(AP) A Lebanese American businessman who was a key witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and who helped broker the release of American hostages was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison sentence on child sex charges.

George Nader pleaded guilty in January to bringing a 14-year-old boy from the Czech Republic to the U.S. 20 years ago to engage in sexual activity. He also acknowledged possessing child pornography.

Nader’s name appears more than 100 times in the Mueller report. It details Nader’s efforts to serve as liaison between Russians and members of President Donald Trump’s transition team.

Editors Note: The AP article left out the FACT that : In December 2019, Nader was charged in U.S. federal court with violating campaign finance laws by allegedly also using over three and half million dollars to reach out to Hillary Clinton‘s 2016 campaign for the U.S. Presidency, through a front, WSJ report 

In the 1990s, Nader served as a broker to facilitate the release of American hostages held in the Middle East.

The convictions carried a 10-year mandatory minimum. The judge could have imposed a longer term, though prosecutors also recommended a 10-year sentence.

Nader also agreed to pay $150,000 in restitution to the Czech boy he abused, who is now an adult and testified at Friday’s sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria by phone.

“George destroyed practically my entire life, and I am trying to put it back together piece by piece,” he said through a translator.

Nader’s interest in children and his status as a behind-the-scenes power player both extend back decades. And there’s at least some indication that the latter shielded him from the consequences of the former.

Almost 30 years ago, Nader was caught by customs officials transporting two films, hidden in candy tins, of minor boys into the U.S. He received a six-month sentence, a term that prosecutors in the current case acknowledge is “far below what would be expected of such a crime today.”

In 1991, as he awaited sentencing, his case was twice delayed so he could continue his work on hostage negotiations. Court records cited by his current defense lawyers indicate that British hostage Jon McCarthy and American hostage Edward Tracy were released in July of that year and that Nader played an outsized role in securing the release. Participants in the negotiations wrote letters to the judge on Nader’s behalf.

Later, in 2003, Nader sentenced to a 1-year prison term in the Czech Republic after being convicted there on 10 counts of sexually abusing minors and sentenced to a one-year prison term in 2003.

Prosecutors say the abused boys were largely child prostitutes. The 14-year-old boy brought to the U.S. also alleged he was victimized by Nader int he Czech case, though Nader’s lawyers say he wasn’t convicted there. The two sides dispute the extent of abuse inflicted on the boy in the U.S. but Nader has admitted to one sex act.

Nader “used his contacts and his wealth to accomplish” bringing the Czech boy into the U.S., prosecutor Jay Prabhu wrote.

The current case against Nader began in 2018 when images were found on his phone after it was confiscated under a search warrant connected to the Mueller probe.

The images found in Nader’s phones at Dulles International Airport ended up not being the basis for the child-pornography conviction. Instead, prosecutors relied on images and videos he received via email in 2012 that in some cases involved sadistic depictions of infants or toddlers.

Even though it had no bearing on the sentence Nader received, defense lawyers and prosecutors continued to argue at Friday’s sentencing hearing as to whether the images found on the phone were child pornography. Nader’s attorney, Jonathan Jeffress, acknowledged that the photos showed naked children and were obscene, but said they amounted to “dirty jokes” and that Nader had put his struggles with child pornography behind him in 2012.

Prosecutors say the images included clear depictions of child pornography and bestiality and show that Nader is a lifelong recidivist.

Parts of the sentencing papers detailing Nader’s testimony to the special counsel remain blacked out.

Nader, for his part, apologized for his actions at Friday’s hearing.

“I have listened to what’s been said about me,” he said. “I can say I am sincerely, deeply sorry for the suffering I have caused.”

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government is using public and private measures to secure the release of two Canadians detained in China for 18 months, who on June 19 were formally charged with espionage in the politically charged case.

Trudeau said he was “very disappointed” with the charges Chinese prosecutors unveiled, while Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland described feeling personally angry at the news.

Former diplomat Michael Kovrig was charged in Beijing on suspicion of spying for state secrets and intelligence. Businessman Michael Spavor was charged in Dandong near the North Korean border on suspicion of spying for a foreign entity and illegally providing state secrets.

Speaking at a press conference in Chelsea, Que., just north of the national capital, Trudeau said the only reason the two are being detained is because of independent judicial proceedings involving Meng Wanzhou, a top executive at Chinese tech giant Huawei who is fighting an extradition request to the United States.

Trudeau said aside from public statements, there is “action behind the scenes in very direct and firm ways” to secure their release.

“We have developed a certain expertise in what has worked to get Canadians home in very difficult circumstances over the past years,” Trudeau said.

“In the case of the two Michaels, I can say that we are using a wide range of public and private measures to ensure that everything is being done to get these Michaels home.”

The two have been held since December 2018, shortly after Canadian authorities arrested Meng at Vancouver’s airport. U.S. authorities want her extradited over allegations she circumvented American sanction on Iran.

The daughter of Huawei’s founder and the company itself deny any wrongdoing. She remains out on bail as hearings at the B.C. Supreme Court continue in her case. A judge rejected the first set of arguments from her lawyers late last month in a bid to set her free.

“We will not, and must not, and cannot interfere in the independence of our judiciary in this country,” Trudeau said.

“The Chinese authorities have directly linked the case of the two Michaels to the judicial proceedings against Ms. Meng, which is extremely disappointing because for us … there obviously are no links except in politics.”

Wrapped up in the case is Huawei’s bid to be a player in Canada’s 5G network, which was put in doubt after Bell and Telus announced partnerships with the Chinese company’s European rivals.

The Liberals have yet to decide whether Huawei will have a role in building the network.

The United States has warned Canada and other allies that it will limit sharing intelligence with countries that have Huawei equipment in their 5G networks — citing its potential use for spying by China, an allegation Huawei denies.

The charges against Spavor and Kovrig were announced June 19 by China’s highest prosecutor’s office in brief social media posts. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said each is charged with “secretly gathering state secrets for overseas forces with particularly serious consequences.”

“The facts are clear and the evidence solid and sufficient,” Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing, without providing further details.

The International Crisis Group, where Kovrig worked at the time of his arrest, said the diplomat regularly interviewed Chinese officials to accurately reflect their views in his reports and had a constructive relationship with Chinese officials.

“This is yet another arbitrary and baseless step in a case that has been arbitrary and baseless from day one,” the group’s chief executive, Robert Malley, said in a statement. “Michael was not endangering China’s security: everything he was doing was in the open and well known to China’s authorities.”

Kovrig and Spavor have had no access to lawyers or their families as of May, with the exception of a phone call the Chinese embassy said Kovrig was allowed to make to his sick father in mid-March. Consular visits have also been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This arbitrary detention is inhumane,” tweeted Pamela Isfeld, president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, which represents Canadian diplomats. She called for the two to be “freed immediately.”

Speaking at a midday press conference on Parliament Hill, Freeland said it was essential to restore consular access to the two men.

“They are a priority for Canadian foreign policy in general, they are a priority for our government in general, they are not forgotten and we are going to continue to work very, very hard for their release,” she said.

Securing their release might be more difficult after Friday because China seems “determined to hold them hostage” for the long-term, but the situation would not be dire if Canada stood firm without demonizing the Chinese, former diplomat Colin Robertson wrote in an analysis for the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

“The Chinese Communist Party does not share our values, and their agents actively engage in subversion and disinformation,” Robertson wrote. “We need to be firm in pushing back and equally firm in speaking out when China flouts its international obligations or takes aggressive action against Canadians and Canadian interests.”

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said the government’s “naive approach to Beijing” has hampered efforts to release Spavor and Kovrig.

“This case should be being dealt with at the highest levels. But Justin Trudeau has repeatedly refused to intervene,” Scheer said in a statement.

NDP foreign affairs critic Jack Harris said it wasn’t enough for the Liberals to say they are advocating for the release of the two men in what he deemed China’s “hostage diplomacy.”

“China must be told that this behaviour is unacceptable and Canada needs to rally the support of like-minded nations to pursue a common strategy to put meaningful pressure on China to end to this practice and to release Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor.”

By Jordan Press

— With files from the Associated Press

Eels lock Nathan Brown is taking on the judiciary on Tuesday night in a bid to avoid a two-game suspension after being charged for high tackle offence. 

Brown was charged with a grade-two careless high tackle over a 64th-minute hit on Roosters lock Victor Radley in Saturday night’s loss by Parramatta at Bankwest Stadium.

The Eels star, who has two non-similar offences over the past two years, is seeking a downgrade of the charge after entering an early guilty plea. 

Radley has accepted a fine of $700 for a high shot of his own on Eels skipper Clint Gutherson. 

Bulldogs winger Christian Crichton is the only other player charged in round six yet to have his matter resolved.

He could be suspended for two matches for a shoulder charge on Sharks fullback Matt Moylan on Monday night. He has been charged with a grade-one offence for the tackle in the 34th minute but can have the ban halved with an early guilty plea.

Broncos forwards Patrick Carrigan and Tom Flegler have each accepted a one-game suspension after being charged over incidents in Thursday night’s loss to Newcastle in Gosford.

Carrigan was facing a two-match ban over a grade-two conduct charge for his late hit on Knights halfback Mitchell Pearce in the 59th minute. He reduced the ban to one game with an early guilty plea.

Flegler has also be banned one match after he entered an early guilty plea over a 43rd-minute incident involving Newcastle forward Sione Mata’utia.

Dragons winger Jordan Pereira is out for two games for a hit on Corey Thompson in the 23rd minute of St George Illawarra’s win at Suncorp Stadium. He could have been banned for three weeks if he did not enter an early guilty plea. 

Tigers trio Harry Grant, Josh Aloiai and Sam McIntyre will avoid suspensions after entering guilty pleas for with grade-one offences in their team’s win over North Queensland.

Warriors hooker Wayde Egan is out of Friday’s clash with Melbourne after entering an early guilty plea over an incident involving Rabbitohs star Latrell Mitchell.

Egan was charged with a grade-two contrary conduct charge after he appeared to rake his hand across Mitchell’s face on Friday.

Panthers five-eighth Jarome Luai has avoided a ban by entering an early guilty plea for a dangerous contact – head/neck charge resulting from a tackle on Melbourne’s Felise Kaufusi.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government is using public and private measures to secure the release of two Canadians detained in China for 18 months, who on Friday were formally charged with espionage in the politically charged case.

Trudeau said he was “very disappointed” with the charges Chinese prosecutors unveiled, while Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland described feeling personally angry at the news.

Former diplomat Michael Kovrig was charged in Beijing on suspicion of spying for state secrets and intelligence. Businessman Michael Spavor was charged in Dandong near the North Korean border on suspicion of spying for a foreign entity and illegally providing state secrets.

Speaking at a press conference in Chelsea, Que., just north of the national capital, Trudeau said the only reason the two are being detained is because of independent judicial proceedings involving Meng Wanzhou, a top executive at Chinese tech giant Huawei who is fighting an extradition request to the United States.

Trudeau said aside from public statements, there is “action behind the scenes in very direct and firm ways” to secure their release.

“We have developed a certain expertise in what has worked to get Canadians home in very difficult circumstances over the past years,” Trudeau said.

“In the case of the two Michaels, I can say that we are using a wide range of public and private measures to ensure that everything is being done to get these Michaels home.”

The two have been held since December 2018, shortly after Canadian authorities arrested Meng at Vancouver’s airport. U.S. authorities want her extradited over allegations she circumvented American sanction on Iran.

The daughter of Huawei’s founder and the company itself deny any wrongdoing. She remains out on bail as hearings at the B.C. Supreme Court continue in her case. A judge rejected the first set of arguments from her lawyers late last month in a bid to set her free.

“We will not, and must not, and cannot interfere in the independence of our judiciary in this country,” Trudeau said.

“The Chinese authorities have directly linked the case of the two Michaels to the judicial proceedings against Ms. Meng, which is extremely disappointing because for us … there obviously are no links except in politics.”

Wrapped up in the case is Huawei’s bid to be a player in Canada’s 5G network, which was put in doubt after Bell and Telus announced partnerships with the Chinese company’s European rivals.

The Liberals have yet to decide whether Huawei will have a role in building the network.

The United States has warned Canada and other allies that it will limit sharing intelligence with countries that have Huawei equipment in their 5G networks — citing its potential use for spying by China, an allegation Huawei denies.

The charges against Spavor and Kovrig were announced Friday by China’s highest prosecutor’s office in brief social media posts. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said each is charged with “secretly gathering state secrets for overseas forces with particularly serious consequences.”

“The facts are clear and the evidence solid and sufficient,” Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing, without providing further details.

The International Crisis Group, where Kovrig worked at the time of his arrest, said the diplomat regularly interviewed Chinese officials to accurately reflect their views in his reports and had a constructive relationship with Chinese officials.

“This is yet another arbitrary and baseless step in a case that has been arbitrary and baseless from day one,” the group’s chief executive, Robert Malley, said in a statement. “Michael was not endangering China’s security: everything he was doing was in the open and well known to China’s authorities.”

Kovrig and Spavor have had no access to lawyers or their families as of May, with the exception of a phone call the Chinese embassy said Kovrig was allowed to make to his sick father in mid-March. Consular visits have also been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This arbitrary detention is inhumane,” tweeted Pamela Isfeld, president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, which represents Canadian diplomats. She called for the two to be “freed immediately.”

Speaking at a midday press conference on Parliament Hill, Freeland said it was essential to restore consular access to the two men.

“They are a priority for Canadian foreign policy in general, they are a priority for our government in general, they are not forgotten and we are going to continue to work very, very hard for their release,” she said.

Securing their release might be more difficult after Friday because China seems “determined to hold them hostage” for the long-term, but the situation would not be dire if Canada stood firm without demonizing the Chinese, former diplomat Colin Robertson wrote in an analysis for the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

“The Chinese Communist Party does not share our values, and their agents actively engage in subversion and disinformation,” Robertson wrote. “We need to be firm in pushing back and equally firm in speaking out when China flouts its international obligations or takes aggressive action against Canadians and Canadian interests.”

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said the government’s “naive approach to Beijing” has hampered efforts to release Spavor and Kovrig.

“This case should be being dealt with at the highest levels. But Justin Trudeau has repeatedly refused to intervene,” Scheer said in a statement.

NDP foreign affairs critic Jack Harris said it wasn’t enough for the Liberals to say they are advocating for the release of the two men in what he deemed China’s “hostage diplomacy.”

“China must be told that this behaviour is unacceptable and Canada needs to rally the support of like-minded nations to pursue a common strategy to put meaningful pressure on China to end to this practice and to release Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2020.

— With files from the Associated Press

Jordan Press, The Canadian Press

Note to readers:

China

Get local stories you won’t find anywhere else right to your inbox.
Sign up here

An Asheboro man faces 9 charges and a citation after a pursuit with the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office Friday.

A deputy observed a vehicle traveling fast on westbound U.S. Highway 64 and turned around to initiate a traffic stop.

Click the video player above for headlines from WXII 12 News.

The car failed to stop and a pursuit started onto Henley County Road to Old Cedar Falls Road and ended with a forced stop at the intersection of Presnell Street.

The driver, Brian Keith Theesan, 38, was arrested and transported to the Randolph County Detention Center, deputies said.

Theesan is charged with:

• felony fleeing to elude arrest with a motor vehicle
• felony assault with a deadly weapon on a government official
• misdemeanor resisting a public officer
• driving while license revoked (impaired revoked)
• reckless driving with wanton disregard
• unsafe passing a crest or curve
• speed in a work zone
• speeding
• failing to stop at a steady red light

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol charged Theesan by citation for driving while impaired.

Theesan is being held on $50,000 bail and his first court appearance is scheduled for June 22.

An outspoken critic of the Turkish government, Enes Kanter says his father has been accused of ‘being a criminal just because he is my dad’

China has charged two detained Canadians with spying, escalating tensions between the two countries following the arrest in Vancouver 18 months ago of a senior Huawei executive wanted on U.S. charges.

Chinese prosecutors said Friday that Michael Kovrig was charged in Beijing on suspicion of spying for state secrets and intelligence.

Michael Spavor was charged in Dandong city near the North Korean border on suspicion of spying for a foreign entity and illegally providing state secrets.

The charges were announced by China’s highest prosecutor’s office in brief social media posts.

Both men have been held since December 2018 in a move seen as an apparent attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng Wanzhou, a top executive at Chinese tech giant Huawei.

China has denied any explicit link between her case and the lengthy detention of the two Canadian men, but outside experts see them as tied and Chinese diplomats have strongly implied a connection.

The daughter of Huawei’s founder was arrested at Vancouver’s airport on Dec. 1, 2018, at the request of U.S. authorities who want her on fraud charges, which she and the company have denied.

Meng is out on bail as hearings are ongoing in B.C. Supreme Court after a judge rejected the first set of arguments from her lawyers late last month in a bid to set her free.

Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes ruled Meng’s alleged offences would constitute a crime in Canada and the case should proceed.

The next round of legal arguments is set to focus on whether Meng’s arrest was unlawful and whether the U.S. records of the case contain misstatements or omissions.

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa denounced Holmes’s decision and called once more for Meng’s immediate release.

Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne responded in turn by calling for the release of the two “arbitrarily detained” Canadian men.

Kovrig is an ex-diplomat who was working for the International Crisis Group and Spavor is an entrepreneur who did business in North Korea.

They have been in Chinese prisons since they were arrested nine days after Meng’s arrest.

The conditions under which the two Canadians are being held has been the subject of scrutiny.

Kovrig and Spavor had no access to lawyers or their families as of May, with the exception of a phone call the Chinese embassy said Kovrig was allowed to make to his sick father in mid-March.

At the same time, the embassy said Kovrig and Spavor were being provided with better food to strengthen their immunity against the novel coronavirus.

It said detention centres were closed due to the epidemic, so Kovrig and Spavor were receiving more frequent letters and parcels to ensure their contact with Canadian diplomats in China.

The allegations against Meng, who is Huawei’s chief financial officer, date back to 2013.

The U.S. is seeking to extradite Meng on fraud charges based on allegations she lied to HSBC about Huawei’s relationship with Skycom, a telecommunications company in Iran, putting the bank at risk of violating American sanctions against that country.

But in a case management memo dated June 12, Meng’s lawyers assert their client delivered a presentation to an HSBC banker in Hong Kong that included statements about Huawei’s business activities in Iran, but the statements were omitted from U.S. records of the case.

They argue Meng’s statements provided the bank with “the material facts it needed to know in order to assess whether there was any risk to HSBC in continuing to provide banking services to Huawei, including processing U.S. dollar transactions related to Huawei’s commerce in Iran.”

The tensions between Canada and China have spilled over into trade between the two countries including canola exports from Canadian farmers.

Earlier this month, Huawei’s ambitions to be a player in Canada’s 5G network were very much cast in doubt after two of the country’s three largest telecom companies announced partnerships with the Chinese company’s European rivals.

Bell Canada announced on June 2 that Sweden-based Ericsson will be its second supplier of the radio access network equipment — a major component in fifth-generation wireless networks — following its choice of Finland’s Nokia in February.

Later in the day, Telus Corp., which uses Huawei equipment extensively in its current network, announced that it too had selected Ericsson and Nokia for its 5G network needs.

Huawei is the world’s biggest supplier of network gear used by phone and internet companies.

The announcements come as Ottawa continues its review of Huawei’s role in Canada’s 5G networks over security concerns due to suspicions about the company’s relationship with China’s government.

The United States has warned Canada, the United Kingdom and other allies that it will limit intelligence sharing with countries that have Huawei equipment in their 5G networks — citing its potential use for spying by China, an allegation Huawei denies.

The Associated Press

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Want to support local journalism during the pandemic? Make a donation here.

Get local stories you won’t find anywhere else right to your inbox.
Sign up here