Washington
Army private who fled to North Korea will plead guilty to desertion
WASHINGTON (AP) — An Army private who fled to North Korea just over a year ago will plead guilty to desertion and four other charges and take responsibility for his conduct, his lawyer said Monday.
Travis King’s attorney, Franklin D. Rosenblatt, told The Associated Press that King intends to admit guilt to a total of five military offenses, including desertion and assaulting an officer. Nine other offenses, including possession of sexual images of a child, will be withdrawn and dismissed under the terms of the deal.
King will be given an opportunity at a Sept. 20 hearing at Fort Bliss, Texas, to discuss his actions and explain what he did.
“He wants to take responsibility for the things that he did,” Rosenblatt said.
In a separate statement, he added, “Travis is grateful to his friends and family who have supported him, and to all outside his circle who did not pre-judge his case based on the initial allegations.”
He declined to comment on a possible sentence that his client might face. Desertion is a serious charge and can result in imprisonment.
The AP reported last month that the two sides were in plea talks.
King bolted across the heavily fortified border from South Korea in July 2023, and became the first American detained in North Korea in nearly five years.
His run into North Korea came soon after he was released from a South Korean prison where he had served nearly two months on assault charges.
About a week after his release from the prison, military officers took him to the airport so he could return to Fort Bliss to face disciplinary action. He was escorted as far as customs, but instead of getting on the plane, he joined a civilian tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom. He then ran across the border, which is lined with guards and often crowded with tourists.
He was detained by North Korea, but after about two months, Pyongyang abruptly announced that it would expel him. On Sept. 28, he was flown to back to Texas, and has been in custody there.
The U.S. military in October filed a series of charges against King under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including desertion, as well as kicking and punching other officers, unlawfully possessing alcohol, making a false statement and possessing a video of a child engaged in sexual activity. Those allegations date back to July 10, the same day he was released from the prison.
Virginia
Judge accepts insanity plea from man who attacked congressman’s office with bat
A northern Virginia man who attacked staffers in the district office of U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly with a baseball bat was found not guilty by reason of insanity Monday.
A Fairfax County judge accepted the insanity plea from Xuan-Kha Tran Pham, 50, of Fairfax on charges that included malicious wounding and assault.
Pham was arrested and charged in May 2023 after the attack. Two staffers were injured, including an intern who was working her first day. The intern was struck in the ribs, and the other staffer was struck on the head repeatedly.
Connolly, a Democrat who represents parts of northern Virginia, has said Pham came there intending to kill him.
Pham’s defense attorney, public defender Dawn Butorac, told WRC-TV that Pham has had serious mental illness for decades and was not properly medicated at the time of the attack.
“Unfortunately, he’s suffered from delusions about government conspiracies and a variety of other things and he’d gone to a variety of government agencies in an attempt to get help because he believed the government was imprisoning him and all sorts of other things,” Butorac said.
Pham will now be sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment.
In a written statement, Connolly said he hopes Pham gets the treatment he needs “so that he does not harm anyone else or himself.” He said the attack shows the consequences of incendiary political rhetoric that is “too frequently expressed by too many people.”
“Hate speech and calls to violence are never acceptable and must always be condemned,” he wrote. “Failure to be civil and show respect for our differences will only result in more incidents like we experienced in May 2023.”
Colorado
Man charged with making online threats to kill election officials
DURANGO, Colo. (AP) — A 45-year-old Colorado man was charged Monday with making numerous online threats to kill election officials and others in Colorado and Arizona.
Teak Ty Brockbank, 45, of Cortez, was arrested Friday and made an initial appearance in court on Monday in Durango on a charge of transmitting interstate threats. A conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.
He remains in custody pending a detention hearing on Wednesday, a spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“We allege that the defendant made detailed death threats against election officials, judges, and law enforcement officers,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement. Their names were redacted from court records.
In 2021 and 2022, online accounts on the Rumble and Gab forums that investigators said belonged to Brockbank posted the threats including to shoot or hang various officials.
In August 2022, an account believed to belong to Brockbank posted on Rumble: “So those of us that have the stomach for what has to be done should prepare our minds for what we all Are going to do!!!!!! It is time.”
Investigators also received a warrant to search his phone and found threatening text messages, court records said.
Brockbank did not immediately reply to a text message or an email from The Associated Press on Monday seeking comment. There was no attorney listed for him in court records who might speak on his behalf.
The case is brought as part of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which began in June 2021 to address threats against election workers and make sure they are able to do their jobs free from intimidation.
New York
Judge orders Martin Shkreli to turn over all copies of unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album
NEW YORK (AP) — Martin Shkreli, once dubbed “Pharma Bro” for boosting the price of a life-saving drug, was ordered by a federal judge Monday to turn over all copies of Wu-Tang Clan’s unreleased “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” album to his lawyers by Friday.
Judge Pamela K. Chen in Brooklyn wrote that Shkreli must produce all copies of what is sometimes referred to as the world’s rarest album and report the names of anyone he distributed the music to by Sept. 30, along with any revenues he received from it.
In June, Shkreli was sued by a cryptocurrency collective that bought the only known copy of the album for $4.75 million.
The collective, PleasrDAO, accused Shkreli of retaining digital copies of the album in violation of their deal and disseminating them widely among his social media followers.
PleasrDAO attorney Steven Cooper said in a statement that Chen’s ruling was “an important victory for our client.”
He added: “We are pleased that Judge Chen recognized that immediate relief was necessary to thwart the continuing bad acts of Mr. Shkreli.”
Edward Paltzik, a lawyer for Shkreli, said in an email that the judge’s order maintained “the perceived status quo” of the lawsuit’s progression and has “no bearing whatsoever on the final outcome of the case.”
He also noted that the judge did not make a finding that PleasrDAO was likely to succeed on the merits or that its allegations were true.
The Wu-Tang Clan spent six years creating “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” before putting a single copy of the 31-track double album up for auction in 2015 on the condition that it not be released publicly. The multiplatinum hip-hop group wanted it viewed as a piece of contemporary art.
Shkreli bought the album for $2 million before he was convicted of lying to investors and cheating them out of millions of dollars in two failed hedge funds he operated.
In 2021, “Once Upon a Time is Shaolin” was sold to satisfy some of Shkreli’s court debts.
Shkreli was released from prison in 2022 after serving much of a seven-year sentence.
California
LA to pay more than $38M for failing to make affordable housing accessible
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The city of Los Angeles will pay $38.2 million to settle a 2017 lawsuit after “falsely” stating on federal documents that its multifamily affordable housing units built with federal funds were accessible for people with disabilities.
The complaint was filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of a Los Angeles resident, Mei Ling, who uses a wheelchair and the Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley, a disability rights advocacy group. Their share of the settlement has not been determined.
Ling, 57, has used a wheelchair since January 2006— and has either been homeless or in housing without the accessibility features, the lawsuit said.
It alleged that the city of LA did not make its multifamily affordable housing options accessible to those with disabilities for at least six years. Some issues were slopes that were too steep, counters that were too high, and entryways that did not permit wheelchair access, officials said.
The lawsuit also stated the city failed to maintain a publicly available list of accessible units and their accessibility features, and that it “knowingly and falsely certified” to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that it complied with these requirements. By doing so, it violated the False Claims Act, the lawsuit said.
“The City denies that it violated the False Claims Act,” LA city attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said in an emailed statement. “Nonetheless, we are pleased to have reached this $38.2 million settlement, particularly in light of the federal government’s initial claim that it was entitled to well over $1 billion in alleged damages.”
When the Housing and Urban Development department provides grant funds to local governments to build and rehabilitate affordable multifamily housing units, they must comply with federal accessibility laws, officials said. This includes a mandate that 5% of all units in certain types of federally assisted housing be accessible for people with mobility impairments, and another 2% be accessible for people with visual and auditory impairments.
They also must maintain a publicly available list of accessible units with a description of their accessibility features, among other housing-related accessibility requirements.
In the six years prior to the lawsuit filing in 2017, LA received nearly a billion dollars in various funds from the federal housing agency that went toward at least 28 multifamily housing projects, according to the plaintiffs. None of them contained the minimum number of accessible units required by law.
Meanwhile, the city “caused HUD and the public to believe that it was in compliance with all federal obligations relating to the receipt of federal housing and community development funds,” the lawsuit said.
Previously, the city settled a similar suit in 2016.
Army private who fled to North Korea will plead guilty to desertion
WASHINGTON (AP) — An Army private who fled to North Korea just over a year ago will plead guilty to desertion and four other charges and take responsibility for his conduct, his lawyer said Monday.
Travis King’s attorney, Franklin D. Rosenblatt, told The Associated Press that King intends to admit guilt to a total of five military offenses, including desertion and assaulting an officer. Nine other offenses, including possession of sexual images of a child, will be withdrawn and dismissed under the terms of the deal.
King will be given an opportunity at a Sept. 20 hearing at Fort Bliss, Texas, to discuss his actions and explain what he did.
“He wants to take responsibility for the things that he did,” Rosenblatt said.
In a separate statement, he added, “Travis is grateful to his friends and family who have supported him, and to all outside his circle who did not pre-judge his case based on the initial allegations.”
He declined to comment on a possible sentence that his client might face. Desertion is a serious charge and can result in imprisonment.
The AP reported last month that the two sides were in plea talks.
King bolted across the heavily fortified border from South Korea in July 2023, and became the first American detained in North Korea in nearly five years.
His run into North Korea came soon after he was released from a South Korean prison where he had served nearly two months on assault charges.
About a week after his release from the prison, military officers took him to the airport so he could return to Fort Bliss to face disciplinary action. He was escorted as far as customs, but instead of getting on the plane, he joined a civilian tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom. He then ran across the border, which is lined with guards and often crowded with tourists.
He was detained by North Korea, but after about two months, Pyongyang abruptly announced that it would expel him. On Sept. 28, he was flown to back to Texas, and has been in custody there.
The U.S. military in October filed a series of charges against King under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including desertion, as well as kicking and punching other officers, unlawfully possessing alcohol, making a false statement and possessing a video of a child engaged in sexual activity. Those allegations date back to July 10, the same day he was released from the prison.
Virginia
Judge accepts insanity plea from man who attacked congressman’s office with bat
A northern Virginia man who attacked staffers in the district office of U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly with a baseball bat was found not guilty by reason of insanity Monday.
A Fairfax County judge accepted the insanity plea from Xuan-Kha Tran Pham, 50, of Fairfax on charges that included malicious wounding and assault.
Pham was arrested and charged in May 2023 after the attack. Two staffers were injured, including an intern who was working her first day. The intern was struck in the ribs, and the other staffer was struck on the head repeatedly.
Connolly, a Democrat who represents parts of northern Virginia, has said Pham came there intending to kill him.
Pham’s defense attorney, public defender Dawn Butorac, told WRC-TV that Pham has had serious mental illness for decades and was not properly medicated at the time of the attack.
“Unfortunately, he’s suffered from delusions about government conspiracies and a variety of other things and he’d gone to a variety of government agencies in an attempt to get help because he believed the government was imprisoning him and all sorts of other things,” Butorac said.
Pham will now be sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment.
In a written statement, Connolly said he hopes Pham gets the treatment he needs “so that he does not harm anyone else or himself.” He said the attack shows the consequences of incendiary political rhetoric that is “too frequently expressed by too many people.”
“Hate speech and calls to violence are never acceptable and must always be condemned,” he wrote. “Failure to be civil and show respect for our differences will only result in more incidents like we experienced in May 2023.”
Colorado
Man charged with making online threats to kill election officials
DURANGO, Colo. (AP) — A 45-year-old Colorado man was charged Monday with making numerous online threats to kill election officials and others in Colorado and Arizona.
Teak Ty Brockbank, 45, of Cortez, was arrested Friday and made an initial appearance in court on Monday in Durango on a charge of transmitting interstate threats. A conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.
He remains in custody pending a detention hearing on Wednesday, a spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“We allege that the defendant made detailed death threats against election officials, judges, and law enforcement officers,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement. Their names were redacted from court records.
In 2021 and 2022, online accounts on the Rumble and Gab forums that investigators said belonged to Brockbank posted the threats including to shoot or hang various officials.
In August 2022, an account believed to belong to Brockbank posted on Rumble: “So those of us that have the stomach for what has to be done should prepare our minds for what we all Are going to do!!!!!! It is time.”
Investigators also received a warrant to search his phone and found threatening text messages, court records said.
Brockbank did not immediately reply to a text message or an email from The Associated Press on Monday seeking comment. There was no attorney listed for him in court records who might speak on his behalf.
The case is brought as part of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which began in June 2021 to address threats against election workers and make sure they are able to do their jobs free from intimidation.
New York
Judge orders Martin Shkreli to turn over all copies of unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album
NEW YORK (AP) — Martin Shkreli, once dubbed “Pharma Bro” for boosting the price of a life-saving drug, was ordered by a federal judge Monday to turn over all copies of Wu-Tang Clan’s unreleased “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” album to his lawyers by Friday.
Judge Pamela K. Chen in Brooklyn wrote that Shkreli must produce all copies of what is sometimes referred to as the world’s rarest album and report the names of anyone he distributed the music to by Sept. 30, along with any revenues he received from it.
In June, Shkreli was sued by a cryptocurrency collective that bought the only known copy of the album for $4.75 million.
The collective, PleasrDAO, accused Shkreli of retaining digital copies of the album in violation of their deal and disseminating them widely among his social media followers.
PleasrDAO attorney Steven Cooper said in a statement that Chen’s ruling was “an important victory for our client.”
He added: “We are pleased that Judge Chen recognized that immediate relief was necessary to thwart the continuing bad acts of Mr. Shkreli.”
Edward Paltzik, a lawyer for Shkreli, said in an email that the judge’s order maintained “the perceived status quo” of the lawsuit’s progression and has “no bearing whatsoever on the final outcome of the case.”
He also noted that the judge did not make a finding that PleasrDAO was likely to succeed on the merits or that its allegations were true.
The Wu-Tang Clan spent six years creating “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” before putting a single copy of the 31-track double album up for auction in 2015 on the condition that it not be released publicly. The multiplatinum hip-hop group wanted it viewed as a piece of contemporary art.
Shkreli bought the album for $2 million before he was convicted of lying to investors and cheating them out of millions of dollars in two failed hedge funds he operated.
In 2021, “Once Upon a Time is Shaolin” was sold to satisfy some of Shkreli’s court debts.
Shkreli was released from prison in 2022 after serving much of a seven-year sentence.
California
LA to pay more than $38M for failing to make affordable housing accessible
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The city of Los Angeles will pay $38.2 million to settle a 2017 lawsuit after “falsely” stating on federal documents that its multifamily affordable housing units built with federal funds were accessible for people with disabilities.
The complaint was filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of a Los Angeles resident, Mei Ling, who uses a wheelchair and the Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley, a disability rights advocacy group. Their share of the settlement has not been determined.
Ling, 57, has used a wheelchair since January 2006— and has either been homeless or in housing without the accessibility features, the lawsuit said.
It alleged that the city of LA did not make its multifamily affordable housing options accessible to those with disabilities for at least six years. Some issues were slopes that were too steep, counters that were too high, and entryways that did not permit wheelchair access, officials said.
The lawsuit also stated the city failed to maintain a publicly available list of accessible units and their accessibility features, and that it “knowingly and falsely certified” to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that it complied with these requirements. By doing so, it violated the False Claims Act, the lawsuit said.
“The City denies that it violated the False Claims Act,” LA city attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said in an emailed statement. “Nonetheless, we are pleased to have reached this $38.2 million settlement, particularly in light of the federal government’s initial claim that it was entitled to well over $1 billion in alleged damages.”
When the Housing and Urban Development department provides grant funds to local governments to build and rehabilitate affordable multifamily housing units, they must comply with federal accessibility laws, officials said. This includes a mandate that 5% of all units in certain types of federally assisted housing be accessible for people with mobility impairments, and another 2% be accessible for people with visual and auditory impairments.
They also must maintain a publicly available list of accessible units with a description of their accessibility features, among other housing-related accessibility requirements.
In the six years prior to the lawsuit filing in 2017, LA received nearly a billion dollars in various funds from the federal housing agency that went toward at least 28 multifamily housing projects, according to the plaintiffs. None of them contained the minimum number of accessible units required by law.
Meanwhile, the city “caused HUD and the public to believe that it was in compliance with all federal obligations relating to the receipt of federal housing and community development funds,” the lawsuit said.
Previously, the city settled a similar suit in 2016.
