Vermont
Judge denies release to suspect in slaying case
RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) — A federal court judge on Tuesday denied a request for pretrial release for one of the men charged in connection with the alleged 2018 abduction and killing of a Vermont man as part of a dispute over a failed oil deal.
Berk Eratay, 35, a Turkish citizen who had been living in Las Vegas prior to his May arrest on the murder-for-hire charge, appeared in U.S. District Court in Rutland where his attorney Robert Katims said Eratay would be willing to live under 24-hour curfew in a private home in the Burlington area.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Van de Graaf said Eratay has no job or family in the United States and, facing life in prison, he would have a strong reason to flee prosecution.
U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford, noting the Canadian border is only about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Burlington, said Eratay had resources and strong family connections in Turkey.
“If Mr. Eratay were determined to return to Turkey he would certainly do so,” Crawford said in court.
Eratay and Serhat Gumrukcu, 39, the co-founder of a Los Angeles-based biotechnology company, were arrested in May on charges stemming from the alleged January 2018 abduction and killing of 49-year-old Gregory Davis of Danville.
Prosecutors say Davis had been threatening to go to law enforcement with information that Gumrukcu was defrauding him in a multimillion-dollar oil deal that Gumrukcu and his brother had entered into with Davis in 2015.
Eratay, who worked for Gumrukcu, has pleaded not guilty. A third suspect has also pleaded not guilty while a fourth pleaded guilty.
Gumrukcu has not yet been returned to Vermont to enter a plea.
During the court hearing, Van de Graaf told Crawford Gumrukcu was expected back in Vermont within the next couple of weeks.
California
Mickelson asks to remove name from lawsuit against PGA Tour
Phil Mickelson, the driving force among PGA Tour players in the rival LIV Golf series, and three other players asked a federal judge Tuesday to remove their names from the antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.
Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Ian Poulter filed separately to have their names removed. That leaves only three players — Bryson DeChambeau, Peter Uihlein and Matt Jones — and Saudi-funded LIV Golf as plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in early August.
The trial is not scheduled to begin until January 2024.
Mickelson’s decision was not a surprise. He had said two weeks ago to SI.com that he no longer needed to be involved in the lawsuit now that LIV Golf has joined as a plaintiff.
“The only reason for me to stay in is damages, which I don’t really want or need anything,” Mickelson said. “I do think it’s important that the players have the right to play when and where they want, when and where they qualify for. And now that LIV is a part of it, that will be accomplished if and when they win.”
LIV Golf already suffered one setback in court when U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman denied a temporary restraining order that sought to allow LIV Golf players to compete in the PGA Tour’s lucrative postseason.
Mickelson has been one of the chief recruiters for LIV Golf and its leader, Greg Norman.
In an interview with Alan Shipnuck for his biography on Mickelson, the six-time major champion said he recruited three other “top players” for LIV Golf and that they paid attorneys to write the operating agreement for the proposed league.
Mickelson was among the last players announced when LIV Golf and its $25 million purses began in early June. There now have been five events, with the next two scheduled in October in Thailand and Saudi Arabia.
LIV Golf has 12 of the top 50 in the world ranking.
Patrick Reed fell out of the top 50 this week, in part because LIV Golf does not receive world ranking points as its application with the Official World Golf Ranking board is considered, a process that could take until next summer.
“The PGA Tour for the last 20 or 30 years have had all the best players in the world. That will never be the case again,” Mickelson said two weeks ago. “LIV Golf is here to stay, and this type of divisive talk is doing nobody good.”
His hope was for LIV Golf and the PGA Tour to work together, which PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has said is unlikely to happen. The PGA Tour has suspended all members who have signed with LIV Golf for violating tour regulations.
New York
Judge green lights defamation lawsuit against Fox, Lou Dobbs
NEW YORK (AP) — A defamation lawsuit against Fox Corp., Fox News Network and Lou Dobbs can proceed toward trial, a judge ruled Monday after concluding that a Venezuelan businessman had made sufficient claims of being unfairly accused of trying to corrupt the 2020 U.S. presidential election to be permitted to gather more evidence.
The lawsuit filed last year alleged that businessman Majed Khalil was defamed by Dobbs on “Lou Dobbs Tonight” and in tweets.
It said the former Fox personality joined with attorney Sidney Powell on a December 2020 show to claim that Khalil and three others designed and developed programs and machines to corrupt the presidential election.
Lawyers for Fox and Dobbs had tried to convince U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton in Manhattan to toss out the lawsuit before evidence such as depositions and emails could be reviewed, but the judge said Khalil had sufficiently claimed that his reputation was harmed by false accusations.
The judge said Khalil may be able to argue to a jury that actual malice occurred because the defendants “repeatedly maintained their claims about Khalil long after Powell’s election fraud theories were challenged.”
He wrote that numerous reports declaring the falsity of claims against voting machine manufacturers Smartmatic Corp. and Dominion Voting Systems and rejecting Powell as a source of accurate information gave the defendants “reasons to doubt Powell’s veracity and the accuracy of her reports.”
Stanton said Khalil had sufficiently alleged that “the defendants purposefully avoided the truth, given the amount of public information regarding the lack of fraud in the election.”
He rejected arguments by lawyers for Fox that it cannot be held liable for statements made by Dobbs and Powell.
The judge noted that Fox controlled Twitter accounts from which many of the statements were first made.
He said the network’s executives were also on notice that allegations regarding election rigging by Dominion and Smartmatic were false because they had received several emails from the companies and had conversations with Dominion.
Messages seeking comment were sent to lawyers in the case and Fox.
