FTX customer funds.
* He falsely testified that he first learned of the $8 billion in Oct 2022
* He falsely testified that repayment of third party loans by Alameda would require Alameda to borrow more customer funds from FTX.
The total offense level is 60 – once you cross 43, it cannot go higher. The guideline is life in prison. But the maximum is 1320 months in this case (151 years!)”
Victim Sunil Kavuri spoke in court:
“At least three people have committed suicide because of this FTX fraud. So when this FTX bankrutcy… I guess… What I feel, how it relates to Sam, it has hurt me, other co-conspirators, aiders and abetters, need to be held accountable”
Bankman-Fried’s defense came with the same old line of argument, and talked about his mom a lot: it was painful to read.
Mark Mukasey: “His mom says he is misunderstood. It is easy to slot people into an old fashioned story of the greedy swindler… Sam never scurried away with money. He stayed to the end. He’ll tell you more how much it means to him that people get repaid.”
SBF seemed at first that he’d drop the ‘smarter-than-thou’ attitude and show some contrition for the judge:
SBF: “I appreciate what Mark said about me. I don’t know that the most important thing today is my emotion life or hypothetical future kids.”
But no, he chose to ramble on and relitigate the whole case. Didn’t help himself.
SBF: “I made a lot of mistakes. But that’s not how the story ended. Customers weren’t paid back. FTX didn’t survive that. Yeah, customers have been given conflicting claims. That’s caused a lot of damage. They could have been paid back…”
SBF: “I can’t impact if I get 5 years or 40 years. I know how the prosecutors see me, the court, the media. I understand it. You referenced my test to the general counsel. I was trying to help – that’s not how the prosecutors saw it, the media, that’s that.”
The prosecution also had a say:
AUSA Nicolas Roos: “Samuel Bankman-Fried stole $8 billion dollars. It was theft, from customers spread all over the world. It was a loss that impacted people significantly and caused damage. I want to address a few of the new victim letters.”
Roos talked about many costumers’ letters whose lives were horribly impacted by FTX’s mishandling of their life savings.
“The defendant took $1.7 billion from investors – that alone necessitates a long sentence. Some get 40 or more years for that alone. There were also the loans, two lenders went bankrupt. That too justified, on its own, a severe sentence. Also one of the largest bribes. He committer perjury. It was pervasive.”
He would do it again: no acceptance of responsibility, the AUSA
“He did not swear off doing it again. He said there is an opportunity to relaunch FTX or an equivalent. That, I submit, tells the court exactly what could happen. A sentence is necessary here of at least 40 years so he will not do it again”
“The defendant is not a monster, but he committed gravely serious crimes that harmed many people – and he would consider doing it again. So, 40 to 50 years.”
The Judge talked about SBF’s background. “He said there was a five percent chance he’d be president one day. Indeed, this was a huge financial crime. He wanted to be a hugely politically influential person in his country. It wasn’t just the left end of the spectrum.”
He put up a fake stance on regulations, the Judge reminded us. He wanted power. Influence…
JK: “A man willing to flip a coin as to the continued existence of life on earth. Mr. Bankman-Fried knew that Alameda was spending customer funds on risky investments, political contributions and Bahamas real estate. The funds were not his to use. One of his pithier expression, I think, was “I f*cked up.” Mr. Bankman-Fried has the right to plead not guilty & go to trial. Everybody’s got that right and I don’t hold it against him. But I come back to Ms. Ellison’s testimony. He knew it was wrong. He’s not going to admit a thing. As is his right. Specific deterrence? His name is mud around the world. But he’s persistent and he’s a great marketing guy. Mr. Roos is right that the outlines of Sam Bankman-Fried’s revised version are clear.”
“On general deterrence, at the end of the day the criminal justice system thrives only if it’s seen as fair. People need to feel, It’s fair. Or we’re back to trial by combat, folks, or something like it. So punishment must fit the seriousness of the crime. And these. Were. Serious. Crimes. I know the Probation Department recommends 105 years, and the Government 40 to 50 years. That would be more than necessary.”
“I am not diminishing the harm. The brazenness of his actions. His exceptional flexibility with the truth. His apparent lack of any remorse. I want to add one further thought. I did not think it a fruitful use of time to spell out every lie – When not lying, he was evasive, hair splitting, trying to get the prosecutors to rephrase questions for him. I’ve been doing this job for close for 30 years. I’ve never seen a performance like that.”
“It is the judgment of the court that you are sentenced to 240 months then consecutive 60 [etc] for a total of 300 months [25 years].”
THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY – CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES.
Read more:
Sam Bankman-Fried Trading ‘Macks’ in Prison – Crypto Fraudster Used Fish To Get a Haircut – Housed Near Former Honduran President, Gives Crypto Tips to Guards
The post BREAKING: Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison – Second Biggest Democrat Donor Was Convicted for ‘One of the Biggest Financial Frauds in American History’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
by | Mar 28, 2024 | Aggregate
Hearings in the Georgia RICO indictment against President Trump and 18 co-defendants are continuing today in an effort to dismiss the case after the judge ruled that Fani Willis can continue her political witchhunt against the leading Presidential candidate.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled earlier this month, ignoring lies on the witness stand, that District Attorney Fani Wills can continue her RICO case against Trump and his associates.
In his 23-page decision, Judge McAfee ordered Fani Willis to address the “appearance of impropriety” before the case can move forward. McAfee ruled Willis can stay on the case but must fire her lover Nathan Wade, the top prosecutor she hired to hunt down Trump.
Nathan Wade resigned from the RICO case following this decision.
However, Judge McAfee announced last Wednesday that President Trump and his co-defendants could appeal the Fani Willis disqualification decision.
HUGE: Georgia Judge Allows Trump to Appeal Fani Willis Disqualification Decision
The Georgia Court of Appeals has 45 days to decide on any appeal to the judge’s disqualification order.
Now, attorneys for Trump and his 18 co-defendants are urging McAfee to dismiss the charges on the grounds that the indictments violate the First Amendment.
CNN reports,
For the first time since a judge ruled that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can continue to oversee the Georgia 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump, the focus will return to the details of the sprawling case.
During a hearing Thursday, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia is expected to argue that the indictment should be dismissed because the former president’s political speech is protected by the First Amendment.
In a motion filed in late 2023, before the unsuccessful efforts by defendants to disqualify Willis from the case emerged, Trump attorney Steve Sadow argued that the peddling of conspiracy theories and claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election were at their core political speech, and therefore Trump never should have been indicted.
“The core political speech and expressive conduct alleged in this indictment against President Trump are protected from government regulation and thus criminal prosecution by the State,” Sadow wrote.
According to further argues that “Criminalizing President Trump’s speech and advocacy disputing the outcome of the election—while speech endorsing the election’s outcome is viewed as unimpeachable—is thus blatant viewpoint discrimination.”
Sadow argued this morning that, “But for protected First Amendment speech, President Trump would not be charged in RICO or the other counts.” He continued, “Since that violates the Constitution as applied to the charges here, and his speech here, and his position here, this is ripe for a Constitutional challenge, and one step further, if it’s not ripe now, and we get into intent, when does the court determine that? Do you determine that after we have a trial?”
Trump attorney Steven Sadow argues for tossing out the Georgia election interference case on First Amendment grounds at a pretrial hearing:
“The reason why we don’t even get to a trial is because it’s unconstitutional to force an accused … to stand trial on protected speech.” pic.twitter.com/tO4NtNBshw
— The Recount (@therecount) March 28, 2024
Watch the hearing live below:
The post WATCH LIVE: Donald Trump Court Hearing on Motion to Dismiss Georgia Case First Amendment Grounds appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
