Erik Uebelacker

Reminder: Federal prosecutors are expected to file a 120-page(!) brief in support of the death penalty for Luigi Mangione tonight.

Soft launch

Indicted ex-Cuomo staffer had leading role in securing Covid-19 supplies: Witness Linda Sun, who is charged with covertly helping China while working as a New York aide, is also accused of steering state contracts to businesses with family ties.

Indicted ex-Cuomo staffer had leading role in securing Covid-19 supplies: Witness @uebey.bsky.social
www.courthousenews.com/indicted-ex-...

Inbox: The White House blasts out a press release complaining about ABC News. It's just a list of grievances; literally zero context.

LUIGI: Mangione requests the following clothes for his upcoming state court hearings on Dec. 1, which could take several days.

Feds recount seizing cash, cars, jewelry from former Cuomo-Hochul staffer The FBI seized a Patek Philippe watch, a 2024 Ferrari and more than $130,000 in cash from raids on Linda Sun and her family.

Designer watches, a 2024 Ferrari, $130,000 in cash (all in 100s).

FBI agents recall seizing property from the family of Linda Sun, the former aide to Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul accused of covertly working for China.

MLB pitcher Emmanuel Clase out on bail after pleading not guilty to rigging bets Prosecutors claim Clase and fellow Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz

A judge invoked MLB pitcher Emmanuel Clase’s high salary and 2020 steroid suspension at his bail hearing today.

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BROOKLYN — Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase is silent leaving federal court.

He pleaded not guilty to pitch-rigging and released on $600,000 bond.

A judge ordered GPS monitoring, finding Clase’s wealth and ties to the Dominican Republic pose risks of flight.

A federal judge just slammed the government for "sending threatening letters on a Saturday night" demanding states "undo" SNAP payments.

"It's hard to see how this is not being used as a leverage point," the judge said. "People are hungry right now."

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“Why, then, would Congress have thought it necessary to specifically add a provision making those noncitizens subject to mandatory detention if they are charged with certain crimes?” wrote Liman, a Trump appointee in the Southern District of New York. “The government has no answer.”

How the Laken Riley Act is working against ICE to free some noncitizens Judges around the country are citing the GOP-backed immigration law, designed to detain more noncitizens, to free them instead.

NEW: Judges around the country are citing an unexpected source to free ICE detainees:

The Laken Riley Act

They're finding ICE's mass detention agenda is SO broad it could actually "nullify" the controversial law.

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Judge slams feds for tying transit funds to ICE compliance The Trump administration has made several efforts to withhold federal funding from so-called sanctuary states and cities.

“Lawless behavior” — A federal judge had strong words for the Trump administration, which tried to demand states’ ICE compliance to receive transit funding.

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www.courthousenews.com/judge-slams-...

Her ICE arrest went viral — now she’s in a ‘race against time’ fighting deportation A month after her violent ICE arrest left a journalist hospitalized, a 20-year-old asylum-seeker is jailed a thousand miles away from her home in New York City.

Last month, ICE injured a photographer when they shoved a reporter out of an elevator at 26 Federal Plaza.

I wrote about the woman in the elevator, a 20 y/o asylum seeker from Peru, who's been jailed in Louisiana 1000 miles away from her family ever since.

@courthousenews.bsky.social 🔗⬇️

New: NY Republicans challenge the state's new even-year election law, this time in federal court 😲

Representing the GOP plaintiffs is the New York-based Brewer firm, which famously defended the NRA in its yearslong corruption case.

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New: The two Russian mobsters convicted for trying to kill Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad each get 25-year prison sentences.

“Justice is beautiful,” says Alinejad.

Uncommon visitor to Brooklyn: a Varied Thrush in Prospect Park #birds #birding 🪶

As expected, Drake is appealing the dismissal of his lawsuit against UMG over Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us."
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Investigations started more than 4 years ago, by the way.

Rozier was involved in a scheme to fix NBA prop bets by betting his own under, per the FBI's investigation called Operation Nothing But Bet™.

The illegal card game probe was called Operation Royal Flush™.

Feds announcing two indictments against Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups and ~30 others.

Apparently, Billups played in rigged mafia-backed poker games that used "sophisticated cheating tech" like X-ray tables and shuffling machines with hidden cameras inside.

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Third Circuit hounds DOJ over bid to re-jail Mahmoud Khalil The government argues the pro-Palestinian activist challenged his arrest in the wrong jurisdiction. But an appeals judge said Khalil “had to prepare for the worst.”

New: The Third Circuit just hounded the Trump administration for its bid to re-jail Mahmoud Khalil.

A Trump-appointed judge was particularly critical, asking whether the government tried to create a “black hole of no jurisdiction.”

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DOJ defends Alina Habba’s unusual appointment before skeptical Third Circuit Government attorneys tried to defend Habba’s appointment as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, which a lower court deemed unlawful in August.

New: A DOJ lawyer claimed Alina Habba's appointment was "consistent with longstanding practice."

But a Third Circuit judge asked him to name another time a U.S. attorney was seated this way.

"Well, I guess I cannot," the lawyer said.

Update: Luigi Mangione’s defense team claims the White House and DOJ are politicizing the case by painting LM as a “left-wing violent extremist.”

They cite reports suggesting lobbying efforts from UnitedHealthcare directly.

(This is in response to the pretrial statement stuff.)

Breaking: A federal court just lifted travel restrictions on Mahmoud Khalil.

He can now move freely throughout the United States as he awaits removal proceedings, but does need to notify ICE 48 hours prior to his travel.

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LUIGI: Mangione’s criminal case in Pennsylvania is now effectively on pause.

With the Feds not allowing him to be brought in-person, and Mangione declining to appear virtually, the judge says it is “impossible” to conduct substantive hearings right now.

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Full filing: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

LUIGI: Mangione’s federal motion to dismiss is in.

The defense argues that the stalking charges aren’t “crimes of violence” that back up for the murder and gun charges.

They also move to suppress the backpack evidence — similar to their arguments in the state case.

The misstep from prosecutors is unlikely to spell the end of Mangione's murder case.

Still, it will be interesting to see how other high-profile defendants across the country will use Trump Admin commentary to make prosecutors' jobs harder than they need to be.

Legal experts say Trump DOJ tweets make life harder for prosecutors Social media posts from Justice Department officials have already drawn the ire of Luigi Mangione’s federal judge.

New: The DOJ is kneecapping its case against Luigi Mangione with its social media habits, former prosecutors tell me.

"From my perspective as a defense lawyer, I find this level of obdurate incompetence to be delightful," says famed NYC lawyer Rob Kuby.

NEW: Drake loses his defamation case against Kendrick Lamar over the “Not Like Us” lyrics.

More coming @courthousenews.bsky.social