New York
Attorney general probing Trump business deals
NEW YORK (AP) - New York's attorney general has opened a civil investigation into President Donald Trump's business dealings, taking action after his former lawyer told Congress he exaggerated his wealth to obtain loans.
A person familiar with the inquiry said Attorney General Letitia James issued subpoenas Monday to Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank seeking records related to four Trump real estate projects and his failed 2014 bid to buy the NFL's Buffalo Bills.
The person wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The New York Times first reported the subpoenas.
Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, told Congress in late February that Trump exaggerated his wealth on financial statements provided to Deutsche Bank when he was trying to obtain financing to buy the Bills. He told a House committee it was common for Trump to overstate his wealth when dealing with the news media or banks, but understate it when it came time to pay his taxes.
Messages left with the banks and the Trump Organization were not immediately returned.
The subpoenas issued by the attorney general seek loan applications, as well as mortgages, credit lines and other documents related to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., buildings in Chicago and New York and a golf course in the Miami area.
James, a Democrat newly elected to office, pledged to look into Trump's business practices, saying after her victory last November that she'd be "shining a bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings and every dealing."
Trump has complained that James is waging a politically motivated vendetta against him. Her office is also overseeing a lawsuit against a Trump charitable foundation. James' predecessors sued Trump over the operations of Trump University, his real estate school.
Previously, a different New York state agency, which regulates insurance companies, launched an inquiry into Cohen's allegations that Trump also misled insurance companies about his financial worth.
Trump has said Cohen is lying to try to get out of a prison sentence for tax evasion, campaign finance violations, making false statements to banks and lying to Congress.
Massachusetts
College coaches, others indicted in admissions bribery case
BOSTON (AP) - College coaches and others have been charged in a sweeping admissions bribery case unsealed in federal court.
The racketeering conspiracy charges unveiled Tuesday were brought against the coaches at schools including Wake Forest University, Georgetown and the University of Southern California.
Authorities say the coaches accepted bribes in exchange for admitting students as athletes, regardless of their ability.
Prosecutors say parents paid an admissions consultant $25 million from 2011 through Feb. 2019 to bribe coaches and administrators to label their children as recruited athletes to boost their chances of getting into schools.
Prosecutors allege that fake athletic profiles were also made to make students look like strong high school athletes when they actually weren't.
Authorities say the consulting company also bribed administrators of college entrance exams to allow a Florida man to take the tests on behalf of students or replace their answers with his.
Delaware
Court nixes juvenile killer's challenge to 37-year sentence
DOVER, Del. (AP) - Delaware's Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a man who was sentenced to life in prison for a 1998 murder committed when he was a teenager but later resentenced to 37 years behind bars after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
The court on Monday rejected Justin Burrell's claims that the mandatory minimum sentences he was given last year were unconstitutional.
Burrell was 17 when he donned a wig, hat, sunglasses and his sister's makeup, then forced his way into a woman's trailer to steal money. Burrell grabbed Dolly Fenwick by the hair, put a gun against her head, and shot her.
Burrell's resentencing was one of several required in Delaware after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 declared that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile killers were unconstitutional.
Kansas
Judge delays trial of online gamer charged in deadly hoax
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A federal judge has delayed the trial of a Kansas online gamer whose dispute allegedly sparked the hoax that resulted in police shooting a man who lived at his former Wichita home.
The attorney for 20-year-old Shane Gaskill of Wichita asked for more time to talk with prosecutors, and on Monday the judge postponed the trial to April 23. Gaskill is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, and making false statement during an investigation.
Prosecutors say Gaskill was playing a Call of Duty WWII video game with Casey Viner of North College Hill, Ohio, when they argued over a $1.50 bet. Prosecutors contend Viner then asked Tyler Barriss of Los Angeles to "swat" Gaskill.
Swatting is sometimes used by gamers to send first responders to an opponent's address.
Rhode Island
Horse insurer gets 3 years in prison for $1.3M fraud scheme
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A Rhode Island insurance agent who specializes in insuring horses has been sentenced to three years in prison for defrauding clients, insurance companies and finance companies out of $1.3 million.
Federal prosecutors say 57-year-old Randall Levesque, of Middletown, was also sentenced Monday to two years' probation and ordered to pay restitution.
Levesque pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud.
Authorities say Levesque, owner of Equine Insurance Services LLC, overbilled and double-billed customers' credit cards for premiums due on policies, some of which the client did not request or did not agree to finance, sometimes forging clients' signatures.
He also collected premiums from customers, but did not forward the payments to the insurance companies; and fraudulently obtained more than $500,000 in financed premiums from at least two finance companies.
Published: Wed, Mar 13, 2019
