Court Watch #72: We’re Sorry, Swifties…
This Newsletter Has More Plot Twists Than Tortured Poets. Plus: Logan Paul Caffeine, South African Corruption, Pig Butchering, and a previously unreported Domestic Terror Plot.
We had a really good lede. Like a phenomenal one. Absolutely Edna Buchanan level. But this is Tay-Tay’s big day and we would never steal her spotlight. So let’s just go straight to the weekly roundup of federal court filings:
Tractor Pull: An Oregon crew was allegedly using stolen credit cards to rent heavy equipment from Home Depot and not returning it.
Fair Enough: A New Mexico man was arrested for threatening a city council member. When confronted by law enforcement with a recording of his threat, court records say he replied, “I see why that is a problem.”
High Energy: Logan Paul’s Prime drink was sued, alleging that the beverage has even more caffeine in it than it said.
Signs: CitoOnTheBeat is suing a record label.
Car Jacking: Finally, some good news if you drive a Hyundai.
Sigh: A Pennsylvania resident was indicted for running seven home care houses for individuals with special needs and leaving them in disrepair.
Big Fish: A Florida man was arrested for laundering half a million dollars for undercover cops.
International Court Watch Subscribers, Your Day Has Finally Come: We know when we’re out of our depth. It happens frequently. Understanding the inner workings of politics and government of a foreign country is typically a good example of that. But we also have a pretty good sense when there’s a story and everyone misses it. There were a lot of interesting court filings this week, but the one that caught our eye the most was an extradition document out of Maryland. In it, federal prosecutors lay out an extensive bribery case within the South African government involving the former Secretary General of the African National Congress and premier of Free State. South African press has reported that his assistant was arrested in America, but it appears no one got around to grabbing the actual court document with the seedy details. (editor’s note: probably because paying for PACER fees with a foreign credit card is a herculean task)
Pass: Law enforcement infiltrated (warning: explicit content) a child exploitation website and took down its administers who lamented that running the site and responding to requests from other child predators was like having a second job.
We’re Confused Too: A federal judge has denied the release request of a transgender Nazi supporter in Oregon. We wrote about the original arrest here.
Still Going: A Rhode Island man was charged with COVID fraud for lying about his past gun conviction.
Seems mean: The feds are moving to seize the house of a dead man.
White House Down: A Kansas woman was indicted for threatening Presidents Bill Clinton and Joe Biden.
Another One: The hotel chain Red Roof Inns was sued by a Jane Doe who says she was sex trafficked at their hotels and that the company is culpable.
War Dogs: Owners of an Iraq-based gun company were indicted for illegally shipping anti-aircraft munitions.
Oh: A campus security guard at Norfolk State University has sued the college for job discrimination, arguing he was fired due to his age, and not for purportedly sleeping on the job.
Seems Important: An anti-government militia member was charged with making ricin. Our favorite reporting on this was by Hannah Allam and Razzan Nakhlawi which noted, “An obituary for Vane popped up online in early April, saying that he’d died in mid-March, but the notice disappeared after a couple days. A man who answered Vane’s phone last week told The Washington Post that “Duke killed himself.” But Vane appeared, very much alive, in federal custody Monday…”
Billable Hours for Nothing: The folks that make Mission Taco Tortillas are suing Mission Taco in New York for name infringement. We’d note the small business spot in New York has very good yelp reviews and may have large forthcoming lawyer bills. Conversely, the plaintiff made 3.8 billion dollars in revenue last year.
Ugh: A husband and wife gun shop owners in Utah are accused of taking donations meant for Ukraine and instead not sending any tactical vests.
The Interview: A North Korean official was charged with violating U.S. sanctions.
Sigh: A former Marine was sentenced to nine years for a plot to attack the LA Dodgers and abortion clinics.
Hard Pass: A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to 70 years for torturing prisoners in Iraq.
Come on, Man: We have concerns about his professional ability to not see this coming.
Our bad: The above court record blurb was just to see if you’d click on a link. You did. Please don’t click on this.
Crypto4TheWin: There’s a large-scale ‘pig butchering’ law enforcement operation out of Texas. Here’s another one for good measure. Or why not, it’s Tay Tay’s Fri-yay, here’s one more about a guy getting a passport from the Chinese embassy in Houston and fleeing the U.S. to seemingly avoid a 9.5 million dollar pig butchering scam investigation.
Sentencing Disparity: A Ohio woman was sentenced to two years probation for spray painting ‘Jane’s Revenge’ on a pregnancy clinic and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The light sentence (as compared to the sentencing guideline), may be useful for those on the opposite side of the issue set to be sentenced in a few months.
Pacific Life: A Washington state graduate student at Antioch University (now known as Coalition For the Common Good) is suing the university, saying she was disparaged for refusing to sign a diversity, equity, and inclusion pledge.
Rabbit Hole Complete: We were interested in the FBI Inspector General (IG) letter yesterday which outlined why the Bureau had done an analytical intel product on “radical traditional Catholicism.” The IG says it was borne out of a domestic terrorism investigation and that case helps explain why they decided to produce the much-discussed piece. But the defendant was not named. So down the rabbit hole we went, cross referencing information in the letter with dockets across the country, and up came the previously unreported case. We ran down here how we figured it out. Glenn Thrush and Adam Goldman have the write up with a small assistance from Court Watch. And because you’ve read this far let’s advance the story, here’s the Gab search warrant related to the case.
Classic: An ATM skimming crew was arrested.
Recruited: A Virginia man says someone at a bus stop told him to start working at the CIA. He was arrested for trespassing on Langley, the second time in the last decade.
Australia, But on Water: That’s a solid number of previously-convicted criminals in one boat trying to get into the U.S.
Unlucky: Missouri man was charged with using stolen credit cards to successfully win the lottery.
Spyless: A federal judge sentenced a 73 year old man to fifteen years for a decades long operation spying for the Cuban government.
Wine Night: Maryland senatorial candidate and current Congressman David Trone’s company had a good Thursday.
Sorry, not Sorry: Listen, we know it’s a threat case and we are usually more serious about that but all we could think about in this charging document is it has strong anti-dentite vibes.
Cameo: The Justice Department disagrees with Congressman Santos’s motion, to according to them, “selectively disseminate to the public certain Confidential Discovery Materials.” They ended their filing with this kicker, “In short, Santos’s request to de-designate is a transparent effort to litigate this case in the media, not in the courtroom, and to improperly influence both the jury pool and potential trial witnesses. The Court should not condone such a tactic.”
Speaking of kickers, we had a really good one. Like a phenomenal one. But again, on this of all album release days, Clara Bow is the one true kicker. Or overnight plot twist: The Manuscript.
Thanks for reading.
I’m guessing it’s about a psychic. But I’m clicking on Clara Bow.
I really appreciated the Rick Roll. I love Rick Rolls.