Tag Archives: prison

The Daily Beast reports: A former Bloomberg News reporter quit her job, divorced her husband, and froze her eggs for imprisoned former CEO Martin Shkreli, known as the “Pharma Bro,” who now refuses to talk to her, Elle reported Sunday. Christie Smythe first broke the news of Shkreli’s arrest on fraud charges in December 2015.  Smythe said she and Shkreli …

TMZ reports: Harvey Weinstein is in isolation with 101-degree temperature, and doctors believe he has COVID, TMZ has learned. Law enforcement sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ that Weinstein is “doing poorly” with various health issues, some of which point to a coronavirus infection. Harvey’s camp tells TMZ, “It should come as no surprise that Mr. Weinstein has numerous maladies …

Roll Call reports: Former Rep. Chris Collins began serving his 26-month prison term Tuesday at FPC Pensacola, a minimum security federal prison camp in Florida. Collins’ arrival at the camp comes after four delays and just under nine months since he was sentenced in January for conspiring to commit securities fraud and making false statements to the FBI. The former …

Buzzfeed News reports: Two former Oklahoma County jail guards and their supervisor were charged Monday with cruelty to prisoner offenses for allegedly forcing inmates to stand for hours while listening to the children’s song “Baby Shark.” In November and December last year, Christian Miles and Greg Butler Jr., both 21, forced four inmates to stand alone in rooms handcuffed to …

The New York Times reports: New York City has reached the largest settlement recorded over an inmate’s death at the Rikers Island jail complex, agreeing to pay $5.9 million to the family of a 27-year-old transgender woman who died there last year while in solitary confinement. Layleen Polanco was found unresponsive in her cell in June 2019 after having an …

NBC News reports: Paul Manafort, the imprisoned former campaign chairman for President Donald Trump, was released to home confinement for the remainder of his sentence Wednesday amid concerns he could contract coronavirus in federal prison, a person familiar with his case confirmed to NBC News. Manafort’s release follows a request from his attorneys to the Federal Bureau of Prisons that …

The Daily Beast reports: Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer who was due to be released from federal prison to house arrest on Friday will remain behind bars, two people familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast. It was unclear what prompted the last-minute decision to not release Cohen after he – along with other prisoners – …

The New York Daily News reports: Former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos was released from from an upstate prison Tuesday into home confinement after contracting coronavirus. A federal prosecutor and Skelos’s defense team confirmed the crooked Nassau County pol walked out of FCI Otisville. Ten staff and two inmates at the facility have tested positive for the virus, according …

The Chicago Sun-Times reports: Singer R. Kelly is writing new lyrics these days via email. The lyrics? “Please. Please. Please.” The words are from three recent emails sent to Chicago attorney Steve Greenberg by Kelly, who petitioned the court last week to release him from incarceration at the Metropolitan Correctional Center during the COVID-19 pandemic. Greenberg said the emails were …

USA Today reports: Bill Cosby won’t be leaving incarceration any time soon, despite concerns that he could be susceptible to coronavirus while in prison. Because he’s a sex offender, “inmate Cosby is not eligible for a reprieve by the governor,” Pennsylvania Department of Corrections spokeswoman Susan McNaughton told USA TODAY in an email Saturday. Cosby representatives were surprised to learn …

CNN reports: The federal Bureau of Prisons has notified Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, that he will be released early from prison due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to people familiar with the matter and his lawyer. Cohen is serving a three-year sentence at the federal prison camp in Otisville, NY, where 14 inmates and seven staff …

Politico reports: President Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is asking to be released from prison early and serve the remainder of his 7-and-a-half year sentence at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. Manafort’s attorney, Kevin Downing, asked the Federal Bureau of Prisons in a letter on Monday to release Manafort, saying his 71-year-old client is at “high risk” of …

Reuters reports: The convicted celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti has been granted temporary freedom from a New York City jail by a California federal judge who said the spread of the novel coronavirus was a compelling reason to release him. In an order late on Friday, U.S. District Judge James Selna said Avenatti, who represented adult film actress Stormy Daniels in …

Reuters reports: Harvey Weinstein, who is serving a prison sentence for rape, has no symptoms of the coronavirus, his spokesman said on Thursday, more than two weeks after a union official for corrections officers said the former movie producer had tested positive. “As of now, it’s been 14 days since reports of concern from people inside the prison, and he …

Reuters reports: Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, has been placed in solitary confinement at a federal prison in New York state where he is serving time for violating campaign finance laws, according to his lawyer and two sources familiar with the matter. Cohen, 53, was transferred on Wednesday to a Special Housing Unit at Otisville Federal …

The Niagara Gazette reports: Oscar-winning movie producer Harvey Weinstein, now one of New York’s most notorious prison inmates after being sentenced for sexual assault, has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, according to officials connected to the state prison system. Weinstein, who turned 68 last Thursday is being isolated at Wende Correctional Facility in Western New York, officials told CNHI …

The Associated Press reports: Coronavirus has become a “get out of jail” card for hundreds of low-level inmates across the country, and even hard-timers are seeking their freedom with the argument that it’s not a matter of if but when the deadly illness sweeps through tightly packed populations behind bars. Among those pleading for compassionate release or home detention are …

Reuters reports: Martin Shkreli, the “pharma bro” in prison for defrauding investors, faces a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission and New York attorney general’s office for an alleged scheme to preserve his monopoly for the drug Daraprim, whose price increased by more than 4,000% in one day. The lawsuit accuses a company that Shkreli once ran of buying …

ABC News reports: President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been hospitalized for a cardiac event while serving his over seven-year sentence for charges related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to two sources familiar with his situation. Manafort has been serving out his sentence as of late in a federal correction institution in central Pennsylvania. Manafort …

The Daily Beast reports: The brutal prison on New York’s Rikers Island has been home to some of the most notorious criminals in the city’s history, from serial killer David Berkowitz to John Lennon’s murderer, Mark David Chapman—and now it’s set to add Paul Manafort to its rogues gallery. The former Trump campaign chairman—who was sentenced this year to four …