Tag: corruption

Lawmakers ask Pentagon chief for details on waivers allowing retired generals to consult for foreign governments

Three House members on Tuesday sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to ask for additional details about how former generals receive waivers to consult on behalf of foreign governments. 

The letter from Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Michael Cloud (R-Texas) and Jason Crow (D-Colo.) comes after a Washington Post report in October that noted more than 500 retired military personnel received waivers to pursue jobs with foreign governments with known human rights abuses and histories of political oppression. 

The lawmakers said they are concerned about a lack of transparency in the waiver approval process and reporting to Congress, the lack of standardized internal procedures at the Defense Department to implement the waiver approval process and the lack of enforcement when retired personnel violate the law through failing to report that they are advising for a foreign government. 

They said they are also worried about potential conflicts of interest that were identified during the waiver approval process and the extent to which International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) concerns are discovered and resolved during the approval process. 

ITAR is intended to control the export of defense and military technologies to protect national security. 

The three House members said the public has a right to know the extent of influence that foreign powers might have over the country’s former military leaders and if high-ranking retired officers are taking advantage of their roles in government to create employment opportunities with foreign governments. 

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EU vice-president Eva Kaili and four others arrested in huge corruption probe linked to Qatar

Belgian police this evening, Friday, December 9, arrested one of the 14 EU vice-presidents, the Greek socialist MEP, Eva Kaili, according to vrt.be.

A source close to the case informed AFP that the police were probing alleged corruption linked to Qatar. Kaili’s arrest in Brussels came after four other suspects were detained in similar circumstances earlier today.

Among those detained is believed to be 53-year-old Luca Visentini, Ms Kaili’s partner. He is currently the head of the International Trade Union Confederation ITUC. According to the police source, Kaili was arrested and taken into custody for questioning.

Belgian prosecutors did not reveal the identities or nationalities of the other detainees, nor did they specify the country linked to the investigation. Their only comment was that it involved a ‘Gulf’ state. During raids on 16 properties earlier today, a total of €600.000 in cash was reportedly uncovered.

It was confirmed by a source close to the case that Qatar was suspected of attempting to corrupt a politician who was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2019. He is thought to have been an Italian Socialist.

As a result of her arrest, Nikos Androulakis, the President of PASOK has expelled Eva Kaili from the party.

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J6 Jeremy Brown Trial Update: Mysterious CD Full of Classified Reports From Bergdahl Case Emerges During Trial

As reported earlier by The Gateway Pundit, the Jeremy Brown Trial taking place at the Middle District Court in Tampa, FL is controversial at best.

The attorney for Jeremy Brown, Mr. Roger Futerman,  alleged on Wednesday that the FBI “planted” evidence in this case during his opening statements.

The accusation is understandable when the chain of custody and documentation of evidence presented at the trial is so atrocious.

The military grade M67 grenades found in Brown’s RV during the raid can only be tracked by lot number and where they’ve been, not the dates that they were there.

They also found human hair, dog hair, and textile fibers stuck to the tape on the grenades that had allegedly been in Brown’s possession for months, since Jan. 6, 2021, but none of the hairs or fibers matched Brown, Brown’s dog, or the carpet samples taken from his RV nor his girlfriend’s home.

The DNA found on the tape of one of the grenades was of two males but neither of the samples belonged to Jeremy Brown.

Brown maintains that the two illegal firearms are, in fact, his (more on that Friday) but the plate carrier (body armor) and grenades were planted.

The other remaining charges levied against Brown involve the possession of classified materials, most of which are contained on a compact disc (CD) that was “found” in his RV back in September 2021.

The only picture of the CD from that day was a tiny peek at the corner of the blue CD case sticking out from underneath a pile of other papers and folders.  The total area of the corner that you can see may be the width of half of a credit card.  You cannot in any way identify it as a CD case.

In fact, FBI Staff Operation Specialist Elyssa Gonzalez testified that she doesn’t recall the CD in the RV at all.  One of her duties was to log all of the pictures that day as she was “attached at the hip” with the FBI photographer.   The defense showed a log of the evidentiary pictures from that day.  The CD was not on the list, according to Gonzalez.   You’d think a trained FBI specialist would remember a CD (in 2022) with big red “CLASSIFIED” tape on the cover.

The only time that Gonzalez was not documenting evidence was when the FBI handed the evidentiary camera to Detective Charles George of Tampa PD who worked to secure the grenades for over 2 hours.

Also worth noting: the FBI’s photographer passed her camera off to another agent in, Agent Mund, in order to console Jeremy Brown’s girlfriend, since a female agent normally does that with a female on the scene.

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Top epidemiologist slams federal health agencies for acting like ‘PR department’ for drugmakers

One of the nation’s top epidemiologists is blasting federal health agencies, saying science has proven they have been wrong about everything from vaccine efficacy to mask protections during the COVID-19 pandemic and have eroded their trust with the public by acting like a “PR department” for drug and vaccine makers.

Dr. Harvey A. Risch, professor emeritus at the Yale School of Public Health, told the “Just the News, No Noise” television show on Friday that agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration manipulated statistics to portray plausible theories as scientific fact through the coronavirus emergency.

“When you play fast and loose with statistics trying to be plausible, that’s not science,” he said.

The end result, Risch said, was that public health agencies’ proclamations have been proven wrong repeatedly, eroding essential trust with the American public.

“Where we ended up is that the government said, you know, ‘You won’t get the infection if you get vaccinated,'” he said. “That was untrue. ‘You won’t spread the infection if you get vaccinated.’ That was untrue. It said reasonably that you won’t get sick or die from the infection if you get vaccinated. That’s, as we are seeing, not true. The majority of people now dying from COVID are vaccinated.”

Risch said the latest hit to federal officials’ credibility came with a new peer-reviewed randomized study that found N-95 respirator masks — long portrayed as superior virus filters — provided no better protection from the COVID-19 virus than cloth surgical masks and that neither provided significant protection to patients or medical providers.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt also claimed that retiring National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, whose flip-flops on masking led to mass public confusion early in the pandemic, couldn’t name any studies showing mask effectiveness in his recent deposition in state-led litigation against alleged federal censorship.

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Top prosecutor in Payne and Logan counties arrested after child pornography investigation

The first assistant district attorney of Payne and Logan counties was arrested Monday after his apartment was searched as a result of a child pornography investigation.

Kevin Etherington, 53, was being held Tuesday in the Payne County jail on a child pornography complaint and a computer crimes complaint. His bail was set at $500,000.

His boss, District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas, announced after his arrest that he had been fired.

“I cannot express how dismayed and disappointed I am about this development,” she said Monday night.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation disclosed the arrest in a news release. The OSBI said agents from its Internet Crimes Against Children unit conducted the search of his Stillwater residence.

In requesting the search, an OSBI agent reported about 153 videos and photos depicting child sexual exploitation were identified within his Google account.

Google notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about “suspected sexual abuse material” linked to Etherington on July 26, the agent reported. The center then forwarded 14 cybertips to the OSBI on Sept. 1, according to the news release.

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‘Bye-bye, Kiev, Hello Cote d’Azur’ – How Ukraine’s Elites Are Profiting from Western Aid

Since the beginning of Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine, the US, EU, and their allies have provided Kiev with $126 billion worth of aid, a number almost equal to the country’s entire GDP. Moreover, millions of Ukrainians have found refuge in the EU, where they were given housing, food, work permits, and emotional support. The scope is huge, even by Western standards. Considering that the bloc has been funding Kiev while coping with an economic and energy crisis of its own, the assistance is perhaps especially notable. 

Kiev bases its endless funding requests on the collapse of its economy, due to the war, and its need to “resist Russian aggression.” But is the aid reaching its intended destination?

The Monaco Battalion

While Ukraine has undergone a general mobilization affecting all men under the age of 60, many former and current high-ranking officials, politicians, businessmen, and oligarchs have moved to safety abroad – mainly to the EU.

The mass flight of Ukrainian elites started even prior to the armed conflict. On February 14, 2022, 37 deputies from the Ukrainian president’s parliamentary faction (Servant of the People) suddenly went missing. Had MPs not been banned from leaving the country the very next day, others would have definitely joined them. Meanwhile, former officials and oligarchs enjoyed more freedom to move around. According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, 20 business jets took off from Kiev’s Boryspol airport on the 14th as well.

Tycoons were at the front of the line. Entrepreneur and MP Vadim Novinsky, businessmen Vasily Khmelnitsky and Vadim Stolar, Vadim Nesterenko, and Andrey Stavnitzer all left the country on charter flights. Millionaire politician Igor Abramovich booked a private flight to Austria for 50 people – taking relatives, business partners, and fellow party members aboard. Oligarchs flew from Kiev to Nice, Munich, Vienna,  Cyprus, and other EU destinations. Another group of businessmen took off from Odessa on private planes. The owner of Vostok Bank departed for Israel, while the head of the Transship group flew to Limassol. An ex-governor of the Odessa region, Stalkanat’s Vladimir Nemirovsky, also left the country.

In the summer and early fall of 2022, Ukrainska Pravda prepared several investigative documentaries about fit-for-service Ukrainian billionaires and officials spotted vacationing on the Côte d’Azur during the war. A movie with the ironic title ‘The Monaco Battalion’ shows Ukrainian oligarchs resting at their villas, mansions, and on yachts. In the first part, we see businessman Konstantin Zhevago, who is included on Interpol’s wanted list, relaxing on his private yacht worth $70 million. The yacht graces the shoreline of the Côte d’Azur as Zhevago’s family disembarks. Kharkov entrepreneur Alexander Yaroslavsky, who promised to sell his yacht and transfer the funds towards the restoration of Kharkov, can be seen sailing alongside.

Ukrainska Pravda journalists also got a glimpse of the Surkis brothers in France, who are currently renting apartments worth €2 million per year. Meanwhile, a $300,000 Bentley belonging to Ukrainian businessman Vadim Ermolaev was spotted near the casino in Monaco, and Eduard Kohan, the co-founder of Euroenergotrade, was seen at one of Monte Carlo’s chic hotels.

A whole colony of Ukrainian oligarchs has apparently taken up residence in the elite French commune of Cap-Ferrat. Land developer Vadim Solar, oligarchs Dmitry Firtash, Vitaly Khomutynnik, and Sergey Lovochkin are among those enjoying high life in the middle of the war. The Cap-Ferrat villa once belonging to King Leopold II of Belgium was bought by the richest Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. His neighbors are Alexander Davtyan, president of the Investment Group DAD LLC, and Vladislav Gelzin, a former deputy of the Donetsk Regional Council.

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Michigan Judge In Hot Water After Allegedly Making False Assault Claim

A Michigan judge is in hot water after her alleged misconduct in a bike shop.

The Judicial Tenure Commission filed a public complaint against Wayne County Judge Demetria Brue after an incident that began when she rented bikes at Mackinac Island Bike Shop in August 2019, The Detroit Free Press reported.

When Brue and her colleague returned the bicycles, she told employees there was an issue with the bike and they should not have to pay full price, the complaint states. Brue also spoke to the owner of the shop, but they were unable to come to an agreement. Brue told the owner, Ira Green, multiple times that she was a judge, the complaint states.

Brue did not respond to a request for comment.

At some point during the 20-minute discussion, Brue allegedly reached over the cash register, took the receipt out of Green’s hands, and ripped it.

After ripping the receipt, she then allegedly falsely claimed that the store owner assaulted her and appeared to play every card she had.

“You assaulted me,” she said. “Did you just assault me? You took my receipt and tore it up. I want the police. Now we need the police. I am going to call them. You snatched my receipt and threw it away and grabbed my hand and you hurt me. You touched my hand with force and violence. I am a female. I am a judge. I am here for a conference and you … I am an African American female. That was racist, and it was disrespectful and it was violent.”

When police arrived she claimed to them that she was assaulted until the officers reviewed the security footage.

She admitted that she was not assaulted and the officers assisted in reaching an agreement where the judge did not have to pay for the bike rental.

She has been accused of breaking 10 rules, including making a false statement to a police officer.

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