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How a startup CEO was accused of $175M fraud while denying she made up her success

April 7, 2023 by WDNY Radio

How a startup CEO was accused of 5M fraud while denying she made up her success

(NEW YORK) — When JPMorgan Chase announced two years ago that it would purchase Frank, a startup college financial planning company for students, the global banking giant said that by acquiring the apparently popular platform for $175 million it hoped to strengthen its relationship with millions of young people.

But JPMorgan and federal authorities now believe there was a big problem: Many of the millions of students said to be using Frank never existed.

The Department of Justice filed criminal fraud charges, which were unsealed Tuesday, against Javice, Frank’s founder and former CEO, alleging she “engaged in a brazen scheme” when she sold her company to JPMorgan Chase in 2021.

The Securities and Exchange Commission separately announced its own fraud complaint against Javice on Tuesday, seeking a variety of punishments including civil penalties and a ban on her being a corporate officer.

Both federal prosecutors and the SEC accused Javice of defrauding JPMorgan into believing Frank had 4.25 million users, when in reality the number was less than 300,000.

According to federal authorities, the 31-year-old Javice allegedly fabricated and manipulated Frank’s data to make it appear as though her company serviced far more customers than it actually did. As a result of her suspected deceit, she stood to make more than $45 million, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Javice faces charges of bank fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud affecting a financial institution and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.

Following her arrest Monday night, she appeared in court on Tuesday and was released on $2 million bond and subjected to travel restrictions.

“This arrest should warn entrepreneurs who lie to advance their businesses that their lies will catch up to them,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.

Javice has denied the allegations through a spokesperson. Her lawyer Alex Spiro declined to comment to ABC News for this story but maintained before Javice’s arrest that she was being targeted by JPMorgan and had internally voiced concerns about student privacy laws.(A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to respond to this assertion but pointed to their own accusations of fraud against Javice.)

A deal unravels

Javice founded Frank in 2017 as a platform designed to simplify the student loan application process, Frank and JPMorgan said in announcing the acquisition. The company helped rocket Javice to national prominence with a glowing feature in Forbes and a spot on the magazine’s coveted “30 Under 30” list honoring young professionals in finance.

JPMorgan hired Javice as a managing director for Frank as part of its acquisition in 2021 but has said in court that its suspicions were raised when numerous purported Frank user emails subsequently appeared unreachable.

Javice was fired last November, according to court documents.

Before her arrest, she and JPMorgan filed dueling lawsuits in December, with the bank claiming fraud and Javice claiming wrongful termination and that she was owed attorneys’ fees after being targeted by the bank. She denied in court filings in February that she ever fabricated or misrepresented user data and merely told JPMorgan that her platform “had engaged with at least 4.25 million students.”

“Ms. Javice’s vision was that Frank would be the place for college-bound students and their families to turn to for all their money needs … the knowledge and resources that students would access at Frank would empower them for decades as they obtained financial aid packages, built personal wealth and managed debt,” Javice’s attorneys wrote in a December court filing.

Spiro, her attorney, said in his previous statement that “[JPMorgan] knows what they filed is retaliatory and misleading. They were provided all the data upfront for the purchase of Frank and Charlie Javice highlighted the restrictions placed by student privacy laws during due diligence.”

Her attorneys have also called the bank’s investigations into Frank’s data part of an unfounded attempt to deny her compensation while indicating that any business issues with Frank weren’t of Javice’s making.

“JMPC’s acquisition of Frank did not go as planned,” Javice’s lawyers wrote in February. “But this was no fault of Ms. Javice’s.”

Accused of plotting to deceive

The dispute over users and data centers on Frank’s signature tool, “Easy FAFSA,” which Frank said was designed to streamline and simplify the Department of Education’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid. After launching its FAFSA tool, Frank’s website later grew to include free articles on education and financial literacy.

“This content increasingly attracted users to visit the website to use these resources, even if they did not then fill out the Easy FAFSA® application,” Javice’s lawyers wrote in February.

However, lawyers with JPMorgan contend that when Javice provided a spreadsheet with a column titled “FAFSA in Process” it indicated that more than 4.25 million students had opened accounts with Frank and provided detailed personal information to support that.

Federal authorities think the fraud went beyond a mislabeled spreadsheet column and that Javice tried to get her director of engineering to fabricate a data set. Javice then went to an outside data scientist to generate the fake data, according to allegations in prosecutors’ criminal complaint against her.

Bank alludes to ‘mistakes’

JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon was asked about the Frank deal in an interview earlier this year. While declining to discuss the case specifically, Dimon suggested the acquisition was a “mistake.”

“There’s always lessons,” he told CNBC. “We always will make mistakes. I tell our people, if we make mistakes, it’s OK. But I don’t want our people to be afraid of making mistakes.”

Prosecutors now must produce an indictment to move the criminal case forward, former federal prosecutor Indira Cameron-Banks told ABC News.

“It could be that there’s more investigation or that there was some concern about some evidence or something,” Cameron-Banks said. “We don’t know, and I expect that we’ll find out more over the coming month or so.”

The clock is ticking down on the government to present its findings to a grand jury, which is no small task given the complexity of the case, she said.

JPMorgan spokesperson Pablo Rodriguez said in a statement that “our legal claims against Ms. Javice … are set out in our complaint, along with the key facts. This dispute will be resolved through the legal process.”

Rodriguez declined to answer specific questions about JPMorgan’s corporate acquisition vetting processes and how those processes may have changed since the Frank purchase.

Family of Native American woman missing since 2021 seeks closure, attorney says

April 7, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The family of a Native American woman who has been missing since 2021 is hoping for answers and closure, their attorney said, as a suspect faces assault and carjacking charges in connection with her disappearance.

Ella Mae Begay was reported missing from her home near Sweetwater, Arizona, by family members on June 15, 2021, and has not been seen or heard from since, according to the FBI. Her Ford F-150 pick-up truck was seen leaving her residence that morning possibly heading toward New Mexico, authorities said.

This week, a New Mexico man was arrested in connection with Begay’s disappearance, the Department of Justice announced. Preston Henry Tolth, 23, appeared in federal court Friday in Flagstaff, Arizona, for an arraignment and detention hearing, following an indictment by a federal grand jury last month for assault resulting in serious bodily injury and carjacking resulting in serious bodily injury.

According to the indictment, Tolth is alleged to have assaulted Begay, then-62 years old, within the confines of the Navajo Indian Reservation on or about June 15, 2021, and then taken her Ford pick-up truck across state lines “by force, violence, and intimidation, resulting in serious bodily injury” to the victim, who is identified in the indictment by her initials.

A Department of Justice spokesperson did not comment further on the case in response to an ABC News inquiry.

“I think the hardest part for the family is knowing that their family member is out there and she’s still out there, and they just want to bring her home,” Darlene Gomez, an attorney for Begay’s family who attended Friday’s hearing, told ABC Albuquerque affiliate KOAT. “It’s incredibly, incredibly hard for them to listen to the details of how she became battered and left out in the middle of the reservation somewhere and that they cannot find her.”

“Her body needs to be found. This family needs closure,” Gomez told KOAT. “She needs to be put to rest in the proper way.”

ABC News did not receive a response from Tolth’s attorney to an email seeking comment.

A conviction for the assault charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a conviction for the carjacking charges carries a maximum of 25 years.

The investigation, which is part of the Department of Justice’s efforts to address cases involving missing and murdered indigenous persons, is ongoing, prosecutors said.

“This indictment is an important first step in determining the truth about what happened to an elderly victim on the Navajo Nation,” U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino said in a statement.

As of Oct. 11, 2022, more than 192 Native Americans have been verified as missing through New Mexico and the Navajo Nation, according to the FBI.

Nearly 2,000 volunteers help search for missing Minnesota mother

April 7, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WINONA, Minn.) — Nearly 2,000 volunteers turned out on Friday to help search rural terrain for any clues in the disappearance of a Minnesota mother who has been missing for a week under “suspicious” circumstances, authorities said.

Madeline Kingsbury, 26, of Winona, has been missing since March 31, police said. The mother of two did not show up to work that day and failed to pick up her children from day care that afternoon, which is “extremely out of character for her,” police said.

On Friday, more than 1,860 volunteers searched areas in Winona and about 24 miles south in Rushford, the Winona Police Department said.

“This is tough terrain, and we are grateful to the hundreds of volunteers who are taking their personal time to assist with the search,” Winona Police Chief Tom Williams said during a press briefing.

There are currently no suspects or persons of interest in the case, authorities said.

Williams said they have received hundreds of leads and that the investigation remains “incredibly active.”

“We are working relentlessly to find Maddi and determine the circumstances around her disappearance,” Williams said.

Kingsbury and her children’s father dropped the children off at a day care shortly after 8 a.m. on March 31 before returning to her home in Winona, according to Williams. The children’s father told police he left the house in Kingsbury’s van around 10 a.m., but when he returned later that day, Kingsbury was not there, Williams said at a press conference earlier this week.

There is no indication Kingsbury left home on foot or in another vehicle, and her cellphone, wallet and ID were found in the house, Williams said.

Williams declined on Friday to say whether the father of the children is participating in the search or clarify how he has been cooperating with authorities.

Authorities have called for volunteers to help with search efforts on Saturday.

Judge reverses FDA approval of abortion drug after 23 years

April 7, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(AMARILLO, Texas) — A federal judge in Texas on Friday ruled to suspend the abortion drug mifepristone, which was approved by regulators 23 years ago and has now become one of the most common methods of abortion in the country.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled to suspend the FDA’s approval of mifepristone. The ruling is paused for seven days so the federal government may appeal.

Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, held a hearing on the issue on March 15 in Amarillo, Texas, where the conservative plaintiffs in the case argued the Food and Drug Administration was wrong to approve mifepristone.

About half of all abortions in the U.S. were medication abortions as of 2020, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Such methods usually rely on mifepristone in a two-drug regimen along with misoprostol.

Erik Baptist, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, the group that filed the lawsuit, said after the hearing that the judge needed to provide a check on the FDA, which he said ignored safety concerns with mifepristone — an allegation the government and most medical doctors refute.

“The FDA never had the authority to approve these drugs and remove important safeguards,” Baptist said.

Government lawyers defending the FDA said at the hearing that the government has reviewed extensive data and found no such safety concerns.

“The public interest would be dramatically harmed” by siding with the plaintiffs, said Julie Straus Harris, an attorney for the Justice Department, while Baptist urged the judge: “Relief must be complete and nationwide.”

Outside, pro-abortion access advocates were blunt. “There are a whole host of reasons why this court should just dismiss [the lawsuit] out of hand,” said Carrie Flaxman, senior director for public policy litigation and law with Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

An appeal is likely.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Taliban prevents women from working at UN in Afghanistan

April 7, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The Taliban banned Afghan women from working at the United Nations in Afghanistan this week, adding another restriction to the long list the Taliban has imposed on Afghan women since retaking power in August 2021.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said any ban on Afghan women working for the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, would be “unacceptable and frankly inconceivable,” in a statement after the Taliban order was issued.

“This is the latest in a disturbing trend undermining the ability of aid organizations to reach those most in need. It goes without saying, but unfortunately, it does need saying, that female staff are essential for the United Nations to deliver life-saving assistance,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement Tuesday.

The U.N. provides lifesaving assistance to the Afghanistan population, which has become even more necessary since the Taliban regained power in 2021. Several international aid organizations that had been operating in the country left after the Taliban took power and stopped providing assistance as a result of the new government.

“Such orders, as we saw today, violate the fundamental rights of women and infringe upon the principle of non-discrimination. Female staff members are essential to ensure the continuation of the U.N. operations on the ground in Afghanistan,” Dujarric said Tuesday.

The order comes after the Taliban imposed a series of other restrictions on Afghan women over the past year. In 2022, the Taliban restricted women and girls’ access to education. The Taliban also restricted Afghan women’s ability to work for international aid organizations in December 2022, but, until this week, that did not apply to women working for the .U.N mission.

Before this week’s decree, the Taliban attempted to intimidate women working for the U.N. by accusing them of breaking dress code by not wearing hijabs. The Taliban also tried to intimidate Afghan women working for different U.N. offices across the country by contacting them directly to threaten them or passing the message to family members asking them to stop working.

Several Afghan women working for the U.N. have already experienced restrictions on their movements, including harassment, intimidation and detention.

The additional restriction further isolates Afghan women and poses a problem for the Taliban, which relies on support from the U.N. Many women’s rights activists believe the Taliban is using the ban on Afghan women as a tool to get more leverage from the international community.

“They are certainly trying to remove women from every aspect of society, either its simple presence in the society or working environment,” activist Mariam Maroof Arvin told ABC News. “Taliban also use these restrictions as a tool to gain more from international community in terms of aid and to push them to accept their demands.”

The Taliban has not faced severe consequences for the restrictions they’ve placed on Afghan women over the past year. Western countries like the U.S. and international organizations like the U.N. have condemned the actions by the Taliban, but little action has been taken beyond that.

“I hope this time the organizations defending women rights and international community as a whole won’t give up to Taliban’s demand and stand firm against them. That will be the only way out of these evil demands. I hope everyone come together in protecting women rights,” Arvin said.

Donald Trump indictment: What to know about falsifying business records

April 7, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Several hot-button legal inquiries loom over former President Donald Trump — everything from election interference and misuse of classified documents to defamation of a writer after an alleged rape.

He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

However, the indictment and arraignment of Trump earlier this week, the first for an ex-president in U.S. history, has drawn the nation’s attention to a rarely discussed white-collar financial crime: falsifying business records.

As part of a scheme to reimburse former Trump attorney Michael Cohen for hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels, Trump fraudulently recorded $130,000 in expenses as the cost of legal services for Cohen, the indictment alleges.

In Manhattan criminal court, Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to all 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has denied having sex with Daniels.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg characterized the validity of business records as fundamental to a well-functioning economy.

“This is the business capital of the world,” he said. “The bedrock, in fact the basis, for business integrity and a well-functioning business marketplace is true and accurate record keeping.”

Here’s what to know about the crime of falsifying business records and the typical penalties, according to interviews with New York City-based criminal defense attorneys.

What does falsifying business records entail?

Falsifying business records, a violation of New York state law, constitutes the entry of inaccurate information on a business document to benefit oneself.

In other words, a description of the crime is “sort of in the name,” Adam Konta, a senior partner at Manhattan-based law firm Konta, Georges & Buza, told ABC News.

However, the crime of falsifying business records not only requires an incorrect entry on a company form but also an intent to mislead in an effort to reap reward.

“Every crime requires both an act and a criminal intent behind the act,” Matthew Galluzo, a criminal defense attorney in New York City and a former prosecutor in the New York County District Attorney’s Office, told ABC News.

If a boss asks a secretary to mark a form incorrectly and he or she does so without awareness of an attempt to mislead, the secretary is innocent of a crime, Galluzo said.

Similarly, an accidental or harmless recording error falls short of a crime, he added.

The most common example of the crime involves fibbing about a company’s financial information for the sake of evading or minimizing tax payments, or in an effort to hoodwink potential investors, Galluzo said.

Why is the alleged Trump crime a felony and how will prosecutors need to prove it?

The crime of falsifying business records constitutes either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the circumstances of a given violation, the attorneys said.

The act rises to a felony when the inaccurate record is entered as part of an effort to commit a different, underlying crime, the attorneys said.

The misdemeanor version of the crime usually means “destruction or falsification of business records,” Konta said. “When you’re doing that in hopes of committing a separate crime, then it’s what’s called a ‘bump up.'”

The standard is akin to the legal treatment of trespassing, Konta added, noting that the mere act of trespassing is a relatively minor crime but the charge becomes far more serious if a trespasser attempts to steal.

In the Trump indictment, Bragg didn’t specify the underlying law Trump attempted to break when he allegedly falsified business records.

“The indictment doesn’t specify it because the law does not so require,” Bragg said at a press conference on Tuesday, later mentioning possible secondary crimes that include illegal promotion of a political campaign and an attempt to make false claims on tax forms.

The defense will likely attempt to force Bragg to specify which underlying crime Trump attempted to commit, while Bragg will try to keep the interpretation open-ended, so the jury merely has to find Trump attempted to commit a crime rather than any specific one, Galluzo said.

“The statute itself seems to suggest you just have to prove he was trying to break a law,” Gallluzo said. “Defense attorneys will say, ‘Well, you have to tell us what law and prove that law specifically.'”

“Prosecutors will try to keep it vague and flexible so the jury can say maybe it was this or maybe it was that, but it’s got to be one of them,” he added.

What is the penalty for falsifying business records?

The maximum penalty for a felony count of falsifying business records is four years in state prison.

“However, there’s no mandatory minimum sentence,” Galluzo said.

Due to Trump’s age and lack of a criminal history, a jail sentence of any length is unlikely if he is convicted, Galluzo added, noting however that the 13-month jail sentence served by Cohen in a related case potentially raises the possibility of incarceration for Trump.

In federal court, Cohen pleaded guilty to two violations of campaign finance law resulting from hush money payments made to Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Trump also denies having sex with McDougal.

In addition, Cohen pleaded guilty to five counts of tax fraud and one count of false statements made to a bank.

Penalties in falsification of business records cases are often driven by the amount of money at stake in the potential fraud, Daniel Hochheiser, a criminal defense attorney in New York, told ABC News.

Trump is alleged to have reimbursed Cohen for $130,000 in hush money payments, though the statement of facts accompanying the indictment claims that then-Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg agreed to a total repayment of $420,000, including other expenses and a year-end bonus.

“Somebody who makes a false business record in a $100,000 fraud is generally punished less severely than somebody who makes a false entry in a record involved in a scheme to commit a $10 million fraud,” Hochheiser said.

“I don’t see any scenario in which Trump goes to jail,” Hochheiser added. “Even if he’s convicted of everything.”

Trump’s rhetoric could force judge to consider complex issue of a gag order: Experts

April 7, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — After pleading not guilty to 34 felony counts, former President Donald Trump on Tuesday launched attacks on the Manhattan district attorney and judge overseeing his case — despite the judge’s request that both sides refrain from making inflammatory public comments.

Trump called Alvin Bragg a “failed district attorney” and a “criminal” before taking aim at Bragg’s wife. He also criticized the judge overseeing his case, accusing him of bias.

“I have a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family,” Trump said to a room full of supporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

If the rhetoric were to continue and escalate, it could put Judge Juan Merchan in the precarious position of having to consider a gag order, legal experts told ABC News.

Kevin O’Brien, a former assistant U.S. attorney, said he imagines Merchan “wants to do everything to avoid a situation like that.”

“I do think it’s a tough spot for the judge to be in,” said Sarah Krissoff, a former federal prosecutor in New York and current defense attorney.

Krissoff noted any potential gag order, “no matter how narrowly tailored,” would be appealed and face extensive litigation.

Prosecutors are working with Trump’s team on a protective order to prevent discovery materials from being shared online or elsewhere. However, prosecutors did not request a gag order during Tuesday’s arraignment, and Merchan said he was not inclined to grant one even if they had.

“Such restraints are the most serious and least intolerable on First Amendment rights,” he told the court. “That does apply doubly to Mr. Trump, because he is a candidate for the presidency of the United States.”

But the judge made clear he did not agree with Trump’s attorneys that recent social media posts which stoked prosecutors’ alarm — including one in which Trump threatened “death and destruction” if he were indicted — were just an expression of frustration.

And he gave a pointed warning to both parties to refrain from inflammatory language that could prompt violence and civil unrest, or that jeopardize the safety of any individuals.

“This is a request I’m making,” Merchan said. “I’m not making it an order. But now that I have made the request, if I were to be handed something like this again in the future, I would have to take a closer look at it.”

It was just hours later that Trump took the stage at Mar-a-Lago to air a litany of grievances against those he perceives as political enemies.

“The judge took a hands off approach and I think that was wise,” O’Brien said. “The question is, is Trump going to do something to tempt him to impose a gag order or restriction?”

Gag orders are considered an “extraordinary” remedy given all defendants’ First Amendment rights, but it’s a step taken if comments being made threaten to undermine the integrity of the trial process or potentially poison the jury pool.

In this case, some legal experts said it might be concerns about safety that could prompt a request for a gag order.

“The interests here might be a little different than a normal normal criminal case … It just may be a safety issue, frankly, that imposes a gag order,” Krissoff said.

Police sources told ABC News Judge Merchan’s received dozens of threats in recent days. Bragg’s also been a target, as a letter threatening to kill “Alvin” was sent to his office. The letter contained white powder that was determined to be non-hazardous.

If prosecutors were to push for a gag order, there are a “range of options” the judge can take, according to former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Daniel Horwitz,

He could impose some limitations, rather than a total gag order, on disparagement of individuals involved while still allowing Trump to make statements about the case in his defense, Horwitz said. If Trump were to violate an order given by the judge, he could be held in contempt and fined.

Top Republicans have argued a gag order in this case would be a violation of the First Amendment. Reps. Jim Jordan and James Comer, the GOP chairmen of two powerful House committees, said in a statement such a move would be “unconstitutional.”

“To even contemplate stifling the speech of the former commander in chief and current candidate for President is at odds with everything America stands for,” the two lawmakers said ahead of the arraignment.

While experts said there are unique circumstances in this case, with Trump being a leading 2024 candidate for Republican nomination and the first former president to be indicted, he is still a criminal defendant.

“The fact that Donald Trump happens to be running for president is somewhat of an added complexity, but at the end of the day, he’s a defendant like every other defendant and he has to obey the rule of law,” said Horwitz.

To free American journalist jailed in Russia, US faces uphill battle, experts say

April 7, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The United States will face an uphill battle in any efforts it takes to free detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich — who has been imprisoned in Russia for over a week — because of the seriousness of the espionage charges against him and the fact that Moscow shows no sign of backing down, experts told ABC News..

Despite the fact that senior members of the Biden administration have repeatedly said the charges against Gershkovich — are unequivocally false, Russia views the allegations as more serious than other cases in which they’ve made prisoner swaps.

While the relationship between the U.S. and Russia has plummeted to a near all-time low in recent years, hostage diplomacy has been a rare area of cooperation between the powers. In 2022, the administration was able to secure the release of two Americans from Russia via prisoner swaps—WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was jailed for nearly 10 months after being detained on drug charges, and Trevor Reed, who was imprisoned for almost three years for allegedly assaulting a police officer.

In a statement released Thursday, Moscow’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Gershkovich was “detained red-handed while trying to obtain classified information, using his journalistic status as a cover for illegal actions qualified as espionage” and attempts by the U.S. to pressure Russian authorities to release him were “futile and meaningless.”

Interfax, a Russian news agency, reported on Friday that Russian investigators had formally charged Gershkovich with espionage, and that his lawyers filed for an appeal, which is scheduled to be heard in a Moscow court in mid-April.

Gershkovich’s lawyers and the Wall Street Journal have also denied the accusations against the reporter.

“The legal avenue is one of several avenues we are working to advocate for Evan’s release. We continue to work with the White House, State Department and relevant U.S. government officials to secure Evan’s release,” the Wall Street Journal’s editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said in a letter to her newsroom on Tuesday.

But John Woodward, a former CIA officer and international relations professor at Boston University, predicts there’s a long road ahead for Gershkovich.

“I would not want to be Evan at the moment,” he said.

He suggested that if a prisoner swap were to be arranged, Russian President Vladimir Putin would want a “spy for a spy,” referencing Russia’s deep loyalty “to individuals who have committed espionage on their behalf.”

But that requirement is likely to complicate any deal with the U.S., as illustrated by the so-far futile efforts to free Paul Whelan, an American arrested in 2018 while visiting Moscow. He was convicted on espionage charges, which the U.S. vehemently denies, and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison colony.

Whelan was left out of the prisoner exchange that freed Griner. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that the U.S. had put forth a new proposal to free Whelan months ago, but so far Russia has not publicly shown any interest in accepting.

While the details of Blinken’s offer are unknown, Sergey Cherkasov, a Russian national accused by the Department of Justice of operating as an illegal agent for the country’s intelligence service, could be more enticing to Moscow according to experts.

Danielle Gilbert, a foreign policy fellow at Dartmouth College who specializes in hostage diplomacy, said the timing of Gershkovich’s arrest—just days after Cherkasov was charged by the U.S. in late March–is very “suspicious,” and that the reporter’s arrest could have been a retaliatory act by Moscow.

The Russian government has denied that Cherkasov is a spy, and he has not yet appeared in court to address the allegations made by American investigators.

However, the Department of Justice claimed in a statement that the evidence in the case shows that Cherkasov spent years illegally gathering information about American entities and passing it along to his handlers in Russia’s intelligence community, undermining U.S. national security.

Cherkasov is currently incarcerated in Brazil on fraud charges. The Brazilian and the U.S. legal systems, as well as a possible extradition, could slow any movement, according to sources familiar with standard practices related to prisoner exchanges.

Gilbert said Russia has also expressed interest in a deal that would secure the release of Russian citizen Vadim Krasikov, a convicted assassin serving a life sentence in Germany since 2019.

“It is not unheard of for other countries to get involved,” she said.

However, drawing a third country in to such an exchange could establish a dangerous precedent for the U.S., according to administration officials, who have also expressed doubt over Russia’s interest in Krasikov is genuine or another negotiating tactic.

Beyond the spying allegations and lack of trade options, Woodward said he believes Gershkovich’s prior reporting on Putin could work against him, delaying negotiations.

Woodward believes that Gershkovich’s “strong Russian background, linguistically and culturally” alongside his “hard-hitting reporting” on Russia definitely factored into the arrest.

“There’s a strong retaliatory aspect to this,” Woodward said. “I’m sure [Gershkovich] developed some good information and leads.”

So far, administration officials have declined to speculate on what exactly prompted Russian authorities to arrest Gershkovich, saying it is too soon to make an assessment.

Efforts to free Gershkovich are still in a nascent phase. The Biden administration has not yet formally classified the reporter as wrongfully detained, a designation that would transfer his case to the Office of the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs—effectively, the U.S.’ chief hostage negotiator.

“In Evan’s case, we are working through the determination on wrongful detention, and there’s a process to do that, and it is something that we are working through very deliberately but expeditiously as well,” Blinken said during a press briefing on Wednesday. “And I’ll let that process play out. In my own mind, there’s no doubt that he’s being wrongfully detained by Russia.”

National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby did not say whether the U.S. would consider a prisoner swap for Gershkovich on Thursday.

“We’re doing what we can to keep his employer and family informed. Our focus is squarely on that right now,” he said.

American diplomats in Moscow are also still working to gain access to Gershkovich, but have made little progress despite interventions from the Blinken and the U.S. ambassador to Moscow on his behalf, a senior State Department official told ABC News.

ABC’s Cindy Smith, Ellie Kaufman, and Tanya Stukalova contributed to this report.

CDC warns doctors to be on the lookout for rare Marburg virus

April 7, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning Thursday for clinicians and public health departments in the United States to be on the lookout for cases of a rare Ebola-like virus.

The warning is in response to outbreaks of Marburg virus disease, one in Equatorial Guinea and the other in Tanzania — with neither country reporting outbreaks before this year.

So far, no cases have been reported in the U.S. nor have any other outbreaks been reported, but the CDC says the warning “provides information about these outbreaks to increase awareness of the risk of imported cases in the United States.”

In a press conference on March 21, Tanzania’s health minister announced an outbreak among a group of fishermen. Of the eight cases, five were fatal.

Meanwhile, in Equatorial Guinea, there have been 14 confirmed cases since Feb. 7, with 10 of the patients dying, according to the CDC.

Currently there is no evidence that the outbreaks in the two countries are related, and they appear to be independent clusters in which the virus spilled over from animals to humans, the federal health agency said.

Marburg virus disease is a rare illness caused by the Marburg virus, which is a so-called cousin of Ebola virus.

The first cases were identified in European laboratory workers who were handling African green monkeys imported from Uganda.

The virus can spread either from animals to humans or via person-to-person contact either through contact with infected blood or other fluids or objects contaminated with those fluids.

According to the CDC, the incubation period — the time between infection and onset of symptoms — can last anywhere from two to 21 days.

A person is not contagious until symptoms appear, which can include sudden fever, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, loss of appetite, gastrointestinal symptoms, or unexplained bleeding.

The CDC says doctors should screen for the disease if someone has symptoms and may have been exposed to the virus while in an affected area — such as if they attended a funeral or visited a healthcare facility.

The disease can cause serious complications include internal bleeding and organ damage.

“Clinical diagnosis of Marburg virus disease be difficult,” the CDC said. “Many of the signs and symptoms of MVD are similar to other infectious diseases (such as malaria or typhoid fever) or viral hemorrhagic fevers that may be endemic in the area (such as Lassa fever or Ebola). This is especially true if only a single case is involved.”

There is currently no known treatment for the disease with therapies focused on supportive measures such as balancing fluids, maintaining oxygen levels and blood pressure.

According to the World Health Organization, past outbreaks have had case fatality rates of between 24% and 88% with an average rate of 50%.

Utah state senator addresses scope of new law regulating kids’ social media access

April 7, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As Congress considers banning TikTok amid growing fears over potential data privacy issues and Chinese government intrusion, some states are taking matters into their own hands to regulate social media access.

Last week, Utah became the first state to pass a law limiting access to social media for kids under age 18. The statute will require parental consent for minors to use platforms like TikTok and Instagram, putting the onus on social media companies to verify users’ ages.

One of the bill’s sponsors, State Sen. Michael McKell, spoke to “GMA3” about the scope of the new laws, addressing concerns over privacy and how the state plans to enforce them when they go into effect next March.

EVA PILGRIM: So I just want you to break this down for us. How will these restrictions actually work?

SEN. MICHAEL MCKELL: I think that’s a great question. First and foremost, what we worry about is involving parents. So the first thing this legislation does is it requires parental consent for a child to jump on a social media site. I think that’s important. Two of the really important things: we ban data collection of our kids and we ban targeted advertisement. But more than anything else, we want parents to be involved in the process with their kids, with social media. So we want parents to consent before their kids jump on a social media site.

GIO BENITEZ: Senator, the law has passed. The restrictions, they go into effect in March of next year. But I think we need a little bit of a reality check here, because there are nearly a million minors in Utah right now. Most of them know more about tech than their parents. How do you plan to even enforce these laws every time a minor signs on to social media?

MCKELL: And that’s a great question, and that’s what parents struggle with. Oftentimes, these kids are a lot smarter than their parents when it comes to social media. So over the course of the next year, we’ve got some rulemaking. And what rulemaking means is our division of Consumer Protection is going to build the process to verify ages and do this parental consent program. As I’ve gone out in the state of Utah, parents want tools. And what we’re trying to do is empower those parents to be more involved with their kids in their social media accounts.

BENITEZ: And you say there will be four employees within the Department of Commerce handling this new law. How can they possibly keep tabs on everyone?

MCKELL: Well, the good news is we will have four employees, but they’re there to receive complaints. If there are additional problems, one of the things we built into the legislation is a private right of action. If there’s broad sweeping abuse in violation of these new rules, we’ll also have that private right of action where the public can engage in the process as well. But we’re not going to be proactive. Those complaints are going to come to the state of Utah. We’re going to look at them and address them. So there will be some complaints. We don’t know how many complaints there’ll be at this point, but we wanted to make sure that we do have some employees on the ground as this program moves forward.

PILGRIM: You’re a parent, you have four kids. What do you say to those parents who, they’re concerned about their kids on social media, but say it should be the parents’ job to regulate their kids’ use and their access, not the government’s?

MCKELL: Yeah, and I think that’s a great concern. And that’s what we’re trying to do, is have tools available to parents right now. Oftentimes, there are kids, my kids certainly understand social media better than I do. And what we want to do is empower parents. You know, mom and dad may have one or two jobs. Mom and dad are busy. We want to make sure those tools are easy to use and available for those parents. What we don’t do is, parents can, we’ve got some default settings, they can override those. They can give their kids as much access as they want. But we really and truly want to empower parents here in the state of Utah.

BENITEZ: Senator, under these laws, social media companies will be forced to verify user ages. Now, how will they do that without violating privacy laws? Because, of course, there are those who are concerned about social media companies having even more access to your sensitive data.

MCKELL: Yeah, I mean, that’s a great question. And the way we do parental consent is to verify age. Age verification is nothing new in this country. What I would point to for your viewers, online prescription, if you buy online prescriptions, you’ve got to verify your age. We have millions of people on dating sites. You’ve got to verify your age.

BENITEZ: Right, senator. But this is TikTok. This is Facebook. This is Instagram. I mean, a lot of people don’t want to give them that sensitive data.

MCKELL: Yeah, and one of the things we did is we call out our Consumer Privacy Act in the legislation. We make it clear that a form of government ID cannot be the only form of verification. As we’ve met with stakeholders in tech companies, they believe that they can do the verification without violating privacy. But that’s something that we’re going to watch and we’re going to watch it closely to make sure that doesn’t happen here in this state.

BENITEZ: Such an interesting debate. Thank you so much Utah State Sen. Mike McKell. We will be watching this. Thanks for joining us here on “GMA3.”

MCKELL: Thank you.

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