‘Laverne & Shirley’ star Cindy Williams dead at 75

Cindy Williams, the dynamic actress known best for playing the bubbly Shirley Feeney on the beloved sitcom “Laverne & Shirley,” has died, according to a statement from her family, provided to CNN by a representative. She was 75.

Williams died after a short illness, said the statement from her children Zak and Emily Hudson, provided to CNN by family spokesperson and Williams’ personal assistant Liz Cranis.

“The passing of our kind, hilarious mother, Cindy Williams, has brought us insurmountable sadness that could never truly be expressed,” their statement read. “Knowing and loving her has been our joy and privilege. She was one of a kind, beautiful, generous and possessed a brilliant sense of humor and a glittering spirit that everyone loved.”

SAUCE: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/30/entertainment/cindy-williams-dead/index.html

Alec Baldwin to be formally charged Tuesday in Halyna Hutchins’ death

Alec Baldwin will be formally charged with involuntary manslaughter Tuesday in the death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Criminal charges against the “30 Rock” star, along with the Western film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, were announced earlier this month, though not officially filed.

“The District Attorney and the special prosecutor are fully focused on securing justice for Halyna Hutchins,” said Heather Brewer, a spokesperson for First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies’ office in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “The evidence and the facts speak for themselves.”

Baldwin fired the prop gun — which contained a live bullet that killed married mom Hutchins, 42, and injured director Joel Souza, 49, on the set in October 2021.

Assistant director David Halls has taken a misdemeanor plea deal for handing the loaded gun to Baldwin.

SAUCE: https://nypost.com/2023/01/30/alec-baldwin-to-be-formally-charged-in-halyna-hutchins-death/

U.S. Attorney Announces Settlement Of Civil Fraud Lawsuit Against Former Hunter College Professor And Hunter College For Fraudulently Using Federal Research Funds

Jeffrey Parsons-Hietikko to Pay $375,000 and Admits to Seeking Reimbursements for Personal Travel. Hunter College to Pay $200,000 and Admits to Using NIH Funds to Pay Parsons’ Staff for Time Spent Working on Projects Unrelated to the NIH Grants.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that the United States has filed and settled a civil fraud lawsuit against HUNTER COLLEGE (“HUNTER”) and JEFFREY T. PARSONS-HIETIKKO (“PARSONS”), a former HUNTER psychology professor who served as Director of Hunter’s Center for HIV Educational Studies (“CHEST”). The lawsuit resolves the United States’ allegations that for many years: (i) PARSONS improperly invoiced personal expenses to National Institutes of Health (“NIH”) funds, including expenses related to scuba diving trips, international flights for his family, a tropical birthday celebration, and travel for his work as a private consultant; (ii) HUNTER used NIH funds to pay PARSONS over $90,000 in retention bonuses without disclosing these payments to NIH as required; and (iii) PARSONS and HUNTER submitted false timekeeping records that misrepresented the time that CHEST staff spent working on NIH grant-related projects, resulting in the use of NIH grant funds to compensate CHEST staff for work performed for private clients. The lawsuit alleges that these impermissible uses of NIH funds violated HUNTER’s certifications to NIH and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) that the NIH funds would be used only for allowable research and academic purposes.

Under the settlement approved by U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, PARSONS, 55, of Teaneck, New Jersey, and HUNTER agreed to pay $375,000 and $200,000, respectively, to the United States and made detailed factual admissions regarding their conduct.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “NIH provides funding to academic institutions for the purpose of furthering important research that impacts communities and improves lives. For years, Jeffrey Parsons-Hietikko obtained these funds under false pretenses, then used them to cover his personal expenses and for other purposes totally unrelated to research. Hunter College improperly used NIH funds to pay undisclosed bonuses to Parsons and for other expenses unrelated to NIH-funded work. When individuals and institutions abuse federal grant money, this Office will hold them accountable.”

SAUCE: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/us-attorney-announces-settlement-civil-fraud-lawsuit-against-former-hunter-college

Leader Of Drug Delivery Service Responsible For Three Fentanyl Poisoning Deaths Convicted

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the conviction in Manhattan federal court of BILLY ORTEGA, a/k/a “Jason,” for distributing the fentanyl that killed three young New York City professionals: Julia Ghahramani, Amanda Scher, and Ross Mtangi. The jury convicted ORTEGA following a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Billy Ortega ran a drug delivery service that delivered fentanyl, killing three victims on a single day. Worse yet, Ortega was fully aware that a customer had previously overdosed from the deadly fentanyl Ortega laced into his product, yet continued sending the drugs to his victims. As a unanimous jury determined, Ortega will now be held accountable for the victims’ tragic and untimely deaths. This case exemplifies that the national fentanyl epidemic continues to claim lives and inflict havoc on families from all walks of life. Drug dealers don’t label their drugs as poison, they just sell them with indifference to the tragedy left in their wake. Combatting the fentanyl epidemic in our communities is one of my Office’s top priorities.”

According to the allegations in the Indictment and the evidence presented at trial:

From at least in or about 2015 to at least in or about February 2022, BILLY ORTEGA was the leader of a narcotics delivery service in the New York City area that principally distributed cocaine. ORTEGA used his mother’s apartment in Manhattan as his stash house, employing family members and close friends to manage his drugs and cash and to deliver his drugs to customers. In order to protect his drug business, ORTEGA supplied the guns that were kept at the stash house. Over a span of years, ORTEGA ran his drug delivery service over text message, acting as the central contact who, like a dispatcher, coordinated drug deliveries by texting his couriers and his customers.

In the course of a single day – March 17, 2021 – ORTEGA delivered, through one of his couriers, fentanyl-laced cocaine to Ghahramani, Mtangi, and Scher at three separate locations in Manhattan. All three victims died after consuming the drugs distributed by ORTEGA.

SAUCE: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/leader-drug-delivery-service-responsible-three-fentanyl-poisoning-deaths-convicted

Dearborn man convicted of providing material support to ISIS

A Dearborn man convicted of providing material support to the Islamic State of Iraq faces a maximum of 50 years in prison.

According to the Justice Department, 32-year-old Ibraheem Izzy Musaibli was charged with providing and attempting to provide material support, conspiring to provide material support and attending an ISIS training camp.

Federal officials say Musaiblibi traveled to Yemen in April 2015 and researched ISIS, including downloading propaganda and a book on how to get into Syria.

Officials say he traveled to Syria where he attended an ISIS-run religious training camp before going through military training. Following graduation from ISIS military camp, he remained with the group before he was arrested by the Syrian Democratic Forces and turned over to the FBI in 2018.

"Ibraheem Musaibli traveled halfway around the world and joined a vicious, brutal, and violent terrorist organization known—and proud of—its barbaric acts of terror," U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in a press release. "Today's verdicts highlights the dedication of this office, along with our law enforcement partners, in pursuing anyone who poses a danger to the United States—no matter where they are located."

Musaibli was convicted after a nine-day trial, and the jury deliberated for less than four hours.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 11.

"This defendant willingly traveled to Syria, joined ISIS, and attended a terrorist training camp," James A. Tarasca, special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit Field Office, said in the release. "Today's verdict demonstrates to anyone who would seek to contribute to ISIS's terrorist activities that the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force will be unwavering in its mission to protect the American people by identifying, disrupting, and bringing them to justice."

SAUCE: https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/dearborn-man-sentenced-for-providing-material-to-isis/

Ex-Guatemalan police chief convicted of US visa fraud

A former Guatemalan police chief has been found guilty of lying on his U.S. immigration papers about a prior conviction for killing two political activists in his country, U.S. authorities said Monday. Catalino Esteban Valiente Alonzo, an 82-year-old resident of Fontana, California, was convicted last week of using a green card obtained by making a false statement, U.S. prosecutors said in a statement. Valiente was police chief in the Guatemalan city of Quetzaltenango in the 1980s during the country's more than three-decade civil war.

SAUCE: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article271842032.html

>>18258095

Michigan Man Convicted on Charges of Providing Material Support To ISIS

A Dearborn resident was convicted by a federal jury today in the Eastern District of Michigan on charges of providing and conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization, and attending an ISIS training camp.

The convictions were announced by Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen, U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison of the Eastern District of Michigan, and James A. Tarasca, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit, Michigan, office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Ibraheem Izzy Musaibli, 32, of Dearborn, Michigan, was convicted after a 9-day trial conducted before United States District Judge David M. Lawson in Detroit. The jury deliberated less than 4 hours before returning their guilty verdicts.

Musaibli, a natural-born U.S. citizen, was convicted on charges of providing and attempting to provide material support to ISIS, conspiring to provide material support to ISIS, and attending an ISIS training camp.

Evidence provided during the trial established that Musaibli, born in Detroit, began looking into ISIS while in Michigan in 2015. He then traveled to Yemen in April 2015 and continued to research ISIS—including downloading ISIS propaganda and an ISIS book on how to get into Syria. From Yemen, he traveled to Syria in the fall of 2015 where he attended an ISIS-run religious training camp before undergoing ISIS military training where he learned to shoot, carry, and otherwise handle an AK-47 assault rifle. Upon graduation from the ISIS military training camp, Musaibli swore allegiance to ISIS and its leader. Musaibli remained with ISIS for over two and a half years. Musaibli was eventually apprehended by Syrian Democratic Forces in 2018, turned over to the FBI, and flown back to the United States to face terrorism charges.

Musaibli faces a statutory maximum penalty of 50 years in prison when he is sentenced on May 11, 2023.

SAUCE: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/michigan-man-convicted-charges-providing-material-support-isis

PFIZER TO PAY 2.3 BILLION FOR FRAUDULENT MARKETING

American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. (hereinafter together "Pfizer") have agreed to pay $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice, to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products, the Justice Department announced today.

Pharmacia & Upjohn Company has agreed to plead guilty to a felony violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act for misbranding Bextra with the intent to defraud or mislead. Bextra is an anti-inflammatory drug that Pfizer pulled from the market in 2005. Under the provisions of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, a company must specify the intended uses of a product in its new drug application to FDA. Once approved, the drug may not be marketed or promoted for so-called "off-label" uses – i.e., any use not specified in an application and approved by FDA. Pfizer promoted the sale of Bextra for several uses and dosages that the FDA specifically declined to approve due to safety concerns. The company will pay a criminal fine of $1.195 billion, the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the United States for any matter. Pharmacia & Upjohn will also forfeit $105 million, for a total criminal resolution of $1.3 billion.

In addition, Pfizer has agreed to pay $1 billion to resolve allegations under the civil False Claims Act that the company illegally promoted four drugs – Bextra; Geodon, an anti-psychotic drug; Zyvox, an antibiotic; and Lyrica, an anti-epileptic drug – and caused false claims to be submitted to government health care programs for uses that were not medically accepted indications and therefore not covered by those programs. The civil settlement also resolves allegations that Pfizer paid kickbacks to health care providers to induce them to prescribe these, as well as other, drugs. The federal share of the civil settlement is $668,514,830 and the state Medicaid share of the civil settlement is $331,485,170. This is the largest civil fraud settlement in history against a pharmaceutical company.

As part of the settlement, Pfizer also has agreed to enter into an expansive corporate integrity agreement with the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. That agreement provides for procedures and reviews to be put in place to avoid and promptly detect conduct similar to that which gave rise to this matter.

Whistleblower lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act that are pending in the District of Massachusetts, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Eastern District of Kentucky triggered this investigation. As a part of today’s resolution, six whistleblowers will receive payments totaling more than $102 million from the federal share of the civil recovery.

SAUCE: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-largest-health-care-fraud-settlement-its-history

>>18258402

From 2009, but posted as a reminder of how evil they are for any new eyes on the board.

pedo bear global reported