The largest mafia trial in three decades kicked off on Wednesday against hundreds of people prosecutors say are connected to the cocaine empire run by the ‘ndrangheta, Italy’s most powerful and feared organized criminal group based in the poor southern region of Calabria.
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Florida prosecutors have dropped armed robbery charges against NFL cornerback DeAndre Baker, saying their case against him was sullied when counsel for three alleged victims tried to secure a payoff for doctored testimony.
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Federal prosecutors announced the arrest of three R. Kelly associates on Wednesday, accusing the men of having tried to extort and intimidate the jailed singer’s victims.
Read moreThe California State Bar Court on Friday placed Michael Avenatti on interim suspension based on his felony convictions of attempted extortion of sportswear company Nike for millions of dollars.
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The brother of Jeff Bezos’ girlfriend sued the National Enquirer and its parent company Monday alleging the company’s dredging up of dirt on the world’s richest man – and its attempt to cover up the scheme – defamed him and damaged his family.
Read moreJesse Leon sued Los Angeles and City Councilman José Huizar in superior court, claiming Huizar fired him to retaliate for reporting his concerns that Huizar “intended to extort commercial cannabis operators seeking to do business within his council district” by demanding “political donations, ‘consulting fees’ funneled to the councilmember’s friends, and cash payments made directly to Huizar.”
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The first of three criminal trials for celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti has ended with a New York jury convicting him of extorting Nike for millions of dollars at the threat of exposing a corruption scandal.
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Before uttering a word of his closing arguments, a federal prosecutor let embattled celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti’s own voice deliver the case against him.
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As the coach who guided basketball hotshot Deandre Ayton to become the NBA’s No. 1 draft pick in 2018, Gary Franklin probably didn’t think he’d become a star himself — a star witness, that is.
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A California consultant took the witness stand in Michael Avenatti’s New York trial Monday, testifying that the celebrity attorney never revealed his alleged extortion scheme to clients who were angered by what they perceived as misconduct at Nike.
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Kicking off a trial where Michael Avenatti is charged with attempting to extort Nike, the embattled lawyer’s defense team told the jury Monday that his client fought to correct the athleticwear company’s rampant corruption.
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From his famous former clients to his adversaries, Michael Avenatti runs in some star-studded circles. Which of those A-list names can feature when the embattled lawyer begins trial next week took focus Wednesday at a marathon four-hour hearing.
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Months after billionaire Jeff Bezos stared down would-be extortion, U.N. investigators on Wednesday tied the hack of Bezos’ phone to The Washington Post’s connections with slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
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A federal judge in California ordered embattled attorney Michael Avenatti held without bail on bank and wire fraud charges until he can be transported to New York next week to stand trial on extortion charges there.
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Prosecutors say California attorney Michael Avenatti was over $15 million in debt when he tried to extort up to $25 million from Nike, while Avenatti’s lawyers say the money he legally requested to conduct an internal probe of the sportswear giant was a bargain.
Read moreA private-ankle monitoring company did not extort daily fees from inmates by threatening them with re-arrest for nonpayment, a federal judge ruled Friday.
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A former South Florida policeman was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday for making two teenagers run down a desolate street naked after pulling them over for a traffic violation.
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A federal judge will soon decide whether a whittled-down lawsuit over exorbitant ankle-monitoring fees in Alameda County will go to trial early next year.
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A former Playboy model who says she had a 10-month affair with President Trump in 2006 brought a defamation suit Thursday, saying Fox News falsely accused her of trying to extort Trump to keep quiet.
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