Those who misused the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was meant to help struggling businesses stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, continue to pay a price in the legal arena. According to People magazine, one of the latest such offenders is Miami real estate broker Daniela Rendon, 31. She was accused of improperly using $381,000 in COVID-19 relief funds in the form of loans and grants to finance a luxury lifestyle, which included a costly condo, a Bentley automobile and cosmetic surgery.  This led to an indictment last February for 10 counts of white-co ..read more

A child trafficking sting conducted by Texas authorities has led to the arrest of an Arkansas policeman who was charged with online solicitation of a minor. His bond was set at $100,000. Two other suspects were also arrested during the child sex trafficking sting, which was conducted by authorities in Texarkana, Texas. That city is on the border of Texas and Arkansas and is a twin city to the adjacent Texarkana, Arkansas, on the Arkansas side of the states’ border. Texarkana Texas Police Department officers provided details of the 2-day sting operation in a post on Facebook. The process began ..read more

Russell Laffitte, who had headed a highly respected bank in South Carolina, has received a sentence of 7 years in federal prison for assisting former attorney Alex Murdaugh, now a convicted murderer, in stealing almost $2 million from his clients’ legal settlements. According to the Associated Press, as reported by NBC News, Laffitte was sentenced Tuesday, August 1, 2023, when a federal jury in Charleston, South Carolina, found him guilty of 6 charges pertaining to bank fraud and wire fraud. The former CEO of Palmetto State Bank became the first of Murdaugh’s accomplices in a widespread fraud ..read more

Actor Kevin Spacey has been found not guilty of 9 charges against him in a sexual assault trial in London. The 2-time Oscar winner (for Best Actor in 1999’s American Beauty and Best Supporting Actor in 1995’s The Usual Suspects) prevailed in a case in which 4 men accused him of sexual assault at various times over the course of a more than 12-year period between 2001 and 2013. Spacey was working in London as the artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre during much of that time. The criminal court decision by a jury of 3 women and 9 men on Wednesday, July 26, is Spacey’s latest legal triumph s ..read more

The United States Department of Justice has announced that a Houston woman has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison after being convicted on 7 counts of aiding and assisting in preparing false tax returns. U.S. District Judge David Hittner ordered the woman to serve 144 months (12 years) in federal prison, to be immediately followed by a year of supervised release (probation). In addition, she was ordered to pay restitution of $71,180, said U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. Hamdani said the total sum the woman owes the United States from her criminal and civil cases is more than $1.9 ..read more

Another New York Yankees pitcher has been suspended for domestic violence. Right-handed reliever Jimmy Cordero has been suspended for the rest of the 2023 season for violating Major League Baseball’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy. According to the New York Post, Cordero’s placement on baseball’s restricted list starts immediately and will extend through the postseason if the Yankees should make it that far. He has accepted the suspension and will not appeal. Cordero, who last pitched on July 2, will not be paid during the suspension. MLB stated that Cordero “w ..read more

Some viewers of the Sex and the City spinoff And Just Like That are erupting in outrage over a scene in which women in their 50s admiringly ogle a teenage character in a high school hallway. Such outrage reflects today’s protective climate of righteous indignation and condemnation over sexualizing children. As Yahoo News reported, some viewers were unhappy about the scene on the show, whose second season is streaming now on Max (formerly HBO Max). “Um…did they just oogle (sic) a teenage boy,” one person asked on Twitter. The actor who played the “kid” is Wes Williams, whose age could not be f ..read more

Three persons have been charged in Houston for participating in a nearly $7 million Medicaid fraud and kickback scheme involving a local dental clinic, says United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Alamdar S. Hamdani. According to My Texas Daily, one suspect, of Humble, was arrested last week. Two others, from Houston, were arrested on a similar charge last August and now face a superseding indictment. The charges allege that one of the Houston men operated the Floss Family Dental Care clinic in Houston, while the other two men served as the clinic’s managers. The superseding ..read more

A Texas school superintendent was arrested by Harris County Precinct 1 law enforcement authorities along with 6 other men early this month as part of a sting operation aimed at the sex crime of online solicitation of a minor. According to KTRK abc13.com, the educator, 47, from the Itasca Independent School District, south of Fort Worth, was charged with online solicitation of a minor. His bond was set at $100,000. He remains in Harris County Jail.  If he posts bond, the man must submit to random drug testing, cannot have any contact with anyone under 17 years old and must install softwar ..read more

According to Houston’s KPRC Channel 2, or Click2Houston, a Houston area teen has reported being molested on a United Airlines flight from Houston to Sacramento, California. The girl, 13, from Dayton in Liberty County, had taken a United flight from Houston to Sacramento when the molestation allegedly occurred. She was traveling without an adult, her mother having paid a $300 unaccompanied minor fee. United’s website lists elaborate processes for parents and the airline to contribute to a safe flight for unaccompanied minors, who are given a special wristband. The airline says it chooses their ..read more