Florida
College appeals ruling blocking land transfer for Trump’s future presidential library
The board of a South Florida college is appealing a judge’s ruling temporarily blocking officials from giving away a parcel of prime real estate in downtown Miami to be used for President Donald Trump’s future presidential library.
Attorneys for the District Board of Trustees of Miami Dade College filed a notice of appeal in Florida’s 3rd District Court of Appeal on Tuesday, challenging a lower court’s injunction that bars the transfer of the property — at least for now.
Last month, Circuit Judge Mavel Ruiz sided with a Miami activist who alleged that college officials violated Florida’s open government law when they gifted the sizable plot of real estate to the state. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and other top Florida officials then voted to transfer the property to the foundation for the planned library.
Marvin Dunn, an activist and chronicler of local Black history, filed the lawsuit arguing that the college board violated Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law by not providing sufficient notice for its special meeting on Sept. 23, when it voted to give up the land.
The nearly 3-acre (1.2-hectare) property is a developer’s dream and is valued at more than $67 million, according to a 2025 assessment by the Miami-Dade County property appraiser. One real estate expert wagered that the parcel — one of the last undeveloped lots on an iconic stretch of palm tree-lined Biscayne Boulevard — could sell for hundreds of millions of dollars more.
The parties are expected to appear before the Miami-Dade judge again on Nov. 24, when attorneys for the college plan to ask that court to stay its proceedings, pending the appellate court’s review.
New York
Judges react skeptically to Bankman-Fried’s bid to overturn fraud conviction
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal appeals court judges in Manhattan reacted skeptically Tuesday when a lawyer for once high-flying cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried argued that his fraud conviction was unfair and should be overturned.
The attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, told a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the judge at his 2023 trial left the defense “cut off by the knees” by limiting what evidence it could present, particularly about advice he had received from lawyers.
Bankman-Fried, 33, is serving a 25-year-prison term after a jury found that he defrauded customers and investors of billions of dollars while he operated FTX, once the world’s second-largest crypto exchange.
The company collapsed into bankruptcy in November 2022 just months after it seemed to be thriving, with a Super Bowl advertisement and celebrity endorsements.
“Mr. Bankman-Fried’s trial was fundamentally unfair because the jury only got to hear one side of the story,” Shapiro said.
Circuit Judge Barrington D. Parker said his reading of the trial record found “very substantial evidence” supporting the conviction.
His skepticism was shared by two other judges: Eunice C. Lee and Maria Araujo Kahn.
The appeals court will rule at a later date.
Parker said defense attorneys did not assert at trial that Bankman-Fried relied on the advice of attorneys for all of his decisions.
Shapiro said the government unfairly told the jury that thousands of investors lost billions of dollars they could never recover.
“The picture the government painted was a false one,” she said. “Mr. Bankman-Fried should have been able to tell his story. ... The jury should have had the full picture. And yet, Mr. Bankman-Fried, sits in prison.”
She argued that Judge Lewis A. Kaplan improperly limited Bankman-Fried’s testimony, preventing the jury from hearing the full role attorneys played in the decisions he made and that customer funds were never stolen and a temporary liquidity crisis at FTX did not mean they would never get their money back.
In fact, she said, 98% of all creditors have received 120% of their investment and the estate still has $8 billion to pay about $2 billion in claims.
A government attorney, Nathan Rehn, countered that the trial was fair and the evidence against Bankman-Fried was overwhelming.
He noted that three of the four people who knew that Bankman-Fried was illegally using billions of dollars in customer deposits to fund his investments and political donations testified at the trial against him.
Georgia
Former NBA exec accused of stealing millions from Hawks for personal expenses
ATLANTA (AP) — A former finance executive for the Atlanta Hawks has been accused of stealing millions of dollars from the NBA team and using the money to pay for travel, luxury apparel, jewelry, car expenses and tickets to concerts and sporting events, federal prosecutors said in a court filing.
In the filing last week, prosecutors charged Lester T. Jones Jr. with a single count of wire fraud, saying he arranged for the Hawks to pay American Express nearly $230,000 for “fraudulently incurred personal expenses.” He is accused of altering an email to make it look like the reimbursement request was for expenses incurred at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas during the NBA Emirates Cup, the filing says.
Jones also submitted dozens of other fraudulent expense reimbursement requests, including fake and altered invoices, and charged millions of dollars in personal expenses to corporate credit cards, embezzling more than $3.8 million from the Hawks, prosecutors allege. The expenses included travel to the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Switzerland and Thailand, as well as Louis Vuitton apparel and Porsche car expenses, the filing says.
Jones pleaded not guilty during an initial court appearance on Oct. 29 and was granted bond, according to court records. The judge in the case on Friday ordered Jones to notify the court within 15 days whether he plans to proceed to trial or enter a guilty plea.
Jones worked in the Hawks’ accounting and finance department from March 2016 through June of this year, serving as senior vice president for finance beginning in August 2021, the filing says. In that role, he was responsible for the company’s corporate credit card account with American Express and administered the electronic expense reimbursement program.
Prior to July 2024, actual transactions and expenses made on employees’ corporate American Express credit cards weren’t visible in the reimbursement program to company personnel who verified expenses. Jones had insight into the program’s limitations and exploited them for personal gain, prosecutors allege.
College appeals ruling blocking land transfer for Trump’s future presidential library
The board of a South Florida college is appealing a judge’s ruling temporarily blocking officials from giving away a parcel of prime real estate in downtown Miami to be used for President Donald Trump’s future presidential library.
Attorneys for the District Board of Trustees of Miami Dade College filed a notice of appeal in Florida’s 3rd District Court of Appeal on Tuesday, challenging a lower court’s injunction that bars the transfer of the property — at least for now.
Last month, Circuit Judge Mavel Ruiz sided with a Miami activist who alleged that college officials violated Florida’s open government law when they gifted the sizable plot of real estate to the state. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and other top Florida officials then voted to transfer the property to the foundation for the planned library.
Marvin Dunn, an activist and chronicler of local Black history, filed the lawsuit arguing that the college board violated Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law by not providing sufficient notice for its special meeting on Sept. 23, when it voted to give up the land.
The nearly 3-acre (1.2-hectare) property is a developer’s dream and is valued at more than $67 million, according to a 2025 assessment by the Miami-Dade County property appraiser. One real estate expert wagered that the parcel — one of the last undeveloped lots on an iconic stretch of palm tree-lined Biscayne Boulevard — could sell for hundreds of millions of dollars more.
The parties are expected to appear before the Miami-Dade judge again on Nov. 24, when attorneys for the college plan to ask that court to stay its proceedings, pending the appellate court’s review.
New York
Judges react skeptically to Bankman-Fried’s bid to overturn fraud conviction
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal appeals court judges in Manhattan reacted skeptically Tuesday when a lawyer for once high-flying cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried argued that his fraud conviction was unfair and should be overturned.
The attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, told a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the judge at his 2023 trial left the defense “cut off by the knees” by limiting what evidence it could present, particularly about advice he had received from lawyers.
Bankman-Fried, 33, is serving a 25-year-prison term after a jury found that he defrauded customers and investors of billions of dollars while he operated FTX, once the world’s second-largest crypto exchange.
The company collapsed into bankruptcy in November 2022 just months after it seemed to be thriving, with a Super Bowl advertisement and celebrity endorsements.
“Mr. Bankman-Fried’s trial was fundamentally unfair because the jury only got to hear one side of the story,” Shapiro said.
Circuit Judge Barrington D. Parker said his reading of the trial record found “very substantial evidence” supporting the conviction.
His skepticism was shared by two other judges: Eunice C. Lee and Maria Araujo Kahn.
The appeals court will rule at a later date.
Parker said defense attorneys did not assert at trial that Bankman-Fried relied on the advice of attorneys for all of his decisions.
Shapiro said the government unfairly told the jury that thousands of investors lost billions of dollars they could never recover.
“The picture the government painted was a false one,” she said. “Mr. Bankman-Fried should have been able to tell his story. ... The jury should have had the full picture. And yet, Mr. Bankman-Fried, sits in prison.”
She argued that Judge Lewis A. Kaplan improperly limited Bankman-Fried’s testimony, preventing the jury from hearing the full role attorneys played in the decisions he made and that customer funds were never stolen and a temporary liquidity crisis at FTX did not mean they would never get their money back.
In fact, she said, 98% of all creditors have received 120% of their investment and the estate still has $8 billion to pay about $2 billion in claims.
A government attorney, Nathan Rehn, countered that the trial was fair and the evidence against Bankman-Fried was overwhelming.
He noted that three of the four people who knew that Bankman-Fried was illegally using billions of dollars in customer deposits to fund his investments and political donations testified at the trial against him.
Georgia
Former NBA exec accused of stealing millions from Hawks for personal expenses
ATLANTA (AP) — A former finance executive for the Atlanta Hawks has been accused of stealing millions of dollars from the NBA team and using the money to pay for travel, luxury apparel, jewelry, car expenses and tickets to concerts and sporting events, federal prosecutors said in a court filing.
In the filing last week, prosecutors charged Lester T. Jones Jr. with a single count of wire fraud, saying he arranged for the Hawks to pay American Express nearly $230,000 for “fraudulently incurred personal expenses.” He is accused of altering an email to make it look like the reimbursement request was for expenses incurred at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas during the NBA Emirates Cup, the filing says.
Jones also submitted dozens of other fraudulent expense reimbursement requests, including fake and altered invoices, and charged millions of dollars in personal expenses to corporate credit cards, embezzling more than $3.8 million from the Hawks, prosecutors allege. The expenses included travel to the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Switzerland and Thailand, as well as Louis Vuitton apparel and Porsche car expenses, the filing says.
Jones pleaded not guilty during an initial court appearance on Oct. 29 and was granted bond, according to court records. The judge in the case on Friday ordered Jones to notify the court within 15 days whether he plans to proceed to trial or enter a guilty plea.
Jones worked in the Hawks’ accounting and finance department from March 2016 through June of this year, serving as senior vice president for finance beginning in August 2021, the filing says. In that role, he was responsible for the company’s corporate credit card account with American Express and administered the electronic expense reimbursement program.
Prior to July 2024, actual transactions and expenses made on employees’ corporate American Express credit cards weren’t visible in the reimbursement program to company personnel who verified expenses. Jones had insight into the program’s limitations and exploited them for personal gain, prosecutors allege.
