US government seized $1M from Russian ransomware gang

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday it has seized the servers and $1 million in bitcoin from the prolific Russian ransomware gang behind the BlackSuit and Royal malware.

According to the press release, a coalition of global law enforcement agencies, including from the U.S., Canada, Germany, Ireland, France, U.K., and others, seized four servers and nine domains on July 24. In addition, authorities also seized around $1 million in cryptocurrency.

BlackSuit and Royal are two different types of ransomware, believed to be developed by the same Russian cybercriminal gang that has targeted critical infrastructure in the United States and beyond.

“BlackSuit actors have demanded over $500 million USD in total and the largest individual ransom demand was $60 million,” the U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA said in an advisory last year.

“The BlackSuit ransomware gang’s persistent targeting of U.S. critical infrastructure represents a serious threat to U.S. public safety,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in the press release.

According to ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, which led the investigation, Royal and BlackSuit have compromised more than 450 victims in the U.S., “including entities in the healthcare, education, public safety, energy and government sectors.” And, in total, the cybercriminals have earned more than $370 million in ransom payments since 2022.

The recovered bitcoin was recovered from a digital currency exchange account, whose funds were frozen in January of last year, according to the announcement.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/11/u-s-government-seized-1-million-from-russian-ransomware-gang/

Hegseth reveals Trump's plans for DC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0eIBKohvOE

I Investigated Where AOC is Really From, What We Found Will Stun You: The Biggest Fraud in Congress?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfj5py3BGjs

Paramount buys UFC rights in $7.7 billion, 7-year deal in first major move post-Skydance merger

-Paramount has acquired the U.S. rights to TKO Group’s UFC for $7.7 billion over seven years, beginning in 2026.

-The agreement is for all 43 annual UFC live events, which will be exclusively streamed in the U.S. on Paramount+.

-The new Paramount deal will eliminate the pay-per-view model used by ESPN in its current deal with UFC, making all events available for no extra charge on Paramount+.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/11/paramount-buys-ufc-rights-skydance-merger.html

Nvidia and AMD to pay 15% of China chip sales revenues to the U.S. government, FT reports

-In exchange for 15% of revenues from the chip sales, the two chipmakers will receive export licenses to sell Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308 chips in China, according to the Financial Times.

-Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with Trump last week, the FT reported.

-Last week, Trump had said he would implement a 100% tariff on imports of semiconductors and chips, unless a company was “building in the United States.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/10/nvidia-amd-15percent-of-china-chip-sales-revenues-to-us-ft-reports.html

DC Police commander suspended for altering crime stats

On Monday morning President Donald Trump officially invoked Home Rule and put Attorney General Pam Bondi in command of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.

In the lead up to the move, Democrats and their allies in the media claimed crime was down in the District. But it turns out, the police commander in charge of the data was cooking the books.

"A D.C. police commander is under investigation for allegedly making changes to crime statistics in his district. The Metropolitan Police Department confirmed Michael Pulliam was placed on paid administrative leave in mid-May. That happened just a week after Pulliam filed an equal employment opportunity complaint against an assistant chief and the police union accused the department of deliberately falsifying crime data, according to three law enforcement sources familiar with the complaint," local NBC 4 Washington reports. "The union claims police supervisors in the department manipulate crime data to make it appear violent crime has fallen considerably compared to last year."

The White House is blasting critics for opposing the clean up of the city and the lock up of criminals, including juveniles wreaking havoc on the city.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2025/08/11/dc-police-commander-was-cooking-the-books-on-crime-n2661676

Unprecedented Chinese Icebreaker Deployment Off Alaska Being Monitored By U.S.

China has deployed five icebreaking research vessels in Arctic waters near Alaska, marking an unprecedented presence that has caught the attention of U.S. defense and maritime authorities. These ships—operating in international waters—are being closely monitored by NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, though they’re not considered a direct threat to homeland security.

The U.S. Coast Guard responded to sightings of several vessels, including the Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di and Xue Long 2, using aircraft and cutters as part of Operation Frontier Sentinel, which aims to counter adversarial activity in U.S. Arctic waters. This deployment significantly outnumbers the U.S. Coast Guard’s current icebreaking capacity and reflects a growing trend of Chinese research activity in the region over the past three years.

The move underscores China's expanding Arctic ambitions and has prompted the U.S. to accelerate its own icebreaker development plans.

https://www.twz.com/news-features/unprecedented-chinese-icebreaker-deployment-off-alaska-being-monitored-by-u-s

https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1955023365304955303

Rapid Response 47

@RapidResponse47

@USAttyPirro on how criminals are protected by Washington, D.C. leadership: "If they're under 18 years of age, I can only get the case if it's murder… rape. Even if they shoot a gun but don't kill you, I can't get it. So, the law has to be changed."

https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1954935111398707541