All articles tagged with #federal court
A Florida federal judge ruled that Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS was brought in bad faith to manipulate the judicial process, sanctioning several involved and signaling that the proposed immunity deal and related anti-weaponization fund were not approved by the court and should not be cited as a settlement in any proceeding.
Florida’s lawsuit accusing OpenAI of unfairly marketing and operating ChatGPT has been moved from a Highlands County state court to federal court in Fort Pierce and assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon; OpenAI seeks federal jurisdiction under COPA, while Florida pushes for reforms and damages, with OpenAI due to respond by Aug. 24.
Former Jackson, Mississippi mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy in a federal bribery case tied to a proposed downtown convention center/hotel project after an FBI undercover operation. Prosecutors say Lumumba accepted five $10,000 checks totaling $50,000 and moved the project deadline to gain an advantage for agents posing as developers; the plea follows earlier guilty pleas by others, including ex-Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens II, with Lumumba facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is pending, and co-defendant Aaron Banks is set for trial July 13.
A Manhattan federal judge denied Donald Trump’s request for more time to respond to E. Jean Carroll’s bid to collect about $5.8 million from a 2023 verdict, with Trump now required to file his reply by July 7 after the Supreme Court refused to review the case; Carroll argues Trump is delaying, seeking payment plus accrued interest, while Trump’s separate $83.3 million defamation verdict appeal (from 2024) remains pending.
Derrick Callella of Hawthorne pleaded guilty in Tucson federal court to two counts of telephonic harassment for sending fake ransom messages and making a call related to Nancy Guthrie's disappearance; the plea agreement imposes five years of probation on each count, to be served concurrently, and requires residential drug treatment, with sentencing set for September.
Australia’s ACCC has taken Amazon Australia to the Federal Court, alleging the company breached consumer law by unilaterally changing Prime terms to introduce ads on Prime Video and charging A$2.99 per month for ad-free viewing, impacting more than 850,000 subscribers who paid for an ad-free option. The case, which also implicates Amazon US, seeks penalties up to A$50 million (or three times the benefit or 30% turnover) plus consumer redress, and tests the fairness of unilateral variation clauses that allow changes to terms after purchase and without prorated refunds. The outcome could influence similar enforcement in other countries and shapes ongoing debates about consumer protections in digital services.
Chicago rapper Twista (Carl Mitchell) pleaded guilty in a federal tax case for failing to pay more than $441,000 in income taxes from 2019–2023. He signed the guilty plea on May 26 and has agreed to repay $441,059.91; he faces up to five years in prison when sentenced, though no sentencing date is provided yet.
Timothy Hudson, 16, surrendered to federal marshals after a judge revoked his pretrial release, now facing first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse as an adult in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister Anna Kepner aboard the Carnival Horizon. Kepner’s death, ruled mechanical asphyxia, followed alleged pinning and sexual assault on the ship in November, with the case in federal court because it occurred in international waters. Hudson will be held in a designated juvenile facility while proceedings continue, as prosecutors argue detention is necessary due to safety concerns and potential life imprisonment, while the defense notes he has complied with release conditions.
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration's changes to how museums and national parks operate, halting the policy shifts while legal challenges proceed.
A federal judge permanently blocked Alabama from executing death-row inmate Jeffrey Lee by nitrogen hypoxia, ruling the method violates the Eighth Amendment and subjects inmates to severe distress and suffocation risk for minutes. The ruling overturns a prior decision, allows a potential firing-squad alternative, and sets the stage for appeals and possible Supreme Court review with broader implications for nitrogen gas executions in other states.
The Justice Department said it will move to revoke the citizenship of 17 naturalized Americans in an unprecedented denaturalization effort tied to the Trump administration, with officials citing fraud and other crimes; denaturalization is rare and decided in federal court, and this action continues a broader crackdown that has already outpaced similar efforts under Biden.
A federal judge ruled the Kennedy Center violated the law by adding Donald Trump’s name to the venue. In response, the center’s general counsel ordered staff to remove Trump’s name from signage and related documents, with changes to be completed by June 12, 2026, and branding updated to say either ‘The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ or ‘Kennedy Center.’
Former national security adviser John Bolton has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information found in a private diary, under a plea deal that could bring up to 60 months in prison and a $2.25 million fine; the indictment says Bolton shared more than a thousand pages of national-defense information with two unauthorized individuals who were relatives of his wife and daughter, after raids on his Maryland home and D.C. office. He is set to appear in Greenbelt, Md., on June 26 to formalize the plea, making him one of several high-profile Trump opponents indicted in federal cases during Trump’s presidency.
A federal judge in Milwaukee is reexamining a jury's guilty verdict against a former Wisconsin judge after a hearing, potentially paving the way for a retrial or other relief.
Nicolo Nourafchan, a former mergers-and-acquisitions attorney who worked at Sidley Austin, Latham & Watkins, and Goodwin Procter, pleaded not guilty in a Boston federal court to leading a decade-long insider-trading scheme prosecutors say netted tens of millions by siphoning confidential information on roughly 30 deals and passing tips to traders and go-betweens. He’s joined by 14 other charged defendants, including his brother Lorenzo Nourafchan and co‑conspirator Robert Yadgarov; several others have pleaded guilty. Prosecutors say participants used disposable phones, encrypted messaging, face‑to‑face meetings, and coded language (e.g., before Amazon’s 2022 iRobot deal). The SEC has a parallel civil suit against 21 defendants. A conviction on the gravest counts carries up to 25 years in prison.