EY sacked partner over money-laundering warnings, lawsuit alleges
In a lawsuit filed in New York last week, former senior partner Joe Howie claims he was demoted and sacked after he raised concerns about the criminal connections of a range of EY clients, and that the firm's decision to ignore his warnings was indicative of a systemic failure to comply with internal and external audit rules.
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Sydney Morning Herald
4 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘We want people fed': Trump weighs in on Gaza as second hostage pleads for food
Netanyahu said on Sunday that he had asked the Red Cross to help the hostages, including by providing food and medical care, during a conversation with the head of the Switzerland-based aid group's local delegation. He also said the videos had made him more determined to eliminate Hamas. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was 'appalled by the harrowing videos' and called for access to the hostages. Hamas said on Sunday that it was prepared to co-ordinate with the Red Cross to deliver aid to the hostages it was holding in Gaza if Israel met certain conditions, including permanently opening humanitarian corridors and halting airstrikes during the distribution of aid. Hospitals in Gaza said 33 more Palestinians seeking aid had been killed by Israeli fire on Sunday, and six adults had died of malnutrition in the previous 24 hours. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society also said a staff member was killed when Israeli forces shelled its office. Israel's military said it was reviewing the Red Crescent's claim. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Hamas has barred humanitarian organisations from having any access to the hostages, and families have little or no details of their conditions. Loading The Braslavski family authorised the publication of part of the footage of their son on Sunday after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad released a longer video of him on Thursday. Braslavski, 22, was taken hostage from a music festival during Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The PIJ said that since the footage was filmed, it had lost contact with those holding Braslavski. In comments reported by The Times of Israel, Braslavski's father said he was watching his son die before his eyes, and that in a personal phone call with Netanyahu on Saturday, he had told the prime minister to get his son out of Gaza immediately. Braslavski's mother, Tami, said in a statement that she had made the difficult decision to release the footage to ensure the world knew of her son's suffering. 'The nightmare I was only afraid to imagine is real. The fear we live with has become more tangible than ever, and it's important that the whole world sees this, despite my personal difficulty in publicly showing my Rom in the dire condition he's in,' she said, adding she had never seen her son as he had appeared in the footage. 'Rom is not shouting or angry – he speaks quietly, in a weak voice like a person who has accepted the fact that there's nothing left to fight for and he may not come out of there alive.' Meanwhile, far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited and prayed at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site on Sunday, triggering regional condemnation and sparking fears that the provocative move could further escalate tensions. Photos and videos showed the national security minister leading Jewish prayers at the compound, which is known by Jews as the Temple Mount, in the walled Old City of occupied East Jerusalem. The hillside area was home to the ancient biblical temples. Muslims call the site the Noble Sanctuary. Today, it is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Visits by Israeli officials are considered a provocation around the Muslim world, and openly praying violates a longstanding status quo. Jews have been allowed to tour the site but are barred from praying, with Israeli police and troops providing security. During his visit, Ben-Gvir called for Israel to annex the Gaza Strip and encourage Palestinians to leave, reviving rhetoric that has complicated peace negotiations. 'From here, we need to bring a message and ensure that from today, we conquer all of the Gaza Strip, declare sovereignty over all of the Gaza Strip, take out every Hamas member, and encourage voluntary emigration,' he said on a video posted on social media after his visit. He also raged against the videos released of the hostages and called it an attempt to pressure Israel. Loading Ben-Gvir's previous visits have prompted threats from Palestinian militant groups. Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators in and around the site fuelled an 11-day war with Hamas in 2021. Sunday's visit was swiftly condemned as an incitement by Palestinian leaders as well as Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. About 1200 people were killed in the 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza, and another 251 were abducted. Israel's retaliatory military offensive had killed more than 60,800 Palestinians, Gaza's health ministry said. The ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties. Israel has disputed the figures but hasn't provided its own account of casualties.
The Age
4 hours ago
- The Age
Savage attacks drag secretive crime gangs out of the shadows
Detectives seized $10 million worth of drugs, $1 million in cash, encrypted devices, guns and almost 50,000 black market cigarettes. The Herald can reveal Lupin, although it officially ended in December, has remained partially active. Faux's officers are still monitoring the crime syndicates and working with the homicide squad. 'For those who breach the trust, there are very significant consequences – it's violence, and no holds barred.' Detective Superintendent Peter Faux One victim, Rich 'Dylan' Choup, was increasingly erratic in the days before he vanished in July 2024. The father of one was paranoid, distracted and snappy at home, his partner recalled to detectives. CCTV on July 25 captured him clutching a Vietnamese iced coffee as he was slapped on the face by a man on the street, right near Cabramatta police station, and marched to a waiting Audi SQ2. He was never seen again. Lupin's detectives concluded Choup had been vanished by his employers, a Melbourne-based drug syndicate. Their fears were confirmed a month after his disappearance, when dirt bike riders in Lucas Heights made the grisly discovery of his remains. An autopsy found his right ear had been severed. 'We don't know what the exact nature of the disputes were,' Homicide boss Joe Doueihi said last month, his squad now leading the investigation. 'It may be a case of missing drugs or missing money. If I were a betting man, that's what I would say the situation was.' Homicide detectives believe Choup's death was the third act of savage housecleaning by the Victorian syndicate within six days. The same 'kill crew' also kidnapped a 31-year-old man in Auburn and sliced off part of his ear with a box cutter at a home in Canley Vale. He remains so terrified that he has yet to officially report the attack. The crew are suspected of then bundling a third man into a car and driving to Queensland, where they shot him in the head and buried him in bushland. Miraculously, the man survived, dug himself from the dirt and stumbled into a service station to ask for aid. 'They have a strong focus on loyalty in these groups – part of it is cultural,' Faux said. 'But for those who breach the trust, there are very significant consequences – it's violence, and no holds barred. 'It means they work very well together, and it can be challenging to police because people on the edges of these gangs don't report anything, even when they become targets.' The Asian gang's vicious internal retribution has continued in 2025. In April, a few months after Lupin wrapped, Sydney woman Thi Kim Tran was kidnapped from her home while her terrified children tried to save her. She was forced into a stolen car, driven to neighbouring Bankstown, and executed with a gunshot. Her body and the car were set alight. Police suspect the 45-year-old was targeted because her husband, thought to be a drug cook, was ripping off his bosses. That syndicate, also believed to be from Victoria, is a separate crime entity from Choup's employer-turned-killers. Vietnamese crime gangs dominated Sydney's heroin scene in the 1980s and 1990s, with the infamous 5T gang going so far as to assassinate NSW member of parliament John Newman in 1994. Loading Over the past 20 years, they have refocused on cannabis hydro houses and, increasingly in Sydney, on methamphetamine. Lupin found almost no heroin, Faux said, but plenty of meth labs and underworld experts. 'The role of Vietnamese gangs, now, is bringing in people from overseas who are skilled in crystallising methamphetamine, or laundering money,' Faux said. Today, Sydney gangs are more collaborative, contracting jobs out based on strengths. Islanders provide muscle, cocaine flows through Middle-Eastern connections and Chinese run underground gambling. Asian crime gangs are no exception, Lupin found, but they still use trusted operatives to carry out violence more than other gangs. 'The Asian gangs trust their people – they have the skills,' Faux said. 'They're not using 15-year-olds to carry out shootings – they're sophisticated, and not ad-hoc.' Vietnamese gangs in particular are also unique for a willingness to elevate women to commanding positions, describing them as 'Aunty' as a matter of respect. Dung Thi Ngo, for example, was convicted in 2018, and later acquitted on appeal, of allegedly ordering her devoted underling, Kevin Ly, to execute a thieving meth cook in a Canley Vale home. The pair was accused of killing the cook's girlfriend simply because she was in the home as well. While many of the gangs operate within strict boundaries of the state, or even postcodes, Asian crime gangs cross any border. Part of that is because methamphetamine requires the importation of precursor chemicals from offshore. 'It has to be stopped at the border. As long as it keeps slipping through, we will keep having work,' one police source told the Herald on the condition of anonymity. 'It has to be stopped at the source.'
Sydney Morning Herald
4 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Savage attacks drag secretive crime gangs out of the shadows
Detectives seized $10 million worth of drugs, $1 million in cash, encrypted devices, guns and almost 50,000 black market cigarettes. The Herald can reveal Lupin, although it officially ended in December, has remained partially active. Faux's officers are still monitoring the crime syndicates and working with the homicide squad. 'For those who breach the trust, there are very significant consequences – it's violence, and no holds barred.' Detective Superintendent Peter Faux One victim, Rich 'Dylan' Choup, was increasingly erratic in the days before he vanished in July 2024. The father of one was paranoid, distracted and snappy at home, his partner recalled to detectives. CCTV on July 25 captured him clutching a Vietnamese iced coffee as he was slapped on the face by a man on the street, right near Cabramatta police station, and marched to a waiting Audi SQ2. He was never seen again. Lupin's detectives concluded Choup had been vanished by his employers, a Melbourne-based drug syndicate. Their fears were confirmed a month after his disappearance, when dirt bike riders in Lucas Heights made the grisly discovery of his remains. An autopsy found his right ear had been severed. 'We don't know what the exact nature of the disputes were,' Homicide boss Joe Doueihi said last month, his squad now leading the investigation. 'It may be a case of missing drugs or missing money. If I were a betting man, that's what I would say the situation was.' Homicide detectives believe Choup's death was the third act of savage housecleaning by the Victorian syndicate within six days. The same 'kill crew' also kidnapped a 31-year-old man in Auburn and sliced off part of his ear with a box cutter at a home in Canley Vale. He remains so terrified that he has yet to officially report the attack. The crew are suspected of then bundling a third man into a car and driving to Queensland, where they shot him in the head and buried him in bushland. Miraculously, the man survived, dug himself from the dirt and stumbled into a service station to ask for aid. 'They have a strong focus on loyalty in these groups – part of it is cultural,' Faux said. 'But for those who breach the trust, there are very significant consequences – it's violence, and no holds barred. 'It means they work very well together, and it can be challenging to police because people on the edges of these gangs don't report anything, even when they become targets.' The Asian gang's vicious internal retribution has continued in 2025. In April, a few months after Lupin wrapped, Sydney woman Thi Kim Tran was kidnapped from her home while her terrified children tried to save her. She was forced into a stolen car, driven to neighbouring Bankstown, and executed with a gunshot. Her body and the car were set alight. Police suspect the 45-year-old was targeted because her husband, thought to be a drug cook, was ripping off his bosses. That syndicate, also believed to be from Victoria, is a separate crime entity from Choup's employer-turned-killers. Vietnamese crime gangs dominated Sydney's heroin scene in the 1980s and 1990s, with the infamous 5T gang going so far as to assassinate NSW member of parliament John Newman in 1994. Loading Over the past 20 years, they have refocused on cannabis hydro houses and, increasingly in Sydney, on methamphetamine. Lupin found almost no heroin, Faux said, but plenty of meth labs and underworld experts. 'The role of Vietnamese gangs, now, is bringing in people from overseas who are skilled in crystallising methamphetamine, or laundering money,' Faux said. Today, Sydney gangs are more collaborative, contracting jobs out based on strengths. Islanders provide muscle, cocaine flows through Middle-Eastern connections and Chinese run underground gambling. Asian crime gangs are no exception, Lupin found, but they still use trusted operatives to carry out violence more than other gangs. 'The Asian gangs trust their people – they have the skills,' Faux said. 'They're not using 15-year-olds to carry out shootings – they're sophisticated, and not ad-hoc.' Vietnamese gangs in particular are also unique for a willingness to elevate women to commanding positions, describing them as 'Aunty' as a matter of respect. Dung Thi Ngo, for example, was convicted in 2018, and later acquitted on appeal, of allegedly ordering her devoted underling, Kevin Ly, to execute a thieving meth cook in a Canley Vale home. The pair was accused of killing the cook's girlfriend simply because she was in the home as well. While many of the gangs operate within strict boundaries of the state, or even postcodes, Asian crime gangs cross any border. Part of that is because methamphetamine requires the importation of precursor chemicals from offshore. 'It has to be stopped at the border. As long as it keeps slipping through, we will keep having work,' one police source told the Herald on the condition of anonymity. 'It has to be stopped at the source.'
