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Sunday World
3 hours ago
- Sunday World
Boss of gun-running ring offered to ‘throw in' 10 pipe-bombs to seal deal with buyer
Mark McCourt (34) appeared before the Special Criminal Court today A plumber identified as the boss of a gun-running ring told a prospective customer he would throw in 10 pipe bombs as a free gift to seal a €75,000 cash deal to supply guns and ammunition smuggled by air from America, a sentencing court has heard. Mark McCourt (34), of Edenrieve, Newry, Co Down, appeared before the Special Criminal Court today, after pleading guilty last week to firearms offences and participating in a criminal organisation's efforts to import restricted weapons. A senior garda said in evidence to the three-judge court that he was 'fully satisfied' that there was a criminal organisation in existence under the 'control and direction' of McCourt 'whose function was the importation of firearms components from the USA to Ireland, and the reassembly of these restricted firearms for onward distribution to other criminal organisations'. Detective Inspector Shane McCartan of the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, who led an investigation into the gang's activities last year, said a firearms technician had been able to assemble 82 gun parts seized in a raid on a property in Co Louth last year into six assault rifles and a dozen pistols. Det. Insp. McCartan said McCourt had already been identified in connection with the suspected importation of firearms when the defendant was arrested for something else on 24 May 2024 and had his phone seized. Gardaí were able to extract data from the phone shedding light on the activities of the smuggling ring in the preceding year, along with conversations with prospective customers in messages on Signal, WhatsApp and Snapchat, the witness said. Seized weapons Det. Insp. McCartan said McCourt and his co-accused both flew to Las Vegas, Nevada on three occasions in April and May 2023. On April that year, following their return from the trip, McCourt told one prospective customer -- who used the alias 'The Keeler' – 'we got sorted this evening' and that it would take a few hours to 'stick them all together', the court was told. 'So get the cash ready lol,' McCourt added, before telling The Keeler to 'get another phone' as a 'burner'. In further text exchanges with The Keeler, McCourt wrote: '€75k cash is [the] best price' and that he had 'another man there for them today'. He said the receiver of the firearms would need 'a dry place like a hot press or that' as a 'stash spot'. 'If they get damp, they won't fire, that's why you see bots there and they're misfiring, because the powder is damp,' McCourt wrote. He then added: 'Tell them 75k and I'll throw in the 10 pipes for free.' Det. Insp. McCartan said: 'It's my belief that refers to pipe bombs.' He said one of a number of videos found on Mr McCourts phone, which were screened in court today, had captured a serial number on an AR-15 rifle made by Anderson Defence traced to a sale on 10 February 2023 at a shop called Parumph Guns and Ammo near Las Vegas. 'It was purchased by the co-accused on 10 February 2023,' the witness said. As the videos were screened for the court, Det Insp McCartan said that what was being shown were 'AR-15 assault rifles, military grade' and their magazines, including one 'drum magazine' which could hold upwards of 50 bullets. A 'significant quantity' of loose rounds was also to be observed, he said. Mark McCourt When a detective held up an example of one of the seized rifles in court, the detective inspector said: 'Judge, it should be noted that all of the firearms had their serial numbers bored off.' Prosecuting counsel Simon Matthews BL, said that after another trip to Las Vegas in May 2023, a text from McCourt's phone to a prospective buyer under the alias 'Vladimir Putin' said: 'I can get an AR-15… she'll drop a deer at 900 yards, no problem.' 'Vladimir Putin' then asked about buying a '7.62 sniper' – and about the source of the weapons. 'We ram raid the place across the water,' McCourt replied, adding: 'Yeah mate, don't know, but I can get a price. In another exchange stored on the seized phone, another prospective customer under the alias 'Duff' asked: 'Sweet bro, and if I need another AR [assault rifle] how soon can I get it?' 'That'll be next month… but they're definitely there to be got,' came the reply by voice note, which was played to the court. Defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC said that while the videos and pictures 'were seized from his phone' the prosecution was not able to state that Mr McCourt had recorded them. Det Gda McCartan said he and his team had 'a serious concern' in late June and early July 2024 that the gang would import another load of weapons and sell them on. The court heard gardaí commenced a surveillance operation and obtained warrants for a shed and lands at Blackstaff, Ardee Co Louth. McCourt and another member of the gang were arrested when Bureau detectives and armed officers from the Garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU) raided the premises on 19 July 2024. The 82 firearms parts were found 'all in the one suitcase' in the shed, along with nearly 900 rounds of pistol and rifle ammunition found in a Dunnes Stores bag on a sofa there, the witness said. Det Insp McCartan told the court the defendant has some 42 previous convictions including assault causing harm, theft, and dangerous driving 'on the high end'. He said McCourt and was jailed for three years, with 18 months suspended, on foot of a conviction for a criminal damage incident in which he had gone to the home address of an off-duty garda at 2.55am and 'rammed' her car. He agreed with Mr Grehan that this period of offending was when the McCourt was aged between 19 and 22. Mr Grehan presented the court with letters from local businesses which had used his client as a plumbing subcontractor and stated that they found him 'courteous and professional'. He said his client was the father of two children, and that his fiancée and her mother were 'standing by him'. Asking for 'the maximum mitigation allowable', Mr Grehan said he had been 'asked to tender an apology on his behalf to the court and the State for getting involved in these matters, and also to his family and the shame he's brought to them for this'. The State is to make further submissions on the gravity of the offending when the case is heard again on Thursday. However, Ms Justice Karen O'Connor, presiding, said the court would not be in a position to finalise sentence until a later date.
The Journal
4 hours ago
- The Journal
Plumber who led gun-running ring offered to 'throw in' free pipe-bombs in €75k rifle deal
A PLUMBER IDENTIFIED as the boss of a gun-running ring told a prospective customer he would throw in ten pipe bombs as a free gift to seal a €75,000 cash deal to supply guns and ammunition smuggled by air from America, a sentencing court has heard. Mark McCourt (34), of Edenrieve, Newry, Co Down, appeared before the Special Criminal Court today, after pleading guilty last week to firearms offences and participating in a criminal organisation's efforts to import restricted weapons. A senior garda said in evidence to the three-judge court that he was 'fully satisfied' that there was a criminal organisation in existence under the 'control and direction' of McCourt. The garda added McCourt's 'function was the importation of firearms components from the USA to Ireland, and the reassembly of these restricted firearms for onward distribution to other criminal organisations'. Detective Inspector Shane McCartan of the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, who led an investigation into the gang's activities last year, said a firearms technician had been able to assemble 82 gun parts seized in a raid on a property in Co Louth last year into six assault rifles and a dozen pistols. McCartan said McCourt had already been identified in connection with the suspected importation of firearms when the defendant was arrested for something else on 24 May 2024 and had his phone seized. Gardaí were able to extract data from the phone shedding light on the activities of the smuggling ring in the preceding year, along with conversations with prospective customers in messages on Signal, WhatsApp and Snapchat, the witness said. McCartan said McCourt and his co-accused both flew to Las Vegas, Nevada on three occasions in April and May 2023. On April that year, following their return from the trip, McCourt told one prospective customer – who used the alias 'The Keeler' – 'we got sorted this evening' and that it would take a few hours to 'stick them all together', the court was told. 'So get the cash ready lol,' McCourt added, before telling The Keeler to 'get another phone' as a 'burner'. In further text exchanges with The Keeler, McCourt wrote: '€75k cash is [the] best price' and that he had 'another man there for them today'. He said the receiver of the firearms would need 'a dry place like a hot press or that' as a 'stash spot'. 'If they get damp, they won't fire, that's why you see boys there and they're misfiring, because the powder is damp,' McCourt wrote. He then added: 'Tell them 75k, and I'll throw in the 10 pipes for free.' McCartan said: 'It's my belief that refers to pipe bombs.' He said one of a number of videos found on McCourt's phone, which were screened in court today, had captured a serial number on an AR-15 rifle made by Anderson Defence traced to a sale on 10 February 2023 at a shop called Parumph Guns and Ammo near Las Vegas. 'It was purchased by the co-accused on 10 February 2023,' the witness said. Advertisement As the videos were screened for the court, McCartan said that what was being shown were 'AR-15 assault rifles, military grade' and their magazines, including one 'drum magazine' which could hold upwards of 50 bullets. A 'significant quantity' of loose rounds was also to be observed, he said. When a detective held up an example of one of the seized rifles in court, the detective inspector said: 'Judge, it should be noted that all of the firearms had their serial numbers bored off.' Prosecuting counsel Simon Matthews BL, said that after another trip to Las Vegas in May 2023, a text from McCourt's phone to a prospective buyer under the alias 'Vladimir Putin' said: 'I can get an AR-15 […] she'll drop a deer at 900 yards, no problem.' 'Vladimir Putin' then asked about buying a '7.62 sniper' – and about the source of the weapons. 'We ram raid the place across the water,' McCourt replied, adding: 'Yeah mate, don't know, but I can get a price.' In another exchange stored on the seized phone, another prospective customer under the alias 'Duff' asked: 'Sweet bro, and if I need another AR [assault rifle] how soon can I get it?' 'That'll be next month […] but they're definitely there to be got,' came the reply by voice note, which was played to the court. Defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC said that while the videos and pictures 'were seized from his phone' the prosecution was not able to state that Mr McCourt had recorded them. McCartan said he and his team had 'a serious concern' in late June and early July 2024 that the gang would import another load of weapons and sell them on. The court heard gardaí commenced a surveillance operation and obtained warrants for a shed and lands at Blackstaff, Ardee Co Louth. McCourt and another member of the gang were arrested when Bureau detectives and armed officers from the Garda Emergency Response Unit raided the premises on 19 July 2024. The 82 firearms parts were found 'all in the one suitcase' in the shed, along with nearly 900 rounds of pistol and rifle ammunition found in a Dunnes Stores bag on a sofa there, the witness said. McCartan told the court the defendant has some 42 previous convictions including assault causing harm, theft, and dangerous driving 'on the high end'. He said McCourt and was jailed for three years, with 18 months suspended, on foot of a conviction for a criminal damage incident in which he had gone to the home address of an off-duty garda at 2.55am and 'rammed' her car. He agreed with Grehan that this period of offending was when the McCourt was aged between 19 and 22. Grehan presented the court with letters from local businesses which had used his client as a plumbing subcontractor and stated that they found him 'courteous and professional'. He said his client was the father of two children, and that his fiancée and her mother were 'standing by him'. Asking for 'the maximum mitigation allowable', Grehan said he had been 'asked to tender an apology on his behalf to the court and the State for getting involved in these matters, and also to his family and the shame he's brought to them for this'. The State is to make further submissions on the gravity of the offending when the case is heard again on Thursday. However, Ms Justice Karen O'Connor, presiding, said the court would not be in a position to finalise sentence until a later date. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
NDTV
7 hours ago
- Politics
- NDTV
Rise Of Deepfakes: Realistic AI Impersonations Threaten Governments, Businesses, And Trust
WASHINGTON: The phone rings. It's the secretary of state calling. Or is it? For Washington insiders, seeing and hearing is no longer believing, thanks to a spate of recent incidents involving deepfakes impersonating top officials in President Donald Trump's administration. Digital fakes are coming for corporate America, too, as criminal gangs and hackers associated with adversaries, including North Korea, use synthetic video and audio to impersonate CEOs and low-level job candidates to gain access to critical systems or business secrets. Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, creating realistic deepfakes is easier than ever, causing security problems for governments, businesses and private individuals and making trust the most valuable currency of the digital age. Responding to the challenge will require laws, better digital literacy and technical solutions that fight AI with more AI. "As humans, we are remarkably susceptible to deception," said Vijay Balasubramaniyan, CEO and founder of the tech firm Pindrop Security. But he believes solutions to the challenge of deepfakes may be within reach: "We are going to fight back." This summer, someone used AI to create a deepfake of Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an attempt to reach out to foreign ministers, a US senator and a governor over text, voice mail and the Signal messaging app. In May, someone impersonated Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles. Another phoney Rubio had popped up in a deepfake earlier this year, saying he wanted to cut off Ukraine's access to Elon Musk's Starlink internet service. Ukraine's government later rebutted the false claim. The national security implications are huge: People who think they're chatting with Rubio or Wiles, for instance, might discuss sensitive information about diplomatic negotiations or military strategy. "You're either trying to extract sensitive secrets or competitive information, or you're going after access to an email server or other sensitive network," Kinny Chan, CEO of the cybersecurity firm QiD, said of the possible motivations. Synthetic media can also aim to alter behavior. Last year, Democratic voters in New Hampshire received a robocall urging them not to vote in the state's upcoming primary. The voice on the call sounded suspiciously like then-President Joe Biden but was actually created using AI. Their ability to deceive makes AI deepfakes a potent weapon for foreign actors. Both Russia and China have used disinformation and propaganda directed at Americans as a way of undermining trust in democratic alliances and institutions. Steven Kramer, the political consultant who admitted sending the fake Biden robocalls, said he wanted to send a message about the dangers deepfakes pose to the American political system. Kramer was acquitted last month of charges of voter suppression and impersonating a candidate. "I did what I did for $500," Kramer said. "Can you imagine what would happen if the Chinese government decided to do this?" The greater availability and sophistication of the programs mean deepfakes are increasingly used for corporate espionage and garden variety fraud. "The financial industry is right in the crosshairs," said Jennifer Ewbank, a former deputy director of the CIA who worked on cybersecurity and digital threats. "Even individuals who know each other have been convinced to transfer vast sums of money." In the context of corporate espionage, they can be used to impersonate CEOs asking employees to hand over passwords or routing numbers. Deepfakes can also allow scammers to apply for jobs - and even do them - under an assumed or fake identity. For some, this is a way to access sensitive networks, to steal secrets or to install ransomware. Others just want the work and may be working a few similar jobs at different companies at the same time. Authorities in the US have said that thousands of North Koreans with information technology skills have been dispatched to live abroad, using stolen identities to obtain jobs at tech firms in the US and elsewhere. The workers get access to company networks as well as a paycheck. In some cases, the workers install ransomware that can be later used to extort even more money. The schemes have generated billions of dollars for the North Korean government. Within three years, as many as 1 in 4 job applications are expected to be fake, according to research from Adaptive Security, a cybersecurity company. "We've entered an era where anyone with a laptop and access to an open-source model can convincingly impersonate a real person," said Brian Long, Adaptive's CEO. "It's no longer about hacking systems - it's about hacking trust." Researchers, public policy experts and technology companies are now investigating the best ways of addressing the economic, political and social challenges posed by deepfakes. New regulations could require tech companies to do more to identify, label and potentially remove deepfakes on their platforms. Lawmakers could also impose greater penalties on those who use digital technology to deceive others, if they can be caught. Greater investments in digital literacy could also boost people's immunity to online deception by teaching them ways to spot fake media and avoid falling prey to scammers. The best tool for catching AI may be another AI program, one trained to sniff out the tiny flaws in deepfakes that would go unnoticed by a person. Systems like Pindrop's analyze millions of datapoints in any person's speech to quickly identify irregularities. The system can be used during job interviews or other video conferences to detect if the person is using voice cloning software, for instance. Similar programs may one day be commonplace, running in the background as people chat with colleagues and loved ones online. Someday, deepfakes may go the way of email spam, a technological challenge that once threatened to upend the usefulness of email, said Balasubramaniyan, Pindrop's CEO. "You can take the defeatist view and say we're going to be subservient to disinformation," he said. "But that's not going to happen." (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NBC News
9 hours ago
- Business
- NBC News
Trump seeks quick deposition of Murdoch in Epstein letter case
Lawyers for President Donald Trump asked a judge on Monday to order Rupert Murdoch to sit for a deposition within 15 days for Trump's $10 billion lawsuit accusing the media mogul of defaming him in a Wall Street Journal article about a 'bawdy' birthday letter to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump's lawyers cited Murdoch's advanced age to submit to questioning under oath as a chief argument in their motion to compel him to testify earlier than would be normal in such a lawsuit, suggesting that Murdoch will either be too ill or dead to testify by the time the case goes to trial. 'Murdoch is 94 years old, has suffered from multiple health issues throughout his life, is believed to have suffered recent significant health scares, and is presumed to live in New York, New York,' Trump's lawyers said in their legal filing in Miami federal court. 'Taken together, these factors weigh heavily in determining that Murdoch would be unavailable for in-person testimony at trial,' the lawyers wrote. The attorneys also cited the fact that there is, as yet, no order scheduling the exchange of evidence and testimony in the case. 'Murdoch has an advantage over President Trump as Murdoch is able to defend himself because he has access to all the information and documents related to the below-defined malicious and defamatory Article, and the decision behind deciding to publish it,' they wrote. 'On the other hand, President Trump has very limited information related to the Article.' 'For these and other reasons that follow, Murdoch would not suffer any prejudice significant enough to outweigh the good cause that exists to grant this Motion,' they wrote. Murdoch opposes the request that he sit for an expedited deposition, according to the filing. CNBC has requested comment from Murdoch's attorneys. Judge Darrin Gayles, who is presiding over the case, later Monday filed an order directing Murdoch's lawyers to respond to the motion by Aug. 4. The motion also seeks a number of documents from Murdoch. They include any documents exchanged between him and other defendants in the case. It also seeks 'Any text messages, iMessages, WhatsApp messages, Slack messages, Signal messages, WeChat messages, or any other form of digital communication on any mobile device related to the Article that You have sent or received,' and a log of his calls from July 10 through July 25. The Journal, which is owned by Murdoch's News Corp, earlier this month published an article saying that Trump sent Epstein a letter for his 50th birthday in 2003. The newspaper said that the letter 'contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker.' 'The letter concludes: 'Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,'' the paper reported. Trump has angrily denied writing the letter. His lawsuit against Murdoch also names as defendants News Corp, its CEO Robert Thomson, the Journal's publisher Dow Jones & Company, and the two reporters whose bylines are on the article, Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo. The motion filed Monday by Trump's lawyers also said that when one of the reporters reached out to the White House to ask about the letter, 'President Trump reached out to, and spoke directly with, Murdoch and advised him that the letter referenced in the Article was fake.' 'Murdoch advised President Trump that 'he would take care of it,'' the motion said. 'Because Defendants published the Article after President Trump spoke directly with Murdoch and advised him that the letter referenced in the Article was fake, Murdoch's direct involvement further underscores Defendants' actual malice and intent behind the decision to publish the false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements about President Trump identified in the Complaint,' the motion said.
CNBC
11 hours ago
- Business
- CNBC
Trump seeks quick deposition of Rupert Murdoch in Jeffrey Epstein letter defamation case
Lawyers for President Donald Trump asked a judge on Monday to order Rupert Murdoch to sit for a deposition soon in Trump's $10 billion lawsuit accusing the media mogul of defaming him in a Wall Street Journal article about a "bawdy" birthday letter to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump's lawyers cited Murdoch's advanced age to submit to questioning under oath as a chief argument in their motion to compel him to testify earlier than would be normal in such a lawsuit, suggesting that Murdoch will either be too ill or dead to testify by the time the case goes to trial. "Murdoch is 94 years old, has suffered from multiple health issues throughout his life, is believed to have suffered recent significant health scares, and is presumed to live in New York, New York," Trump's lawyers said in their legal filing in Miami federal court. "Taken together, these factors weigh heavily in determining that Murdoch would be unavailable for in-person testimony at trial," the lawyers wrote. The attorneys also cited the fact that there is, as yet, no order scheduling the exchange of evidence and testimony in the case. "Murdoch has an advantage over President Trump as Murdoch is able to defend himself because he has access to all the information and documents related to the below-defined malicious and defamatory Article, and the decision behind deciding to publish it," they wrote. "On the other hand, President Trump has very limited information related to the Article." "For these and other reasons that follow, Murdoch would not suffer any prejudice significant enough to outweigh the good cause that exists to grant this Motion," they wrote. Murdoch opposes the request that he sit for an expedited deposition, according to the filing. CNBC has requested comment from Murdoch's attorneys. The motion also seeks a number of documents from Murdoch. They include any documents exchanged between him and other defendants in the case. It also seeks "Any text messages, iMessages, WhatsApp messages, Slack messages, Signal messages, WeChat messages, or any other form of digital communication on any mobile device related to the Article that You have sent or received," and a log of his calls from July 10 through July 25. The Journal, which is owned by Murdoch's News Corp, earlier this month published an article saying that Trump sent Epstein a letter for his 50th birthday in 2003. The newspaper said that the letter "contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker." "The letter concludes: 'Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,'" the paper reported. Trump has angrily denied writing the letter. His lawsuit against Murdoch also names as defendants News Corp, its CEO Robert Thomson, the Journal's publisher Dow Jones & Company, and the two reporters whose bylines are on the article, Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo. The motion filed Monday by Trump's lawyers also said that when one of the reporters reached out to the White House to ask about the letter, "President Trump reached out to, and spoke directly with, Murdoch and advised him that the letter referenced in the Article was fake." "Murdoch advised President Trump that 'he would take care of it,'" the motion said. "Because Defendants published the Article after President Trump spoke directly with Murdoch and advised him that the letter referenced in the Article was fake, Murdoch's direct involvement further underscores Defendants' actual malice and intent behind the decision to publish the false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements about President Trump identified in the Complaint," the motion said.
