Demovictory9
Demovictory9's JournalThere's Never Been a Better Time to Be a White-Collar Criminal
https://newrepublic.com/article/158582/theres-never-better-time-white-collar-criminal
There’s Never Been a Better Time to Be a White-Collar Criminal
Thanks to the Trump administration’s signature mix of incompetence and corruption, America is knee-deep in fraud and corporate malfeasance.
ILLUSTRATION BY MARIO WAGNER
In mid-June, a reporter at an Israeli news outlet gave me some startling information about an international criminal investigation that I had led while working as a prosecutor at the Justice Department. Until earlier this year, I had specialized in white-collar crime in an office based in Washington, D.C. My work, along with that of two outstanding FBI agents, had resulted in the conviction last year of an Israeli citizen named Lee Elbaz. Elbaz had directed a massive fraud—a crude but surprisingly effective scheme that resulted in nearly $150 million in losses to victims throughout the world who had been led to believe that they were investing in obscure financial instruments known as binary options.
Elbaz, however, was not the most significant player in this crime ring. That distinction seemed to fall to a man named Yosef Herzog who had also been charged, along with about 20 other people. I had charged Herzog with wire fraud early last year, when he was living in Israel.
The investigation then took a series of turns, for reasons that The Times of Israel discussed in its eventual story. But what I did not know—and what I learned from the reporter that day in mid-June—was that a senior official at the Justice Department had allowed Herzog to flee Israel, presumably by accident, by giving him the details of an ongoing extradition process. A year later, no one seems to know where he is.
By itself, this would be bad enough. The mastermind of a large international fraud had apparently been allowed to escape—for now, at least—as a result of the incompetence of a senior Justice Department prosecutor. But this episode also encapsulated many of the problems that I came to see while working at the agency: relative disinterest in real-world fraud; an obliviousness to the sophistication of criminals who many see as nuisances but who are in fact wreaking widespread havoc; and high-level ineptitude by previously low-level prosecutors who somehow managed to rise quickly in recent years. Together, these trends point to the precarious state of our white-collar criminal enforcement program under the Trump administration.
In January, before the pandemic destabilized federal law enforcement efforts, the number of new federal white-collar prosecutions reached an all-time low, according to data spanning nearly 35 years. Just 359 new defendants were prosecuted for white-collar crime across all 94 federal districts, down 25 percent from five years before.
Trump is going for the pity vote
Aides say Trump has grown to recognize the extreme political peril he's created for himself less than 100 days until the election. When he speaks with friends, his grievances are long and his complaints are ample but his willingness or ability to alter course seems minimal, according to people who have spoken to him.
Trump has voiced versions of "nobody likes me" for the past several months, those people said, describing an in-the-dumps president brought low by a pandemic he feels he has little ability to control.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/01/politics/donald-trump-allies-election/index.html
Trump says to 'read the manuals' when asked who told him that you can 'test too much' for COVID-19
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-read-manuals-you-can-test-too-much-coronavirus-axios-2020-7President Donald Trump said in a new interview that there's such a thing as too much testing for coronavirus.
When asked where he got his information from, Trump told "Axios on HBO" host Jonathan Swan to "read the manuals" and "read the books."
The president frequently alternates between praising himself for the US's expanding testing capability and claiming that testing is "overrated" and makes the country "look bad."
He's also falsely said that the US has the world's worst coronavirus outbreak because it does more testing than any other country.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Court orders release of Black Michigan teen who was jailed for missing schoolwork
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/510086-court-orders-release-of-black-michigan-teen-who-was-jailed-for-missingThe Michigan Court of Appeals ordered the release of a Black 15-year-old who was detained for failing to complete schoolwork during the pandemic, a case that had drawn nationwide attention and scrutiny.
Detroit News reports that the court overturned a previous ruling that said the teen violated her probation by missing homework. The court blasted the previous ruling, calling it "callous" and ordered the teen, known only as Grace, to be immediately released to her mother's custody.
A report by ProPublica earlier this month first shed light on Grace's case, as it noted that she was on probation for fighting with her mother and stealing, but there were reportedly no other examples of students taken into custody for failing to complete schoolwork.
Summer Camp Took Almost Every Precaution. The Majority of Kids Still Got COVID-19.
Summer Camp Took Almost Every Precaution. The Majority of Kids Still Got COVID-19.
THE KIDS AREN’T ALRIGHT
At least 76 percent of young campers who were tested came back positive—an ominous sign as schools push to reopen by the fall.
As state officials across the country scramble to solidify plans to reopen schools in the fall, a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzing the transmission rate at a Georgia overnight camp suggests that the spread of the coronavirus among students is inevitable.
The study, released Friday, analyzed 597 children and staff who attended the overnight camp between June 21 and June 27. At the end of the week, 76 percent of campers who were tested came back positive—despite the organizers following most state guidelines set by the governor and the CDC.
The camp, however, didn’t require campers to wear masks, only the staff, or open windows and doors for increased ventilation, per CDC guidelines. And it allowed attendees to engage in outdoor and indoor activities—like singing and cheering—that also contributed to the high transmission rate, the report stated.
“These findings demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 spread efficiently in a youth-centric overnight setting, resulting in high attack rates among persons in all age groups, despite efforts by camp officials to implement most recommended strategies to prevent transmission,” the report said, noting that the median age for the campers was 12 and the gender split was even.
The report said it only took two days for a teenage staff member at the camp to develop chills and leave the camp.
The next day, she tested positive for the coronavirus—prompting the camp to immediately begin sending attendees home before closing its doors on June 27.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-summer-camp-took-almost-every-precaution-the-majority-of-kids-still-got-covid-19
He went to Jared - We paid the price - ad by MeidasTouch
https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1289191227238150145
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