Georgia man accused of trying to kidnap toddler at Walmart has charges dropped
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NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
18-year-old arrested after allegedly throwing sex toy into crowd at Phoenix Mercury game
An Arizona teenager was arrested after throwing a sex toy into the crowd at a Phoenix Mercury game, police said, marking the fourth time such a "stupid prank" has unfolded at a WNBA contest in the past two weeks. Kaden Lopez, 18, was booked on disorderly conduct, assault and public display of explicit sexual material after he allegedly threw a green sex toy toward seats in front of him at PHX Arena during Tuesday's game against the Connecticut Sun, according to court documents. The object hit a man and his 9-year-old niece, police said. The incident was caught on video that allegedly showed Lopez remove the object from his sweater, throw it, then leave the area, according to Maricopa County filings. Tune into ' Hallie Jackson NOW ' at 5 p.m. ET for more on this story He was tackled by a witness who held him on the ground until police arrived, the documents said. The man hit by the toy said he was watching the game with his niece when he felt something hit him in the back of the head and saw it land on the ground next to them. Lopez told investigators he was 'very sorry' and reasoned he was just participating in the vulgar trend. 'It was just a stupid prank that was trending on social media,' he told investigators, according to court documents. Lopez said he bought the sex toy the day prior and planned to take it to the game. He said he didn't intend to hit anyone or for the object to fall next to a child, court documents said. The man hit by the object, the WNBA and PHX Arena wanted to press charges. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office said Thursday a Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner found no probable cause for the felony charge but is recommending the misdemeanor charges submitted to the city prosecutor. Lopez was allowed to be released on the conditions that barred from returning to the arena and from having contact with the victims. He has a preliminary hearing set for Aug. 25. It's not immediately clear if he's retained an attorney. "The safety and well-being of everyone in our arenas is a top priority for our league. Objects of any kind thrown onto the court or in the seating area can pose a safety risk for players, game officials, and fans," a WNBA spokesperson said Thursday. Any fan who intentionally throws an object onto the court will be ejected and face a minimum one-year ban in addition to being subject to arrest and prosecution, the spokesperson said. The arrest marks the latest in a string of object-throwing incidents at WNBA games. On July 29, a fan hurled a bright green sex toy on the floor at Gateway Center in College Park, Georgia, during the Golden State Valkyries-Atlanta Dream game. In that case, Carver Delbert, 23, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, public indecency and criminal trespass. He was arrested on Aug. 1 at Gateway Center after a security officer saw Delbert filming himself while throwing a sex toy in the middle of the floor one minute before the Atlanta-Dream-Phoenix Mercury game was over, according to his arrest report. After he threw the object he tried to run, but was arrested. He later told officers, 'This was supposed to be a joke and this joke supposed to go viral,' arrest documents said. Delbert also told officer he and his friends were at the Atlanta Dream game on July 29 and they threw a sex toy in the middle of the game and fled the scene. The charges are in connection with that incident. Then, on Friday, a similar incident happened during the third quarter of Golden State's game against the Chicago Sky at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Then on Tuesday night, a device was hurled from the stands and landed on the floor of Arena during the Indiana Fever-Los Angeles Sparks game, landing near the feet of Fever guard Sophie Cunningham. 'I think it's ridiculous. It's dumb. It's stupid,' Sparks coach Lynne Roberts told reporters after the game. 'It's also dangerous, and players' safety is No. 1. Respecting the game. All those things. I think it's really stupid. That's all I'm going to say.'
Associated Press
2 hours ago
- Associated Press
Fintiv Files RICO and Trade Secret Misappropriation Suit Against Apple Stemming from Alleged Theft of Mobile Wallet Technology Used to Create Apple Pay
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 7, 2025-- Fintiv, Inc., a global leader in patented, digital wallet ecosystems, announced today the filing of a civil lawsuit against Apple, Inc. in the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, Georgia's RICO Act, The Defend Trade Secrets Act, and Georgia's Trade Secret Act. The lawsuit, filed by Kasowitz LLP, alleges that Apple engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity, including wire fraud and trade secret misappropriation, in furtherance of a scheme to steal Fintiv's proprietary mobile wallet technology and trade secrets that Apple used to create Apple Pay, a service that generates billions in annual revenue and has been a major force in growing Apple's market valuation to more than $3 trillion. As alleged in the complaint, Apple approached CorFire (Fintiv's predecessor) more than a decade ago under the pretense of forming a mobile payment business partnership. Between 2011 and 2012, it is alleged, Apple attended multiple meetings with CorFire representatives and received confidential technical information under non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). The purpose of those meetings was to enter into an agreement in which Apple would license CorFire's mobile wallet technology, for which CorFire would receive licensing fees, according to the complaint. Instead, it is alleged, Apple stole Fintiv's confidential information and later hired away key CorFire employees, before launching Apple Pay in 2014. Fintiv asserts in the court filing that Apple Pay's core features including secure element technology, NFC technology, and trusted service management platform were based on CorFire's innovations. The complaint further alleges that Apple, in order to convert Fintiv's stolen mobile wallet technology and trade secrets into cash, set up a fence by forming an association-in-fact enterprise with leading credit card issuing banks, like JP Morgan Chase and Citibank, and payment processing networks, like Visa and Mastercard, for the purpose of enabling and processing the billions of transactions and trillions in payments that Apple Pay users engage in annually. By utilizing Fintiv's stolen mobile wallet technology and trade secrets in Apple Pay, it is alleged Apple and the other RICO enterprise members earn tens of billions each year servicing the Apple Pay transactions. 'The scale of Apple's unlawful conduct has been staggering,' the complaint alleges. 'By modifying Apple Pay for use on four separate categories of its devices, Apple has repeated and compounded its theft by knowingly utilizing Fintiv's stolen technology in the hundreds of millions of iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and MacBooks it has sold worldwide,' the complaint alleges. As further alleged in the complaint, 'Apple Pay is the engine' that drives the RICO Enterprise. 'Without the on-going benefit of Fintiv's stolen mobile wallet technology and trade secrets,' the ability of Apple 'to generate billions utilizing Apple Pay would be severely compromised.' The complaint further alleges, 'Apple's theft of Fintiv's technology is part of a pattern and practice that Apple has engaged in for years – falsely pretending to partner with companies in order to steal confidential and proprietary information under the guise of a working relationship, and thereafter hiring away key employees, all in order to steal the company's valuable intellectual property and use it to commercialize the business on its own.' As examples, the complaint cites 'a similar pernicious scheme' to steal trade secrets from Masimo Corp. 'which had developed non-invasive technology related to blood oxygen monitoring which Apple believed was key to overcoming performance issues with its Apple watch.' Apple, it is alleged, perpetrated a similar scheme against a biotech company named Valencell Inc., where it entered into discussions and negotiations under the guise of seeking to license Valencell's active heart- monitoring technology. Apple's alleged scheme was – as with Fintiv and Masimo – not to partner or license with Valencell, but to steal Valencell's technology and incorporate it into Apple's own products, which Apple then marketed and sold on its own without paying a nickel to Valencell,' according to the complaint. Likewise, according to the allegations in the complaint, Apple never licensed Fintiv's trade secret and proprietary mobile wallet technology but has realized tens and tens of billions of dollars in value and revenues from Apple Pay. Marc Kasowitz, Fintiv's lead lawyer, calls Apple's alleged theft of trade secrets from Fintiv and its on-going racketeering, as the complaint alleges, 'a colossal case of wrongdoing that is one the most egregious examples of corporate malfeasance I've seen in 45 years of law practice. By this action, Fintiv intends to hold Apple responsible for the full extent of its alleged illegal activities.' About Fintiv Fintiv, a global leader of patented, white labeled Web2 to Web3 digital solutions for merchant payments, cross border and digital asset tokenization having deployed over 100 ecosystems in more than 35 countries. Fintiv has built one of the most significant and relevant patent portfolios globally and is now managing over 150 patents. Learn more at View source version on Media Contact: Mike Sitrick, Phone: (310) 432-4105 KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA TEXAS INDUSTRY KEYWORD: SOFTWARE MOBILE/WIRELESS PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FINTECH CONSUMER ELECTRONICS PAYMENTS TECHNOLOGY DIGITAL CASH MANAGEMENT/DIGITAL ASSETS LEGAL NANOTECHNOLOGY WEB3 FINANCE SOURCE: Kasowitz LLP Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 08/07/2025 01:09 PM/DISC: 08/07/2025 01:11 PM
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Sovereign' based on West Memphis tragedy: A look at the new movie and the story behind it
Arriving with little fanfare on a weekend when few moviegoers will notice its existence as they are carried up, up and away by the new "Superman," "Sovereign" is based on a real-life Memphis-area tragedy that shocked the nation and continues to resonate: a 2010 West Memphis traffic stop that led to the deaths of two police officers and two "sovereign citizens." Depicting a deadly clash between police and adherents of what the production's publicity team calls "a deeply anti-establishment worldview rooted in distrust of government authority," the movie couldn't be more timely, in the wake of "deep state" paranoia, J6 riots and pardons, "stop the steal" election disinformation, ICE raids, Epstein file disputes, and more. Here's what to know about "Sovereign," which opens July 11 in the Memphis area exclusively at the Malco Cordova Cinema. The real-life story On May 20, 2010, a white Plymouth Voyager with Ohio plates that was traveling east on Interstate 40 was pulled over by West Memphis police as part of an ongoing drug interdiction effort. The minivan was driven by Jerry R. Kane Jr., 45, a "sovereign citizen" who declared himself unbeholden to government regulation. Kane did not possess a driver's license and had not properly registered the vehicle, but he did have two out-of-state arrest warrants pending and a brick of marijuana. A scuffle followed the stop at Exit 275, and Kane's son, 16-year-old Joseph T. Kane, opened fire on the officers with an assault rife. The officers, Brandon Paudert, 39, and Bill Evans, 38, were killed. Evans was struck 14 times; Paudert, 11. The Kanes were killed about two hours later in an exchange of gunfire with police, who tracked their van to a West Memphis Walmart Supercenter parking lot. The tragedy attracted national and international coverage, with The Commercial Appeal publishing an extensive story detailing the biographies and motivations of the men involved (Joe Kane was "the skinny, fresh-faced teenager behind the assault rifle," while Paudert was "born into a family of lawmen"). The production Rated R for what the Motion Picture Association characterizes as its "violence and language," "Sovereign" was shot in 2024 in the state where the real-life story's climactic tragedy took place, in Fayetteville, Springdale and Lincoln, Arkansas. Nick Offerman stars as Jerry Kane, while Jacob Tremblay — who first impressed moviegoers as the born-in-kidnapped-captivity little boy in "Room" (2015) — is Joe Kane. Using the names of the actual "sovereign citizens," the film focuses mainly on the Kanes, while shifting the law-enforcement focus to a fictional investigator, played by Dennis Quaid. Making his feature directorial debut is writer-director Christian Swegal, a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He is a veteran cinematographer and scripter whose writing credits include "Proud Mary," a 2018 action film starring Taraji P. Henson as a professional assassin. MOVIE NEWS: 'Jaws' bites Memphis: 50 years ago, producers promoted Steven Spielberg shark movie here The response Described by distributor Briarcliff Entertainment as "a tense and provocative true crime thriller" about "a tragic chain of events that forces a reckoning with power, principle, and the limits of freedom," the movie premiered June 8 at the Tribeca Festival in New York. So far, reviews have been almost entirely positive, with the Austin Chronicle declaring that the film "finds its catastrophic equilibrium" in "the utterly brilliant casting of Nick Offerman," while Slant magazine compared watching "Sovereign" to "staring into a national wound." HOW TO WATCH: Stream "Sovereign" movie on Amazon Prime The release Receiving only a modest theatrical release on a weekend that will be dominated by the Man of Steel (and that will continue to find audiences for "Jurassic World Rebirth," "F1" and "Lilo & Stitch"), "Sovereign" opens July 11 on 53 screens. (In comparison, "Superman" reportedly is opening on 60,000 screens worldwide, including 1,650 IMAX screens.) In the Memphis area, its only home will be the Cordova Cinema; in Arkansas, it will be only at the Malco Towne Cinema in Jonesboro. However, it also will be made available to own and rent on July 11 via such on-demand services as Prime Video and Apple TV. West Memphis addendum At this point, Crittenden County boosters may be wondering if their borders contain any happy stories for moviemakers. "Sovereign" follows what had become almost a cottage industry of productions inspired by the area's most gruesome crime saga, the 1993 murders of three little boys and the subsequent convictions and later release of the suspects known as the "West Memphis Three." That case inspired three HBO documentaries ("Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills," "Paradise Lost 2: Revelations," and "Paradise Lost 3 Purgatory"); a documentary ("West of Memphis" produced by "Lord of the Rings" Oscar-winner Peter Jackson; and a dramatic feature-film rendering of the story ("Devil's Knot"), directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth. Our team of savvy editors independently handpicks all recommendations. If you purchase through our links, the USA Today Network may earn a commission. Prices were accurate at the time of publication but may change. This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Is 'Sovereign' based on a true story? 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