Los Angeles Fashion District Money Laundering Scheme Busted

Nearly 1,000 law enforcement agents raided dozens of Los Angeles businesses and warehouses Wednesday and seized almost $100 million dollars — some of it packed in cardboard boxes labeled “1 million” — in a bust that federal officials called one of the largest money laundering investigations ever.

“The huge amounts of cash seized shocked even our agents,” said Virginia Rice, a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which, along with the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration, executed search warrants and arrested nine people. Three other suspects are wanted by authorities.

“Los Angeles has become the epicenter of narco dollar money laundering, with couriers bringing duffle bags full of cash to many of those businesses," Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Dugdale said. In one of three criminal cases uncovered by federal agents during the 16-month investigation, some of the cash was allegedly laundered and sent to the notorious Sinaloa Cartel to pay for the ransom of a U.S. citizen who was being held hostage and was tortured in Mexico, officials said. In another case, agents handed a business owner bundles of cash that was splattered with what appeared to be blood — and which was accepted with no questions asked.

Officials said cash was dropped off at businesses in the garment district, which was then used to pay for products that would be exported to Mexico. Once those goods arrived they were sold to a distributor, who paid in pesos, which would then be turned over to drug traffickers like the Sinaloa Cartel.

Grandmother slaughters, drinks grandson’s blood in Minna

All these Nnkan 'nbe stories. Read this one below from News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.

A Minna Chief Magistrates’ Court on Thursday ordered the remand of a 55-year-old woman, Fatima Tsaraka for allegedly killing her grandson. The accused it was alleged abducted her grandson, took him to a nearby bush where she and two others slaughtered him, made a meal of his flesh and drank his blood. 

Tsaraka, arraigned alongside Amina Mohammed, 65, and Zhitsun Aliyu, 38, is facing a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide and cannibalism. Continue

The accused were arraigned on Sept. 1, but the prosecutor requested an adjournment to enable police conclude investigation. At the resumed hearing of the case, the Magistrate, Mr Hamidu Bima, ordered the continued detention of the accused pending legal advice from the State Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

Bima subsequently adjourned the case to Sept. 25. Earlier, the Prosecutor, Cpl. Moses Mbaga, had told the court that the victim’s father, Mr Mohammed Doko of Koso Village, Lavun Local Government Area, reported the matter at `A’ Division Police Station, Bida, on Aug. 15.

He said the complainant alleged that the accused abducted the boy, took him to a nearby bush where they slaughtered him, made a meal of his flesh and drank his blood. The prosecutor said the offences contravened Sections 97, 221 and 218 of the penal code.

The accused, who pleaded guilty to the charges, however appealed for leniency and blamed their act on a spell cast on them by witches. (NAN)

Anambra state University renamed Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University

The Anambra House of Assembly on today September 11th passed a bill, changing the name of the state-owned university at Uli to Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University.

The bill was passed during the plenary of the legislature in Awka to honour the former Biafra hero.
The decision followed the report of the House Committee on Education which recommended the change of the name. Continue...


Mrs Rita Maduagwu (APGA Nnewi South 2), the Chairman, House Committee on Education, recalled that the bill had been read the second time on the floor of the house on Dec. 17, 2013.
She said that the committee found that the university’s name had been changed before from Anambra State University of Science and Technology and that there were a number of provisions in the extant law that required review.

“After due consideration of facts and information, the committee recommends that the law establishing the university be repealed while a new law aimed at amending the principal law be passed,” Maduagwu said.

Mr Valentine Ayika (PDP Njikoka1) said that the bill was due for passage since it was read second time in December 2013.

Mr Tony Muonagor (APC Idemili North) said that the aim was to immortalise the late Ojukwu and to encourage hard work among the people of the state and Nigeria at large.

Mr Ebele Obi (APC Idemili South) said that the passage was a welcome development.
Mr Obinna Emenakaya (APGA Anambra East) said that the application for the change of name was long over-due since it was meant to immortalise a man who fought and lived for the Igbo people.
The Speaker, Mrs Chinwe Nwaebili, said that the university would be a multi-campus institution located in Awka, Igbariam and Uli.

She said members of the committee on education did a good work and urged others to prove their worth on any assignment given at committee level or otherwise

Source: NAN

Actor Desmond Elliot to contest for Lagos House of Assembly

This is a LIB exclusive. Actor and movie producer Desmond Elliot is contesting for Lagos State House of Assembly in 2015 under the APC. Some of you may not know this, but Desmond is from Lagos state. See what he plans to do when elected into office after the cut...

Making History: 9/11 Museum Exhibit Designer Ricardo Mulero

NEW YORK, NY -- Like many New Yorkers, Ricardo Mulero has a September 11th story. He was getting off the subway at Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan on his way to work, when he stopped to see what a crowd of people were looking at. Just seconds before, United Airlines Flight 175 had crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Thirteen years later, Mulero has a different perspective on that tragic day, one that has earned him a historic- and prestigious role. Mulero led the team that created the National September 11 Memorial & Museum exhibition, which opened last May. In this capacity, Mulero and his team at Thinc Design worked with the museum team, architects and engineers to help plan the museum’s structure as well as the presentation of the many artifacts remaining from that tragic day.

Courtesy of Ricardo Mulero

Inside the National September 11 Memorial Museum exhibit, whose design team was led by Ricardo Mulero.

“Unlike any other history project that I have worked on, it was something that I had been part of,” Mulero told NBC News. “That became kind of interesting.”

Having previously worked on exhibitions at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Freedom Park in Pretoria, South Africa, Mulero was in a prime position to take charge of this monumental project. Still, the Puerto Rican designer, who also studied architecture and preservation, faced major challenges, not the least of which was the fact that the museum itself is quite massive, at around 125,000 square feet.

“We analyzed the space and instead of looking at the obstacles, we tried to look at what were the opportunities here,” Mulero said.

Many of the artifacts included in the exhibition are quite large, such as the remains of the World Trade Center’s large steel frames and a damaged fire truck recovered from the site. Displaying these was not only a feat of design but of engineering as well.

Like in all museums, the artifacts had to be mounted, but mounting large metal structures isn’t so easy. Mulero’s team had to figure out ways to preserve the visual integrity of the artifacts, so that they were differentiated from the engineered mounts. To do this, they painted the mounts gray so that they were less noticeable.

Courtesy of Ricardo Mulero

The "Survivors Stairs" display at the National 9/11 Museum and Memorial Exhibition. Mulero led the exhibition's design team.

The site of the museum itself was also on display, Mulero explained, providing the design team with the chance to contain the exhibits within the archaeology of the former WTC site. Mulero said the design team' ultimately favored an "austere approach" to the exhibition, making the site an artifact itself.

“We maintained that because we felt it evoked the absence of something monumental that was no longer there,” Mulero said. “It was almost like designing an exhibition that was invisible in a way, because the objects are so powerful in themselves that they evoke devastation and monumentality."

Beyond the technical hurdles of designing this museum, there was the emotional element. People around the world had seen the devastating events unfold, either in person or on television.

Added to that, Mulero had to determine ways to reconcile the tragedy in New York with the 9/11 events at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Given the museum’s national scope, Mulero said that no choice in the museum could be made arbitrarily.“Everything has a powerful message or significant story. Everything has a purpose in this museum,” said the Latino designer.

Luis Carle

Puerto Rican architect, designer and preservationist Ricardo Mulero.

While his own memories of that day remain etched in his mind, designing the museum’s exhibition has given him new perspective on what the moment in history symbolizes. Having spent over four years working with materials from that day, Mulero said he can now begin to see why many victims’ families wanted so badly for the museum to be built.

He hopes his imprint at the museum can inspire others to prevent similar atrocities from happening again.

“For future generations, I hope that they can use such an event as a positive message to better the world and use [the museum] as a resource,” Mulero said.

 

Judge finds Oscar Pistorius not guilty of murder

Judge Masipa has read much of her judgement and she's just found Oscar Pistorius not guilty of murder. The judge said there were not enough facts to prove the most serious charge of pre-meditated murder. She said the case was based entirely on circumstantial evidence and dismissed the witness testimony. She said the witnesses were unreliable as most of what they said weren't accurate. She said even if Oscar was evasive with some facts, it doesn't mean he's guilty of murder. She explained that Oscar's reaction after killing Reeva shows he didn't have criminal intent, hadn't foreseen he'd killed her. She also said evidence did not support the state's claim of second degree murder.

"The state has not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of premeditated murder. There are just not enough facts to support such a finding'- she said.

While he's not guilty of premeditated murder, he awaits to find out if he's guilty of culpable homicide (manslaughter) which is the negligent death of another. It means there was no intention to kill but the killing is unlawful. The court has adjourned for early lunch.

Reno Omokri says Doyin Okupe didn't start the #bringbackjonathan hashtag

Reno Omokri took to twitter to defend his colleague, Doyin Okupe, who many have criticized for tweeting the offensive hashtag on August 22nd. Well, if he didn't start it, why join the bandwagon?