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Year Of Growth, Impeachment Trials, and Prison Sentencing
When To Consider Digital Payments As A Small Business
Marketing Rebels
March 29, 2024
Good morning. It's Friday, March. 29, and we're covering crypto-fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried sentence, Schumer announces Mayorkas impeachment trial, Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal explained, and much more. First time reading? Sign up here.
American Fact of the Day!
Louisiana - Longest Bridge Over Water: Metairie is home to the longest bridge over water in the world. It spans over a 24-mile stretch of Lake Pontchartrain.
Breaking Updates
Crypto-Fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison
On Thursday, Bankman-Fried learned his sentencing fate: Judge Lewis Kaplan (the same judge who presided over both of E. Jean Carroll's defamation suits against former President Donald Trump) sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison.
Bankman-Fried, 32, was convicted in November of fraud and conspiracy — a dramatic fall from a crest of success that included a Super Bowl advertisement and celebrity endorsements from stars like quarterback Tom Brady, basketball star Stephen Curry and comedian Larry David. U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan imposed the sentence in the same Manhattan courtroom where, four months ago, Bankman-Fried testified that his intention had been to revolutionize the emerging cryptocurrency market with his innovative and altruistic ideas, not to steal.
Since August, Bankman-Fried has been held at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center.
Ahead of the sentencing, Bankman-Fried's parents expressed fear for his safety and well-being in prison in a plea to the court. Whether that factored into Kaplan's sentencing decision is unclear. Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 40-50 years — and one probation officer had recommended 100 years.
Two weeks ago, Mukasey attacked a probation office recommendation of 100 years in prison, saying a sentence of that length would be “grotesque” and “barbaric.” He urged the judge to sentence Bankman-Fried to a term of five to 6 1/2 years in prison, which Mukasey said was a fair reading of federal sentencing guidelines.
Read more updates here
Schumer Announces Mayorkas Impeachment Trial Will Commence in April, Sen. Patty Murray Will Preside
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sent a letter Thursday to Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) indicating that the House would be delivering impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on April 10 after lawmakers return from recess.
Later Thursday, Schumer responded by saying the upper chamber will convene the impeachment trial soon after the charges are delivered, and that Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray (D-WA) will preside.
The House held a close vote in February to impeach the embattled secretary by a razor-thin margin of 214-213. They impeached Mayorkas because he’s terrible at his job, and neither he nor his boss Joe Biden seems to be even slightly inclined to take any action regarding the millions upon millions of illegal aliens who are waltzing across our southern border.
Schumer said in a statement, “As we have said previously, after the House impeachment managers present the articles of impeachment to the Senate, Senators will be sworn in as jurors in the trial the next day.”
In a Thursday letter to Schumer, Republicans insisted they deployed a “methodical approach” and that Mayorkas clearly engaged in unlawful conduct.
“The constitutional grounds for Secretary Mayorkas’ conviction and removal from office are well-founded, and the historical record is clear,” they argued. “[Mayorkas] directed, through a series of memoranda, employees to violate US immigration laws,” the letter. “Throughout his tenure, he has repeatedly lied to Congress and the American people about the scope of the crisis and his role in it.”
Read more updates here
