Illinois
Northwestern sued again over athletics program
CHICAGO (AP) — Three former members of Northwestern University’s baseball coaching staff filed a lawsuit against the school on Monday, saying they lost their jobs for trying to report bullying and derogatory abuse by the team’s head coach, who has since been fired.
The ex-staffers say Jim Foster’s coaching was rife with toxic and volatile behavior throughout the 2022-23 season, and that the school protected Foster after they filed a human resources complaint against him.
Northwestern says the lawsuit suit “lacks merit” and vowed to fight it in court, and Foster did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday.
Foster was sacked on July 13, just three days after football coach Pat Fitzgerald was dismissed because of a hazing scandal. The university faces more than a dozen lawsuits for hazing, racism and bullying in its football — and now baseball — programs.
“Only when the media found out about Coach Foster’s abuse did Northwestern choose to do something,” Christopher Beacom, the former director of baseball operations, told reporters Monday. “They swept our reports under the rug, putting their staff, student athletes and reputation at risk.”
Beacom is suing the school alongside two ex-assistant coaches, Michael Dustin Napoleon, and Jonathan R. Strauss.
Their attorney, Christopher J. Esbrook, said they’re suing the school for negligence because it allowed the head coach to create such a toxic environment and mishandled the HR complaint.
Northwestern University spokesperson Jon Yates said in an emailed statement that the school started its human resources investigation as soon as the university and the athletic director were first made aware of complaints about Foster.
“The assistant coaches and director of operations received full support from the University, they were paid for their full contracts and, at their request, were allowed to support other areas of our athletic department as needed,” he wrote.
The 28-page legal complaint is lodged against the university, Foster, athletic director Derrick Gragg, deputy director of athletics Monique Holland and assistant athletics director for human resources Rachel Velez.
It alleges Foster during his first year as head coach “exhibited volatile, unpredictable behavior with frequent blow-ups,” referred to a high school-aged batter as the “Chinese kid,” said he did not want a female team manager on the field because he didn’t want the players checking her out.
The suit also says Foster “created such a toxic environment that staff members felt too uncomfortable to go the lunchroom because they would have to interact with Foster — causing them severe anxiety and stress.”
New York
Testimony from Bankman-Fried’s trusted inner circle will be used to convict him, prosecutors say
NEW YORK (AP) — Testimony from FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s “trusted inner circle” of former executives at his collapsed cryptocurrency empire will be used to prove at an October trial that he misappropriated billions of dollars from his investors to fuel his businesses, make illegal campaign contributions and enrich himself, prosecutors said Monday.
Prosecutors made the assertions in papers filed in Manhattan federal court, where Bankman-Fried is charged with defrauding investors in his businesses and illegally diverted millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency from customers using his FTX exchange. He has pleaded not guilty.
The court filing, in which prosecutors describe evidence they plan to present to jurors, came three days after Bankman-Fried was sent to a federal jail in Brooklyn to await trial by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who said there was probable cause to believe he had tried to tamper with witness testimony at least twice since his December arrest.
It also came on the same day that prosecutors filed a streamlined indictment that contains the seven charges Bankman-Fried faces at the Oct. 2 trial — but there’s no longer a campaign finance charge for now, though it could go to trial later if they are found to conform with the terms of an extradition treaty with the Bahamas.
Still, prosecutors said in the latest indictment that Bankman-Fried misappropriated customer money to help fund over $100 million in political contributions in advance of the 2022 election. The indictment said he sought to “maximize FTX’s political influence” and use “these connections with politicians and government officials to falsely burnish the public image of FTX as a legitimate exchange.”
Late Monday, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers filed their own court papers related to trial evidence. In them, they asked that the trial judge exclude evidence about the FTX bankruptcy, the solvency of FTC and its affiliated trading platform, Alameda Research, and their ability to pay customers back.
They also asked that the judge ban prosecutors from telling jurors that Bankman-Fried resigned from FTX. They said they may oppose the prosecution’s plans to introduce evidence related to severed or withdrawn counts, such as the campaign finance charge.
Before Friday, Bankman Fried, 31, had been living with his parents in Palo Alto, California, after signing a $250 million personal recognizance bond following his extradition from the Bahamas last December.
Prosecutors recently sought his detention, saying he had tried to intimidate his former girlfriend, Caroline Ellison — the onetime CEO of Alameda Research — by releasing some of her writing to a journalist.
On Monday, the government said they would rely on testimony from Ellison, FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh to show jurors “the unlawful conduct directed and undertaken by the defendant.”
All three have pleaded guilty to criminal charges in cooperation agreements with the government that could earn them leniency at sentencing.
Prosecutors said they “formed the defendant’s trusted inner circle during the course of the conspiracy” and their testimony will be supplemented by multiple former employees of Alameda and FTX along with several victims, including customers, lenders and investors.
Other evidence will consist of financial records, Google documents and spreadsheets, and private communications, they added.
Meanwhile, the judge on Monday granted a request by defense lawyers that their client be supplied his daily prescribed medications for depression and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
New Hampshire
Man sentenced for abandoning baby in woods
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A 45-year-old New Hampshire man will spend at least a year in jail for endangering the life of a newborn baby, after MLB Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley’s daughter gave birth in the woods last year during subfreezing temperatures.
George Theberge was sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty to the misdemeanor child endangerment charge, having reached a deal with prosecutors, plus an additional six months behind bars for a probation violation stemming from his arrest in January and a drug charge.
The baby boy was left alone in a tent for more than an hour on Dec. 26 as the temperature dipped to 15 degrees (minus 9.4 degrees Celsius), authorities said.
A police affidavit referred to Theberge as the boyfriend of the baby’s mother, Alexandra Eckersley, 26, who is accused of abandoning her son without heat or proper clothing. She pleaded not guilty to charges of assault, reckless conduct, and other counts, and was released on bail. She awaits trial next year.
Eckersley’s lawyer said her client didn’t know she was pregnant, gave birth alone, called 911, and led police to the baby. She said Eckersley suffered medical complications. Since then, she said Eckersley has finished rehabilitation programs, is sober, and sees her son on regular visits.
The Eckersley family released a statement at the time of her arrest saying they had no prior knowledge of Alexandra’s pregnancy. They said she has suffered from “severe mental illness her entire life” and did their very best to get her help and support.
Dennis Eckersley was drafted by Cleveland as a California high schooler in 1972, went on to pitch 24 seasons as both a 20-win starter and a 50-save reliever for Cleveland, Boston, the Cubs, Oakland and the Cardinals. He won the AL Cy Young and MVP awards in 1992 while playing for the Oakland Athletics. Eckersley retired last year from broadcasting Boston Red Sox games.
Indiana
Teen who shot a teacher and a student ordered to treatment center
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A teenager who opened fire at a central Indiana middle school in 2018, wounding another student and a teacher, should go to a residential treatment center, a judge ordered Monday.
Hamilton Superior Court Judge Michael A. Casati ordered that the now-18-year-old be held in the Hamilton County Juvenile Service Center for 120 days while a probation department finds a suitable secure residential facility for him, news outlets reported.
A hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 4 to determine where he will be placed.
He will be held in the facility for at least a year. The judge ordered him to appear for a permanency hearing in June 2024. Under Indiana law, he can be detained as a juvenile until the day before he turns 22.
The teenager, who was 13 at the time of the shooting, had been detained since shortly after he opened fire at Noblesville West Middle School in May 2018. He shot a seventh-grade science teacher and another 13-year-old student. The teacher, Jason Seaman, tackled and pinned him to the ground.
Seaman was shot three times, and the student, Ella Whistler, was shot seven times. No one was killed.
The teen was preparing to be released to his family when on March 20, prosecutors say, he assaulted a female counselor at the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility by “fist-bumping” her breast, then joking about it with other juveniles. He was 17 at the time and was charged as a juvenile with battery.
Illinois
Former ‘Family Feud’ contestant sentenced to life for wife’s murder
QUINCY, Ill. (AP) — A judge sentenced a former contestant on the television game show “Family Feud” to life in prison after he was convicted of first-degree murder and other charges in the slaying of his estranged wife in western Illinois.
Timothy Bliefnick, 40, showed no reaction as Adams County Circuit Judge Robert Adrian read the sentence Friday, news outlets reported.
A jury in May convicted Bliefnick of murder, home invasion and use of a firearm to commit first-degree murder in the Feb. 23 shooting death of Rebecca Bliefnick, 41. Her body was found by a family member inside her Quincy home after she failed to pick up her children from school. She had been shot multiple times.
The couple was separated and going through a divorce.
Bliefnick’s attorney did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.
In 2020, Timothy Bliefnick and some of his family members appeared on ABC’s “Family Feud,” KHQA-TV has reported.
One of the questions asked by host Steve Harvey was, “What was the biggest mistake you made at your wedding?” Bliefnick answered “I do.” He immediately told Harvey “not mine to say, not mine to say. I love my wife.” He also said, “I’m going to get in trouble for that, aren’t I?” Harvey responded, “It’s going to be a lot of hell to pay at your house.”
Bliefnick’s answer was second on the board with 20 out of 100 people polled giving the same answer. Getting “sloshed” was No. 1 with 30 answers.
