California
Holmes has 2nd child as she tries to avoid prison
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is citing her recently born child as another reason she should be allowed to delay the start of a more than 11-year prison sentence while her lawyers appeal her conviction for duping investors about the capabilities of her failed company’s blood-testing technology.
The birth of Holmes’ second child was confirmed in court documents filed last week in advance of a March 17 hearing about her bid to remain free during an appeals process that could take years to complete.
The filing didn’t disclose the date of the birth or the child’s gender, but the news isn’t a surprise. Holmes, 38, was pregnant at the time of her Nov. 18 sentencing in the same San Jose, California, courtroom where a jury convicted her on four felony counts of fraud and conspiracy.
The start of that trial had been delayed so Holmes could give birth to her first child, a son. Holmes had both children with her current partner, William “Billy” Evans. She met Evans after her 2016 break-up with her former lover and business partner, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who was convicted on 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy in a separate trial.
Balwani, 57, is also trying to convince U.S. District Judge Edward Davila to delay the start of his nearly 13-year prison sentence. A hearing on his request was held earlier this month, but Davila hasn’t issued a ruling yet.
Holmes isn’t citing her two children as the only reason she should be allowed to stay out of prison during her appeal. Her lawyers contend that an array of mistakes and abuses made during her trial make it likely her conviction will be overturned. They are also pointing to Holmes’ unblemished record while she has been free on bail during the four-and-half years since her criminal indictment as evidence that she isn’t a flight risk or a danger to the community.
California
Kobe Bryant family settles photo lawsuit for $28.5 million
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The family of the late Kobe Bryant has agreed to a $28.5 million settlement with Los Angeles County to resolve the remaining claims in a lawsuit over deputies and firefighters sharing grisly photos of the NBA star, his 13-year-old daughter and other victims killed in a 2020 helicopter crash, attorneys and court filings said Tuesday.
The figure includes a newly agreed upon payment from the county of $13.5 million along with the $15 million a federal jury awarded Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, at a trial in August.
The agreement resolves any future claims by Bryant’s three surviving daughters, related issues pending in state court, and other costs. A proposed settlement order, which a judge must approve, was filed Tuesday in federal court.
Kobe Bryant, the former Lakers star, five-time NBA champion and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, was traveling with Gianna and seven others to a youth basketball game when the helicopter they were aboard crashed into hills in Calabasas west of Los Angeles on Jan. 26, 2020.
Deputies and firefighters responding to the crash scene shot phone photos of the bodies and the wreckage, which Hashmall argued at trial were an essential part of assessing the situation.
But the pictures were shared, mostly between employees of the county sheriff’s and fire departments, including by some who were playing video games and attending an awards banquet. They were also seen by some of their spouses and in one case by a bartender at a bar where a deputy was drinking.
Bryant’s attorney Luis Li told jurors that the close-up photos had no official or investigative purpose, and were mere “visual gossip” shared out of a gruesome curiosity.
Vanessa Bryant tearfully testified during the 11-day trial that news of the photos compounded her still-raw grief a month after losing her husband and daughter, and that she still has panic attacks at the thought that they might still be out there and her daughters might someday see them online.
The verdict in her favor was erroneously read as $16 million in court, but was later amended to $15 million.
Federal safety officials blamed pilot error for the crash itself.
Chris Chester, Vanessa Bryant’s co-plaintiff at the trial, was also awarded $15 million at trial, and reached his own settlement with the county in September for nearly $5 million more.
New York
Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeals arguments mirror earlier claims
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court should reverse the conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell or grant a new trial on charges that she joined and enabled the sexual abuse that Jeffrey Epstein committed on scores of teenagers and young women for more than a decade, her lawyers argued in court papers Tuesday.
The arguments the lawyers submitted to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals largely repeated claims she unsuccessfully made to a trial judge who sent her to prison for 20 years.
The 61-year-old British socialite argued through her lawyers that the convictions violate an agreement Epstein reached with federal prosecutors 15 years ago, they violated the statute of limitations and should be tossed because a juror failed to reveal he was a victim of child sex abuse.
She also cited judicial error and a miscalculation of the federal sentencing guidelines range as reason to reject her conviction and sentence.
Maxwell is serving her sentence at a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, where yoga, Pilates and movies are available.
She was convicted in December 2021 of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein, an American financier who had hundreds of millions of dollars and an appetite for daily massages used to persuade vulnerable and mostly financially desperate girls to engage in sexual acts for hundreds of dollars.
Her lawyers had unsuccessfully argued previously that Maxwell became a scapegoat for prosecutors desperate for someone to blame after Epstein committed suicide in a federal prison cell in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
Her trial featured testimony from some women who were victimized when they were children as well as the testimony of pilots who dropped the names of famous men — Britain’s Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump — who flew on Epstein’s private jets.
Evidence showed that Epstein had transferred over $30 million to Maxwell, his onetime girlfriend, during and after a stretch of years from 1994 to 2004 when they were most closely connected.
Lawyers for Maxwell, a once privileged daughter of a shipping magnate, said in court papers that prosecutors never should have been able to press their case against her because a deal Epstein reached in September 2007 with federal prosecutors in Florida protected not only himself from prosecution but “any potential coconspirators.”
They also argued that a law used to convict her no longer applied once her accusers reached the age of 25, which all of them had by the time of the trial.
The lawyers repeated their claims that a juror’s disclosure to reporters after the verdict that he had failed to reveal that he was a victim of child sex abuse even though he had been asked were grounds to reverse the verdict. They said the trial judge mishandled the controversy.
And they wrote that Maxwell’s “deplorable conditions of confinement” at a federal jail in Brooklyn prior to trial left her “so disoriented and diminished that she was unable meaningfully to assist in her own defense, much less to testify.”
They also criticized the judge for letting three of four women who testified about sexual abuse they suffered to use pseudonyms even though one granted an interview with the Daily Mail after the verdict and another made public statements even before testifying.
California
Shipping companies reach $97M oil spill agreement
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Shipping companies will pay nearly $97 million to settle a lawsuit with a pipeline operator over a 2021 oil spill off the coast of Southern California, the pipeline company said Wednesday.
Amplify Energy, the Houston-based company that operates the pipeline, said in a statement that companies associated with the M/V Danit and M/V Beijing agreed to the payments. Amplify accused the vessels of dragging anchors in the waters off California and striking the pipeline during a January 2021 storm, which months later led to the spill of 25,000 gallons (94,600 liters) of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean.
Once the payments are made, Amplify said it would drop its claims against the shipping companies.
“The resolution of Amplify’s claims against the vessels and their affiliated entities concludes our involvement in the litigation related to the 2021 pipeline incident,” Martyn Willsher, Amplify’s president and chief executive, said in the statement.
Messages seeking comment were sent to lawyers for the shipping companies.
While less severe than initially feared, the oil spill sent blobs of crude washing ashore, shuttered beaches for a week and fisheries for more than a month, oiled birds and threatened area wetlands.
Southern California fishermen, tourism companies and property owners sued Amplify and the shipping vessels seeking compensation for their losses. Amplify agreed to pay $50 million and the vessels agreed to pay $45 million to settle those lawsuits.
Amplify, which reached a plea deal with federal authorities for negligently discharging crude, sued the vessels and the Marine Exchange, an organization that helps oversee marine traffic.
The Marine Exchange has also agreed to a non-monetary settlement with Amplify, the statement said. No details of this settlement were immediately released.
Missouri
Former lawmaker sentenced for fraud schemes
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A former state lawmaker was sentenced Tuesday to six years and three months in federal prison for fraud schemes committed while she ran several medical clinics in southwest Missouri.
Tricia Derges, a Republican from Nixa, was also ordered to pay $500,600 in restitution, federal prosecutors said.
She was convicted in June 2022 on 22 counts, including wire fraud, illegal distribution of controlled substances and making false statements to investigators.
Derges was elected to the Missouri House in 2020 and resigned days after she was convicted.
Prosecutors said Derges, an assistant physician, falsely told patients she was treating them with stem cells and fraudulently tried to obtain nearly $900,000 in COVID-19 related funds.
Derges founded and operated several medical clinics in southwest Missouri, including Ozark Valley Medical Clinic locations and the nonprofit Lift Up Springfield.
She also was convicted of illegally providing prescriptions for Oxycodone and Adderall to patients without conducting in-person evaluations.
Federal prosecutor Randy Eggert had sought eight years in prison for Derges, while her attorney, Al Watkins, asked for probation.
Before sentencing, Derges touted the thousands of underprivileged individuals she helped through her clinics. She said her mistakes were made “unknowingly” and without criminal intent, the Springfield News-Leader reported.
