Bihar Minister Facing Kidnapping Charges Resigns, Says ‘Party’s Image Tarnished Because of Me’

Amid protests by the Opposition parties, Bihar minister Kartik Kumar, who is allegedly involved in a 2014 kidnapping case, on Wednesday resigned from his ministerial post. This came hours after the Nitish Kumar government removed Kartik Kumar as the law minister and allotted him the low-profile sugarcane department. CM Nitish Kumar has accepted Kartik’s resignation and further sent it to Governor Phagu Chauhan. “I have resigned. I was fed up of everyday debates on TV. BJP had too many problems with me so I had decided that once I get clean chit then only I will take any responsibility in the government. For me, the party is top priority, will work for the party and will answer those who are criticising me. Media is reporting one sided news. And this led to negative portrayal for my image. So it is my duty to clear all confusions and then only I will see what to do,” the RJD leader told CNN-News18. “Tejashwi never opposed my ministership otherwise I wouldn’t have become a minister. Because of me, the party’s image is tarnished and some are campaigning against me so I resigned,” he added. Meanwhile, Bihar Revenue Minister Alok Kumar Mehta has been given additional charge for the Sugarcane Industry Ministry. Reacting to Kartik Kumar’s resignation, BJP leader Sushil Modi said in a tweet, “The first wicket has just fallen. Many more wickets will fall now.”
“Nitish Kumar got clean bowled in the first over itself. Now Karthik Kumar’s first wicket has fallen. Many more wickets will fall now, ” he added.

नीतीश कुमार पहले ओवर में ही क्लीन बोल्ड हो गए ।अभी तो कार्तिक कुमार का पहला विकेट गिरा है ।अभी और कई विकेट गिरेंगे।@aajtak @ANI @ZeeBiharNews @ABPNews @News18Bihar @PTI_News

— Sushil Kumar Modi (@SushilModi) August 31, 2022

BJP’s IT Cell head Amit Malviya said Kartik Kumar seems to have more self respect than Nitish Kumar.

Kartikeya Singh seems to have more self respect than Nitish Kumar. — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) August 31, 2022

Kartik Kumar is expected to appear in court on Thursday in a kidnapping case with his interim protection from court against any coercive action ending on September 1. ALSO READ:  Winning the Perception Battle? Nitish Kumar Removes Bihar Law Minister Under Scanner in Kidnapping Case Kartik, who is close to RJD’s Bahubali leader Anant Singh, is facing the charge of kidnapping in Patna district and a case was registered at the Bihta police station in 2014. The warrant was issued in the first week of August. As per the allegations against him, he was involved in the kidnapping of a person named Rajiv Ranjan in 2014 and an FIR was lodged at the Bihta police station. The victim had given a statement under CrPC of 164 in the court where he had mentioned the name of the RJD leader. Moreover, he is also facing other criminal charges in Mokama railway police station and other police stations of Patna and adjoining districts. The BJP has been attacking the new government since Kumar was sworn in as the law minister. Kumar did not attend a court hearing on August 16 in the case when he took oath as the minister.

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Imran Khan attracts US reaction as he faces terror charges

File photo of ex-PM Imran Khan. 

• The US says it backs the democratic order in Pakistan. 
• The US State Department spokesman says the US values longstanding cooperation with the country.
• Says the US considers a democratic Pakistan critical to the US interests.

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WASHINGTON: The United States said that it supported democratic principles in Pakistan after former prime minister Imran Khan, an outspoken critic of Washington, secured bail in a terror case filed against him for threatening Additional Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry during a public rally. 

"We support the peaceful upholding of democratic, constitutional and legal principles," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters on Thursday.

"The United States values our longstanding cooperation with Pakistan and has always viewed a prosperous and democratic Pakistan as critical to US interests."

The State Department spokesman declined to weigh in more specifically on charges against Khan, who was ousted in a parliamentary vote in April but hopes to stage a comeback in elections.
Khan has staged rallies to rail against his successor, Shehbaz Sharif, and has alleged a conspiracy against him orchestrated by the United States, allegations repeatedly dismissed by Washington as baseless. On August 25, Imran Khan appeared before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad. The court granted his bail plea till September 1 against a surety bond worth Rs100,000. 

Think of Pakistan: Imran Khan to 'decision-makers and influencers' 

As he appeared before the ATC, he talked to the media outside the court, calling upon those "making and influencing" decisions to take Pakistan into account.  He asserted the world is making fun of the country over reports of him being booked in a terror case for intending to take legal action against officials whom he alleges are involved in the torture of his chief of staff Shahbaz Gill in prison. "Torture and sexual abuse was inflicted on Shahbaz Gill and when I said that I'll take legal action against the police officials involved and the magistrate who sent Gill into police custody despite torture being proven in court, I was booked in a terror case," he said. He said when news of this spread across the globe it gave an impression of Pakistan being a banana republic.

"They [the coalition government] are terrified of PTI's power [..] and are trying to get the head of the biggest party arrested in this case just for a technical knockout and to save themselves," he added.

The case

The PTI chair had staged a rally in the federal capital on August 20 to express solidarity with his chief of staff Shahbaz Gill after claims of torture in custody. He said that the additional sessions judge — who sent Gill into physical remand on the police's request — should brace herself for consequences. An FIR was registered against him under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act at the Margalla police station for threatening the judge and other senior officers of the Islamabad Police during the rally. A day after the registration of a case against him, Imran Khan secured transit bail till August 25 from the Islamabad High Court which directed him to approach the relevant forum for pre-arrest bail.

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FIR registered against Rana Sanaullah on terrorism charges

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah — PID/File

GUJRAT: A case was registered against Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on charges of terrorism and interference in government matters on Thursday.  The case was filed in the Industrial Area Police Station of Gujrat by a citizen.  The first information report (FIR) stated that Sanaullah threatened to kill the children of government officials and said that they won't get any help from Pakistan's court and its judiciary. The FIR added that Sanaullah said they [government] will surround those judges who are going to promote PTI's agenda.
"Rana Sanaullah's statement was to terrorise the judiciary, chief secretary and other government officials and to not let them do their job so that they are unable to fulfil their judicial commitments," stated the report citing an old video of the PML-N leader. The FIR mentioned that the minister's statement has caused fear and terror among the judiciary, authorities, police, bureaucracy and the nation. Soon after the news came out, PML-Q senior leader Moonis Elahi said that the interior minister will be arrested soon. "You make false cases against Imran Khan, now the Pakistani nation has registered a true case against you," he wrote on Twitter. The PML-Q leader was referencing the case registered against PTI Chairman Imran Khan, last week, for threatening an additional sessions judge and senior police officers of the Islamabad Police at a rally in the federal capital’s F-9 Park. The FIR had claimed that Khan threatened Additional Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry and police officers to “terrorise” the law enforcement agency and the judiciary after which the arrest warrants for the PTI leader were issued.

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Gary Busey responds to sex offense charges: 'I was not inappropriate at all'

The affidavit, obtained by CNN, states that Cherry Hill police detectives were called to a Doubletree Hotel on August 13 where two victims "reported being sexually assaulted by the same actor," identified as the defendant. "They reported they were in a photoshoot area during the Monster Mania event and were having their picture taken with the defendant. During the photoshoot, the defendant placed his face near one of the victim's breasts and asked her where she got them, before attempting to unlatch her bra strap," the affidavit states. The other woman reported that Busey, 78, grabbed her buttocks during the photo shoot, the affidavit states. The next day, a man reported that his daughter had been sexually assaulted by the actor, and that she told detectives he grabbed her buttocks during a photoshoot, according to the affidavit. Earlier Tuesday, Busey had no comment when CNN reached out and declined to say whether he had legal representation in the matter.

CNN contacted Busey again Tuesday night for comment on the affidavit's allegations.

Busey denied allegations of sexual misconduct to TMZ when the outlet caught up with the actor at a Malibu gas station on Monday, TMZ reported.

He said he was "not inappropriate at all," and that he has eyewitnesses. "None of that happened," Busey said. "Nothing happened. Nothing. It was all false." Detectives made contact with Busey and the affidavit states he "initially denied groping anyone, before asking detectives to apologize to the victims, then asking detectives to talk the victims out of pursuing complaints, as well as claiming that sometimes it is possible to accidentally touch someone in a specific body part," the affidavit states. A law firm representing Monster Mania told CNN in a statement Saturday that it was assisting authorities in their investigation, and that immediately after receiving a complaint from an attendee, "the celebrity guest was removed from the convention and instructed not to return."

A criminal complaint states Busey is to appear in Camden Superior Court at noon on August 31. Busey faces charges including two counts of criminal sexual contact (fourth degree), one count of criminal attempt/ criminal sexual contact (fourth degree), and one count of harassment (disorderly persons offense). CNN has contacted Cherry Hill police and Camden County prosecutors for comment.

Busey is best known for his portrayal of Buddy Holly in the 1978 movie "The Buddy Holly Story," for which he was nominated for an Oscar for best actor.

Chuck Johnston contributed to this story.
https://www.globalcourant.com/gary-busey-responds-to-sex-offense-charges-i-was-not-inappropriate-at-all/?feed_id=15034&_unique_id=6305bf0d05ccb

Former Tennessee House speaker, chief of staff indicted on corruption charges

A former speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives and his chief of staff were indicted on Tuesday on corruption charges, according to the Justice Department.

The charges allege that former speaker and current State Rep. Glen Casada and his former chief of staff Cade Cothren created a company and a fake persona to receive state funds.

The indictment alleges that Casada and Cothren said the political consulting business they actually owned and profited from was run by a "Matthew Phoenix," but in reality there was no Matthew Phoenix and the men were profiting by diverting state funds to the business.

Casada, a Republican, said earlier this year he would not seek reelection, had resigned from House leadership in August 2019.

The Justice Department alleges the state mailer program was at the center of the corruption. The program allowed $3,000 to be used for sending constituent mail and said any other expenses could be offset by campaign funds.

"Casada and Individual 4 would and did receive kickbacks from Cothren in exchange for using their positions as members of the Tennessee House of Representatives to perform official acts, including pressuring the Tennessee House Speaker's Office and other State officials to approve Phoenix Solutions as a Mailer Program vendor and to disburse State funds to Phoenix Solutions," the indictment said.

Rep. Glen Casada attends a House session on the first day of the 2020 legislative session in Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 14, 2020. Mark Humphrey/AP, FILE

Another Tennessee state lawmaker was charged in March with similar crimes, according to DOJ.

They are also charged with bribery and kickbacks concerning programs receiving federal funds, honest services wire fraud; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The scheme, DOJ said, also involved other state representatives but they were not named nor charged in court documents, and the scheme went on for almost three years, according to court documents.

Both men were arrested by the FBI at their houses Tuesday morning, the Justice Department said in a release.

In 2020, these companies and Phoenix Solutions received approximately $51,947 from the State in payments associated with the mailer program, DOJ alleges.

The money laundering charges carry a 20-year prison sentence if those indicted are found guilty and the public corruption and bribery charges carry 10-year sentences.

Casada has not returned ABC News request for comment and there was no lawyer listed on the court docket for Cothren.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/former-tennessee-house-speaker-chief-of-staff-indicted-on-corruption-charges/?feed_id=14859&_unique_id=63052704ebc17

Actor Gary Busey faces sex offense charges at Monster Mania Convention in New Jersey

Cherry Hill Police responded to the hotel for the report of a sex offense. As a result of the investigation, the police department charged Gary Busey, 78, of Malibu, California, with two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, one count of criminal attempt/criminal sexual contact and one count of harassment. CNN has reached out to representatives of Busey for comment. It was not immediately known if Busey had an attorney representing him in this matter. Cherry Hill Police Chief Robert Kempf confirmed to CNN on Saturday evening that the incident involved Busey, who was one of the attendees at the event. Busey is best known for his portrayal of Buddy Holly in the 1978 movie "The Buddy Holly Story," for which he was nominated for an Oscar for best actor.

A law firm representing Monster Mania told CNN in a statement on Saturday evening, "Our client, Monster-Mania LLC, is assisting authorities in their investigation into an alleged incident involving attendees and a celebrity guest at its convention in Cherry Hill, New Jersey last weekend. Immediately upon receiving a complaint from the attendee, the celebrity guest was removed from the convention and instructed not to return. Monster-Mania also encouraged the attendees to contact the police to file a report."

The investigation into the incident is ongoing, police said, and anyone with additional information is urged to contact the Cherry Hill Police Department at 856-432-8834.

https://www.globalcourant.com/actor-gary-busey-faces-sex-offense-charges-at-monster-mania-convention-in-new-jersey/?feed_id=13695&_unique_id=6301ca20b2ab7

US charges Iranian man in alleged plot to kill ex-Trump adviser John Bolton

The US Justice Department launched a criminal complaint against Shahram Poursafi with plotting to murder Bolton in retaliation for the death of Iran's Qasem Soleimani.

The FBI on Wednesday released a most-wanted poster of Poursafi. (AP)

The United States has charged a member of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps with plotting to murder John Bolton, a national security adviser to former President Donald Trump.

The Justice Department alleged on Wednesday that Shahram Poursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, 45, of Tehran, was likely motivated to kill Bolton in retaliation for the death of Qasem Soleimani, a commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps killed in a US drone strike in January 2020.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Iran does not have an extradition treaty with the United States and Poursafi remains at large. The FBI on Wednesday released a most-wanted poster.

According to the criminal complaint, Poursafi asked a US resident identified only as "Individual A" to take photographs of Bolton, under the guise that the photos were needed for a forthcoming book.

The US resident then introduced Poursafi to a covert government informant who could take the photographs for a price.

Investigators said the following month Poursafi contacted the informant on an encrypted messaging application and offered the person $250,000 to hire someone to "eliminate" Bolton - an amount that would later be negotiated up to $300,000.

When the informant asked Poursafi to be more specific in his request, he said he wanted "the guy" purged and he provided Bolton's first and last name, according to a sworn statement in support of the complaint.

He later directed the informant to open a cryptocurrency account to facilitate the payment. 

In subsequent communications, he allegedly told the informant it did not matter how the killing was carried out, but that his "group" would require a video as proof that the deed was done.

READ MORE: Iran pledges revenge on US for Soleimani's death

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m23pywBTNQY[/embed]

Impact on nuclear deal talks?

In a statement on Twitter on Wednesday, Bolton thanked the Justice Department for taking action.

"While much cannot be said publicly right now, one point is indisputable," he said. 

The State Department had no immediate comment on whether the decision to charge Poursafi was in any way linked to US diplomacy seeking to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Indirect talks between the United States and Iran wrapped up in Vienna on Monday with European Union officials saying they had put forward a final text to resuscitate the agreement.

Under the agreement, Tehran has curbed its nuclear programme in return for relief from US, EU and UN economic sanctions.

Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal in 2018 and restored harsh US sanctions, prompting Tehran to start violating the agreement's nuclear limits about a year later, reviving fears Iran might be seeking to develop nuclear weapons – an ambition it denies.

READ MORE: Iran nuclear talks restart in Vienna as officials look to remove hurdles

Source: TRTWorld and agencies

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Travis, Gregory McMichael sentenced on Arbery hate-crime charges; William 'Roddie' Bryan next

Comment

Travis and Gregory McMichael, already sentenced to life in prison for killing Ahmaud Arbery, were each given an additional life sentence Monday for federal hate-crime violations — and told they must serve their time in state prison, which they contend will be far more dangerous.

Amy Lee Copeland, Travis McMichael’s attorney, said in U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Ga., that her client has received hundreds of threats and faces “an effective back-door death penalty” if he’s sent to Georgia state prison — a system Copeland noted is under federal investigation for alleged violent and deplorable conditions.

But Arbery’s family vehemently opposed allowing his killers to choose where they will be incarcerated, noting that the young Black man who was gunned down while jogging will never make choices about his life again.

"How can you ask for mercy? You didn’t give my boy no mercy,” Marcus Arbery said as he asked U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood to hand down the “stiffest penalty that the court allows.”

The elder Arbery called his son, who was 25 when he was killed, “the greatest sunshine of my life” and condemned his killers as “devils.”

Settlement announced in police killing of unarmed Black man on Maryland's Eastern Shore

Godbey Wood sentenced Travis McMichael, 36, to life in prison plus 10 years, and his father, Gregory McMichael, 66, to life in prison plus seven years. They were convicted in federal court in February of attempted kidnapping, a weapons violation and violently interfering with Arbery’s right to use a public street because he was Black.

The federal jury found their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, guilty of attempted kidnapping and violently interfering with Arbery’s right to use a public street because he was Black; he is scheduled to be sentenced later Monday.

The men, all White, already face life sentences on state murder charges following their November 2021 convictions, with no possibility of parole for the McMichaels.

Godbey Wood said the state sentence had custodial priority for the McMichaels, since they were convicted and sentenced in state court before the federal trial. That means the father and son will likely spend the rest of their lives in state prison. They have two weeks to appeal.

In court filings, Gregory McMichael raised safety concerns similar to his son’s in seeking to serve his time in a federal facility, which tend to have better amenities, including healthcare. Bryan has argued he deserves a lesser sentence than his neighbors in part because, unlike them, he was not armed when he pursued Arbery.

The Post's Hannah Knowles recaps the trial of Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William "Roddy" Bryan, who were convicted in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. (Video: Joshua Carroll, Allie Caren/The Washington Post)

Addressing the court on Monday, the elder McMichael apologized to his son, saying he should have “never put him in that situation” of shooting Arbery. He also apologized to his wife and thanked her for standing by him. “You are a better wife than I deserve,” he said.

Four officers involved in Breonna Taylor's killing face federal charges

Speaking to Arbery’s family, the elder McMichael said: “I’m sure that my words mean very little to you, but I want to assure you I never wanted any of this to happen. There was no malice in my heart and my son’s heart today.”

Travis McMichael declined to speak in during his sentencing hearing. In seeking an order that he serve his sentence in federal prison, Copeland, his lawyer, said she understood “the rich irony ... of expressing that my client will face vigilante justice himself.”

Arbery, an avid jogger, was out for a run when the McMichaels and Bryan chased him in pickup trucks and then killed him in Satilla Shores, Ga., on Feb. 23, 2020, in an attack widely described as a “modern-day lynching.” The case drew little national attention until video of the shooting was released that May. It then became part of the broader national debate over racial injustice spurred by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police that same month, and the police killing earlier in the year of Breonna Taylor.

How a shaky cellphone video changed the course of the Ahmaud Arbery murder case

Prosecutors offered a plea deal to the McMichaels before the federal trial: The father and son, who had both denied in their state murder trial that race was a factor in their actions, would have to admit under oath that they killed Arbery because he was Black. In exchange, they would serve 30 years in federal prison.

But the deal fell apart at the last minute in stunning fashion, after Arbery’s family strongly rejected the idea of letting the young man’s killers choose where they would do their time.

“Granting these men their preferred conditions of confinement will defeat me,” Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said in court in January. “It gives them one last chance to spit in my face after murdering my son.”

Arbery’s family tearfully renewed their appeal Monday.

“If they had left him alone that day, they would have been fine. But they tortured him,” Kimberly Arbery, Ahmaud’s aunt, said of her slain nephew. “Give these people what they deserve.”

Another aunt, Ruby Arbery, said Gregory McMichael failed his son by participating in the chasing and killing of Arbery.

“Seems like a generational curse: like father, like son,” she said. “I don’t want them to have an easy life, because we will never have an easy life again. If they could bring Ahmaud back, they could have an easy life. But they chose to take a life, so they don’t deserve an easy life.

Outside the courthouse, Arbery’s supporters gathered for a prayer vigil. Arbery’s family was accompanied by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a longtime civil rights leader, as well as their attorney, Lee Merritt.

Leigh McMichael, Gregory McMichael’s wife, was also photographed at the courthouse.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/travis-gregory-mcmichael-sentenced-on-arbery-hate-crime-charges-william-roddie-bryan-next/?feed_id=8361&_unique_id=62f1854217ffa

SEC charges former GOP Rep. Stephen Buyer with insider trading

(File 1988) House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Stephen Buyer (R/IN) carries his research materials away at the conclusion of the impeachment proceedings December 12.

Reuters

WASHINGTON -- Former Indiana Republican Rep. Stephen Buyer has been charged with insider trading, using accounts owned by his wife and long-time mistress to hide some of the transactions, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday.

Buyer, who left Congress in 2011, is accused of trading on non-public information he received as a consultant after he left office.

According to the civil complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Buyer bought more than $1.5 million in stock in two separate companies, Sprint and Navigant Consulting, based on insider information over the span of two years.

He sold the shares of Sprint in 2018 after its merger with T-Mobile leaked, for a profit of at least $107,000 according to the SEC. He sold the Navigant shares in 2019 after news became public that Navigant would be acquired by Guidehouse LLP.

Buyer used several different accounts, including his wife Joni Buyer's brokerage account, to purchase the shares. Joni Buyer is not accused of any legal wrongdoing, but she is named in the charges because she technically benefitted from the ill-gotten gains in her investment account.

Buyer allegedly spread the stock purchases across 7 different accounts, including two separate IRA's belonging to him alone, an investment account belonging to his wife Joni Buyer; a joint account owned by the couple; a joint account Buyer shared with his son; a joint account Buyer shared with his cousin, and a 7th account owned by a woman identified only as "Friend-1."

According to the SEC complaint, Buyer began a romantic relationship with the unidentified woman in 2006. In 2018, Buyer used the woman's IRA account to purchase more than $12,000 worth of stock in Sprint. A year later, he allegedly used her account again to purchase $22,000 of stock in Navigant, shortly before both companies were acquired by Buyer's consulting clients.

"When insiders like Buyer – an attorney, a former prosecutor, and a retired Congressman – monetize their access to material, nonpublic information, as alleged in this case, they not only violate the federal securities laws, but also undermine public trust and confidence in the fairness of our markets," said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC Enforcement Division, in the SEC press release.

A lawyer for Buyer could not immediately be identified for comment.

Buyer served in Congress from 1993-2011, where he represented Indiana's 4th congressional district, which was previously numbered as its 5th.

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