Free Republic

Judge Carol Bagley Amon’s opinion exposed the deceit of abortion apologists and the symbiotic relationship between them and the New York attorney general’s office.On Friday, in a rare move, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals pulled a 100-plus page opinion it had issued in March against a group of pro-life protestors. The short three-sentence order in People of the State of New York v. Griepp—in which the court, without elaboration, granted rehearing of the case, vacated its previous opinion, and reinstated the district court’s decision—tells none of the bigger story of this continuing saga: a story of complicity between the...

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have been investigating whether several Ukrainian officials helped orchestrate a wide-ranging plan to meddle in the 2020 presidential campaign, including using attorney Rudy Giuliani to spread misleading claims about President Joe Biden and tilt the election in former President Donald Trump’s favor, people with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times on Thursday. The criminal investigation, which began during the final months of the Trump administration and has not been previously reported, underscores the federal government’s increasingly aggressive approach toward rooting out foreign interference in American electoral politics. Much of that effort is focused...

One of the two lawyers accused of trying to torch an NYPD cruiser during protests that engulfed Brooklyn over the weekend spent a summer in the West Bank as a fellow and intern with radical Palestinian activist organizations. Two attorneys, Colinford Mattis, 32, and Urooj Rahman, 31, reportedly were caught attempting to distribute homemade molotov cocktail devices to protesters who were clashing with police near the 88th Precinct in Fort . “Rahman attempted to distribute Molotov cocktails to the witness and others so that those individuals could likewise use the incendiary devices in furtherance of more destruction and violence,” a...

A Brooklyn man was sentenced to 156 months in prison today for his role in a vast multimillion-dollar health care kickback and money laundering conspiracy, the Department of Justice announced today.  Aleksandr Pikus, 45, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ann M. Donnelly of the Eastern District of New York.  Judge Donnelly also ordered Pikus to pay $39.4 million in restitution and to forfeit $2,614,233.  On Nov. 15, 2019, after a two-week trial, Pikus was convicted by a jury of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, two counts of money laundering, one count of...

A Long Island attorney who specializes in representing people who won major lottery jackpots was arrested by the FBI Tuesday, along with a soldier in the Genovese organized crime family, on charges of ripping off the winners of three lotteries for a total of $107 million, federal prosecutors said. The three alleged victims, who were not named by prosecutors, were described as the winners of a $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot; a $245 million Powerball jackpot, and a $150 million jackpot, officials said. Jason Kurland, 45, of Dix Hills, who bills himself as “The Lottery Lawyer,” was charged in federal...

Martin Shkreli isn’t challenging the government any longer. The ‘Pharma Bro’ fraudster convicted of misleading investors to the tune of $10.4 million—has just been sentenced to 7 years in prison. Journalists in the courtroom, reporting on Twitter, said the judge thought Shkreli was truly remorseful now, but that a minimal sentence would not serve to deter him from future fraud. Prosecutors had been seeking a 15-year prison sentence. Not long ago, he put a bounty on Hillary Clinton’s hair. Two weeks ago, he was still arrogant and challenging the government, crying ‘conspiracy’. Last week, he started begging for mercy. Today,...

The Daily Beast reports that Judge Beryl Howell is the jurist who signed off on Robert Mueller’s request to convene a Washington, D.C. grand jury for the Russia investigation. It also says that, going forward, Howell “will be the umpire-in-chief: deciding whether or not Trump allies’ lawyers can quash subpoenas, and whether or not people like Jared Kushner can invoke what’s known as executive privilege to get out of testifying under oath before Mueller’s grand jury.” Howell won’t have the final say. Her rulings will be subject to appeal and, to the extent they deal with matters like executive privilege,...