US federal prosecutors seek seizure of assets linked to former Mongolia PM
US federal prosecutors filed a complaint in a New York federal district court Wednesday seeking the forfeiture of two multimillion-dollar Manhattan apartments purchased by former Mongolian Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold in connection to an alleged money laundering and corruption investigation. The investigation centers around contracts the Erdenet Mining Corporation, a state owned mining company, entered [...]
New York court issues gag order against Trump in hush money case
New York’s supreme court on Tuesday issued an order restricting former US president Donald Trump from making extrajudicial statements that could sway jurors and witnesses ahead of his upcoming trial for alleged hush money payments made to an adult film star. Set to commence on April 15, 2024, the trial will center on 34 counts [...]
New York judge sets April 15 start date for Trump in falsified business records case
A New York judge set an April 15 start date on Monday for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal case against former US President Donald Trump. The trial was originally scheduled to proceed on March 25, but the prosecution disclosed almost 100,000 pages of discovery shortly before the scheduled start date, which caused Trump’s legal [...]
New York appellate panel reduces $464M Trump civil fraud bond to $175M
An appeals court in New York lowered the $464 million bond imposed on former President Donald Trump in his civil fraud case on Monday. The five-judge panel ordered the bond be reduced to $175 million, and the payment date extended another ten days. The decision stayed a previous court order that Trump post the $464 [...]
Fourth Mississippi ‘Goon Squad’ member sentenced for involvement in assault of Black men
A federal judge in Mississippi sentenced former Rankin County sheriff’s deputy Christian Dedmon to 40 years in prison on Wednesday, making Dedmon the fourth in a string of sentences for deputies who pled guilty for their role in the January 2023 beating and torture of two Black men. Dedmon pleaded guilty alongside five other deputies [...]
The Cost of Revenge: A Cantor's Critique of Israel's Response to Hamas
In the wake of the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, many of Israel’s supporters, myself included, have succumbed to the understandable impulse for violent retribution. Israel is a land that I love, both culturally as a Jew — and third-generation Holocaust survivor — and spiritually as an ordained cantor. It follows that [...]
Donald Trump's Immunity Argument From the Standpoint of International Law
The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as Head of State or responsible Government official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law Principles of International Law Recognized in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal (1950) (Principle [...]
The New York Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a lawsuit from Tax Equity Now New York (TENNY), which alleges disparities in the New York City property tax system are disproportionately burdening low-income and majority-people-of-color neighborhoods, can go forward in the New York state courts. Judge Jenny Riviera, writing for the court, ruled that the [...]
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in NRA v. Vullo on Monday. In this case, the NRA accuses a New York State official of improperly using regulatory authority to pressure banks and insurers to cut ties with the group in the aftermath of the Parkland High School shooting. The case arose out of a series [...]
The UK government released a new definition of extremism on Thursday in response to a rise in extremist threats across the country. Groups that meet the new definition will be automatically barred from receiving government funding. The statement outlining this definition noted that the change is due to the increasing pervasiveness of extremist ideologies in recent [...]
