Florida
Court awards Mexican government massive civil judgment against ex-security chief
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Florida court awarded the Mexican government a massive civil judgment Thursday against its former security chief who is now serving a lengthy prison sentence in the United States for taking bribes from drug traffickers.
Judge Lisa Walsh ordered Genaro García Luna to pay more than $748 million and his wife Linda Cristina Pereyra to hand over more than $1.7 billion.
García Luna was sentenced to more than 38 years in a U.S. prison last October for taking massive bribes to help drug traffickers.
Mexico’s former secretary of public security was convicted by a New York jury in 2023 of accepting millions of dollars in bribes to protect the violent Sinaloa cartel that he was supposedly combating. He is the highest-level Mexican government official to be convicted in the United States.
He served as secretary of public security to then-President Felipe Calderón from 2006 to 2012.
After leaving office García Luna moved to Florida. His lawyers said he was a legitimate businessman who did consulting in Florida before he was arrested in 2019.
García Luna and associates set up companies that got 30 dubious government contracts while he was Mexico’s top security official in 2006-2012 and for six years afterward.
The contracts were for things like surveillance, monitoring and communications equipment used in prisons and in intelligence work. The contracts were presumably inflated. In one case, the contract was simply falsified.
García Luna allegedly channeled money from the prison security and government intelligence technology contracts to offshore accounts, many in Barbados, then sent it to Miami to buy fancy condos and vintage cars.
García Luna and his associates bought several vintage Mustangs from the 1960s and ‘70s. They also bought luxury sports cars like Lamborghinis and Ferraris.
The Florida lawsuit was filed in September 2021.
Alaska
City reaches $2.1M settlement with family of a 16-year-old fatally shot by a officer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s largest city has reached a $2.1 million settlement with the family of a 16-year-old girl who was holding a knife last August when she was fatally shot by a police officer.
Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s office said in a statement Thursday the settlement followed a meeting between Police Chief Sean Case and members of Easter Leafa’s family. Terms of the agreement were not released.
An attorney for the family, Darryl Thompson, confirmed the settlement amount announced by the city.
“The Leafa family was devastated by the loss of young Easter Sally. Sadly, they were all there to witness this tragic event and were powerless to stop it from happening,” Thompson said in a statement. “They have handled their loss with dignity and grace and are grateful that this phase of the healing is behind them.”
State prosecutors last fall announced they would not file criminal charges against the officer who fatally shot Leafa, concluding that the use of deadly force was legally justified.
Officers had responded to a call for help placed by one of Leafa’s sisters, who said Leafa was “trying to stab her with a knife” because she had not done what Leafa wanted, according to a report on the findings released by the state Office of Special Prosecutions.
The report determined the officer “reasonably believed” he or another officer was about to be assaulted by the girl.
The sister later told investigators “she knew that Easter Leafa was trying to give the knife to the officers,” the report said.
Leafa was one of seven people shot by police in Anchorage in a roughly three-month span last year. She had recently moved from American Samoa and was still learning English, her family has said.
“We want to protect everyone involved from having to re-live this incident in court,” LaFrance said. She expressed gratitude to the Leafa family “for their desire to prioritize healing, for themselves and the whole community.”
LaFrance also noted that police officers “have difficult and sometimes thankless jobs,” and said it’s her responsibility to ensure they have the support and resources they need.
Washington
FTC dismisses lawsuit against PepsiCo that was filed under Biden
The Republican-controlled Federal Trade Commission voted Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit against PepsiCo that the previous commission filed in the waning days of the Biden administration.
The lawsuit, filed in January, alleged that PepsiCo was giving unfair price advantages to Walmart at the expense of other vendors and consumers. The lawsuit had relied on the rarely enforced 1936 Robinson-Patman Act, which it said prohibits companies from using promotional incentive payments to favor large customers over smaller ones.
When the lawsuit was filed, Democrat Lina Khan was the FTC’s chairwoman, and she was joined in support of the lawsuit by Democratic Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. At the time, Republican Commissioners Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak dissented.
A few days after the lawsuit was filed, President Donald Trump took office and Khan resigned. Trump fired Bedoya and Slaughter in March. Bedoya and Slaughter have sued the Trump administration, saying their removal was illegal.
Ferguson, who is now the chairman of the FTC, said Thursday that the PepsiCo lawsuit was a “dubious partisan stunt” and FTC staff had more important work to do.
“The Biden-Harris FTC rushed to authorize this case just three days before President Trump’s inauguration in a nakedly political effort to commit this administration to pursuing little more than a hunch that Pepsi had violated the law,” Ferguson said in a statement.
Purchase, New York-based PepsiCo said Thursday that it was pleased with the FTC’s withdrawal of the lawsuit.
“PepsiCo has always and will continue to provide all customers with fair, competitive, and non-discriminatory pricing, discounts and promotional value,” the company said in a statement.
Washington
Woman accused of spitting on a top federal prosecutor is arrested on an assault charge
WASHINGTON (AP) — A woman accused of spitting on the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital was arrested Thursday on a federal assault charge, court records show.
Then-acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin Jr. was being interviewed on video by a Newsmax reporter on a sidewalk outside his office on May 8 when Emily Gabriella Sommer approached him and spit on his left shoulder, a deputy U.S. Marshal’s affidavit says.
Video captured Sommer swearing at Martin, calling him “a disgusting man” and yelling, “My name is Emily Gabriella Sommer, and you are served,” before walking away, the affidavit says.
The encounter occurred on the same day that President Donald Trump pulled Martin’s nomination to remain U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia on a more permanent basis.
Former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro replaced Martin, who faced bipartisan opposition in the Senate after a turbulent stint in the nation’s largest U.S. Attorney’s office. A key Republican senator said he could not support Martin for the job due to his defense of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol more than four years ago. Martin roiled the office with a series of unorthodox moves, such as firing and demoting subordinates who worked on politically sensitive cases.
Sommer later took credit for the spitting incident in a message replying to a social media post by Martin, according to the deputy.
Sommer, 32, was arrested in Washington, D.C., on a complaint charging her with assaulting, resisting or impeding a government official. The charge carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison. Pirro’s name — not Martin’s — is on the signature block for a court filing in Sommer’s case.
A federal magistrate judge ordered Sommer released from custody after her initial court appearance, which she repeatedly disrupted with outbursts. U.S. Marshals Service deputies led her into the courtroom in handcuffs and shackles. Deputies picked her up and carried her out of the courtroom after one of her interruptions prompted the magistrate to suspend the hearing. Sommer later apologized to the magistrate for her courtroom conduct.
California
Man charged with stalking Aniston found mentally incompetent to stand trial
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man charged with stalking Jennifer Aniston and crashing his car through the front gate of her home has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial, but he demanded a second opinion at a court hearing Thursday.
Jimmy Wayne Carwyle a 48-year-old from Mississippi, appeared while in custody behind glass at a Hollywood courthouse that specializes in mental health cases. He had a long, gray beard and wore a thick, blue smock that jails use for suicide prevention.
A county-appointed psychiatrist who evaluated Carwyle found the defendant incompetent, Deputy Public Defender Robert Krauss told the judge as he stood near his client with glass separating them. But Krauss said Carwyle, as is his right, would like an evaluation from a different psychiatrist.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maria Cavaluzzi ordered the reevaluation and set another hearing for May 29.
Krauss declined comment outside court, as did the prosecutor handling the case and an attorney observing the hearing on behalf of Aniston.
Prosecutors allege Carwyle had been harassing the “Friends” star with a flood of voicemail, email and social media messages for two years before driving his Chrysler PT Cruiser through the gate of her home in the wealthy Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles on May 5, causing major damage.
He pleaded not guilty to felony stalking and vandalism at his first court appearance, where a judge paused the criminal proceedings so he could undergo the psychological evaluation.
Carwyle remains jailed, but he is under a judge’s order not to contact or get near Aniston.
Authorities said Aniston was home at the time of the gate crash, but he did not come into contact with her. A security guard stopped him in her driveway until police arrived. No one was injured.
Carwyle also faces an aggravating circumstance of the threat of great bodily harm. If convicted, he could get up to three years in prison. If Carwyle is found incompetent again, the judge could order him to be sent to a state mental hospital for treatment and ongoing evaluation.
Other than asking for the protective order for Aniston, prosecutors have not given their position on Carwyle’s competency status, and did not speak at Thursday’s hearing.
Aniston became one of the biggest stars in television in her 10 years on NBC’s “Friends.” She won an Emmy Award for best lead actress in a comedy for the role, and she has been nominated for nine more. She currently stars in “The Morning Show” on Apple TV+.
Court awards Mexican government massive civil judgment against ex-security chief
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Florida court awarded the Mexican government a massive civil judgment Thursday against its former security chief who is now serving a lengthy prison sentence in the United States for taking bribes from drug traffickers.
Judge Lisa Walsh ordered Genaro García Luna to pay more than $748 million and his wife Linda Cristina Pereyra to hand over more than $1.7 billion.
García Luna was sentenced to more than 38 years in a U.S. prison last October for taking massive bribes to help drug traffickers.
Mexico’s former secretary of public security was convicted by a New York jury in 2023 of accepting millions of dollars in bribes to protect the violent Sinaloa cartel that he was supposedly combating. He is the highest-level Mexican government official to be convicted in the United States.
He served as secretary of public security to then-President Felipe Calderón from 2006 to 2012.
After leaving office García Luna moved to Florida. His lawyers said he was a legitimate businessman who did consulting in Florida before he was arrested in 2019.
García Luna and associates set up companies that got 30 dubious government contracts while he was Mexico’s top security official in 2006-2012 and for six years afterward.
The contracts were for things like surveillance, monitoring and communications equipment used in prisons and in intelligence work. The contracts were presumably inflated. In one case, the contract was simply falsified.
García Luna allegedly channeled money from the prison security and government intelligence technology contracts to offshore accounts, many in Barbados, then sent it to Miami to buy fancy condos and vintage cars.
García Luna and his associates bought several vintage Mustangs from the 1960s and ‘70s. They also bought luxury sports cars like Lamborghinis and Ferraris.
The Florida lawsuit was filed in September 2021.
Alaska
City reaches $2.1M settlement with family of a 16-year-old fatally shot by a officer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s largest city has reached a $2.1 million settlement with the family of a 16-year-old girl who was holding a knife last August when she was fatally shot by a police officer.
Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s office said in a statement Thursday the settlement followed a meeting between Police Chief Sean Case and members of Easter Leafa’s family. Terms of the agreement were not released.
An attorney for the family, Darryl Thompson, confirmed the settlement amount announced by the city.
“The Leafa family was devastated by the loss of young Easter Sally. Sadly, they were all there to witness this tragic event and were powerless to stop it from happening,” Thompson said in a statement. “They have handled their loss with dignity and grace and are grateful that this phase of the healing is behind them.”
State prosecutors last fall announced they would not file criminal charges against the officer who fatally shot Leafa, concluding that the use of deadly force was legally justified.
Officers had responded to a call for help placed by one of Leafa’s sisters, who said Leafa was “trying to stab her with a knife” because she had not done what Leafa wanted, according to a report on the findings released by the state Office of Special Prosecutions.
The report determined the officer “reasonably believed” he or another officer was about to be assaulted by the girl.
The sister later told investigators “she knew that Easter Leafa was trying to give the knife to the officers,” the report said.
Leafa was one of seven people shot by police in Anchorage in a roughly three-month span last year. She had recently moved from American Samoa and was still learning English, her family has said.
“We want to protect everyone involved from having to re-live this incident in court,” LaFrance said. She expressed gratitude to the Leafa family “for their desire to prioritize healing, for themselves and the whole community.”
LaFrance also noted that police officers “have difficult and sometimes thankless jobs,” and said it’s her responsibility to ensure they have the support and resources they need.
Washington
FTC dismisses lawsuit against PepsiCo that was filed under Biden
The Republican-controlled Federal Trade Commission voted Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit against PepsiCo that the previous commission filed in the waning days of the Biden administration.
The lawsuit, filed in January, alleged that PepsiCo was giving unfair price advantages to Walmart at the expense of other vendors and consumers. The lawsuit had relied on the rarely enforced 1936 Robinson-Patman Act, which it said prohibits companies from using promotional incentive payments to favor large customers over smaller ones.
When the lawsuit was filed, Democrat Lina Khan was the FTC’s chairwoman, and she was joined in support of the lawsuit by Democratic Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. At the time, Republican Commissioners Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak dissented.
A few days after the lawsuit was filed, President Donald Trump took office and Khan resigned. Trump fired Bedoya and Slaughter in March. Bedoya and Slaughter have sued the Trump administration, saying their removal was illegal.
Ferguson, who is now the chairman of the FTC, said Thursday that the PepsiCo lawsuit was a “dubious partisan stunt” and FTC staff had more important work to do.
“The Biden-Harris FTC rushed to authorize this case just three days before President Trump’s inauguration in a nakedly political effort to commit this administration to pursuing little more than a hunch that Pepsi had violated the law,” Ferguson said in a statement.
Purchase, New York-based PepsiCo said Thursday that it was pleased with the FTC’s withdrawal of the lawsuit.
“PepsiCo has always and will continue to provide all customers with fair, competitive, and non-discriminatory pricing, discounts and promotional value,” the company said in a statement.
Washington
Woman accused of spitting on a top federal prosecutor is arrested on an assault charge
WASHINGTON (AP) — A woman accused of spitting on the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital was arrested Thursday on a federal assault charge, court records show.
Then-acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin Jr. was being interviewed on video by a Newsmax reporter on a sidewalk outside his office on May 8 when Emily Gabriella Sommer approached him and spit on his left shoulder, a deputy U.S. Marshal’s affidavit says.
Video captured Sommer swearing at Martin, calling him “a disgusting man” and yelling, “My name is Emily Gabriella Sommer, and you are served,” before walking away, the affidavit says.
The encounter occurred on the same day that President Donald Trump pulled Martin’s nomination to remain U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia on a more permanent basis.
Former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro replaced Martin, who faced bipartisan opposition in the Senate after a turbulent stint in the nation’s largest U.S. Attorney’s office. A key Republican senator said he could not support Martin for the job due to his defense of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol more than four years ago. Martin roiled the office with a series of unorthodox moves, such as firing and demoting subordinates who worked on politically sensitive cases.
Sommer later took credit for the spitting incident in a message replying to a social media post by Martin, according to the deputy.
Sommer, 32, was arrested in Washington, D.C., on a complaint charging her with assaulting, resisting or impeding a government official. The charge carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison. Pirro’s name — not Martin’s — is on the signature block for a court filing in Sommer’s case.
A federal magistrate judge ordered Sommer released from custody after her initial court appearance, which she repeatedly disrupted with outbursts. U.S. Marshals Service deputies led her into the courtroom in handcuffs and shackles. Deputies picked her up and carried her out of the courtroom after one of her interruptions prompted the magistrate to suspend the hearing. Sommer later apologized to the magistrate for her courtroom conduct.
California
Man charged with stalking Aniston found mentally incompetent to stand trial
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man charged with stalking Jennifer Aniston and crashing his car through the front gate of her home has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial, but he demanded a second opinion at a court hearing Thursday.
Jimmy Wayne Carwyle a 48-year-old from Mississippi, appeared while in custody behind glass at a Hollywood courthouse that specializes in mental health cases. He had a long, gray beard and wore a thick, blue smock that jails use for suicide prevention.
A county-appointed psychiatrist who evaluated Carwyle found the defendant incompetent, Deputy Public Defender Robert Krauss told the judge as he stood near his client with glass separating them. But Krauss said Carwyle, as is his right, would like an evaluation from a different psychiatrist.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maria Cavaluzzi ordered the reevaluation and set another hearing for May 29.
Krauss declined comment outside court, as did the prosecutor handling the case and an attorney observing the hearing on behalf of Aniston.
Prosecutors allege Carwyle had been harassing the “Friends” star with a flood of voicemail, email and social media messages for two years before driving his Chrysler PT Cruiser through the gate of her home in the wealthy Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles on May 5, causing major damage.
He pleaded not guilty to felony stalking and vandalism at his first court appearance, where a judge paused the criminal proceedings so he could undergo the psychological evaluation.
Carwyle remains jailed, but he is under a judge’s order not to contact or get near Aniston.
Authorities said Aniston was home at the time of the gate crash, but he did not come into contact with her. A security guard stopped him in her driveway until police arrived. No one was injured.
Carwyle also faces an aggravating circumstance of the threat of great bodily harm. If convicted, he could get up to three years in prison. If Carwyle is found incompetent again, the judge could order him to be sent to a state mental hospital for treatment and ongoing evaluation.
Other than asking for the protective order for Aniston, prosecutors have not given their position on Carwyle’s competency status, and did not speak at Thursday’s hearing.
Aniston became one of the biggest stars in television in her 10 years on NBC’s “Friends.” She won an Emmy Award for best lead actress in a comedy for the role, and she has been nominated for nine more. She currently stars in “The Morning Show” on Apple TV+.
