Key Evidence Disappeared From Police Custody During Investigation Into Russian Whistleblower's Death, Court Hears

Vital evidence disappeared from police custody during their investigation into the death of Russian whistleblower Alexander Perepilichnyy, a court has heard.

When Perepilichnyy died, authorities scoured his computer and discovered that he had been receiving threats. They also found a bank statement showing a mysterious payment worth half a billion dollars from an unknown company called “Precious Metal”. But that and much of the other evidence from a forensic imaging of his computer “went missing” from both police evidence disks and a server run by regional counterterrorism authorities, the head of Surrey police, Ian Pollard, testified at a coroner’s inquest on Friday.

The revelation raises further questions about how UK authorities have handled the 2012 death of Perepilichnyy, who collapsed while jogging near his home in Surrey. This is the second time that police have admitted to losing key evidence — a toxicologist also threw away most of Perepilichnyy's stomach contents, limiting the ability of scientists to figure out whether or not he had been poisoned.

Police also failed to interview Perepilichnyy’s secret lover, who dined with him on his final night alive, until BuzzFeed News tracked her down last year, and repeatedly stonewalledFrench detectives as they investigated his mysterious trip to Paris right before he died.

Police have long insisted Perepilichnyy died of natural causes, and the Home Office has invoked national security powers to withhold evidence from the inquest. But last summer, BuzzFeed News revealed that the British government was suppressing explosive intelligence provided by US spy agencies indicating that Perepilichnyy was assassinated on the orders of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Coroner Nicholas Hilliard QC told today’s hearing that he had made “enquiries” about that intelligence, but did not give further details.

Pollard admitted in court today that if his police force had been aware of everything that is now known about Perepilichnyy “from the get-go,” then they would “have suspicions” about his death and would have conducted further investigation.

The government is now reviewing Perepilichnyy’s death and 13 other suspected assassinations exposed by BuzzFeed News that authorities had previously ignored. Hilliard told the court that he had learned from the Home Office that the review will conclude by the end of April — around six weeks after it was originally announced.

The police investigation into Perepilichnyy’s death has come under further scrutiny during the coroner’s inquest this week. Elmira Medynska, the secret lover called to testify at the inquest only after BuzzFeed News tracked her down, told the court on Wednesday that Perepilichnyy was “very stressed” as they dined together on the night before his death and that he demanded that he sit facing the restaurant’s customers. He ate something “bad” and then spent an hour vomiting back at the hotel, she testified.

An independent expert from Kew Gardens told an earlier hearing of Perepilichnyy’s inquest that she had found a substance with the same atomic weight as the plant toxin gelsemium in the dead man’s stomach. However, the same expert told the inquest on Tuesday that further tests could not definitively identify that substance as gelsemium or any other plant toxin, and its origins could not be identified after the police toxicologist threw away most of the contents of Perepilichnyy’s stomach.

A number of different scientists have testified at the inquiry that they could not identify any sign of poison in any of the tests they ran on Perepilichnyy’s available remains. One pathologist testified that, almost six years after his death and with his stomach contents thrown away, the tests they were able to run were “very detailed” but “not exhaustive”.

It was too late for scientists to test for nerve agents, long known to be in the Kremlin’s arsenal but now under close scrutiny after the March poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal. However, a toxicologist testified that based on Perepilichnyy’s symptoms, it was “possible but unlikely” that he had been poisoned with a nerve agent.

Pollard, the head of Surrey Police, discovered that the computer material had disappeared last June, after the evidence was requested for the inquest, he testified on Friday. Police had been given two disks supposedly containing forensic imaging of Perepilichnyy’s laptop, but they realised those images were not on the disks.

Pollard then learned that the material had been on a server belonging to the South East Counter Terrorism Unit, the government’s regional counterterrorism authority. But when he accessed the server, the evidence was no longer there, either, due to “system failures”. “Unfortunately, they didn’t back that up,” Pollard said.

The material has never been recovered. It had included the bank statement containing the mysterious half-billion-dollar payment from an unknown company, Precious Metal. The payment was made in May 2011, around the same time that Perepilichnyy had been trying to reach a deal with Swiss prosecutors as he provided them with evidence of a massive Kremlin-linked fraud.

In other testimony, a Russian translator working for the police who examined Perepilichnyy’s computer said she found threatening Skype messages warning him he faced prison and telling him if he wanted a “safe, free life” he would need to pay 300,000 rubles (around £6,000 at the time) the next day.

As she examined the computer, the translator, Ekaterina Clarke-O’Connell, remembered seeing huge amounts of money flowing through his bank accounts. She told the court she had the impression that something was “not right” in Perepilchnyy’s life.

The inquest has now finished hearing oral testimony. The coroner, Nicholas Hilliard QC, is expected to give his opinion by the end of May.

Stan Lee Sues Former Business Manager For Fraud, Elder Abuse — Including One Scheme Involving The Sale Of Blood

Comic book industry legend Stan Lee is suing a former business manager for fraud and elder abuse in a suit that alleges such egregious claims of abuse as extracting and selling vials of the Marvel Comics icon’s blood as “collectibles” in Las Vegas. 

Lee, whom many consider the godfather of the modern-day superhero, was grieving the death of his wife of 70 years, Joan B. Lee, in late 2017 when he became the target of “unscrupulous businessmen, sycophants and opportunists” who sought to take advantage of his despondency.

A suit filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court alleges Jerardo Olivarez is once such opportunist. A former business associate of Lee’s daughter, the suit claims Olivarez took control of Lee’s professional and financial affairs — and began enriching himself through various schemes and bogus enterprises.

Within days of Joan Lee’s death, Olivarez and others fired Stan Lee’s banker of 26 years and his long-time attorney, and transferred $4.6 million out of Lee’s bank account without authorization, according to the lawsuit.

Under the pretext of checking on Lee’s well-being, Olivarez convinced the grieving man to sign over power of attorney and appoint Olivarez’s own lawyer, Uri Litvak, as Lee’s attorney.

Lee was duped into donating $300,000 to a bogus charity, the Hands of Respect, which Olivarez claimed was a non-profit organization working to promote racial harmony, the suit claims. The company is actually registered as a for-profit merchandising company.

“Olivarez misled Lee and the public into thinking that it was a caring non-profit charity to ease racial tension, when in reality, Hands of Respect was just a scheme to appropriate funds from Lee and the public to enrich Olivarez,” the suit alleges.

In one particularly ghoulish money-making scheme, Olivarez instructed a nurse to extract many containers of blood from Lee, which Hands of Respect later sold in Las Vegas for thousands of dollars, the suit contends.

“There are shops in Las Vegas selling Stan Lee’s blood,” said a family friend, Keya Morgan. “They’re stamping his blood inside the Black Panther comic books and they sell them for $500 each.”

Lee also unwittingly purchased a West Hollywood condominium for Olivarez’s exclusive use for $850,000, without Lee’s knowledge, approval or participation, the suit alleges. Another $1.4 million has simply disappeared from Lee’s accounts through a series of complicated wire transfers that Olivarez initiated and ultimate received, the suit claims.

The creator of Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men and other comic book characters is seeking an accounting of his funds and demanding restitution.

Wells Fargo faces $1B fine from federal regulators over mortgage, auto loan abuses

Federal regulators are seeking a $1 billion payment from Wells Fargo to settle problems with mortgage and auto loan issues, along with compliance risk management concerns, the bank said Friday as it reported its first-quarter earnings.

Although the finances reported by the financial giant topped Wall Street forecasts, the San Francisco-based bank warned that the results are subject to change due to continuing talks with the regulators.

Wells Fargo said it was "unable to predict the final resolution" of its discussions with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and could not "reasonably estimate our related loss contingency" at this time.

The disclosure and resulting uncertainty likely mark a new setback for Wells Fargo. The bank has struggled to regain investor trust after a scandal involving an estimated 3.5 million accounts that may not have been authorized by customers. The consumer bureau, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Los Angeles legal officials hit the bank with $185 million in penalties for that episode.

If levied, a collective $1 billion penalty by the two regulators would be the highest-ever fine imposed by the consumer bureau. It could reduce Wells Fargo's first-quarter profit by approximately 20%, Kyle Sanders, an Edward Jones financial analyst, wrote in a research note issued Friday.

Wells Fargo (WFC) shares closed down more than 3.4% at $50.89 Friday.

The bank previously disclosed the issues under discussion with the regulators. They include extra fees Wells Fargo charged some customers to extend interest rate locks on mortgages because of delays that were caused by the bank, not the clients.

Wells Fargo said in October that it would issue refunds to customers who paid fees to extend mortgage rate locks between Sept. 16, 2013, through Feb. 28, 2017, but "who believe they shouldn't have paid those fees."

Additionally, the bank announced in July that it would give refunds to more than 570,000 auto loan customers who had been charged for auto insurance without their knowledge, even though most already had insurance coverage of their own.

Wells Fargo's statement said the talks with federal regulators have also focused on the bank's overall "compliance risk management program." 

Citing "widespread consumer abuses and compliance breakdowns," the Federal Reserve, one of the bank's other regulators, imposed indefinite restrictions on Wells Fargo's growth and pushed for a shake-up in its board of directors. Wells Fargo accepted the sanctions and said they could reduce its profits by as much as $400 million this year.

Wells Fargo potentially faces a separate federal investigation of whether its wealth management division made inappropriate referrals or recommendations to the company's investment and fiduciary services business. Disclosing the issue in a March regulatory filing, the bank said it is conducting an internal review.

For the January to March quarter, Wells Fargo reported net income of $5.9 billion, or $1.12 per share. Wall Street analysts surveyed by S&P Capital IQ had forecast $1.11 per share.

The bank also reported revenue of $21.9 billion, topping the $21.7 billion forecast from the analyst survey.

Sanders estimated a potential $1 billion penalty could lower Wells Fargo's first-quarter earnings per share to nearly 91 cents. 

During a conference call with investors and Wall Street analysts, Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan outlined the bank's effort to restore investor confidence and improve customer services. He said the bank had made progress but faces challenges ahead.

"We've certainly had a very thorough look into every nook and cranny of the company," said Sloan, when asked if potential new regulatory problems could emerge. "In terms of declaring victory and walking ahead, we're not at that spot right now."

In other first-quarter earnings reports Friday by major U.S. banks, JPMorgan Chase reported a 35% rise in profits that topped Wall Street expectations. The New York-based bank said its income tax expense fell by $240 million, reflecting a lower rate from the federal tax overhaul approved in December.

Separately, Citigroup reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street forecasts. The New York City-based bank's results were boosted by lower corporate taxes and strong stock trading revenue. Benefiting from the federal tax overhaul, Citigroup's effective tax rate dropped two 24% in the January-March quarter, down from 31% during the same period last year.

Apple has had 12 people arrested for leaks, it says in a leaked memo

Apple has had 12 employees arrested over the course of last year for leaking internal information about future software plans, according to a memo leaked (ironically) today, spotted by Bloomberg.

The company said in a strongly worded memo that it had caught 29 people who leaked information last year, and 12 of them were arrested. Those 29 people included employees, contractors, and supply chain partners. “Leakers do not simply lose their jobs at Apple,” the memo reads, “In some cases, they face jail time and massive fines for network intrusion and theft of trade secrets, both classified as federal crimes.” 

The memo attempts to curb internal leaks by warning employees that reporters and media outlets may try to befriend them, but the cost of a leak means reporters earn more web traffic while the employees could lose their jobs. “While it may seem flattering to be approached, it’s important to remember that you’re getting played,” it stated, adding that once a person loses their job for leaking, finding employment elsewhere could be hard.

Earlier this year, Apple caught an employee who leaked details of an internal meeting where Apple’s senior vice president of engineering Craig Federighi informed employees that certain software features in iOS would be delayed. Last year, another employee was fired for leaking details about the iPhone X, iPad Pro, and AirPods to 9to5Mac.

The Brutality Of The Vietnam War Captured In Harrowing Images

LIFE magazine war photographer, Larry Burrows, covered the fighting on the front lines during the Vietnam War and is now being remembered for his extraordinary work as the 41 year anniversary of his death approaches. 

Mr Burrows captured the compelling images of Operation Prairie, the U.S. offensive against the North Vietnamese near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), that lasted from August 3 to October 27, 1966. 

China’s Only Millionaire Street Sweeper (6 Pics)

 Yu Youzhen is just like any other sanitation worker working for the Wuchang District Chenggan Bureau cleaning team. However, she is also a millionaire...

Yu Youzhen was compensated by the government for property and land she owned as a peasant villager and as a result of this, her family is now wealthy. However, despite her riches, she has been working as a street cleaner since 1998 in order to set a good example for her children. 14 years since her windfall, Yu Youzhen continues to start work every morning at 3am, earning only $230 (1420 yuan) per month. She has 1 day off a week, and only once she asked to go for three days to attend the funeral of her mother in law.

Angry Birds. Literally (25 Pics)