San Francisco, CA
SF Chinatown residents victimized in $39 million Ponzi scheme involving Warriors tickets
![SF Chinatown residents victimized in $39 million Ponzi scheme involving Warriors tickets](https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2023/05/06/9287cc0a-6b57-4e6b-b3e3-9d594bbad79c/thumbnail/1200x630/42150fa49c8995e92a5217b7f298e2b8/ponzischemr.jpg)
SAN FRANCISCO — Greater than 100 victims are tied up in a $39 million Ponzi scheme run by 41-year-old Derek Chu of Alamo, in line with federal prosecutors.
He was arrested Might 2 and indicted for working a scheme and spending at the least $7 million to fund his personal lavish way of life. He’s accused of conning victims to put money into a faux scheme to purchase and resell tickets and luxurious suites at Oracle Enviornment, Staples Middle and Chase Middle between 2013 and 2020.
The indictment alleges that Chu lured unwitting traders by making materially false misrepresentations, together with how the investor funds could be used, and the way traders could be repaid.
“Chu commingled the traders’ cash between his personal private accounts and his firms’ accounts, which resulted in investor cash getting used to repay different, earlier traders, and for different unrelated bills,” federal prosecutors mentioned in a press launch.
Lots of the victims are from San Francisco’s Chinatown, in line with lawyer Jaynry Mak, who represents a couple of dozen victims.
Kingsley, as he prefers to be referred to as for this story, spoke to KPIX reporter Betty Yu on behalf of his mother, a San Francisco resident, who’s out greater than $3.5 million.
“My mother needed to undergo all that, she did not communicate English. She needed to undergo all that whereas being in disgrace, being embarrassed, however as we speak, with every thing that has transpired, she has actually realized that it actually is not in regards to the cash anymore,” he mentioned. “It is about getting these guys right here and it is actually not our time to be scared. They need to be scared now.”
Mak, the household’s lawyer, filed lawsuits towards Derek Chu, Suitelife Norcal LLC, and his father Felix Chu, a longtime household buddy and well-known life insurance coverage agent in Chinatown, who has since retired.
“Nearer to 2016 is when all the cash offers began occurring, the place it’d begin out as, ‘Hey, when you give me some cash I may give you some curiosity, proper? 11%, 18%.’ Sounds actually good,” mentioned Kingsley. “So to start with the quantities have been within the hundreds and it was alright, and Felix would pay it and it was fairly constant, he is sort of constructing his credit score, after which after that it began climbing as much as tens of hundreds, lots of of hundreds, and later it concerned the sale of a property, that took it to the thousands and thousands.”
However then Kingsley mentioned the curiosity funds slowed after which stopped coming altogether. That cash was diverted for Chu’s private profit, in line with federal prosecutors.
“A major quantity of those funds went in direction of paying his personal private bank card payments, towards luxurious automobiles akin to Porsches, jewellery, designer sneakers and purses…whereas these victims gave them their complete retirement funds, cashed out their 403B accounts,” mentioned Mak.
Mak filed an preliminary police report in 2019, when SFPD started investigating. Quickly after, extra victims shared comparable tales with Mak.
“These are like mother and pops; the previous sufferer, his mother was a garment employee. The opposite victims, they’re eating places they’re actually saving their nickels and dimes,” she mentioned. “We have had victims that have been extraordinarily suicidal which we happily have been capable of work by way of. We had one other sufferer who had a coronary heart assault and has subsequently handed which we imagine is expounded to this.”
She additionally shared typical promissory notes signed by Derek and Felix Chu.
“The promissory notes have been easy one-page paperwork with no collateral. It was constructed on belief. It was based mostly on relationships of 30 years. Folks that they thought-about uncles or second fathers. The promissory notes are so generic, it is mainly equal to a handshake,” she mentioned.
Chu has been charged with eight counts of wire fraud and three counts of cash laundering. Every wire fraud rely carries a most sentence of 20 years in jail and a $250,000 nice. Every cash laundering rely carries a 10-year sentence and a $250,000 nice.
“You bought the Warriors, you bought Giants, or Lakers, no matter. You throw in these model logos on it, this individual have to be reliable, proper? He works with massive logos, and the truth that he related Warriors with it in all probability helped his trigger,” mentioned Kingsley. “And luxurious stuff, I hope he loved it. It is come to an finish.”
Prosecutors are additionally urging different victims to return ahead.
“When you’re first era and above, be there on your dad and mom,” mentioned Kingsley. “In case your dad and mom are immigrants right here, likelihood is they do not know a complete lot. Laborious work is all they know. And so they accumulate this wealth and when you see that they know somebody that they actually, actually belief that they know exterior the household and you do not appear to know, that is in all probability a purple flag.”
Chu’s subsequent look in court docket is scheduled for Might tenth.
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San Francisco, CA
Here's what SFO looked like with flights grounded amid global IT outage
![Here's what SFO looked like with flights grounded amid global IT outage](https://cdn.abcotvs.com/dip/images/15071562_071924-kgo-crowdstrike-outage-str-img.jpg?w=1600)
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A crippling cybersecurity outage brought down computer networks globally, including at San Francisco International Airport, where dozens of flights have been canceled or delayed.
This has left many passengers waiting around for their next step.
MORE: CrowdStrike says widespread disruptions were not the result of security incident or cyberattack
According to Flight Aware, they had 33 delays and more than 50 cancellations by 3:30 a.m.
Flight information display screens were down and frustrated passengers were seen waiting around, unable to even check a bag.
As of about 4:30 a.m., more than 540 flights across the country had been cancelled. The FAA said United, American, Delta, and Allegiant airlines had all been grounded.
ABC7 News talked to one passenger who was supposed to be leaving for a trip to Belize with a layover in Houston, when he wasn’t even able to check his bag.
“Pretty much just stuck here until we figure out what’s next,” he said. “Don’t know how long it’s going to be, it’s been at least a couple of hours that we have been waiting. We will see what’s next, I don’t know. Yeah, I’m stuck for a while.”
MORE: What is CrowdStrike, the company linked to the global outage?
American Airlines said they are back up and running as normal. Other airlines haven’t been so lucky.
United said they are only resuming “some flights” and expect more disruptions throughout the day.
Both Delta and also United said they are working to issue travel waivers to help passengers to change their travel plans.
Friday is a day travelers will absolutely want to check their flight status before leaving for the airport.
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San Francisco, CA
Fantasy Football Player Profile 2024: San Francisco 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk
![Fantasy Football Player Profile 2024: San Francisco 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk](https://media.pff.com/2024/01/Aiyuk-Brandon-Alamy-scaled.jpg?w=1200&h=675)
2WA0XY8 Landover, United States. 31st Dec, 2023. December 31 2023: San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the NFL game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Washington Commanders in Landover, MD. Reggie Hildred/CSM/Sipa USA (Credit Image: © Reggie Hildred/Cal Sport Media/Sipa USA) Credit: Sipa US/Alamy Live News
San Francisco, CA
Air India flight from Delhi to San Francisco makes precautionary landing in Russia. Details here | Today News
An Air India flight operating Delhi to San Francisco on July 18 made a precautionary landing at Krasnoyarsk International Airport (KJA) in Russia after the cockpit crew detected a potential issue in the cargo hold area. Flight AI183 landed safely at KJA with all 225 passengers and 19 members of the flight crew.
In an update shared by the airline, it wrote, “The passengers are now disembarked and have been taken to the terminal building for further processes.”
It further said, “As Air India does not have its own staff at KJA, we are arranging for third party support to provide all necessary assistance to passengers.”
The carrier added that they are also working with government agencies and regulatory authorities to arrange a ferry flight to KJA, ensuring passengers can continue to San Francisco as soon as possible.
Update #2: Air India Flight AI183
Air India flight AI183 of 18 July 2024 operating Delhi to San Francisco made a precautionary landing at Krasnoyarsk International Airport (KJA) in Russia after the cockpit crew detected a potential issue in the cargo hold area. The aircraft…
— Air India (@airindia) July 18, 2024
“All of us at Air India are concerned about the passengers and staff and are making every effort possible to operate the ferry flight as soon as possible, and to ensure the health, safety, and security of all while they wait. We will share further updates as soon as they are available,” Air India added.
As per Reuters report, after the incident, Russia’s civil aviation agency, Rosaviatsiya, announced on Telegram that the aircraft had safely parked after landing with no signs of fire or smoke onboard.
This is the second such incident on the same route. Last month in June, The San Francisco bound flight from Delhi which was made to land in Russia due to technical glitch. Two days after the emergency landing its replacement flight Air for the 232 passengers took off for San Fransisco.
Due to the harsh weather of Siberia and limitations of resources, many of the Air India passengers had to face issues related to food, accomodation, cleanliness, etc. Many of the travellers were not even able to use their credit cards because of sanctions over Russia’s war on Ukraine, Bloomberg had reported. Most of the them were accommodated inside school buildings, college hostels and other places. Despite the lack of facilities, passengers said that the Russian authorities, police and other officials treated them very well.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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