Fairfax Media reported that files in a Dallas case between Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE and Universal Telephone Exchange contain shocking claims regarding the purposes and practices of the company at the center of the Trump administration's trade talks with China. “China's Ministry of Aerospace founded ZTE as a front to send officers abroad under non-diplomatic covers such as scientists, businessmen and executives for the purpose of collecting intelligence,” documents in the case allege. The documents also include testimony, taken under oath, from two telecom executives from Liberia who said ZTE bribed officials, allegedly including judges and the country's former president, between 2005 and 2007. The officials said they were offered 5% of the value of a ZTE contract if the deal was taken away from Universal Telephone Exchange. Both men testified to receiving cash in "brown paper bags." One of the men allegedly also received travel and an "unlimited shopping spree" in China, according to the court documents cited by Fairfax Media. ZTE denied the claims in a statement to Fairfax, but Norway's central bank banned its Government Investment Fund from investing in ZTE in 2016 because of what it deemed to be an unacceptable risk of "gross corruption." The report this claim was based on is, according to Fairfax, part of the Texas case documents. It alleges that, in 2015, ZTE had been "accused of corruption in a total of 18 countries and been investigated for corruption in 10 "ZTE operates in a sector where large public-sector contracts are common and has allegedly repeatedly paid large bribes so that public-sector employees will favour it in competitive tenders. This has supposedly taken place in countries such as Zambia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Liberia, Myanmar and Nigeria," the report read. According to a previous investigation by Fairfax Media, ZTE not only regularly bribed foreign officials but had an entire department dedicated to managing bribe payments. In February, six intelligence chiefs — including the heads of the CIA, FBI, and NSA — testified they do not use, and would not recommend private citizens use products from ZTE and smartphone maker Huawei. The Pentagon announced in early May it had stopped selling ZTE and Huawei phones and modems in stores on its military bases because they "may pose an unacceptable risk." In Australia, ZTE and Chinese smartphone maker Huawei have been shortlisted to develop a 5G network. Join the conversation about this story » from http://www.businessinsider.com/zte-created-to-spy-according-to-new-court-documents-2018-6
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Anti-tech protesters in San Francisco blocked shuttles carrying Google employees with piles of e-scooters on Thursday, in demonstrations against what activists see as the tech industry and lawmakers' failure to address the city's income inequality and sizable homeless population. "What you're seeing here is that scooters have more rights than people," protester Chirag Bhakta told Business Insider. "Our priorities shouldn't be people first, scooters second. We're tried of being seen as an experimental playground for the tech industry." The deluge of dockless, electric scooters that have cropped up in San Francisco and other cities in recent months have drawn criticism from city officials, who were given little-to-no warning about their presence, as well as from city activists who say the scooters are a prime example of tech companies entering public spaces without getting input from residents or permission of regulators beforehand. These scooter rental services — spearheaded by three venture-backed companies: Bird, LimeBikes, and Spin — work by allowing users to reserve a nearby scooter via a smartphone app, ride around on it for a small fee, and, at the end of the journey, leave the scooter anywhere to be claimed by the next rider. Within weeks of their arrival in San Francisco, the city swiftly voted to regulate them. Under the new rules, only five companies with 500 scooters each will be allowed to operate in the city, and companies have to show they are making an effort to educate users on how to ride them. To activists though, the quick action from lawmakers reflects the misplaced priorities of city officials. The fact that a solution for scooters on sidewalks was so quickly implemented — and that scooters will be allowed on sidewalks — is a slap in the face to the city's homeless population that is being subjected to what protesters say are inhumane sweeps forcing them off the streets. "I just want people to understand why their work day is being disrupted and why we're here" Bhakta said. "We understand that it's an inconvenience, but it's not a personal attack. An inconvenience for you is an outcry from the people. I just want them to show some solidarity and empathy." See what the protest looked like below: At about 8:45 am, protesters carried scooters to an intersection in San Francisco's Mission District with the intention of blocking shuttles carrying Google employees.Activists piled scooters in front of buses and unfurled signs that read "Techsploitation is toxic."To make their point that Big Tech is "toxic," protesters dressed in white hazmat suits and masks.See the rest of the story at Business Insider from http://www.businessinsider.com/protesters-block-google-buses-with-piles-of-scooters-2018-5 ‘Revolutionary’ proposal will mean even family cases could be broadcast live Cases which have grabbed the public’s attention such as the Alfie Evans case could be watched live on YouTube, the Judicial Office confirmed today. Proposals put forward by the Master of the Rolls, Sir Terence Etherton, are afoot that could see the Court of Appeal’s civil cases being live-streamed on the video giant’s website. There is no current ban on non-family cases being broadcast (cameras have been allowed in since 2013) but this new proposal would enable the court itself to live-stream, much as the Supreme Court does now. This is the latest in a line of initiatives in which the judiciary is opening up justice. Legal Cheek reported circuit judges taking to vlogging to show a behind-the-scenes look at life as a judge. And when the new Lord Chief Justice made his maiden speech, it was on YouTube that he made it. The live-streaming would cover judges’ comments and lawyers’ arguments not witness testimony. The latest proposal needs official approval first, however. A spokesperson told Legal Cheek that “the Master of the Rolls will consult the Lord Chancellor” and will also need to request an amendment to the current rules preventing the recording and broadcasting of family cases heard in the Court of Appeal. Etherton told The Times (£) today:
If it gains the official stamp, the initiative could go live as early as October of this year. How will its subscriber numbers compare to the UK’s Supreme Court whose YouTube channel has over 7,000 subscribers? In the famous Article 50 judgment, viewers almost reached 10,000; though it has to be said that some of the less attention-grabbing cases are only watched by a few hundred viewers. The post A new YouTube star is born: Court of Appeal to be live-streamed appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/05/a-new-youtube-star-is-born-court-of-appeal-to-be-live-streamed/ As global outfit launches inter-office secondment opportunity Junior lawyers at Reed Smith will now receive regular, anytime, performance feedback thanks to a new app-based process. The global outfit has introduced the new mobile app that allows for “continuous detailed feedback” from every lawyer with whom an associate works. The tech-based approach involves agreed-upon goals, options to regularly request and/or provide constructive feedback and the ability to routinely schedule check-in meetings. Performance feedback apps like this are becoming increasingly popular in other sectors (IBM and Amazon both use them) and sometimes even replace the annual appraisal process. However, Reed Smith isn’t ditching traditional annual reviews just yet. It confirmed its new work-related WhatsApp will “supplement” the international firm’s existing feedback model. Apps aside, Reed Smith’s young lawyers will now have an opportunity to spend time at one of the firm’s 28 offices as part of a new mini-secondment scheme. The firm — which has outposts in exotic locations including Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Miami — said associates can “spend one or two weeks or more” away from home and that it has developed a formal training programme to enhance the whole experience. Both of these new gizmos form part of the firm’s Associate Life initiative. Casey Ryan, Reed Smith’s global head of legal personnel, said: “The Associate Life initiative engages associates wherever they are and allows them to develop their skills, increase their connections, and strengthen their capabilities as they assume increasingly complex client projects and professional responsibilities.” The developments come just weeks after Reed Smith’s lawyers were told that time spent being innovative can count towards their billing targets. The programme, Innovation Hours, allows lawyers to allocate up to 50 billable hours dreaming up new projects or products. Legal Cheek’s Firms Most List shows Reed Smith’s London-based lawyers currently have a target of 1,600 billable hours, roughly in line with other big City players. That means around 3% of lawyers’ time could be spent being innovative. The post Reed Smith junior lawyers to receive performance feedback via phone app appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/05/reed-smith-junior-lawyers-to-receive-performance-feedback-via-phone-app/
A barrister has fainted at the witness stand after being accused of misleading the court, it’s been reported. According to Sunday Times (£) report, David Matthew, a junior barrister specialising in crime, keeled over when questioned about his alleged failure to disclose a critical tape recording to defence lawyers in a drugs trial at Birmingham Crown Court. Judge Francis Laird QC found Matthew’s behaviour “inexcusable”, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) position “implausible” and said that the police failure to disclose the tape had been “deliberate”, the report says. Together, they had acted in a way that was an “affront to the integrity of the trial”. The trial of Eyhaz Mahboob and Tahir Iqbal, both convicted cocaine and heroin importers, was abandoned earlier this month after CPS lawyers were forced to produce a tape recording that hadn’t been disclosed to the other side. Mahboob and Iqbal were alleged to have been the ringleaders of an organised crime network involving five other gang members. The two Britons of Pakistani descent were charged with conspiracy to supply class A drugs but fiercely denied their involvement. Their roles, it was alleged, were approved during a meeting in January 2017 with a crime lord in HM Prison Birmingham. But it later emerged mid-trial that police had bugged the duo’s meeting, according to reports. When the tape was disclosed, there was no talk about the alleged drugs conspiracy, but instead the discussion included disgust at cockroaches in the prison and how an inmate missed his family. In a highly unusual sequence of events, the judge ordered a voir dire (a trial within a trial) and compelled Matthew to the witness stand to account for what he believed to be “serious errors of judgment”. The barrister took the stand but promptly collapsed when Stephen Kamlish QC, Iqbal’s defence lawyer, accused him of dishonestly misleading the court. According to the report, Matthew showed visible signs of distress, which prompted Laird to ask: “Would you like to sit down?” He then slumped to the floor to gasps from the packed public gallery and had to be helped by a reporter, who apparently found him unconscious and curled up in a ball in the witness box. Paramedics attended to Matthew, who eventually resumed giving evidence and denied misleading the court. In his ruling, Laird reportedly said:
This comes after a sharp rise in failed prosecutions due to police and CPS failure to disclose evidence that could help suspects adequately defend themselves. Last year 916 people had charges dropped over a failure to disclose evidence — a rise of 70% in two years. The post Barrister ‘collapses’ during trial after being accused of misleading court by opponent appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/05/barrister-collapses-during-trial-after-being-accused-of-misleading-court-by-opponent/ A Florida man impersonated a Saudi prince for decades cheating investors out of millions of dollars5/31/2018
Anthony Gignac, who went by the name Khaled Al-Saud, pleaded guilty to identity theft and fraud on Tuesday. According to the US attorney's office, the faux-prince and one of his co-conspirators created a fraudulent investment company, Marden Williams International LLC, in June 2015, and approached investors with "exclusive business opportunities." One of the schemes was the pre-IPO of a real business in Saudi Arabia. A single investor gave Gignac approximately $5 million. Gignac also developed an extravagant lifestyle to support his lies. The 47-year-old claimed he owned a residence on Fisher Island, an exclusive community off Miami Beach only accessible by ferry or helicopter. He had a sign on the front door which simply read "Sultan." He told people he had diplomatic immunity, and drove a Ferrari with fake diplomatic license plates. He was gifted expensive jewelry and paintings based on his purported Saudi lineage. In March 2017, the phony royal attempted to purchase a multi-million dollar hotel in Miami, and stayed at the hotel using a credit card in the name of an actual member of the Saudi family. Gignac also used several aliases for international travel. In November, he flew from London to New York City using a forged passport, before finally being apprehended by police. When investigators searched Gignac's home in Miami, they discovered fraudulent diplomatic security badges, unauthorized credit cards, financial documents of a real royal Saudi, rounds of ammunition, and thousands of dollars in US currency. This isn't the first time Gignac has been caught for impersonating a Saudi royal. According to a 2008 profile by Ohio newspaper The Blade, Gignac assumed his Saudi identity at 17 and began scamming hotels, department stores, car dealerships, and credit card companies. Court and prison documents reviewed by the Miami Herald reveal he was charged for similar crimes several times, the first time in 1991, then again in 1994, 1996, 2002, and 2006. His crime spree spanned California, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, New York, and Florida, where he was most recently a resident. Gignac faces a maximum sentence of 20 years on fraud charges and is scheduled to be sentenced in August. SEE ALSO: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince is making moves to bring a Hyperloop system to Riyadh Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's what 'Narcos' and 'Sicario' get right and wrong about drug cartels from http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-man-made-millions-by-pretending-to-be-a-saudi-prince-2018-5
After Comey was dismissed in May 2017, Rosenstein revealed that President Donald Trump wanted him to mention Russia in the statement outlining reasons for Comey's firing, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. According to the newspaper, McCabe thought Rosenstein's comment suggested that he gave cover to Trump by not mentioning Russia in the statement on Comey. McCabe wrote a memo documenting the conversation. Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation was cited as the official reason for his termination. The circumstances surrounding these events are part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, which has been ongoing since Mueller was appointed, shortly after Comey was fired. Among other things, Mueller's team is looking into whether Trump obstructed justice at any point since taking office. It was not immediately clear what Trump reportedly wanted Rosenstein to say about Russia in that Comey statement. But Trump, in his letter to Comey, thanked him for saying he was not under investigation in the Russia probe. Trump would mention Russia several more times in later conversations about Comey's firing, including during an NBC News interview and during a closed-door Oval Office meeting with some Russian diplomats.. McCabe, who was fired in March amid an internal investigation by the Office of the Inspector General, hinted that he was dismissed "because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey." "This has to be seen in the larger context," McCabe said in a statement in March. "And I firmly believe that this is an ongoing effort to undermine my credibility because of the work that I did on the Russia case, because of the investigations that I oversaw and impacted that target this administration." "They have every reason to believe that I could end up being a significant witness in whatever the special counsel comes up with," McCabe said. "And so they are trying to create this counter-narrative that I am not someone who can be believed or trusted." Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This top economist has a radical plan to change the way Americans vote from http://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-mccabe-confidential-memo-obstruct-justice-comey-firing-trump-2018-5 BSB brings rookie pay in line with living wage Pupillage awards across England and Wales will be set in line with the salaries recommended by the Living Wage Foundation, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has revealed. Living wage rates are currently £17,212.50 in London and £14,765.63 elsewhere, the BSB says in a new policy statement. Prior to today’s move, the minimum a chambers could pay was £12,000. The bar regulator has confirmed these new remuneration levels will increase annually in line with living wage figures: currently £10.20 an hour in London and £8.75 across the rest of the UK, according to the foundation’s website. The new rules regarding pay are expected to come into effect next year. Turning to the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), the BSB confirmed it will allow law schools to take greater control over course delivery. This, according to the regulator, could include adjustments to “class size”, “the need to always offer options”, and “session design”. Drilling into the detail of the BPTC, the regulator revealed civil litigation will now be split into two exams: a closed-book “Civil Litigation and Evidence” assessment and an open-book “Civil Dispute Resolution” exam. Previously, aspiring barristers would sit one three-hour civil exam consisting of 75 multiple-choice questions. The professional ethics exam will also be spilt up. According to the policy statement, bar hopefuls will now sit one exam during their studies (set by the law school) and a further open-book assessment (set by the BSB) during their pupillage. Other changes revealed by the BSB today include: allowing BPTC-ers an “unlimited number of attempts” at each assessment within a maximum period of five years; removing “Very Competent” and “Outstanding” grade boundries from BSB centralised assessments and replacing them with a pass-or-fail format; and introducing a new mandatory negotiation skills course to be completed during pupillage. The BSB anticipates changes to the centralised assessments will come into force in September 2020 at the earliest. The BSB’s director of strategy and policy, Ewen MacLeod, said:
The BSB’s shake-up comes just weeks after it confirmed that the four Inns of Court — Lincoln’s Inn, Middle Temple, Gray’s Inn and Inner Temple — will continue to have an essential role in the training of barristers. In a separate policy statement from today’s, the regulator said students will still need to hold a “student membership of an Inn” and complete compulsory “professional development activities”. Under the current rules, bar hopefuls must complete 12 sessions, made up of formal dinners, guest lectures, advocacy workshops and debate nights. The post Pupillage award minimum to jump by as much as 40% appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/05/pupillage-award-minimum-to-jump-by-as-much-as-40/ Protest escalation suspended last week following ‘breakthrough’ talks with government Criminal barristers are gearing up to vote on a £15 million legal aid offer put forward by government. In a message to its members, the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) said it will meet with heads of chambers tomorrow to discuss the offer, which reportedly includes extra cash for junior barristers and additional funding for fraud, drug and child sex cases. The CBA’s statement said:
In March, CBA members voted in favour of refusing new publicly-funded cases from 1 April. This was in response to the government’s changes to the Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme (AGFS), which it’s understood will result in further cuts to legal aid lawyers’ income. Just over 100 chambers have since joined the quasi-strike action, according to a document circulating on social media. Turning the screw on the government, the CBA confirmed in May it would be escalating the strike action to include a “no returns” policy on legally-aided crown court defence cases. However, this proposed action has since been suspended until 12 June following the government’s £15 million offer. Barristers continue to decline new publicly-funded cases. Legal aid aside, the CBA says it also raised “wider considerations” during its sit-down with government representatives. This included the proposed “cancellation” or “long term postponement” of the highly controversial flexible operating hours (FOH) pilot. The project could see courts across the country open earlier and close later. The CBA says that the Ministry of Justice is currently considering “next steps for that project and is gathering more evidence on the effects of wider changes in the system”. The post Criminal barristers to vote on £15 million legal aid offer appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/05/criminal-barristers-to-vote-on-15-million-legal-aid-offer/ Judge behind emotional employment tribunal fees ruling appointed Supreme Court deputy president5/30/2018 Lady Hale’s new right-hand man revealed Lord Reed has been named the new deputy president of the Supreme Court. The top judge will replace Lord Mance after he retires on 6 June. Lady Hale, the president of the court, says she’s “delighted” about Reed’s appointment, describing him as “a most distinguished and deeply principled jurist”. She added: “I am confident that the court will be well served by his appointment and that together we will make a great team.” As for what we know about Hale’s new right-hand man, Reed was appointed to the Supreme Court bench in February 2012. Unusually he didn’t do his undergraduate degree at Oxbridge, but in Edinburgh, then later studied postgraduate at Oxford. The new deputy pres went on to qualify as an advocate in Scotland and as a barrister in England, practising both civil law and crime. He is a member of the panel of ad hoc judges of the European Court of Human Rights. Reed said:
Reed is also known in legal circles for a recent tear-jerking judgment he gave. About a year ago, Reed and six other justices ruled that employment tribunal fees are unlawful. He gave the lead judgment in the case, which made employment law silk Sean Jones QC a little emotional.
In the wake of this ruling, a number of top legal names, such as legal affairs journalist Joshua Rozenberg, last summer backed Reed for deputy president. However, Mance defied these predictions when he was appointed to the role first, in September. Details of Reed’s swearing-in ceremony will be announced in due course. The post Judge behind emotional employment tribunal fees ruling appointed Supreme Court deputy president appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/05/justice-behind-emotional-employment-tribunal-fees-ruling-named-supreme-court-deputy-president/ |
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