Former Ecuadorian vice president detained in embassy raid gets 13 years in prison
Jorge Glas had been accused of misusing public funds intended for the reconstruction of two provinces affected by an earthquake in 2016. The quake devastated communities and killed hundreds of people.
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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Tycoon who helped bring F1 to Singapore pleads guilty in rare graft case
Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng pleaded guilty to one charge of abetting the obstruction of justice on Monday in part of a landmark case that led to the jailing of former transport minister S. Iswaran for obtaining valuable items as a public servant last year. However, both the prosecution and defence agreed to grant Ong judicial mercy given his chronic illness, and argued for him to be fined in lieu of imprisonment. He will be sentenced on Aug 15. A second charge of abetting an offence was also taken into consideration. Judicial mercy gives courts the authority to give a more lenient sentence in exceptional mitigating circumstances, such as a terminal illness or when imprisonment could pose a high risk of endangering a life. The defence submitted that Ong suffers from multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer that affects his blood plasma cells and renders him immuno-compromised. The case has been the subject of major intrigue in Singapore, a wealthy financial hub that offers ministers salaries of more than S$1 million ($775,000) to deter graft and prides itself on its reputation for clean governance. Ong had informed Iswaran that his associates had been questioned and a private flight manifest with Iswaran's name on it for a flight from Singapore to Doha had been seized by the corruption watchdog during investigations. This led Iswaran to ask Ong to issue an invoice through Singapore GP, promoter of the Singapore F1 Grand Prix, to bill him for the trip, which prosecutors say Iswaran knew would make it less likely that he would be investigated. Iswaran was sentenced to 12 months in prison in October 2024, the first time a former cabinet member had ever been jailed in Singapore, on charges of obstructing justice and receiving more than $300,000 worth of gifts. In February, Iswaran was put under house arrest for the remainder of his sentence. Ong gave Iswaran tickets to English Premier League soccer matches, the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix, London musicals and a ride on a private jet among other favours. Iswaran was an adviser to the Singapore Grand Prix's steering committee, while Ong, 79, owns the rights to the race. The billionaire stepped down as managing director of Singapore-listed Hotel Properties in April.
CNN
4 hours ago
- CNN
Tycoon who helped bring F1 to Singapore pleads guilty in graft case
AsiaFacebookTweetLink Follow Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng pleaded guilty to one charge of abetting the obstruction of justice on Monday in part of a landmark case that led to the jailing of former transport minister S. Iswaran for obtaining valuable items as a public servant last year. However, both the prosecution and defence agreed to grant Ong judicial mercy given his chronic illness, and argued for him to be fined in lieu of imprisonment. He will be sentenced on Aug 15. A second charge of abetting an offence was also taken into consideration. Judicial mercy gives courts the authority to give a more lenient sentence in exceptional mitigating circumstances, such as a terminal illness or when imprisonment could pose a high risk of endangering a life. The defence submitted that Ong suffers from multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer that affects his blood plasma cells and renders him immuno-compromised. The case has been the subject of major intrigue in Singapore, a wealthy financial hub that offers ministers salaries of more than S$1 million ($775,000) to deter graft and prides itself on its reputation for clean governance. Ong had informed Iswaran that his associates had been questioned and a private flight manifest with Iswaran's name on it for a flight from Singapore to Doha had been seized by the corruption watchdog during investigations. This led Iswaran to ask Ong to issue an invoice through Singapore GP, promoter of the Singapore F1 Grand Prix, to bill him for the trip, which prosecutors say Iswaran knew would make it less likely that he would be investigated. Iswaran was sentenced to 12 months in prison in October 2024, the first time a former cabinet member had ever been jailed in Singapore, on charges of obstructing justice and receiving more than $300,000 worth of gifts. In February, Iswaran was put under house arrest for the remainder of his sentence. Ong gave Iswaran tickets to English Premier League soccer matches, the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix, London musicals and a ride on a private jet among other favours. Iswaran was an adviser to the Singapore Grand Prix's steering committee, while Ong, 79, owns the rights to the race. The billionaire stepped down as managing director of Singapore-listed Hotel Properties in April.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Former DOJ Trump ‘loyalty test' prosecutors are planning to run for office and fight back
At this time last year, Ryan Crosswell was hard at work trying to put New York City's mayor in prison on corruption charges while serving as a prosecutor in the Justice Department. But after resigning in protest over the Trump administration's decision to drop the case against Mayor Eric Adams and cut back on prosecutions of public corruption cases, he's looking at a switching careers to making laws instead of enforcing them. According to CBS News, Crosswell, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, left the department in February amid the uproar over the dropping of charges against Adams, a move which at the time was framed as a way to enable the mayor to better assist the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts. Four months later, he announced a campaign for the House of Representatives seat for Pennsylvania's seventh district against Republican Ryan Mackenzie, telling the television network: "If you're a Marine and you're a former prosecutor, you are protecting people." Crosswell is just one of a number of ex-federal prosecutors looking to continue public service careers by seeking election to various offices across the United States. The former prosecutors all have one thing in common — they left federal service in the tumultuous opening months of the Trump administration amid what have been described as loyalty tests as a condition of remaining in the government. Erika Evans, the granddaughter of Olympic track-and-field medalist Lee Evans, left the Department of Justice in March on account of the changes made to the Civil Rights Division under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. Dhillon, a longtime GOP activist, has made it a priority to refocus the division away from protecting racial minorities towards pushing back on alleged anti-white discrimination. Evans told CBS she resigned after receiving emails asking for DOJ employees to report colleagues involved in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work that the Trump administration has banned. "We received emails requiring that we report any colleagues doing diversity work in the office. We had 10 to 14 days to report them or we would get in trouble ourselves," Evans said. "That was pretty disgusting." Now, she's looking to resume her public service career as Seattle's elected City Attorney. In a video released by her campaign, she says she'll 'take on Trump' if elected and 'demand the community safety we deserve' from the federal government. She explained how she'd wanted to spend her career in public service but felt she had to leave because of the Trump administration's priorities. "When I realized that that was not going to be possible any longer with the values that the Trump administration was having for the department, I knew I needed to shift,' she said.
