New York
George Santos Is Accused of Sexual Harassment in His Capitol Office
A potential congressional aide has accused Consultant George Santos of ethics violations and sexual harassment, in accordance with a letter the person despatched to the Home Committee on Ethics and posted to Twitter on Friday.
The person, Derek Myers, briefly labored in Mr. Santos’s workplace earlier than his job supply was rescinded earlier this week, in accordance with the letter.
Mr. Myers stated within the letter that he was alone with Mr. Santos in his workplace on Jan. 25 when the congressman requested him whether or not he had a profile on Grindr, a preferred homosexual relationship app. Then, he stated, Mr. Santos invited him to karaoke and touched his groin, assuring him that his husband was out of city.
Mr. Myers’s account couldn’t be corroborated, however a spokeswoman for Consultant Susan Wild, rating member of the Home Ethics Committee, acknowledged that his letter had been acquired by her workplace.
Mr. Myers stated in an interview that he additionally filed a report with the Capitol Police, talking to an officer over the telephone. On Twitter, he said that he was making his grievance public for the sake of transparency.
“They’re critical offenses and the proof and information will communicate for themselves if the committee takes up the matter,” he wrote.
A day earlier than making his grievance public, Mr. Myers acquired consideration following the discharge of recordings he had secretly fabricated from Mr. Santos and his chief of workers, Charley Lovett.
Mr. Myers was charged final 12 months with wiretapping in Ohio, after a small newspaper he ran revealed audio of courtroom testimony that another person recorded and despatched to him. Journalism organizations rallied round him, calling for the fees to be dropped within the title of press freedom.
Mr. Santos instructed the information start-up Semafor on Thursday that his workplace had been within the technique of hiring Mr. Myers, however had determined in opposition to it due to considerations over the wiretapping expenses. Mr. Lovett confirmed the identical to Speaking Factors Memo.
Mr. Santos, a Republican representing New York’s Third Congressional District, is the topic of quite a few investigations into his enterprise and marketing campaign funds. Mr. Santos’s communications director didn’t reply to requests for a response, directing the matter to his private lawyer. His lawyer declined to touch upon Mr. Myers’s allegations.
Mr. Myers claimed that the alleged harassment occurred 5 days earlier than he secretly recorded Mr. Santos. In that dialog, audio of which was revealed by Speaking Factors Memo, Mr. Myers declared his fealty to Mr. Santos, telling him, “We’re all George, that is how we received right here. We’re simply masters of the sport.”
At one other level, Mr. Myers says on the recording, “I’ll by no means deceive you guys. I’ve no motive to. However I’ll lie for you.”
“You shouldn’t,” Mr. Santos replies.
In his letter to the Ethics Committee, Mr. Myers stated that he was instructed he would work in Mr. Santos’s workplace as a volunteer earlier than his employment paperwork was processed.
He stated within the letter that he now believed that such an association violated the Home’s ethics guidelines, and he requested the committee to analyze Mr. Santos for his use of volunteer labor in addition to for sexual harassment.
It’s unclear how the Ethics Committee will proceed. Tom Rust, the committee’s chief counsel and workers director, declined to remark, and the spokeswoman for Ms. Wild stated that the congresswoman wouldn’t “make feedback concerning potential or pending issues earlier than the committee.”
The Capitol Police didn’t reply to messages requesting affirmation that Mr. Myers had filed a report.
New York
Who Are Key Players in the Menendez Case?
Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, and his wife, Nadine Menendez, are accused of taking part in a wide-ranging, international bribery scheme. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged them with accepting bribes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from several New Jersey businessmen in exchange for political favors.
Mr. Menendez goes to trial on May 13 with two of the businessmen, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana. Ms. Menendez’s trial was postponed after her lawyers said she had a serious medical condition requiring surgery and a recovery period; it is now expected to start in July. All four have pleaded not guilty.
Defendants
Senator Robert Menendez
New Jersey Senator
First elected to Congress in 1992, Mr. Menendez is now charged with taking bribes of gold, cash and a luxury car in exchange for trying to aid the governments of Egypt and Qatar, and seeking to disrupt separate criminal investigations involving his allies in New Jersey.
After his arrest, he stepped down, as required, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but he has refused calls to resign and left open the possibility that he will run for re-election in November if he is exonerated at trial. This is his second federal bribery trial in seven years. In the earlier case, a jury was unable to reach a verdict and the charges were later dismissed.
Fred Daibes
New Jersey Real Estate Developer
Mr. Daibes is accused of giving Mr. Menendez furniture, gold and cash. These were bribes, prosecutors say, for Mr. Menendez’s efforts to have unrelated federal bank fraud charges Mr. Daibes faces in New Jersey quashed and for the senator’s help in lining up financing for a stalled real estate project.
Wael Hana
Founder of the IS EG Halal company
Prosecutors say that Mr. Hana, a United States citizen born in Egypt, helped to arrange meetings with the senator and Egyptian officials that led to a lucrative monopoly for Mr. Hana’s company, IS EG Halal. The company, which certifies that products shipped to Egypt are prepared according to Islamic law, was used to funnel bribes to the Menendezes in exchange for the senator’s s efforts to steer U.S. weapons and aid to Egypt, according to the indictment.
Nadine Menendez
Mr. Menendez’s Wife
Ms. Menendez served as a go-between for Mr. Menendez, Egyptian intelligence officials and men who were seeking political favors from the senator, according to the indictment. Prosecutors say that bribes and messages went through Ms. Menendez to the senator.
The Co-Operator
Jose Uribe
Former New Jersey insurance broker
Mr. Uribe had been charged with seeking the senator’s help to scuttle state insurance fraud investigations that involved Mr. Uribe’s associates. He pleaded guilty in March and agreed to cooperate with the government, admitting in court that he had given a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz to Ms. Menendez to influence the senator.
The Court
Judge Sidney H. Stein
Presiding Judge
He was appointed by former President Bill Clinton to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1995. Among the more prominent defendants whose cases he has overseen are Jennifer Shah, a “Real Housewives” star sentenced to 78 months in prison in connection with a telemarketing fraud scheme, and Hassan Nemazee, a major donor to Democratic political causes, who was sentenced to 12 years in a bank fraud case.
Prosecution Team
Damian Williams
U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York
Mr. Williams joined the U.S. attorney’s office in 2012 and was named by President Biden to the top post in 2021. He leads an office of 220 assistant U.S. attorneys and executives. He has overseen the prosecutions of defendants like Sam Bankman-Fried, convicted of stealing billions of dollars from his FTX cryptocurrency exchange, and Juan Orlando Hernández, the ex-Honduran president convicted in a cocaine importation case.
Christina Clark
Trial Attorney, Justice Department
She works in the department’s national security division. Ms. Clark helped to prosecute the former high-ranking F.B.I. official Charles McGonigal, who pleaded guilty in a money-laundering case in connection with his work for a Russian oligarch under sanctions.
Catherine Ghosh
Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District, Public Corruption Unit
She helped prosecute 70 current and former employees of the New York City Housing Authority in what the authorities called the “largest single-day bribery takedown in the history of the Justice Department.”
Eli Mark
Assistant U.S. Attorney, Public Corruption Unit
He helped to prosecute defendants in an N.C.A.A. basketball recruiting scandal, as well as a former State Supreme Court justice in an obstruction case.
Paul Monteleoni
Assistant U.S. Attorney, Public Corruption Unit
He helped to prosecute a former Brooklyn assistant district attorney in a bribery case and Robert Hadden, a former Columbia gynecologist who lured patients to his office and abused them.
Lara Pomerantz
Assistant U.S. Attorney, Public Corruption Unit
She helped to prosecute Ghislaine Maxwell, the former companion to Jeffrey Epstein, in a sex trafficking case and Norman Seabrook, the former longtime president of New York City’s correction officers’ union, in a bribery case.
Daniel Richenthal
Deputy Chief of the Southern District’s Criminal Division
He helped to win the convictions of Sheldon Silver, the former Democratic speaker of the New York State Assembly, and Michael Avenatti, the once high-flying lawyer who tried to extort more than $20 million from the apparel giant Nike.
Defense Lawyers
Adam Fee
Lawyer for Robert Menendez
He previously spent five years as a prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District — the same office prosecuting Mr. Menendez. Based in California, Mr. Fee focuses on white-collar criminal defense work.
Avi Weitzman
Lawyer for Mr. Menendez
He spent nearly seven years as a Southern District prosecutor and is now a New York City based partner at the same law firm as Mr. Fee, with an emphasis on complex civil and criminal cases.
Lawrence Lustberg
Lawyer for Wael Hana
A prominent New Jersey defense attorney, he was previously a federal public defender. He also represents Mr. Daibes in the pending bank fraud case in New Jersey.
César de Castro
Lawyer for Fred Daibes
Previously a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, he now runs his own New York City-based law firm. Last year, he represented Genaro García Luna, Mexico’s former top security official who, after a high-profile federal trial in Brooklyn, was convicted of taking millions of dollars from the Sinaloa drug cartel.
New York
Video: Judge Says Michael Cohen Must Stop Taunting Trump
Ahead of what could be the most explosive testimony in Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial, the judge on Friday told prosecutors that he was personally asking that Michael D. Cohen stop taunting the former president. Jonah Bromwich, a criminal justice reporter at The New York Times, gives his takeaways.
New York
Live Updates: Quiet End of Week for Trump Trial as Cohen Looms as Witness
Prosecutors said they could rest their case as soon as Thursday, and the judge asked them to keep Michael D. Cohen, expected to take the stand on Monday, from attacking Donald J. Trump in the meantime. Five witnesses testified Friday in rapid succession.
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