Articles written by tom hays
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 69
Weinstein rape trial opens, marking milestone for #MeToo
NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein went on trial Wednesday in a landmark moment for the # MeToo movement, with prosecutors painting him as a sexual predator who used his Hollywood clout to abuse women for decades, while his lawyers sought to portray h...
R Kelly charged with paying bribe before marriage to Aaliyah
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors are accusing singer R. Kelly of scheming with others to pay for a fake ID for an unnamed female a day before he married R&B singer Aaliyah, then 15 years old, in a secret ceremony in 1994. The revised indictment f...
Weinstein to be rearraigned as DA seeks actress's testimony
NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors are bringing a new indictment against Harvey Weinstein in an attempt to bolster their case with testimony from an actress who says he raped her in 1993 . The disgraced movie mogul is set to be arraigned Monday on the r...
R. Kelly pleads not guilty to sexually abusing women, girls
NEW YORK (AP) — Embattled R&B singer R. Kelly pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges he sexually abused women and girls who attended his concerts as his lawyers continued to label the alleged victims disgruntled "groupies." A sullen-looking K...
Financier Jeffrey Epstein found injured in jail cell
NEW YORK (AP) — Wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein was found on the floor of his jail cell with bruises on his neck early this week while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday. It was not clear w...
Deemed dangerous, Epstein denied bail in sex abuse case
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge who denied bail for jailed financier Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges Thursday said he poses a danger to the public and seems to still have an uncontrollable urge for sexual conduct with or in the presence of u...
Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman sentenced to life in prison
NEW YORK (AP) — Mexican drug kingpin and escape artist Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was sentenced Wednesday to life behind bars in a U.S. prison, expressing no remorse over his conviction for a massive drug conspiracy that spread murder and mayhem f...
Self-help guru convicted in lurid sex-trafficking case
NEW YORK (AP) — The guru of a cult-like self-improvement group that attracted heiresses and Hollywood actresses was convicted Wednesday of turning his female devotees into his sex slaves through such means as shame, punishment and nude blackmail p...
Witness testifies on secret society's 'sex slave' initiation
NEW YORK (AP) — A woman testified on Tuesday that shortly after being recruited for a secret "master-slave" society within an upstate New York self-help group she got a disturbing message from her handler: It was her turn to "seduce" the group's l...
Heiress pleads guilty in NXIVM sex slave case
NEW YORK (AP) — An heiress pleaded guilty on Friday in a sensational case accusing a cult-like upstate New York group of creating a secret harem of sex slaves for the group's self-anointed spiritual leader. Clare Bronfman admitted in her plea in f...
Prosecutors say Avenatti wanted in on NY sex-slave case
NEW YORK (AP) — An already bizarre case accusing a secretive self-help group in upstate New York of engaging in sex-trafficking took another strange turn Wednesday thanks to firebrand attorney Michael Avenatti and a courtroom scene caused by a w...
Suspect in mob boss slaying could face lethal Mafia justice
NEW YORK (AP) — As Anthony Comello sits in jail on murder charges, he may have more than legal problems to worry about — namely, whether the Mafia is going to get its hands on him. The man he is accused of killing was the reputed boss of New Yor...
Reputed Gambino crime boss shot to death in New York City
NEW YORK (AP) — The reputed boss of New York's Gambino crime family was shot to death in front of his home by a gunman who may have staged a car accident to lure him outside, dying a virtual unknown compared with his swaggering 1980s-era p...
Notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman convicted
NEW YORK (AP) — Mexico's most notorious drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was convicted Tuesday of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation after a three-month trial packed with Hollywood-style tales of grisly killings, political p...
Jurors at El Chapo trial hear him on intercepted phone calls
NEW YORK (AP) — Infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman didn't sound pleased on a 2011 phone call as he listened to his chief enforcer for his cartel try to justify a beat down he gave some crooked police officers. After the two went b...
El Chapo jury hears testimony from cartel cohort
NEW YORK (AP) — A former Mexican drug trafficker who once claimed he was a double agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration took center stage on Thursday against infamous kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman at a U.S. trial. Vicente Zambada b...
Ex-Mexican prosecutor pleads guilty with El Chapo nearby
NEW YORK (AP) — A former state attorney general from Mexico pleaded guilty on Friday to U.S. drug-trafficking charges at a courthouse where an infamous kingpin was also appearing at a conspiracy trial. Both Edgar Veytia, once chief law enforcement o...
Colorful cast of cooperators put the heat on El Chapo
NEW YORK (AP) — One was a gambling addict who got plastic surgery to change his appearance even after his predecessor died from doing the same thing. Another claims to have begun his life of crime at age 4. A third was a kid from Chicago who made a...
'Dirty deeds': Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen gets 3 years in prison
NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's one-time fixer, was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison for crimes that included arranging the payment of hush money to conceal his boss' alleged sexual affairs, telling a judge that h...
Drug lord who changed his face testifies against 'El Chapo'
NEW YORK (AP) — A former Colombian drug lord known for an extreme plastic-surgery makeover meant to hide his identity testified Thursday at a U.S. trial about his lucrative drug-trafficking alliance with notorious Mexican counterpart Joaquin "El Chap...
US trial of Mexican drug lord "El Chapo" gets underway
NEW YORK (AP) — The infamous Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was alternately portrayed at his U.S. trial on Tuesday as a calculating leader of a bloodthirsty smuggling operation that funneled tons of cocaine and other d...
3 college basketball recruiting insiders convicted in NYC
NEW YORK (AP) — An Adidas executive and two other insiders from the high-stakes world of college basketball recruiting were convicted Wednesday in a corruption case that prosecutors said exposed the underbelly of the sport. A federal jury in M...
College basketball fixer describes 'black op' payments
NEW YORK (AP) — A cadre of fixers in the world of college basketball conducted covert "black ops" to funnel tens of thousands of dollars in secret cash payments to the families of top prospects like DeAndre Ayton to lure them to major programs, a f...
Trial puts spotlight on dark side of college basketball
NEW YORK (AP) — Big time college basketball was cast at the opening of a criminal trial Tuesday as a corrupt enterprise where major schools and their heralded coaches rely on athletic gear giants to do their dirty work, paying cash to struggling f...
Woman stabs 5 - including newborns - at New York nursery
NEW YORK (AP) — A woman stabbed five people — including three newborn babies — and then slashed her wrist early Friday inside a New York City home that was apparently being used as an unlicensed neighborhood nursery for new mothers and their children...