National Roundup

Florida
Sheriff: Man threatens to shoot up Black Lives Matter rally
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — A 22-year-old Florida man was arrested after several threatening messages were posted on Instagram and Snapchat targeting Black Lives Matter demonstrations, sheriff's officials in Sarasota said

Sheriff's investigators began looking at Quintin Adkins on June 11 after receiving an anonymous tip from an "old friend" about social media posts that included videos of him handling, loading and firing weapons, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune  reported. He was arrested Thursday on a single count of written threats to kill.

The arrest affidavit said that Adkins used profanity in the videos while threatening to attend a Black Lives Matter demonstration and begin shooting. Protests took place across the country after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.

Some of the videos showed him driving, loading a handgun and pointing it at other vehicles on the road around him, according to the affidavit. Deputies said he was also seen loading an AK-47 and pointing it out the front windshield of his car at other vehicles. Another video showed Adkins firing a handgun off the back patio of a home into the ground and another video shows him pointing a gun at a cat.

"I can blow your head off," he said at the cat on the video, before pouring water on the animal.

The Florida legislature, in response to a 2018 shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, expanded a state statute to include threats to "conduct a mass shooting or an act or terrorism."

"It is thanks to the added language that detectives were able to pursue charges in this investigation," the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

New York
Judge: Man in Giuliani associates' case can't block evidence
NEW YORK (AP) — A man charged with conspiring with associates of Rudy Giuliani to make illegal campaign contributions can't stop prosecutors from using materials he sent to his lawyers as evidence against him, a judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken ruled in the case in Manhattan federal court against David Correia.

The case is among those that Geoffrey S. Berman was directing before he was ousted  Saturday as U..S. attorney in Manhattan.

A defiant Berman, who initially refused to resign Friday when Attorney General William Barr announced he was quitting, stepped down only after Barr agreed that ongoing investigations wouldn't be disturbed and that Berman's deputy could temporarily take the top spot.

Giuliani has been investigated as part of the probe into his associates, but there was no indication that any decision regarding him was imminent.

Oetken's ruling Monday came after lawyers for Correia tried to get the materials suppressed, arguing that they were protected by attorney-client privilege or should be considered a work product between an attorney and his client.

But the judge said Correia had offered nothing to support the notion that the two notebooks, a hard drive, a computer and a smartphone were created in preparation for his defense.

A message seeking comment was left with Correia's lawyer.

Prosecutors had argued they had the right to intercept the materials after Correia tried to mail them to his lawyers before flying to New York to surrender last October, apparently to avoid having them seized when he was arrested. Prosecutors obtained a warrant for the package.

A separate "filter team" of prosecutors supervised by senior prosecutors not handling the case then reviewed the materials to separate anything that was privileged.

Correia, of West Palm Beach, Florida, has pleaded not guilty after he was among four men charged with arranging illegal contributions to politicians to aid their political and business interests. He is free on bail.

Prosecutors said Correia was involved in a scheme to make illegal campaign donations to local and federal politicians in New York, Nevada and other states to try to win support for a new recreational marijuana business.

Two other men charged in the case, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, worked with Giuliani to try and get Ukrainian officials to investigate the son of Democrat Joe Biden. They have both pleaded not guilty to charges.

Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who has served as a legal adviser to President Donald Trump, has said he had no knowledge of illegal donations and hadn't seen any evidence that Parnas and Fruman did anything wrong.

Washington
Supreme Court rules SEC can recoup money in fraud cases
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday preserved an important tool used by securities regulators to recoup ill-gotten gains in fraud cases.

By an 8-1 vote, the justices ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission can seek to recover the money through a process called disgorgement. Last year, the SEC obtained $3.2 billion in repayment of profits from people who have been found to violate securities law.

"The Court holds today that a disgorgement award that does not exceed a wrongdoer's net profits and is awarded for victims is equitable relief permissible" under federal law, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the court.

Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.

The Supreme Court in 2017 unanimously limited the SEC's ability to go after profits where alleged fraud has been going on for years before authorities file charges. That case left open the question the high court answered Monday, that courts have the authority to order disgorgement of profits. The SEC has continued to aggressively pursue defendants' profits in fraud cases.