Articles written by Tom Hays
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Prosecutors: No criminal charges expected from Giuliani raid
NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will not face criminal charges over his interactions with Ukrainian figures in the runup to the 2020 presidential election, federal prosecutors revealed in a letter to a judge Monday. Prosecuto...
Trump ally Tom Barrack acquitted of foreign agent charges
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's inaugural committee chair, Tom Barrack, was acquitted of all counts Friday at a federal trial in which he was accused of using his personal access to the former president to secretly promote the interests of the U...
Jury: Kevin Spacey didn't molest actor Anthony Rapp in 1986
NEW YORK (AP) — A jury sided with Kevin Spacey on Thursday in one of the lawsuits that derailed the film star's career, finding he did not sexually abuse Anthony Rapp, then 14, while both were relatively unknown actors in Broadway plays in 1986. T...
Co-defendant in Central Park jogger case is exonerated
NEW YORK (AP) — A co-defendant of the so-called Central Park Five, whose convictions in a notorious 1989 rape of a jogger were thrown out more than a decade later, had his conviction on a related charge overturned Monday. Steven Lopez was exonerated...
Ghislaine Maxwell sentenced to 20 years for helping Epstein
NEW YORK (AP) — Ghislaine Maxwell, the jet-setting socialite who once consorted with royals, presidents and billionaires, was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison for helping the financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. The stiff s...
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr pleads guilty to forcible touching
NEW YORK (AP) — Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. has pleaded guilty to forcibly kissing a worker at a New York nightclub in 2018, calling himself a "celebrity figure" who meant no harm. Gooding also publicly apologized for the first time to two other women w...
Judge upholds Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking conviction
NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. judge refused to throw out Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking conviction Friday, despite a juror's failure to disclose before the trial began that he'd been a victim of childhood sexual abuse. Maxwell, a British socialite, was...
Ghislaine Maxwell convicted in Epstein sex abuse case
NEW YORK (AP) — The British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted Wednesday of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by the American millionaire Jeffrey Epstein. The verdict capped a monthlong trial featuring sordid accounts of the sexual e...
Ghislaine Maxwell jury begins deliberations after closings
NEW YORK (AP) — A jury began deliberations Monday, tasked with considering whether Ghislaine Maxwell is a dangerous predator who recruited teens to be sexually abused by financier Jeffrey Epstein — as prosecutors put it — or the "innocent woman...
Ghislaine Maxwell declines to testify as defense rests case
NEW YORK (AP) — After 12 days of testimony over three weeks, jurors heard from the final witnesses Friday in the sex trafficking trial of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who told the judge she wouldn't testify because she was confident p...
4 women met Maxwell as teens. They're accusing her as adults
NEW YORK (AP) — One was an aspiring musician looking for her big break in show business. Another was a model striving for a leg up in British society. A third was a struggling middle school dropout. The last was an impressionable high school s...
1st of 4 accusers takes stand at Ghislaine Maxwell trial
NEW YORK (AP) — A woman testified on Tuesday that British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was sometimes present when the witness, then just 14, had sexual interactions with the financier Jeffrey Epstein. The witness, using the pseudonym "Jane," was the f...
R. Kelly says he won't testify at his sex trafficking trial
NEW YORK (AP) — R. Kelly told a judge on Wednesday that he won't take the witness stand at his sex trafficking trial, meaning he'll avoid the risk of a potentially brutal cross-examination. "You don't want to testify, correct?" U.S. District Judge A...
R. Kelly accuser says he kept gun nearby while berating her
NEW YORK (AP) — One of R. Kelly's accusers testified on Wednesday that he kept a gun by his side while he berated her as a prelude to forcing her to give him oral sex in a Los Angeles music studio. "He had a weapon, so I wasn't going to step out o...
Scenes from Week 2 of the R. Kelly sex-trafficking trial
NEW YORK (AP) — The second week of the R. Kelly sex-trafficking trial in New York City proved to be an exercise by prosecutors to paint the "I Believe I Can Fly" R&B star as a man-child control freak and a compulsive sex offender who exploited v...
After years of suspicion, reckoning for high-flying R. Kelly
NEW YORK (AP) — Most people know him for "I Believe I Can Fly," the 1996 sing-along hit that became an inspirational anthem played at school graduations, weddings and in advertisements. Or possibly for a stinging parody by comedian Dave Chappelle. B...
2 passengers, puppy exit NYC flight via slide before takeoff
NEW YORK (AP) — A Delta flight out of New York City was halted after a Florida couple traveling with a Great Dane puppy fled the aircraft with the pet using an emergency slide, an airline spokesperson and authorities said Tuesday. The incident i...
NXIVM guru gets 120 years in prison in sex-slaves case
NEW YORK (AP) — Disgraced self-improvement guru Keith Raniere, whose NXIVM followers included millionaires and Hollywood actors, was sentenced to 120 years on Tuesday for turning some adherents into sex slaves branded with his initials and s...
Tracking NYC's coronavirus fight, from 911 call to ER door
NEW YORK (AP) — The coronavirus crisis is taxing New York City's 911 system like never before. Operators pick up a new call every 15.5 seconds. Panicked voices tell of loved ones in declining health. There are multitudes of cardiac arrests and r...
Weinstein lawyers seek mercy after his 'historic' fall
NEW YORK (AP) — With prosecutors seeking a severe punishment for Harvey Weinstein in his landmark #MeToo case, his lawyers argued on Monday that he deserves mercy for his already "historic fall from grace" and serious health issues. In a letter f...
Weinstein jury indicates it is split on most serious counts
NEW YORK (AP) — The jury in Harvey Weinstein's rape trial indicated Friday that it is deadlocked on the most serious charges against the once powerful Hollywood mogul, but the judge told the panel it must keep working. In a note to the judge late i...
Prosecutor: Weinstein saw victims as 'complete disposables'
NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein considered himself such a big shot in Hollywood that he thought he could get away with treating aspiring actresses like "complete disposables," a prosecutor told a jury in closing arguments Friday at his New York C...
Woman says Weinstein yelled, 'You owe me!' before raping her
NEW YORK (AP) — A key accuser in Harvey Weinstein's trial testified Friday that he raped her twice, once bellowing, "You owe me!" as he dragged her into a bedroom. The first time, the heavyset Hollywood tycoon trapped her in a New York hotel room i...
Accusers: Weinstein excused lewd acts as a showbiz norm
NEW YORK (AP) — Two women who say they met Harvey Weinstein when they were aspiring actresses in their 20s testified at his rape trial Wednesday that the one-time Hollywood titan preyed on their dreams of stardom to sexually assault them. Dawn D...
Actress Rosie Perez says she was told of Weinstein rape
NEW YORK (AP) — "Do the Right Thing" actress Rosie Perez testified Friday that fellow screen star Annabella Sciorra told her in the mid-1990s that Harvey Weinstein had raped her but that she couldn't go to the police because "he'd destroy me." Taking...
