(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.”

NBA players who are expected to report to Disney World near Orlando in the next few weeks expressed concerns about the safety of the restart as Florida’s positive cases of the novel coronavirus have rocketed upwards, according to Baxter Holmes and Zach Lowe of ESPN.

According to CDC numbers, Florida’ 4,049 new cases on Saturday broke the previous single-day record of 3,822 set the day before. The state is approaching 94,000 infections and, along with Texas and Arizona, has become a national hot spot as the NBA prepares to send its players to a bubble-type set up on Disney’s campus.

Per ESPN, players expressed concerns about the number of infections to the Players Union (NBPA) on a virtual town hall, particularly since Disney workers will not be required to stay isolated in the bubble with players. Those workers include hotel housekeepers charged with cleaning player rooms on a regular basis, although according to ESPN, the drivers of team buses will be required to undergo testing.

Players Association director Michele Roberts, speaking to ESPN, called out Florida’s “approach to reopening” — seven weeks ago, as business resumed, Florida governor Ron DeSantis said the state had not seen the expected explosion of cases (according to the Guardian, Florida had 327 new positive cases on the day of DeSantis’ press conference).

“We are obviously clearly monitoring the situation,” Roberts told ESPN. “While we take some solace in knowing our players will not travel commercially to get to Orlando, that access to the campus is severely limited and, of course, all of the other health and safety protocols in place, the numbers will keep our attention. If necessary to add further restrictions respecting those third parties having access to the campus, we will seek to implement them.”

Public health experts and epidemiologists have praised the NBA’s plan for restarting its season, which was suspended on March 11 after Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. In the wake of Gobert’s positive test, a few other players tested positive as well, including Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart. The league has said it does not expect that a positive test in Florida will derail its restart (in fact, it expects a few positive tests both as players start testing and as the plan unfolds). How the league will proceed in the event of an outbreak remains to be seen.

League spokesman Mike Bass released a statement to ESPN, saying the NBA is “closely monitoring the data in Florida and Orange County and will continue to work collaboratively with the National Basketball Players Association, public health officials and medical experts regarding our plans.”

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have found their pied piper, according to Michael Giardi of NFL Network. Tom Brady has already won many of his teammates over already and is drawing rave views for the energy he’s bringing, along with his leadership.

Tom Brady ‘lighting up’ Buccaneers team meetings

Brady has put together some workouts with teammates already, and the reports coming out of those are overwhelmingly positive. However, that’s not the only way he’s impacting his new Buccaneers teammates.

“I was told he is lighting up the Zoom meetings,” Giardi reported. “Intelligent questions, personality, engaging his teammates — this is exactly what they need.”

Giardi also was told by another player that Brady is being “aggressive” and is “becoming our leader” already.

Tom Brady carries his legend to Tampa Bay Buccaneers

With two decades of NFL experience and six Super Bowl wins under his belt, Brady certainly has the clout to make this type of impact. We already know his new teammates are over the moon for this opportunity to play with the G.O.A.T.

Still, it’s not hard to see that Brady is as charged up about the upcoming season as he’s been for anything football related in some time. That energy has led to big-time increases in interest from fans buying tickets. And soon, it could lead to something even more meaningful for this franchise.

Four years ago, a minor player in the Venezuelan leadership was arrested in Colombia and extradited to the United States to face drug charges. He proved to be an important catch.

The man, Yazenky Lamas, worked as a bodyguard for the person widely considered the power behind President Nicolas Maduro’s throne: First Lady Cilia Flores.

More:

Now, with help from Lamas’s testimony, the US is preparing to charge Flores in coming months with crimes that could include drug trafficking and corruption, four people familiar with the investigation of the first lady told the Reuters news agency. If Washington goes ahead with an indictment, these people said, the charges are likely to stem, at least in part, from a thwarted cocaine transaction that has already landed two of Flores’s nephews in a Florida jail.

Nicole Navas, a spokeswoman for the US Department of Justice, declined to comment on any possible charges against Flores. Flores and her office at the National Assembly did not respond to questions for this article. Jorge Rodriguez, Venezuela’s information minister, told Reuters in a text message that its questions about the possible US indictment of Flores were “nauseating, slanderous and offensive”. He did not elaborate.

In a series of interviews with Reuters, the first Lamas has given since his arrest, the former bodyguard said Flores was aware of the cocaine-trafficking racket for which her two nephews were convicted by a US court. Flores also used her privileged position, he said, to reward family members with prominent and well-paid positions in government, a claim of nepotism backed by others interviewed for this article.

Speaking behind reinforced glass at the prison in Washington, DC, where he is detained, Lamas told Reuters he is speaking out against Flores because he feels abandoned by the Maduro administration, still ensconced in power even though many of its central figures, including the president, have also been accused of crimes. “I feel betrayed by them,” he told Reuters.

In his first interview, I spoke with Yazenky Lamas, who worked to protect Flores over a decade. In 2016 he was arrested in Colombia on a US warrant for drug charges.

He says he is speaking out because Flores betrayed him: “I was loyal to them. But they weren’t loyal to me.” 2/6 pic.twitter.com/1Fz8gJtARG

— Angus Berwick (@AABerwick) May 27, 2020

In late March, US prosecutors indicted Maduro and more than a dozen current and former Venezuelan officials on charges of “narco-terrorism” and drug smuggling. Maduro, now in his eighth year as Venezuela’s president, for years sought to flood the US with cocaine, prosecutors alleged, seeking to weaken American society and bolster his position and wealth.

Maduro’s office did not respond to requests for comment. In a televised speech after the indictments, he dismissed the charges against him and his colleagues as a politically motivated fabrication by the administration of US President Donald Trump. “You are a miserable person, Donald Trump,” he said.

The March indictments and the possible charges against Flores come amid a fresh campaign by Washington to increase pressure on Maduro. His enduring grip on power, some US officials say, is a source of frustration for Trump.

Starting in 2017, the US Treasury Department sanctioned the socialist leader along with his wife and other members of the Maduro “inner circle”. The swipe at Flores enraged Maduro. “If you want to attack me, attack me,” he said in a televised speech at the time. “But don’t mess with Cilia, don’t mess with the family.”

Leveraging the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis in Venezuela, the White House now hopes it can topple a leader who has weathered years of tightening economic sanctions, civil unrest and international isolation.

Flores is a longtime strategist and kingmaker in the ruling Socialist party. She first gained prominence as a politician and confidante of the late Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s predecessor and mentor. She does not hold an official role in Maduro’s cabinet. Still, the probe against her underscores the vast influence she wields, particularly in helping Maduro outmanoeuvre rivals inside and outside of Venezuela.

Flores has sought personal concessions in recent years in negotiations with the United States. According to five people familiar with the discussions, Flores instructed intermediaries to ask US envoys for liberty for her jailed nephews. In exchange, these intermediaries said Venezuela would release six imprisoned executives of Citgo Petroleum Corp, the US refining unit of Venezuela’s state-run oil company. The executives, arrested by Venezuela in 2017 and charged with embezzlement, are widely considered by human rights activists and many in the business community to be political prisoners.

That overture, reported here for the first time, failed.

But Washington knows Flores’s clout. “She is probably the most influential figure other than Maduro,” Fernando Cutz, a senior White House adviser on Latin America during Trump’s first year in office, told Reuters.

Former college football standout Kraig Appleton was charged with first-degree murder over the weekend in connection with the shooting death of an Illinois woman, according to a report.

Appleton, who played wide receiver for the Wisconsin Badgers between 2009 and 2010, was arrested Saturday in the shooting death of 41-year-old Kellie Ferrell on April 20, according to the Belleville News-Democrat.

VICTOR CRUS REFLECTS ON INFAMOUS MIAMI BOAT TRIP BEFORE GIANTS’ FAILED PLAYOFF RUN: ‘THIS PHOTO WILL HAUNT ME FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE’ 

Police were called to the 2900 block of Converse Avenue at around 10:34 p.m. where they found Ferrell with an apparent gunshot wound to the abdomen. She was transferred to an area hospital where she later died from her injuries.

Appleton was arrested Saturday and is currently being held at the St. Clair County Jail on a $1 million bond, according to the report.

Expectations were high for Appleton at the University of Wisconsin, where he registered three passes for 26 yards his freshman year before being suspended indefinitely because he violated team rules, NBC Sports reported.

CLICK HERE TO GET MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM 

He withdrew from the university later that year and was involved in a shooting incident in 2011 where he sustained multiple gunshot wounds.

Phakaaathi Reporter

Former NFL linebacker Antonio Morrison was arrested this week and charged with intimidation, a felony, according to the Indianapolis Star.

A series of erratic behavior by Morrison led neighbors to call Carmel, Indiana, police on multiple occasions.

Morrison initially allegedly accused a neighbor of “stepping into his space” on April 22 and made lewd comments to the man, according to court documents obtained by the newspaper. A day later, the same neighbor called police, accusing Morrison of threatening to kill him.

The man told police he feared for his life, according to the affidavit.

Police issued a warrant for Morrison’s arrest Monday and a second affidavit was filed Wednesday, seeking to seize a firearm owned by Morrison.

Morrison threatened a different neighbor May 1, according to the affidavit. Then, last Sunday, the Carmel Fire Department responded to a fire call at a condominium. Morrison told firefighters through a window that he had burned food and everything was fine but refused to come outside.

Firefighters spotted a shotgun at the entry door.

Police arrested Morrison on Thursday on preliminary charges of battery and battery against a public safety official, according to the Indianapolis Star. Court records show he has not been formally charged, and it remains unclear if the Carmel and Indianapolis incidents are related.

The Colts made Morrison a fourth-round draft choice in 2016. They traded him to the Packers in 2018.

Morrison, 25, was released by the Packers on March 8, 2019.

 

This story has been updated. 

DeKalb County, GA – Rudy Crew will not be the next superintendent of DeKalb County Schools.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that on Monday the School Board did not approve Crew’s contract. To read the full story, click here.

A spokesperson for the school district said, “Today the DeKalb County Board of Education voted on the approval of Dr. Rudy Crew’s contract, with three in favor and four opposed. Based on the results of today’s vote, the Board will not offer Dr. Crew the position of superintendent of DeKalb County Public Schools. The Board is reviewing its next steps and will begin the process of identifying an alternative candidate to assume the role of interim superintendent by July 1, 2020. We will share additional updates as soon as possible.”

Board Chair Marshall Orson, Vice Chair Vickie Turner and Board Member Allyson Gevertz voted to hire Crew, while board members Diijon DaCosta, Michael Erwin, Stan Jester and Joyce Morley voted against hiring him.

Crew’s prospects took a turn for the worse on Friday, May 8, when the School Board met for hours without voting on Crew’s contract.

Crew previously served as chancellor of New York City Schools and the superintendent in Miami-Dade County. He currently serves as President of Medgar Evers College in New York.

But he also came with “baggage,” as School Board member Jester put it.

In his career, he butted heads with officials tasked with holding him accountable in New York and Miami.

According to the New York Times, Special Commissioner of Investigation Edward Stancik wrote a “withering report” that officials at a high school in Queens could have prevented a gang rape from occurring in a classroom if they’d listened to a warning from a teacher that a room was being used by students for sexual activity. The New York Times wrote that Stancik, “called on Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew to dismiss two administrators at the school and to discipline three others, including the school principal, Richard Ross.”

“In response, Dr. Crew reassigned three of those officials to administrative posts elsewhere,” the New York Times wrote. “The principal, who has tenure, remained in place, pending a decision by the Chancellor on whether to file formal disciplinary charges.”

According to the Miami New Times, “Although he reassigned the assistant principals after the scandal, Crew refused to remove Principal Richard Ross despite Stancik’s recommendation and parents’ outrage. According to news articles, Crew personally investigated the incident and found that ‘sufficient additional information’ convinced him firing Ross was inappropriate.”

Crew ran into a strikingly similar controversy in Miami. An 18-year-old star running back was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old inside a girls’ bathroom at a high school there. The girl’s mother complained to the school’s staff and got nowhere, so she filed a police report. The football player was arrested. The Miami New Times article alleges that “Crew’s office knew what the star football player had done” but he was allowed to play in a state championship game. After the controversy erupted, Crew put the varsity football players at the school on probation and fired the coaches. He vowed to fire 21 employees who didn’t report the crime.

The Miami New Times article says, “Despite the impressive display of authority, Crew’s reaction to the Northwestern affair is much like his response to scandals that plagued him in … New York: too little too late.” The story accused one of Crew’s direct reports of at the time of trying to interfere with the criminal investigation into employees accused of covering up the crime.

In Oregon, where Crew worked as the state’s chief education officer, he made trips that had nothing to do with his job. The Oregonian wrote, “Most of that travel had nothing to do with his $280,000-a-year job. Instead, again and again, he flew first-class to give speeches, often for pay, to audiences drawn by his charisma and the national reputation he built when he ran New York City and Miami schools.”

An audit of Medgar Evers College found that $32,421 in tax levy funds were spent furnishing Crew’s residence and $2,088 was charged to the college’s corporate credit card to pay Crew’s personal bills.

Crew responded to some of these concerns during a virtual press conference Decaturish attended. On April 30, Decaturish published an editorial questioning whether the board should hire Crew, given his problematic past. To read the editorial, click here.

If you appreciate our work on this story, please become a paying supporter. For as little as $3 a month, you can help us keep you in the loop about your community. To become a supporter, click here. 

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DeKalb County, GA – The DeKalb County School Board met for hours on Friday, May 8, and were expected to end that meeting with the hiring of Rudy Crew, the sole finalist to be the district’s next superintendent.

The meeting ended, but the board took no action on hiring Crew, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The AJC also reports that the board didn’t announce the end of the meeting to the public beforehand, which isn’t allowed under the Open Meetings Act. To read the full story, click here.

The School Board chair did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Crew has an impressive resume. He was chancellor of New York City Schools and the superintendent in Miami-Dade County. He currently serves as President of Medgar Evers College in New York.

But he also came with “baggage,” as School Board member Stan Jester put it.

In his career, he butted heads with officials tasked with holding him accountable in New York and Miami.

According to the New York Times, Special Commissioner of Investigation Edward Stancik wrote a “withering report” that officials at a high school in Queens could have prevented a gang rape from occurring in a classroom if they’d listened to a warning from a teacher that a room was being used by students for sexual activity. The New York Times wrote that Stancik, “called on Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew to dismiss two administrators at the school and to discipline three others, including the school principal, Richard Ross.”

“In response, Dr. Crew reassigned three of those officials to administrative posts elsewhere,” the New York Times wrote. “The principal, who has tenure, remained in place, pending a decision by the Chancellor on whether to file formal disciplinary charges.”

According to the Miami New Times, “Although he reassigned the assistant principals after the scandal, Crew refused to remove Principal Richard Ross despite Stancik’s recommendation and parents’ outrage. According to news articles, Crew personally investigated the incident and found that ‘sufficient additional information’ convinced him firing Ross was inappropriate.”

Crew ran into a strikingly similar controversy in Miami. An 18-year-old star running back was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old inside a girls’ bathroom at a high school there. The girl’s mother complained to the school’s staff and got nowhere, so she filed a police report. The football player was arrested. The Miami New Times article alleges that “Crew’s office knew what the star football player had done” but he was allowed to play in a state championship game. After the controversy erupted, Crew put the varsity football players at the school on probation and fired the coaches. He vowed to fire 21 employees who didn’t report the crime.

The Miami New Times article says, “Despite the impressive display of authority, Crew’s reaction to the Northwestern affair is much like his response to scandals that plagued him in … New York: too little too late.” The story accused one of Crew’s direct reports of at the time of trying to interfere with the criminal investigation into employees accused of covering up the crime.

In Oregon, where Crew worked as the state’s chief education officer, he made trips that had nothing to do with his job. The Oregonian wrote, “Most of that travel had nothing to do with his $280,000-a-year job. Instead, again and again, he flew first-class to give speeches, often for pay, to audiences drawn by his charisma and the national reputation he built when he ran New York City and Miami schools.”

An audit of Medgar Evers College found that $32,421 in tax levy funds were spent furnishing Crew’s residence and $2,088 was charged to the college’s corporate credit card to pay Crew’s personal bills.

Crew responded to some of these concerns during a virtual press conference Decaturish attended. On April 30, Decaturish published an editorial questioning whether the board should hire Crew, given his problematic past. To read the editorial, click here.

If you appreciate our work on this story, please become a paying supporter. For as little as $3 a month, you can help us keep you in the loop about your community. To become a supporter, click here. 

Want Decaturish delivered to your inbox every day? Sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here. 

AFL great ‘is behind bars after being arrested on stalking and multiple other charges and NOT applying for bail’

• North Melbourne Kangaroos legend Dean Laidley is behind bars in Melbourne
• The 53-year-old was arrested after an incident in St Kilda on Saturday night
• Laidley was charged with stalking and other matters and did not apply for bail
• Do you know more? Contact jackson.barron@mailonline.com 

By Jackson Barron and Charlie Coë For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 04:50 EDT, 3 May 2020 | Updated: 08:50 EDT, 3 May 2020

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