(NEW YORK) — A 14-year-old student has created a new kind of soap that he hopes could potentially be used to treat skin cancer someday.
Heman Bekele, a high school student in Fairfax, Virginia, says it costs only $8.50 to create a batch of 20 bars of the soap, which he calls Skin Cancer Treating Soap, or SCTS.
“People might not have the equipment or have the facilities to be able to treat this disease,” Heman told ABC News about the innovation, which he said could eventually be used in the early stages of skin cancer if proven to be effective. “A bar of soap is just so simple, so affordable, so accessible in comparison to these modern new skin cancer treatments.”
According to Heman, who created the soap in 8th grade, when skin cancer cells develop, they weaken dendritic cells in the body that boost human immune responses, allowing the cancer to take over. He said SCTS contains agents that could potentially reactivate dendritic cells that help eliminate the cancer cells.
“It does this as a sort of a compound-based bar of soap,” he said. “It’s charged with different cancer fighting chemicals. And the main one, there is this drug called imidazoquinolines.”
Heman earned the title of America’s Top Young Scientist and a $25,000 prize last month after his innovation won first place in the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, an annual competition that gives 5th through 8th grade students “the chance to change their world for the better with a single innovative idea,” according to the 3M Young Scientist Lab.
“He is an incredibly bright, passionate and focused young man,” Deborah Isabelle, Heman’s mentor for the 3M Young Scientist Challenge and a product engineering specialist at 3M, said about him in a statement. “Heman is both compassionate and charismatic, which are great traits for a scientist. With his curiosity and determination, I have no doubts he will change the world for the better.”
When asked the likelihood of SCTS actually treating skin cancer, Isabelle replied that it was possible, but it would need to undergo typical clinical trials that could take between five and 10 years. At this point, Heman said he has not performed any physical trials, instead using digital molecular testing, secondary data analysis and formulaic computations to reach his results.
According to Isabelle, there are topical creams that treat skin cancer, but they are more expensive than SCTS, and use different ingredients and formulations.
Heman was born in Ethiopia and moved to the U.S. at age 4. He said he remembers the toll poverty took on many of the people in Ethiopia and how they would live, work and toil under the glaring sun. According to the young scientist, those images stuck with him, leaving him to wonder how constant exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun were affecting the people of his homeland.
“This isn’t even an issue that’s strictly in Ethiopia. It’s an issue that’s worldwide,” Heman said. “So, then, when they do end up developing issues like skin cancers, it’s really just incredibly difficult for them to be able to afford the cures.”
For now, Heman said he has a five-year plan: At the end of it, he hopes to have created a nonprofit organization where he can provide equitable and accessible skin cancer treatment to as many people as possible. But to accomplish his goal, he would have to get his treatment through clinical trials, obtain a provisional patent and have it certified by the Food and Drug Administration, he said.
When asked by ABC News what motivates him to reach for such lofty goals, Heman responded, “I think I can condense that answer into one word, and it all revolves around it: It’s ‘impact’ — making sure the science that you’re working on can have a direct impact on the world or make it a better place, in one way or another.”
(NEW YORK) — A Florida man has been charged with calling a Jewish organization and threatening to kill Jewish people, according to court documents unsealed by the Justice Department on Wednesday night.
Deep Alpesh Kumar Patel, a 21-year-old from Sarasota, Florida, allegedly called the World Jewish Congress in New York City and left a threatening voicemail, authorities said in a release.
“If I had a chance, I would kill every single one of you Israelis,” Patel is alleged to have said in an expletive-filled tirade, according to the Justice Department. “Every single one of you! Cause mass genocide of every single Israeli.”
When police officers interviewed Patel at his home, they say he confirmed that he made the call but denied threatening anyone.
“When the officers asked Patel to describe the content of the telephone calls, he explained that he had called Jewish centers to express his family’s anger with Israel for the genocide of the Palestinian people. Patel stated that he did not intend to scare or threaten anyone, but that he wanted to use the harshest language possible to convey his anger,” the complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida read.
A lawyer for Patel didn’t immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Earlier in the week, FBI Director Christopher Wray told a Senate panel that Jewish people make up 2.4% of the U.S. population but receive nearly 60% of all the religious-based threats in the United States.
“The reality is that Jewish people are uniquely targeted by different terrorist organizations across the spectrum,” Wray said.
(REMERTON, Ga.) — A 21-year-old former high school soccer star in Georgia was struck and killed by a stray bullet as she was wrapping up her shift working at a bar over the weekend. Authorities said they are still searching for the shooter.
Brianna Long and other employees were closing The Pier bar in Remerton at around 2:30 a.m. Sunday when there was a shooting outside the bar. The bar had closed to customers at 2 a.m.
Long was taken to South Georgia Medical Center, where she later died.
Police said an early investigation suggests that there was an altercation outside The Pier that led to the shooting, according to the GBI.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the death.
Long was selected from among 5,000 students as the Regional Winner for Positive Athlete Georgia, according to Paulding County High School.
Many customers were still outside the bar during the shooting and multiple vehicles were shot, according to the GBI. A GBI medical examiner will perform an autopsy.
The bar, where Long worked as a bartender, released a statement on Instagram, saying, “As most of you know we lost the beautiful soul of Brianna Long tragically and suddenly early Sunday Morning. Writing this seems impossible and is incredibly devastating, like a terrible nightmare we wish we could all wake up from.”
“It’s hard to find the right words because there is really nothing right about the situation,” the bar added. “If you knew Bri, you loved her. Her kindness and love radiated onto to everyone who had the opportunity to meet her, know her, and love her.”
The investigation remains ongoing and anyone with information on the case is asked to call the GBI Thomasville Office at 229-225-4090 or the Remerton Police Department at 229-247-2320.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — Desmond Mills Jr., one of the five former Memphis police officers charged in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols, plans to change his plea to federal offenses, his attorney confirmed to ABC News.
The attorney, Blake Ballin, said Mills will be entering a change of plea during a hearing on Thursday. Mills previously pleaded not guilty back in September to federal civil rights, conspiracy and obstruction offenses.
Nichols, 29, died on Jan. 10, three days after a violent confrontation with police following a traffic stop.
The federal indictment alleges that Mills — along with Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith and Emmitt Martin III — deprived Nichols of his constitutional rights during the confrontation.
Each of the defendants, according to the indictment, were involved in beating Nichols during the Jan. 7 traffic stop and none relayed information about their assault to the Memphis police dispatcher, their supervisor or the EMTs and paramedics who were coming to the scene.
The officers allegedly spoke at the scene about how they had struck Nichols, “including hitting Nichols with straight haymakers and taking turns hitting him with so many pieces,” but they also did not relay that information to first responders or their supervisors even as his condition “deteriorated and he became unresponsive,” the indictment alleges.
The other four defendants pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.
All five former officers also face state felony charges, including second-degree murder, aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping, in connection with Nichols’ death. They pleaded not guilty.
The Memphis Police Department fired the five officers — who were on the department’s now-disbanded SCORPION unit — following an investigation into Nichols’ death.
Correction: This story has been updated to say Desmond Mills’ lawyer has announced his client will change his plea, but he has not said what the change of plea will be.
(WASHINGTON) — The House on Wednesday will weigh two censure resolutions, one of which is against Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib for her criticism of Israel over its response to the deadly Hamas terror attack.
Tlaib last month drew the ire of colleagues, including some Democrats, after she refused to apologize for blaming Israel for a deadly hospital blast in Gaza in the early days of the Israel-Hamas conflict. U.S. officials said the initial evidence suggests the blast came from an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket, not Israel.
The resolution to censure Tlaib, brought by Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, cites several of her comments dating back to 2019 and her recent participation in a demonstration at the Capitol calling for an end to the war.
Greene has accused Tlaib, who is the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress, of “anti-semitic activity” and “sympathizing with terrorist organizations.” The U.S. has designated Hamas a terrorist organization.
The Michigan Democrat slammed Greene’s measure as “unhinged” and “deeply Islamophobic.”
“I am proud to stand in solidarity with Jewish peace advocates calling for a ceasefire and an end to the violence,” Tlaib wrote in a statement. “I will not be bullied, I will not be dehumanized, and I will not be silenced. I will continue to call for ceasefire, for the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid, for the release of hostages and those arbitrarily detained, and for every American to be brought home.”
Greene’s resolution goes so far as to falsely allege Tlaib led an “insurrection” at the Capitol complex on Oct. 18 when thousands of people gathered both in the rotunda of the Cannon Office Building and outside on the National Mall calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.
The protest, which was organized by the Jewish Voice for Peace, a progressive Jewish group that has organized several demonstrations demanding a cease fire in the Israel-Hamas war. The D.C protest led to more than 300 people being arrested for demonstrating in the Capitol but it never turned violent in the way the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection did.
Tlaib spoke to demonstrators outside the National Mall. She became emotional as she called for a cease-fire and criticized President Joe Biden for what she called his unwavering support of Israel, which she alleged was committing genocide.
“President Biden, not all Americans are with you on this one and you need to understand that. We are literally watching people commit genocide and killing the vast majority just like this, and we still stand by and say nothing. We will remember this,” Tlaib said.
Hours after Greene introduced her resolution against Tlaib, Democratic Rep. Becca Balint fired back by offering her own against the Georgia congresswoman — who has her own history of inflammatory rhetoric.
Balint claimed Greene has “repeatedly fanned the flames of racism, antisemitism, LGBTQ hate speech, Islamophobia, anti-Asian hate, xenophobia and other forms of hatred.”
A vote to censure a member of Congress does not hold power beyond a public condemnation of the member’s behavior. It does not deny privileges in Congress or expel the member. A simple majority is all that is needed for a censure resolution to pass.
Newly-elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, when asked about the resolutions earlier this week, told reporters, “We got a lot of discussions this week, we’ll see what happens.”
The House on Wednesday will hold its first votes of the week on efforts by party leaders to table, or effectively kill, the resolutions.
ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
(MIAMI) — The judge overseeing the probe into former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents suggested Wednesday that she would move some of the deadlines in the case, acknowledging that the trial could collide with the trial date set in Trump’s federal election interference case in Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon did not explicitly say whether she would move the trial from its current date of May 20, but said she would make “adjustments” to the schedule — something that attorneys for special counsel Jack Smith acknowledged needs to be done, after Cannon recently paused any litigation involving the handling of the classified materials at the center of the probe.
Cannon said she was having “a hard time seeing how, realistically, this work can be accomplished in a compressed period of time” given that Trump’s court schedule in the election interference trial — which is scheduled to begin March 4 — could consume March, April and possibly May.
Jay Bratt, the head of Justice Department’s counterintelligence division, said Trump’s position in both of the special counsel’s probes has been “to delay it as long as they can.”
“The court should not let the D.C. case drive the schedule here,” Bratt told the judge.
Cannon then asked if the special counsel is aware of any other case, with the same defendant in multiple jurisdictions, where no consideration was given to the defendant assisting in his defense for the various different legal matters.
Bratt acknowledged that the trial scheduled in the election interference case could potentially collide with the documents trial — but said that’s something they don’t know at this point, given the various different potential avenues for pretrial litigation.
Trump pleaded not guilty in June to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information ranging from U.S. nuclear secrets to the nation’s defense capabilities, and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back.
The former president, along with longtime aide Walt Nauta and staffer Carlos De Oliveira also pleaded not guilty in a superseding indictment to allegedly attempting to delete surveillance footage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Trump’s attorneys also raised concerns about the amount of discovery they have to review, including the Mar-a-Lago security footage and troves of classified and unclassified documents.
Trump’s lead attorney, Todd Blanche, said the discovery provided to the legal team has been “complicated” and “voluminous” and said that the security footage is “cumbersome if not impossible” to view because it cannot be loaded effectively on their computers.
Nauta’s attorney, Stanley Woodward, raised the same concerns, adding that he still does not have the clearance needed to review some of the classified documents.
The defense estimated it would take 10 years to review the entirety of the discovery provided by the government.
A day after Trump joined his attorneys in Miami to review the case’s classified evidence in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility or SCIF — a specially-equipped secure room for viewing highly classified materials — Judge Cannon expressed concern about the lack of a SCIF in Fort Pierce, Florida, where her chambers are located.
Saying the lack of such a facility does “impact the court’s ability” as well, the judge noted that a SCIF could be established by early next year, but said that was an optimistic assessment.
The judge said she also had concerns about the timing of the trial given the nature of the superseding indictment and issues surrounding security clearances with some of the defense lawyers.
(NEW YORK) — With less than one month until Thanksgiving and the start of the winter holiday season, Americans are already eyeing grocery prices to gauge how much their festive gatherings are going to cost this year.
Experts are encouraging consumers to start making shopping plans early for the holiday feast with a budget in mind, especially with inflation still putting the pinch on wallets at check out.
“It is still sticker shock — this year over last year prices are up about 2.4%, but that’s on top of the 11.4% from the year before that,” Phil Lempert, CEO of SupermarketGuru, told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
This year, major retailers are adjusting their game plans amid inflation in order to keep a traditional turkey dinner more affordable.
Target announced Wednesday that it will be serving up a Thanksgiving meal basket to feed four for under $25, including a turkey at less than $1 per pound, an assortment of sides and desserts under $5.
Starting Wednesday, customers can shop the Target Thanksgiving meal both online and in store that includes must-have staples: a 10-pound Good & Gather Premium Basted Young Turkey (Frozen); 5 pounds of Good & Gather Russet Potatoes; 14.5-ounces Good & Gather Cut Green Beans; Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup; Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce; Stove Top Turkey Stuffing Mix; and Heinz HomeStyle Roasted Turkey Gravy.
For shoppers who plan to host a larger feast, Target suggests doubling this list to serve eight guests.
John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart U.S. — the largest retailer in the country — joined Good Morning America last month and, in an ABC News Exclusive, revealed Walmart’s new plan to make Thanksgiving more affordable.
“Last Thanksgiving we decided we were going to sell a Thanksgiving meal at the same price as 2021,” Furner said of the strategy they implemented across other major holidays. “This year, finally, we are able to have the Thanksgiving basket that the prices are coming down versus a year ago — we are really proud to say that the price of a Thanksgiving meal is going to come down.”
This year, the Thanksgiving basket from Walmart includes ingredients to make a meal for up to 10 people, which Furner said will “sell for around $2 less than last year” at just over $70.
Furner added that the move comes on the heels of consumer feedback: “92% of our customers tell us they are concerned about food inflation.”
Inflation is up 3.7% from a year ago and, according to Moody’s Analytics, American households are spending $235 more per month on the same goods and services than they spent a year ago.
Staple items such as ham and potatoes will cost more this year, up 6.9% and 2.7% respectively. Egg prices are back down by 28.8% from last year, now costing $2.07 on average.
“Last year, bird flu caused panic with over 60 million birds having to be cold now, so far it’s only hit about 180,000 birds,” Lempert said. “It could be that turkey is gonna be less expensive this year than in previous years.”
Turkey is now $1.27 per pound, down 22% since the same time last year, thanks in part to a decrease in avian flu that previously sent prices soaring, and thus, has helped produce more turkeys.
As Americans have seen shifts in supply chains, changes in consumer habits and other financial impacts that came out of the pandemic, Furner said “it’s been an interesting couple years — from last year, when inflation really started things like food and consumables picked up and we see more people eating at home.”
“Whether it’s food or getting ready for guest, people are buying early,” Furner also said.
Starting Nov. 1, the holiday food basket at Walmart will be offered at the lower price through Dec. 26. There will be two purchasing options: one with ingredients for customers who want to cook from scratch, and one for customers that like more convenient, ready-to-bake options.
“Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal includes customers’ favorites and fixings including many national brands, from turkey (for under $1/lb.!) and ham to stuffing and pumpkin pie,” a Walmart press release stated.
The holiday meal baskets are available for online order, pickup and delivery, as well as in-store.
Other retailers including Aldi have announced savings up to 50% on a list of 70 Thanksgiving items, including gravy, potatoes and pumpkin pies.
According to experts, one way to help maximize your dollar is to shop early for things that won’t spoil and opting for generic over name brand products.
“Shop early. Make sure you have that shopping list and look at the circulars,” Lempert said of the upcoming “price war.”
“You’re going to see Kroger, Albertson’s, Shop Right — just about everybody else wanting to get our money,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — Jurors will soon begin deliberating in the trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, nearly a year after the cryptocurrency trading platform’s collapse, as federal prosecutors are accusing him of orchestrating one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history.
Bankman-Fried, 31, faces seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering centered on his alleged use of customer deposits on FTX — once valued at $32 billion — to cover losses at his privately controlled hedge fund, Alameda Research, as well as to buy lavish real estate and make political donations.
The defense has characterized Bankman-Fried as a math geek who was naïve and didn’t set out to defraud anyone, while the prosecution laid out the case that this was an elaborate and intentional fraud.
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to all counts. If convicted, he could face a sentence of up to 110 years in prison.
With closing statements slated to begin on Wednesday, here’s a look back at key moments of the trial:
Bankman-Fried takes the stand
The last witness to take the stand was Bankman-Fried himself, testifying in his own defense across three days.
Judge Lewis Kaplan allowed certain questions about the involvement of lawyers in FTX policies but declined to give defense attorneys the wide berth they were seeking to show Bankman-Fried acted in good faith because he relied on the advice of FTX lawyers.
During his testimony on Oct. 27, Bankman-Fried recognized that “a lot of people got hurt” due to the collapse of FTX. He said he “made a number of small mistakes and a number of big mistakes” — but denied intentional wrongdoing.
“There were significant oversights,” he said.
On cross-examination, prosecutors portrayed Bankman-Fried as a hypocrite out for good publicity. He testified on Oct. 31 he was unaware that Alameda Research employees were spending $8 billion of FTX customer funds. No one was fired as a result, he said, suggesting it would not be unusual for him not to know which of his employees spent the money.
Alameda CEO reveals wrongdoings to employees in secret recording played in court
Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research and Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend, was one of the government’s star witnesses.
On Oct. 12, prosecutors played portions of a secretly made recording of a November 2022 all-hands Alameda employee meeting during which Ellison revealed the firm had been siphoning billions of dollars in FTX customer funds and was on the verge of collapse.
“I mean, the basic story here is that starting last year, Alameda was kind of borrowing a bunch of money via open-term loans and used that to make various illiquid investments,” Ellison is heard saying. “Then with crypto being down, the crash, the — like, credit crunch this year, most of Alameda’s loans got called. And in order to, like, meet those loan recalls, we ended up like borrowing a bunch of funds on FTX, which led to FTX having a shortfall in user funds.”
An Alameda employee secretly recorded the Hong Kong meeting and passed the recording to a colleague, Christian Drappi, who testified at trial that he submitted the audio files to federal prosecutors after consulting with an attorney.
When asked by a staff member whose idea it was to make up Alameda’s losses with FTX customer money, Ellison replied, “Um, Sam, I guess.”
Ellison says Sam Bankman-Fried didn’t think rules applied to him
Ellison testified that Bankman-Fried believed in utilitarianism and thought rules against lying or stealing inhibited his ability to maximize the greatest benefit for the most people.
“He didn’t think rules like don’t lie or don’t steal fit into that framework,” Ellison testified on Oct. 11.
Ellison said Bankman-Fried cautioned her against putting anything in writing, once telling her “anything we put on Slack should be something we’re comfortable seeing in The New York Times.”
Ellison previously pleaded guilty to fraud charges and, during her testimony, said she confessed her wrongdoing to the FBI to get a plea deal.
Ellison details $100 million bribe to China
While on the stand on Oct. 11, Ellison described a “large bribe” Alameda paid to Chinese government officials in November 2021 “to get some of our trading accounts unlocked.” Alameda had two trading accounts worth about $1 billion on exchanges based in China which were both frozen in 2021 as part of a Chinese government investigation into money laundering.
It was a substantial amount of Alameda’s trading capital at the time, and Ellison said Bankman-Fried “said that we should send the cryptocurrency transfers” — equaling about $100 million.
Prosecutors use Bankman-Fried’s GMA interview against him
After his cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed, Bankman-Fried tried to explain himself to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America. Federal prosecutors used that interview against him during the trial.
The interview was played for the jury on Oct. 19, after FTX’s former general counsel, Can Sun, testified he “never” would have approved lending FTX customer money to Alameda.
“Never approved anything like that, and I would never have done it either,” Sun said. “No, absolutely not.”
The jury then saw an excerpt of Stephanopoulos’ interview in which he asked Bankman-Fried, “If Alameda is borrowing the money that belongs to FTX depositors, that’s a bright red line, isn’t it?”
In response, Bankman-Fried said, “There existed a borrow-lending facility on FTX and I think that’s probably covered, I don’t remember exactly where, but somewhere in the terms of service.”
“But they’d have to approve of that,” Stephanopoulos countered. “They’re saying they didn’t approve of it here — they’re saying you approved of it.”
After the excerpt concluded, prosecutor Danielle Sassoon turned back to Sun and asked, “Was the borrow-lend facility a potential justification that you had discussed with the defendant on Nov. 7, 2022?”
“Yes,” Sun said.
“And what had you said to the defendant about that?” Sassoon asked.
“It was not supported by the facts,” Sun said.
When asked what was Bankman-Fried’s response, Sun said, “He acknowledged it.”
Ellison testifies SBF wanted to cultivate ‘eccentric’ image
Bankman-Fried’s disheveled image — from his hair to his clothing — often came up during the trial. Ellison testified on Oct. 11 that FTX’s founder was “trying to cultivate an image of himself as sort of a very smart, competent, somewhat eccentric founder” to attract the attention of certain financial media, such as Michael Lewis, whose new book Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon chronicles the collapse of FTX.
When the prosecution showed photos of Sam dressed slobbily, Ellison testified it was part of the image he wanted: “He said he thought his hair had been very valuable. He said ever since [his job at trading firm] Jane Street, he thought he had gotten higher bonuses because of his hair and that it was an important part of FTX’s narrative and image.”
While on the stand on Oct. 27, Bankman-Fried denied his image was calculated to draw attention to himself, but that the T-shirts, shorts and unruly hair were because he was “kind of busy and lazy.” He said he became a media personality by “accident.”
FTX co-founder admits to committing crimes
FTX co-founder Gary Wang — another government witness — admitted to committing crimes during his testimony.
“Did you commit financial crimes while working at FTX?” assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Roos asked Wang on Oct. 6.
“Yes,” Wang answered, adding he committed wire fraud, securities fraud and commodities fraud with other people, including Bankdman-Fried.
Wang agreed to testify as part of an agreement with prosecutors. He previously pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
Lavish lifestyle in the Bahamas was focus of prosecution
Prosecutors have been exploring the unusual living arrangements and the luxurious lifestyle Bankman-Fried had while living with nine other employees at a $35 million apartment in the Bahamas. Government witness Adam Yedidia, who worked as a developer at FTX, testified at the start of the trial that Alameda paid for the apartment.
The defense tried to downplay the prosecution’s characterization of lavish spending, making Yedidia testify that Bankman-Fried drove a Toyota Corolla, did not own a yacht and slept on a beanbag chair in the Bahamas.
(WASHINGTON) — Two senators are asking U.S. regulators to address “unfair” practices in airlines’ frequent flyer programs.
In a letter sent Monday night, Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., asked the Department of Transportation and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to help “protect consumers against unfair and deceptive practices in airlines’ frequent flyer and loyalty programs.” The programs encourage customer loyalty with a system where they can accumulate points that they can then redeem for travel with the airline or other rewards.
“While these programs may have originated to incentivize and reward true ‘frequent flyers,’ they have evolved to include co-branded credit cards and now often significantly or exclusively focus on dollars spent using these co-branded credit cards,” Durbin and Marshall wrote in the letter they sent to the agencies.
The letter cited reports that “airlines are engaged in unfair, abusive, and deceptive practices with respect to these loyalty programs.”
Durbin and Marshall’s letter said the airlines can make changes to their loyalty programs without notifying the consumer; that there’s a disparity between the value of points at purchase and at redemption; and that the charge for transferring points is so steep that consumers ultimately lose the value of the points in the transaction.
An industry analyst predicted that the airlines will push back on the lawmakers’ letter.
“I expect the airlines are going to fight this aggressively and paint a picture of doom,” Henry Harteveldt said. “There’s going to be some drama around this, that’s for sure.”
“Airlines have been changing the value of their loyalty program credits for decades,” Harteveldt said. “This is not new. And airlines have constantly been changing the benefits people receive and don’t receive.”
The senators on Monday also asked how the DOT and CFPB are planning to address the airlines’ practices and if they have the regulatory authority needed to protect consumers.
A DOT spokesperson confirmed that the department received the letter and plans to respond to the senators directly. A CFPB spokesperson said they received the letter and are reviewing it.
Harteveldt, the analyst, said the letter brought up valid points.
“I do think there is some merit to what they want to explore in this,” he said. “Do airlines provide enough transparency into their programs? Are they truthful enough with consumers when enticing them to sign up for the loyalty programs?”
Earlier this year, Durbin and Marshall introduced legislation to increase competition in the credit card market and bring down swipe fees.
The airlines have spoken out against that bill, saying it would devastate rewards programs.
(WASHINGTON) — The House has scheduled a Wednesday night vote on a Republican-led resolution to expel embattled Rep. George Santos, who maintains his innocence after being indicted on a slew of federal charges.
The push to try and oust Santos is coming from fellow GOP lawmakers in the New York delegation, who argue his past lies and embellishments about his personal history and his various legal entanglements make him unfit for office.
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito on Thursday formally filed the expulsion resolution as privileged — which forced the House to move quickly on Santos’ possible removal. D’Esposito was joined by Reps. Mike Lawler, Nick LaLota, Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams.
The resolution would need a two-thirds majority to succeed, or 289 votes if all 433 members are present — a high bar for passage.
D’Esposito sent a letter from the group to colleagues on Wednesday urging them to back the resolution to force Santos out.
“We strongly urge you to vote in favor of this resolution and encourage you to contact any one of us should you have any doubts about expelling George Santos from this body,” they wrote.
Only five members in U.S. history have been expelled from the House. If this resolution passes, Santos would be the first expulsion since 2002, when Ohio Democrat James Traficant was removed after being convicted of 10 felony counts of racketeering, bribery and fraud.
Santos hasn’t been convicted but is charged with 23 counts as prosecutors allege he stole people’s identities, made charges on his campaign donors’ credit cards and lied to federal election officials.
The congressman pleaded not guilty last week and has repeatedly said he won’t step down. His trial is set for 2024.
“I’m strong in my convictions that I can prove my innocence,” he told reporters last month.
Republicans often count on Santos, who represents a swing district on Long Island, to help pass legislation in the House because of the party’s single-digit majority. Newly-elected Speaker Mike Johnson has signaled concern that expelling him could endanger that.
It’s not the first time that Santos has been threatened with an expulsion vote.
Democrats tried to force the House to consider an expulsion resolution back in May, when the first set of charges came down against Santos. Republicans avoided that vote, instead choosing to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee — which released a rare statement Monday saying they’ll announce next steps for their Santos investigation on or before Nov. 17.
The committee’s investigative subcommittee, which has been reviewing allegations involving Santos, said it “has contacted 40 witnesses, reviewed more than 170,000 pages of documents and authorized 37 subpoenas.”
Santos has said he intended to cooperate with the committee.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
