Trump: No House subpoena until he leaves
30 December, 2020
In an unsigned order issued December 30 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided it wouldn’t rule in a case regarding whether Trump can hide his records from Congress, sending it back to a lower court. Congressional Democrats have already said they’ll subpoena Trump again — but not before he leaves office and a new Congress comes into power, In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit overturned an earlier judgment of a district court and aligned itself with a Supreme Court ruling during the summer which ordered the lower courts to consider the separation of powers issues in the case more carefully.
Trump International Hotel records
29 December, 2020
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on December 29 2020, 2-1, that lawmakers can resort to the courts to enforce an obscure statute known as the seven-member rule. The law, which dates to 1928, allows any seven members of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee to demand that any executive agency turn over any requested information related to the panel’s broad mandate.
In the upcoming Congress, that power would accrue to Republicans on the panel as they make inquiries about Biden and his administration. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), then the ranking member of the Oversight Committee, sought details about the finances of the Trump International Hotel from the General Services Administration. After initially being rebuffed, he made a formal request under the federal law empowering seven members of his panel to compel the release of information.
Sanctions on Russia, China: new ‘Military End User’ (MEU) List
21 December, 2020
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) will amend the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding a new ‘Military End User’ (MEU) List, as well as the first tranche of 103 entities, which includes 58 Chinese and 45 Russian companies.
Weinstein: California in April?
11 December, 2020
Weinstein appeared via video from prison before Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case, who, because of the worsening pandemic, agreed to postpone Weinstein’s extradition hearing until April 9.
[August 10 2010 Piranha3D remake ]
Michelle Williams filming Take This Waltz
Yes, this is a remake. But it is a remake of a film that has not only already been remade (in the ’90s for Showtime starring Punky Brewster and the Greatest American Hero), but was, itself, originally just a Jaws knockoff. Better yet, a Jaws knockoff produced by reigning king of camp Roger Corman, written by none other than John Sayles, and directed by Joe Dante. It is a classic to be sure, but a camp classic that nobody minds being remade. In fact, it is exactly the type of film many critics appreciate being remade. It is spectacle. Cheap, wonderful, lizard-brained spectacle. The Weinstein Co. screened a little over 10 minutes of unfinished footage from the forthcoming 3D remake of Roger Corman’s 1978 cult classic. Piranha 3D opens August 20.
Barclays: SFO Euribor sentences affirmed
9 December, 2020
Colin Bermingham, a former cash market expert and veteran banker, and Carlo Palombo, who once traded derivatives, were last year sentenced to five and four years, respectively, in the SFO’s sixth rate-rigging prosecution.
[February 28 2020 Qatar/Barclays: top bankers not accountable for alleged fraud ]
Roger Jenkins leaves the Old Bailey Criminal Courthouse on February 25 2020
In a blow to the UK’s taxpayer-funded Serious Fraud Office (SFO), a jury has cleared Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris, and Richard Boath of fraud. This marks the likely end of efforts by prosecutors to hold top bankers to account for decisions taken when the global financial system was brought to its knees, forcing taxpayers into bank bailouts totaling hundreds of billions of pounds.
The men, aged between 61 and 64, all denied any wrongdoing. Qatar, which is still a significant Barclays shareholder, was neither investigated nor accused of wrongdoing.
The SFO said the bankers used an advisory services agreement (ASA) to mask the fact Barclays was paying Qatar more than twice the fees it was paying other investors that June. The men said the ASAs were intended as genuine mechanisms to pay Qatar what it wanted while extracting lucrative, commercial business from Qatar, that such side deals were common in banking, that senior directors had authorized the parameters of negotiations and, along with lawyers, had approved the deals.
[ April 8 2019 Required to discharge jury in Barclay CEO fraud trial ‘I cannot underestimate the effort…’ ]
Robert Jay
LONDON, April 8 (Reuters) – A London jury has been dismissed in a landmark fraud trial of four former Barclays executives, including the former chief executive, John Varley, accused of paying Qatar undisclosed fees to help rescue the bank at the height of the credit crisis in 2008. They secretly paid £322m to Qatar in return for funding of billions in two emergency capital calls.
The deal was the subject of a five-year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, but April 8, after a month-long break in the court case, Mr Justice Jay brought the jury back to formally discharge them.
At Southwark Crown Court, he said: ‘I cannot underestimate the effort everyone has put on.’
The bankers raised £11bn in emergency fundraising in 2008, but that £4bn-worth of the investment which came from Qatar was secured by making secret payments to the Gulf state. The money was paid in fees after ‘essential’ investments of approximately £1.9 billion and £2.05 billion were made by the Qataris to Barclays ‘to shore up their capital base’ and to avoid a Government bailout.
Judge Robert Jay told the jury at Southwark Crown Court on April 8 he was required to discharge them.
The others charged were investment banker Roger Jenkins, head of wealth management Thomas Kalaris and Richard Boath, former head of Barclays’ European Financial Institutions Group.
The four denied the charges.
WSJ: Not much sympathy for the view that DSK was victimized
8 December, 2020
The man promises to deliver his truth about the Sofitel affair , which partially upset the 2012 presidential election.
[August 26 2011]
Arrest and indictment: On 14 May 2011, Strauss-Kahn was arrested and charged with the sexual assault and attempted rape of 32-year-old Nafissatou Diallo, a housekeeper at the Sofitel New York Hotel in the Manhattan borough earlier that day.
[August 26 2011]
Camille Strauss-Kahn/Tristane Banon
The French writer and journalist who claims Dominique Strauss-Kahn attempted to rape her eight years ago is more determined than ever to bring him to justice, Tristane Banon’s allegations are the subject of a preliminary inquiry that Koubbi said had “not yet been completed”. Strauss-Kahn’s Paris lawyers have dismissed her accusations as “fantasy”.
We don’t have much sympathy for the view that DSK has somehow been victimized by the process. His antics would never have survived a day in a modern boardroom—HP’s Mark Hurd and Boeing’s Harry Stonecipher lost their jobs over far less—and should never have been tolerated at the IMF, where he bullied a staff economist into an affair. WSJ
* One count of Sexual Abuse, 3rd Degree, a B misdemeanor, in violation of N.Y. Penal Law 130.55
* Two counts of Criminal Sex Act by Force, 1st Degree, B felonies, both violating P.L 130.50
* One count of Unlawful Imprisonment, 2nd Degree, an A misdemeanor, in violation of P.L. 135.05
* One count of Sexual Abuse: Contact – Forcible Compulsion, a D felony, in violation of P.L. 130.65
* One count of Forcible Touching, an A misdemeanor, in violation of P.L. 130.52
Iran: Biden won’t end sanctions
8 December, 2020
While the president-elect has been wary to say which of Trump’s sanctions he’ll keep, his picks for top administration jobs have made clear that economic restrictions will remain an essential tool.
“We must also remain laser-focused on the Treasury Department’s critical role protecting our national security,” Adeyemo, 39, said when he was introduced by Biden to the public on Dec. 1.
[November 22 2019 riots as sanctions take hold ]
https://twitter.com/USTreasury/status/1197900467319255040
The United States imposed sanctions on Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran’s information minister on November 22 2019, for his role in “widescale internet censorship,” a reference to a five-day-long nationwide shutdown meant to help stifle protests against fuel price hikes in Iran.
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm836
[November 21 2019]
[November 16 2019]
Sharaz
Fuel prices rose by at least 50% on October 15 2019 as subsidies on gasoline were reduced. Protests have erupted across Iran after the government unexpectedly announced it was rationing gas and increasing its price. Cities affected included Tehran, Kermanshah, Isfahan, Tabriz, Karadj, Shiraz, Yazd, Boushehr and Sari. The authorities say they want to free up money to help the poor.
Iran has limited refining capacity and sanctions have made it difficult to obtain spare parts for oil plants.
Iran: m.t Nautic brings DOJ & Treasury charges against Quds
FATF to grey-list Lebanon ? no
Charli XCX and Sky Ferreira “Cross You Out”
6 December, 2020
Earlier this year she opened for Blondie and Garbage on the Rage and Rapture Tour.
[September 5 2019]
Charli XCX and Sky Ferreira have teamed up for a synth-heavy club banger of a breakup song, “Cross You Out.” She made a guest appearance on the Iceage single “Pain Killer” in April.
[May 22 2019 Masochism:The proper album is coming, Sky Ferreira swears ]
https://twitter.com/mockingbirdfran/status/1129540127750074369
[April 1 2019]
There are many Sky Ferreiras. There’s Sky the model, a Hedi Slimane muse who’s walked the runway for Marc Jacobs and perfected a glare so haunted the Bates Motel must be jealous. There’s Sky the actor, who played a key supporting role in director Edgar Wright’s big-studio heist flick Twin Peaks: The Return, but doesn’t have an agent. There’s Sky the live performer, who battles stage fright, but who also opened a 2014 Miley Cyrus arena tour, Sky’s cameo in “Twin Peaks: The Return” had the meta-ness of astral projection. She played Ella, an enigmatic bar patron who talked about a penguin and flaunted a “wicked” armpit rash. “She played that scene so perfectly,” Lynch tells me. “She inhabited that character and made it real from a deep place. When she scratched that rash, you could really feel the itching!” As for Masochism:The proper album is coming, Sky swears, almost positively in 2019.
Sky Ferreira: still no ‘Night Time’ follow-up
McCrystal redux
4 December, 2020
Stanley A. McChrystal, retired general and Biden adviser, recently briefed the president-elect as part of his cabinet of diplomatic and national security advisers. “He simply apologized for his mistake and offered his letter of resignation. I explained why, despite my admiration for him and my gratitude for his service, I had decided to accept it.” Obama
Hue and Cri 
