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Ticker: Sam Bankman-Fried stole customer funds from the beginning; Data breach at MGM Resorts expected to cost casino giant $100M

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:40 GMT

Sam Bankman-Fried authorized the illegal use of FTX customers’ funds and assets to plug financial gaps at an affiliated hedge fund from the exchange’s earliest days, FTX’s co-founder Gary Wang told a New York jury on Friday, as prosecutors pressed their case that Bankman-Fried was the mastermind behind one of the biggest frauds in U.S. history.Eventually, the losses at the hedge fund, Alameda Research, became so large that there was no way to hide them any longer, Wang said in his second day of testimony.“FTX was not fine,” Wang said, referring to the now-infamous tweet that Bankman-Fried wrote only a few days before the exchange filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried, 31, stole billions of dollars from investors and customers in order to fund a lavish lifestyle in The Bahamas and buy the influence of politicians, celebrities and the public.Data breach at MGM Resorts expected to cost casino giant $100MThe data breach last month ...

Lucas: Mark Milley didn’t fade away

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:40 GMT

“Old soldiers never die,” American Gen Douglas MacArthur said in his dramatic farewell speech to Congress in 1951. “They just fade away.”And that is what MacArthur did.The famous World War II general made his remarks days after President Harry Truman fired him because MacArthur, the commanding general in the Korean War, wanted to expand the war into China. Truman did not.“There is no substitute for victory,” MacArthur said as Chinese troops poured into North Korea to support the North Korean Army routed by U.S forces.MacArthur wanted to push them back to China and then go in after them.Truman, seeking to avoid war with China, thought otherwise. The outspoken president said, “I fired him because he wouldn’t respect the authority of the president. I didn’t fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that’s not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail.”So, after a lifetime of distinguished military service, MacArth...

As Celtics lean into championship culture, Red Sox should take note

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:40 GMT

The Celtics began training camp earlier this week with several new faces, but quite a few blasts from the past, as well.Tom “Satch” Sanders, winner of eight NBA championships, paid a visit, and 2008 champs Paul Pierce, Eddie House and Leon Powe made appearances. Of course, there’s also assistant coach Sam Cassell, who won a ring with the aforementioned trio, the third and final championship of his 15-year playing career.They were invited by Joe Mazzulla, who wants to build a bridge between championships past and a season he hopes will culminate in another one.“I sent an email out to all the Celtic former players because I felt like it’s important that we share this experience together,” the head coach told reporters. “They started the tradition, they kept it going, and now it’s our responsibility as an organization to keep it alive.”Former Celtics have an open invitation to practices, games, even team dinners and flights, the second-year head coach said.“The past should be the...

Adam Jones to throw first pitch, Joan Jett to sing national anthem before Orioles’ playoff opener Saturday vs. Rangers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:40 GMT

Two legends will help kick off the Orioles’ first playoff game at Camden Yards since 2014.Former Orioles center fielder Adam Jones will throw out the first pitch and musician Joan Jett will sing the national anthem ahead of Baltimore’s American League Division Series opener Saturday against the visiting Texas Rangers at 1:03 p.m.Jones, who played for the Orioles from 2008 to 2018, was an All-Star in 2014 when the Orioles last won the AL East and hosted a postseason game.In September, Jones officially retired as an Oriole, returning to Camden Yards for an on-field ceremony for loud cheers from Baltimore fans. Two months earlier, he served as the Bird Bath Splash Zone’s first “guest splasher,” dousing fans in Section 86 after extra-base hits.Jett, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter of the band Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, is a lifelong Orioles fan. Jett, 65, grew up in Rockville and has long put on display her Orioles fandom. In the...

Nantucket’s ‘liquid gold’ part of whiskey revolution made in Massachusetts

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:40 GMT

A revolution is brewing in the whiskey business.The American Single Malt Whiskey Commission is attempting to declare U.S. distillers on par with their Scottish counterparts.One of the charter members is Triple Eight Distillery, part of the Cisco Brewers family founded on Nantucket. This puts Massachusetts in the race to make Scotch Whiskey passe.“Everything starts here,” Bryan Jennings, lead distiller at Triple Eight, told the Herald on a recent trip to Nantucket. “I love the seasons here and that’s what people say they can taste.”The salt air, the waves, the wind, the remnants of Tropical Storm Ophelia that whipped the island the day we visited create a climate akin to Scotland. It’s giving the whiskey stored in giant oaken barrels a mystique.The alcoholic beverages market is expected to grow past $4 billion by 2029, according to one recent estimate, so the stakes are high. Distilled spirits have jumped 12% as the nation puts the pandemic in the ...

Man who molested child at San Diego church sentenced after extradition from Asia

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:40 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A man who molested a 5-year-old child at a San Diego-area church in 2017 was sentenced this week after he was extradited from Singapore, the county district attorney announced.Chester Yang, 73, was arrested in December 2022 by the county's Fugitive Task Force in connection with the incident at the University of San Diego campus church, according to District Attorney Summer Stephan's office.Following the incident, officers attempted to contact Yang at his family's home, but were unsuccessful. The day after, prosecutors say he fled to Taiwan -- a country that does not have an extradition treaty with the United States -- and was unable to be sent back to San Diego.According to the DA's office, the U.S. Marshals service contacted Taiwanese authorities to get them to notify them if Yang left the country. In late May 2022, Interpol alerted U.S. authorities that he flew to Singapore, prosecutors said. A Deputy U.S. Marshal and the DA then made arrangements to have him extradit...

Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court justice rejects GOP call to recuse on redistricting cases

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:40 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A newly elected liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, who has called Republican-drawn electoral districts “rigged,” declined to recuse herself on Friday from a pair of redistricting lawsuits.Justice Janet Protasiewicz’s decision to remain on the cases increases the chance that Republicans, who control the Legislature and drew the maps, may proceed with the unprecedented step of impeaching her. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has threatened impeachment if she doesn’t step down.Vos had no immediate comment on her decision, saying he needed to first speak with his attorney.Republicans argue she has pre-judged the cases, which could result in new, more Democrat-friendly maps being drawn before the 2024 election. In her 64-page order, Protasiewicz said she understood that the issue had “engendered strong feelings in some quarters among people of good faith.” But she said after searching the law “and my conscience,” she did not need to recuse.Protasiewicz said that whil...

Authorities can’t search slain Las Vegas reporter’s devices, Nevada Supreme Court rules

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:40 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A slain Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter’s personal devices and other records are protected even after death, the Nevada Supreme Court has ruled.The state’s highest court ruled Thursday that Nevada’s shield law, which protects journalists from disclosing sources, precludes Las Vegas police and prosecutors from going through Jeff German’s things, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.The ruling also stated Nevada’s return of property law applies to the newspaper because it is an “aggrieved party.” Authorities had argued they could search German’s things because the Review-Journal had no ownership claims.The three justices also upheld a proposal that a third party examine German’s materials as part of the police investigation into his killing. A Clark County District judge previously said she didn’t have jurisdiction to consider the matter.Glenn Cook, the newspaper’s executive editor, applauded the court. He argued lett...

Small plane crashes beside inn near Chilliwack, B.C., airport

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:40 GMT

CHILLIWACK, B.C. — A small plane has crashed beside a hotel in Chilliwack, B.C. Haylie Morris, who works nearby, was on a forklift at about 2:15 p.m. today when she says she watched the plane fly right in front of her. Morris says she knew right away the plane was too low and began running as she watched it go through trees and crash beside the Chilliwack Motor Inn, just south of Chilliwack Municipal Airport. Morris says she and a co-worker called 911 and  directed emergency vehicles through a field at the back of the inn to the crash site. The registration number on the plane’s tail, seen in local media photos, indicates the aircraft is a Piper Seneca owned by the SkyQuest Aviation, a flight school based in Langley.It’s not known how many people were aboard, but the twin-engined Seneca model can carry a pilot and up to six passengers.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2023. The Canadian Press

UN expert: Iran is unlawfully detaining human rights activists, including new Nobel peace laureate

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:40 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran is cracking down on protesters, unlawfully detaining human rights activists, including new Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, and carrying out an “alarming” number of executions, the U.N. independent investigator on human rights in the Islamic Republic said in a report circulated Friday.The wide-ranging report by Javaid Rehman, covering the period from October 2022 through July, was written before the announcement early Friday that the Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to Mohammadi, a longtime campaigner for women’s rights even from her current cell in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.Rehman, a Pakistani-born professor of international human rights law at Brunel University in London, singled out Mohammadi among lawyers and human rights defenders imprisoned for their work in the report to the General Assembly.He was highly critical of the “excessive and lethal use of force” unleashed by Iranian authorities in reaction to nationwide protests followi...