NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Indian government said it was rescuing its citizens who were lured into employment in Cambodia and were being forced to participate in cyber fraud schemes.
The Indian embassy in Cambodia is working with Cambodian authorities and has rescued and repatriated about 250 Indians, including 75 in the last three months, India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement on Saturday.
Jaiswal was responding to Indian news reports that stated more than 5,000 Indians are trapped in Cambodia and being forced to carry out cyber frauds on people back home.
“We are also working with Cambodian authorities and with agencies in India to crack down on those responsible for these fraudulent schemes,” Jaiswal said.
The Indian government and its embassy in Cambodia have issued several advisories informing them about such scams, the spokesperson said.
The Cambodian embassy in India did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Sunday.
(Reporting by Krishn Kaushik; Writing by Nikunj Ohri; Editing by Jamie Freed)
Sam Bankman-Fried apologizes for FTX collapse at sentencing – CBS News
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A judge sentenced disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison Thursday. A jury convicted the 32-year-old of fraud and conspiracy in November. CBS News national correspondent Errol Barnett reports.
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Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for his role in defrauding users of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
In a federal courtroom in lower Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan called the defense argument misleading, logically flawed and speculative.
He said Bankman-Fried had obstructed justice and tampered with witnesses in mounting his defense — something Kaplan said he weighed in his sentencing decision.
Bankman-Fried, wearing a beige jailhouse jumpsuit, struck an apologetic tone, saying he had made a series of “selfish” decisions while leading FTX and “threw it all away.”
“It haunts me every day,” he said in his statement.
Prosecutors had sought as much as 50 years, while Bankman-Fried’s legal team argued for no more than 6½ years. He was convicted on seven criminal counts in November and had been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since.
In a statement following Thursday’s sentencing, Damian Williams, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Bankman-Fried had orchestrated one of the largest frauds in financial history.
“Today’s sentence will prevent the defendant from ever again committing fraud and is an important message to others who might be tempted to engage in financial crimes that justice will be swift, and the consequences will be severe.”
Bankman-Fried plans to appeal both his conviction and sentence. A spokesperson for his parents issued a statement on their behalf: “We are heartbroken and will continue to fight for our son.”
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers had pleaded for leniency, citing what they described as mental health struggles and his purported generosity in his personal life. They also argued that FTX users had not ultimately suffered substantial losses — something current FTX administrator John Ray said was false in a letter to Kaplan in advance of Thursday’s sentencing.
But prosecutors argued the brazenness of the crime, the extent of the victims’ losses and damages and Bankman-Fried’s evident lack of remorse meant a harsher sentence was warranted.
Late Tuesday, prosecutors filed documents from victims testifying about how Bankman-Fried’s actions had harmed them.
“My whole life has been destroyed,” wrote one, whose name was redacted, in a letter dated March 15. “I have 2 young children, one born right before the collapse. I still remember the weeks following where I would stare blankly into their eyes, completely empty inside knowing their futures have been stolen through no fault of our own. I did not gamble on crypto. I did not make any crypto gains. I had my [bitcoin] which I had collected over years deposited on FTX as a custodian. I did not agree to the risk that SBF took with my funds.”
The man added he was suffering from depression and that his wife had become suicidal.
“I know we can never make that kind of money back ever again,” he wrote.
Another person wrote about how the loss of funds had affected numerous life plans, including a wedding.
“Each passing day is a painful reminder of the opportunities stolen from me, compounding feelings of hopelessness and despair,” the person wrote. “The burden of financial ruin weighs heavily on my shoulders, leading me to grapple with constant thoughts of suicide and significantly impairing my ability to perform at work.”
In the recent annals of white-collar crime, Bankman-Fried’s sentence is many years longer than what most others found guilty have received. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes received about 11 years. Former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers received 25 years. Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling received 24 years.
Bernie Madoff received 150 years and died in prison at age 82.
FTX was once valued at more than $30 billion, with Bankman-Fried’s net worth estimated at more than $20 billion. FTX collapsed in November 2022 after it was revealed that it had a major cash shortfall.
At his trial, prosecutors said Bankman-Fried robbed FTX customers of as much as $8 billion to fund a vast array of outside interests, including political initiatives, speculative investments and funding of FTX executives’ lifestyles.
Three other FTX executives testified against him.
Bankman-Fried “didn’t bargain for his three loyal deputies taking that stand and telling you the truth: that he was the one with the plan, the motive and the greed to raid FTX customer deposits — billions and billions of dollars — to give himself money, power, influence. He thought the rules did not apply to him. He thought that he could get away with it,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon told the jury.
Bankman-Fried’s defense argued that he was merely borrowing the funds to run his Alameda Research investment group, which he believed was allowed, and that he was unaware of how much debt he had racked up.
He said he “made a number of small mistakes and a number of larger mistakes.”
Yet many experts agreed Bankman-Fried came across as an unsympathetic figure. Paul Tuchmann, a former federal prosecutor who is now a partner with Wiggin and Dana LLP, told CNBC that Bankman-Fried’s testimony had been “unpersuasive” and noted it took the jury only three hours to convict him on each count.
Trial attorney James Koutoulas said in an CNBC interview, “No one had a shred of support for SBF, nor should they have.”
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons will consider which federal penitentiary to send him to.
Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for his role in defrauding users of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
In a Lower Manhattan federal courtroom, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan called the defense’s argument misleading, logically flawed, and speculative.
He said Bankman-Fried had committed obstruction of justice and witness tampering while mounting his defense — something Kaplan said he weighed in his sentencing decision.
Bankman-Fried, wearing a beige jailhouse jumpsuit, made a statement striking an apologetic tone, saying he had made a series of “selfish” decisions while leading FTX and “threw it all away.”
“It haunts me every day,” he said.
Prosecutors had sought as much as 50 years, while Bankman-Fried’s legal team argued for no more than 6½ years. He was convicted on seven criminal counts in November and had been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn ever since.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers had pleaded for leniency, citing what they described as mental health struggles and his purported generosity in his personal life. They also argued that FTX users had not ultimately suffered substantial losses — something current FTX administrator John Ray said was false in a letter to Kaplan in advance of Thursday’s sentencing.
But prosecutors argued the brazenness of the crime, the extent of the victims’ losses and damages and Bankman-Fried’s evident lack of remorse meant a harsher sentence was warranted.
Late Tuesday, prosecutors filed documents from victims testifying about how Bankman-Fried’s actions had harmed them.
“My whole life has been destroyed,” wrote one, whose name was redacted, in a letter dated March 15. “I have 2 young children, one born right before the collapse. I still remember the weeks following where I would stare blankly into their eyes, completely empty inside knowing their futures have been stolen through no fault of our own. I did not gamble on crypto. I did not make any crypto gains. I had my [bitcoin] which I had collected over years deposited on FTX as a custodian. I did not agree to the risk that SBF took with my funds.”
The man added he was suffering from depression and that his wife had become suicidal.
“I know we can never make that kind of money back ever again,” he wrote.
Another person wrote about how the loss of funds had affected numerous life plans, including a wedding.
“Each passing day is a painful reminder of the opportunities stolen from me, compounding feelings of hopelessness and despair,” the person wrote. “The burden of financial ruin weighs heavily on my shoulders, leading me to grapple with constant thoughts of suicide and significantly impairing my ability to perform at work.”
In the recent annals of white-collar crime, Bankman-Fried’s sentence is many years more than what most others found guilty had received. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes received about 11 years. Former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers received 25 years. Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling received 24 years.
Bernie Madoff received 150 years and died in prison at age 82.
FTX was once valued at more than $30 billion, with Bankman-Fried’s net worth estimated at more than $20 billion. FTX collapsed in November 2022 after it was revealed that it had a major cash shortfall.
At his trial, prosecutors said Bankman-Fried robbed FTX customers of as much as $8 billion to fund a vast array of outside interests, including political initiatives, speculative investments and funding of FTX executives’ lifestyles.
Three other FTX executives testified against him.
Bankman-Fried “didn’t bargain for his three loyal deputies taking that stand and telling you the truth: that he was the one with the plan, the motive and the greed to raid FTX customer deposits — billions and billions of dollars — to give himself money, power, influence. He thought the rules did not apply to him. He thought that he could get away with it,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon told the jury.
Bankman-Fried’s defense argued he was merely borrowing the funds to run his Alameda Research investment group, which he believed was allowed, and that he was merely unaware of how much debt he had racked up.
He said he “made a number of small mistakes and a number of larger mistakes.”
Yet many experts agreed Bankman-Fried came across as an unsympathetic figure. Paul Tuchmann, a former federal prosecutor who is now a partner with Wiggin and Dana LLP, told CNBC that Bankman-Fried’s testimony had been “unpersuasive” and noted it took the jury only three hours to convict him on each count.
Trial attorney James Koutoulas said in an CNBC interview, “No one had a shred of support for SBF, nor should they have.”
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons will consider which federal penitentiary to send him to.
Bankman-Fried has signaled he plans to appeal his conviction.
A Utah woman who authorities say fatally poisoned her husband in 2022, then published a children’s book about grief, now faces another attempted murder charge for allegedly drugging him weeks earlier, on Valentine’s Day.
Kouri Richins, 33, is accused of killing her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their home in a small mountain town near Park City in March 2022. New charging documents filed Monday by Summit County prosecutors allege that it wasn’t her first attempt on his life.
They detail the perilous months preceding Eric Richins’ death, painting a picture of a paranoid man walking on eggshells around his wife as she made secret financial arrangements and bought illicit drugs that were later found in his system.
Prosecutors have said previously that Kouri Richins, who is being held without bail, may have tried to poison her husband the month before his death, but they didn’t file the additional charges until this week.
Eric and Kouri Richins in an undated photo.
Skye Lazaro
The chilling case of a once-beloved author accused of profiting off her own violent crime has captivated true-crime enthusiasts in the year since she was arrested for her husband’s murder. She had self-published “Are You With Me?” — an illustrated storybook about a father with angel wings watching over his young son after dying.
Once lauded as a heartwarming must-read for any child who’s lost a loved one, the book has since become a powerful tool for prosecutors arguing that Kouri Richins carried out a calculated murder plot and attempted to cover it up.
The mother of three repeatedly called her husband’s death unexpected while promoting her book and was commended by many for helping her sons and other young children process the death of a parent.
Her attorney, Skye Lazaro, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the new charges. Lazaro has argued in early hearings that the evidence against her client was dubious and circumstantial.
Details on possible prior murder try
One bite of his favorite sandwich — left with a note in the front seat of his truck on Valentine’s Day — made Eric Richins, 39, break out in hives and black out, prosecutors allege in the new documents.
His wife had bought the sandwich from a local diner in the city of Kamas the same week she also purchased several dozen fentanyl pills, according to witness statements and deleted text messages that were recovered by police.
The state’s star witness, a housekeeper who claims to have sold her the drugs, told law enforcement that she gave Kouri Richins the pills a couple days before Valentine’s Day. Later that month, Richins allegedly told the housekeeper that the pills she provided weren’t strong enough and asked her to procure stronger fentanyl, according to the new charging documents.
In witness testimony, two friends of Eric Richins recount phone conversations from the day prosecutors are now saying he was first poisoned by his wife of nine years. After injecting himself with his son’s EpiPen and chugging a bottle of Benadryl, he woke from deep sleep and and told a friend, “I think my wife tried to poison me.”
His friends say they noticed fear in his voice as Richins, who had no known allergies, told them that he felt like he was going to die and that his wife might be to blame. Opioids, including fentanyl, can cause severe allergic reactions, including hives.
Details on Eric Richins’ death
A month later, Kouri Richins called 911 in the middle of the night to report that she had found her husband “cold to the touch” at the foot of their bed, according to the police report. He was pronounced dead, and a medical examiner later found five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his system.
“One or two pills might be accidental. Twenty — or five times the lethal dose — is not accidental. That is someone who wants Eric dead,” Summit County Chief Prosecutor Patricia Cassell said.
She alleges that Richins slipped the synthetic opioid into a Moscow mule cocktail she made for her husband amid marital disputes and fights over a multimillion-dollar mansion she purchased as an investment.
Eric Richins’ family believes Kouri Richins spiked his drink the night he died, according to “48 Hours.”
Possible motive?
Years before her husband’s death, Kouri Richins opened numerous life insurance policies on Eric Richins without his knowledge, with benefits totaling nearly $2 million, prosecutors allege.
Kouri Richins was also charged Monday with mortgage fraud and insurance fraud for allegedly forging loan applications and fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after his death.
Prosecutors argue she was in financial distress when her husband died and say she mistakenly believed she would inherit his estate under terms of their prenuptial agreement. Newly released documents indicated she had a negative bank account balance, owed lenders more than $1.8 million and was being sued by a creditor.
Charging documents indicate Eric Richins met with a divorce attorney and an estate planner in October 2020, a month after he discovered that his wife made some major financial decisions without his knowledge. The couple’s prenuptial agreement only allowed Kouri Richins to profit off her husband’s successful stone masonry business if he died while they were still married.
Utah law prohibits anyone convicted of murder from profiting financially off their crime.
Maternal murder accomplice?
The case took another turn when a newly released court affidavit revealed last week that investigators believe Kouri Richins’ mother might also have been involved in his death.
A Summit County Sheriff’s investigator wrote in the affidavit it is “possible” that Lisa Darden was “involved in planning and orchestrating” Eric Richins’ death.
Investigators discovered Darden had been living with a female romantic partner who died suddenly in 2006. An autopsy determined the woman died of an overdose of oxycodone, the affidavit said. The woman struggled with drug abuse, but at the time of her death she wasn’t in recovery, which the investigator said would “likely rule out the possibility of an accidental overdose.” Darden had become the recipient of the partner’s estate shortly before her death, the affidavit said.
The affidavit also said conversations “have been found on Kouri’s phone showing disdain for Eric on Lisa’s part.”
“Based on Lisa Darden’s proximity to her partner’s suspicious overdose death, and her relationship with Kouri, it is possible she was involved in planning and orchestrating Eric’s death,” the affidavit states.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s top court began hearing appeals Wednesday against the presidential election results lodged by two losing candidates who allege widespread irregularities and fraud at the polls, demanding a revote.
The Feb. 14 presidential election results were announced March 20. The winner, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, received more than 96 million votes, or 58.6%, according to the General Election Commission, known as KPU.
Former Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan, who received nearly 41 million votes, or 24.9%, filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court on March 21, a day after the official results announcement. Another candidate, former Central Java Gov. Ganjar Pranowo, who was backed by the governing Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, received the smallest share of votes at 27 million, or 16.5%. His legal team filed a complaint to the court on March 23.
Baswedan’s lawsuit claimed that irregularities occurred before, during and after the election that resulted in Subianto’s victory, and his legal team will reveal its evidence and arguments in the court hearings.
Subianto chose as his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the son of the popular outgoing president Joko Widodo. The Constitutional Court had made an exception to the minimum age requirement of 40 for candidates. Baswedan and Pranowo both criticized 37-year-old Raka’s participation in the election.
Anwar Usman, who was the court’s chief justice when the exception was made, is Widodo’s brother-in-law. An ethics panel later forced Usman to resign for failing to recuse himself and for making last-minute changes to the candidacy requirements, but allowed him to remain on the court as long as he does not participate in election-related cases.
The election complaints were heard separately Wednesday by the court, where Baswedan had the first turn in the morning and Pranowo was slated in the afternoon.
“We witness with deep concern a series of irregularities that have tarnished the integrity of our democracy,” Baswedan told the court. He specifically pointed to the court’s decision allowing Raka to run despite the previously established criteria.
He said there are also disturbing practices where regional officials are pressured or given rewards to influence the direction of political choices, as well as misuse of the state’s social assistance, which is actually intended for people’s welfare, “is instead used as a transactional tool to win one of the candidates.”
“If we do not make corrections, the practices that occurred yesterday will be considered normal and become habits, then become culture and ultimately become national character,” Baswedan said before the eight-judge panel. “The Indonesian people are waiting with full attention, and we entrust all this to the Constitutional Court who is brave and independent to uphold justice.”
The verdict, expected on April 22, cannot be appealed. It will be decided by eight justices instead of the full nine-member court because Usman is required to recuse himself.
In the past two elections, the Constitutional Court has rejected Subianto’s bids to overturn Widodo’s victories and dismissed his claims of widespread fraud as groundless. Subianto refused to accept the results of the 2019 presidential election, which pitted him against Widodo, leading to violence that left seven dead in Jakarta.
Widodo has reached his term limit and could not run again this year. He has faced criticism for throwing his support behind Subianto, who has links to alleged human rights abuses. Indonesian presidents are expected to remain neutral in elections to replace them.
Hefty social aid from the government was disbursed in the middle of the campaign — far more than the amounts spent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Widodo distributed funds in person in a number of provinces, in a move that drew particular scrutiny.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has agreed to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution, take legal ethics classes, and complete 100 hours of community service as part of a deal to avoid a jury trial in his securities fraud case.
Paxton, a Republican, was indicted in 2015 on three felony charges that he had mislead investors, including failing to disclose he was profiting on investments he urged people to make. He reportedly pleaded not guilty.
If Paxton completes the terms of the pretrial deal, prosecutors will dismiss the charges in 18 months.
“There was no admission of guilt,” Paxton lawyer Dan Cogdell told reporters after the deal was announced in court Tuesday, reiterating Paxton’s innocence. “But we’re glad to have this behind us.”
Pressed on why Paxton was willing to pay the significant sum if he was innocent, Cogdell said jury trials are unpredictable.
“It’s cheaper than what he’d have to pay me if we went to trial,” Cogdell said. “There’s no guarantee when you go in front of a trial, any trial lawyer will tell you that.”
Paxton has been dogged by corruption allegations for nearly a decade, even as he has enjoyed a flourishing political career. Last year, he was impeached on corruption allegations by members of his own party in the Texas House of Representatives. He stood trial in the Texas Senate, but was acquitted and returned to his office.
Former President Trump’s bond reduced in fraud case, date set for “hush money” criminal trial – CBS News
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On Monday, a judge agreed to reduce Donald Trump’s bond from $464 million to $175 million at a court hearing for his New York civil fraud case. It was a busy day for the former president, as a date was also set for his criminal “hush money” trial. It is scheduled to begin April 15 after a judge rejected Trump’s bid to delay the trial.
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Trump fraud trial bond reduced to $175 million – CBS News
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Former President Trump’s bond in his New York fraud trial has been reduced to $175 million, down from nearly half a billion dollars. Trump’s “hush money” trial, meanwhile, is set to begin April 15. Robert Costa reports.
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