‘A Scandal Of Epic Proportions’: Judge Orders Two Fellow Judges To Pay $200 Million Over ‘Kids-For-Cash’ Scandal

U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner ruled Wednesday that two Pennsylvania judges were liable for $106 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages to 300 people after orchestrating a “kids-for-cash” scheme.

The ruling regards former Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, who sent young children to a for-profit jail in exchange for $2.8 million in payments from the owner of the penitentiaries, while shutting down a county-run juvenile detention center, according to The Associated Press (AP).

“Ciavarella and Conahan abandoned their oath and breached the public trust,” Judge Conner wrote in his judgement, according to AP. “Their cruel and despicable actions victimized a vulnerable population of young people, many of whom were suffering from emotional issues and mental health concerns.”

Ciavarella sent children as young as eight-years-old to jail for crimes such as petty theft, often not even allowing them to say goodbye to their families, according to AP. The judge was previously convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 28 years in jail for taking $1 million in kickbacks from the builders of for-profit jails, the outlet reported.

Conahan was sentenced to 17 years in prison and was released to home confinement 11 years into his sentence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, AP reported. When the scheme was uncovered, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out nearly all the juvenile delinquency cases heard by Ciavarella, according to ABC News.

Marsha Levick, chief legal officer at the Juvenile Law Center, told AP that ruling was a “huge victory.”

“To have an order from a federal court that recognizes the gravity of what the judges did to these children in the midst of some of the most critical years of their childhood and development matters enormously, whether or not the money gets paid,” Levick told the outlet.

https://dailycaller.com/2022/08/17/pennsylvania-judges-ordered-to-pay-200-million-dollars-kids-for-cash-scandal/

German chancellor makes Holocaust comment following criticism

Olaf Scholz slammed the Palestinian president’s comparison of Israeli policies towards Arabs to the Holocaust

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has denounced a remark from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that Israel had perpetrated multiple “holocausts” against Palestinians.

Scholz had come under fire for failing to challenge Abbas' accusations during their joint press conference in Berlin on Tuesday.

“I am disgusted by the outrageous remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud #Abbas. For us Germans in particular, any relativization of the singularity of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable,” Scholz tweeted in English on Wednesday.

At their joint press conference in Berlin on Tuesday, a journalist suggested that Abbas should apologize for the killing of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Munich Olympics. The president replied: “From 1947 to the present day, Israel has committed 50 massacres in Palestinian villages and cities, in Deir Yassin, Tantura, Kafr Qasim and many others – 50 massacres, 50 holocausts.”

While cameras captured Scholz grimacing at this unconventional use of the word “holocaust,” he remained silent at the time.

However, later in the day, the chancellor addressed the ‘holocausts’ comment when speaking to Germany’s Bild media outlet before making his position known on Twitter the following day.

Nonetheless, the fact that he did not address the comment at the press conference caused a wave of criticism in the country.

https://www.rt.com/news/561042-chancellor-scholz-abbas-holocaust-comment/

Drug scandal shakes elite Norwegian unit

Dozens of troopers were sacked over cocaine and ecstasy use, their chief has revealed

Thirty members of Norway’s Royal Guard unit have been dismissed after using illegal drugs while on leave, their commanding officer Trond Robert Forbregd told the country's state broadcaster NRK on Wednesday.

Forbregd said that the military was tipped off about illegal drugs being consumed at a private party over the summer.

“I have no confidence in the 30 who admit to using illegal drugs,” he said.

Initially, five conscripts admitted to taking drugs, but 25 more eventually confessed to use of cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana.

All 30 of those dismissed were members of His Majesty the King’s Guard army unit, which is tasked with protecting Norway’s royal family.

Brage Steinson Wiik-Hansen, a spokesman for the Army, told NRK that there is no suspicion that individuals at other departments consumed illegal drugs.

Norway’s armed forces have a strict zero-tolerance policy for illegal drug use, which can result in service members being expelled for infractions.

The country’s parliament passed liberal drug laws last year that, while stopping short of full decriminalization, implement so-called “Good Samaritan” rules for possession of smaller quantities.

https://www.rt.com/news/561044-norwegian-unit-ecstasy-use-scandal/

Former Indiana State Senator and an Indianapolis Casino Executive Sentenced to Federal Prison for Criminal Election Finance Schemes

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdin/pr/former-indiana-state-senator-and-indianapolis-casino-executive-sentenced-federal-prison

Former CEO Of Email Security Company Pleads Guilty To $50 Million Scheme To Defraud Investors And Lenders

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-ceo-email-security-company-pleads-guilty-50-million-scheme-defraud-investors-and