National Roundup

New York
Prosecutors seek life in prison for man who opened fire on subway
Federal prosecutors have recommended life sentences for the man who opened fire on a crowded Brooklyn subway train last year, injuring 10 people.

In a memo addressed to leading Judge William F. Kuntz II on Wednesday, prosecutors said there was overwhelming evidence that shows Frank James intended to kill. They asked for him to be sentenced to 10 concurrent life sentences as well as 120 months’ imprisonment.

“Sentencing the defendant to life in prison is the only sentence that will ensure he never harms the public again,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace wrote.

James’ defense lawyers, however, asked that he receive an 18-year prison sentence, insisting he was and still is severely mentally ill.

“After decades of persistently seeking, but never receiving, appropriate mental health care, Mr. James wrought unspeakable horror on innocent subway riders, each entirely blameless for his struggles. His actions were inexcusable, and he does not justify or minimize them,” wrote his lawyer, Mia Eisner-Grynberg, in a court document. “But,” she added, “Mr. James is not evil. He is very, very ill.”

In January, James pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges for the attack carried out during the height of an early morning commute on April 12, 2022.

Dressed as a maintenance worker, James fired a semi-automatic pistol about 32 times after setting off smoke grenades — wounding 10 victims as the train pulled into a station in Sunset Park. James then fled in the haze and chaos, setting off a 30-hour citywide manhunt that ended when he called the police on himself.

“The fact that no one was killed by the defendant’s 32 gunshots can only be described as luck as opposed to the defendant’s intentional choice,” Peace wrote.

James is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 28.

New York
Stanford to return all gifts from FTX
NEW YORK (AP) — Following a lawsuit against FTX Trading founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents alleging that Stanford University received millions of dollars in donations from the now-collapsed cryptocurrency exchange, the school says it will return the funds of all gifts collected from FTX and related companies.

Lawyers for FTX on Monday accused Allan Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried of exploiting their influence over their son to siphon millions from the company, while spending lavishly on a luxury home as well as funneling contributions to “pet causes” — and Stanford University.

The suit claims that Bankman, who is a Stanford law professor and expert in tax law, directed more than $5.5 million in charitable contributions from FTX to the university — in what the complaint describes as “naked self-dealing” in an attempt to “curry favor with and enrich his employer at the FTX Group’s expense.”

In a statement sent to The Associated Press on Wednesday, a university spokesperson said that Stanford “received gifts from the FTX Foundation and FTX-related companies largely for pandemic-related prevention and research.”

Stanford is in discussions with attorneys for FTX debtors to recover the gifts, the spokesperson added, and “will be returning the funds in their entirety.” The university did not specify the monetary value of the gifts it received.

Like Bankman, Fried worked at Stanford for many years. She’s a retired law professor.

FTX entered bankruptcy in November when the company ran out of money after the equivalent of a bank run. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to charges that he cheated investors and looted customer deposits to make lavish real estate purchases, campaign contributions to politicians, and risky trades at his cryptocurrency hedge fund trading firm Alameda Research.

Monday’s complaint, filed in the company’s bankruptcy case in Delaware, accuses Bankman-Fried’s parents of participating in the wrongdoing that led to FTX’s collapse — writing that, in addition to the couple draining millions from FTX for personal interests, Bankman “played a key role in perpetuating this culture of misrepresentations and gross mismanagement and helped cover up allegations that would have exposed the fraud committed by the FTX insiders.”

Attorneys for Bankman and Fried issued a statement calling the claims “completely false” — adding that the lawsuit is a “dangerous attempt to intimidate Joe and Barbara and undermine the jury process just days before their child’s trial begins.”

Bankman-Fried’s trial on federal fraud charges is scheduled to begin Oct. 3 in New York. Several other former FTX executives have pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges and are cooperating with investigators.

Illinois
Man pleads guilty to trying to burn down planned abortion clinic
URBANA, Ill. (AP) — A 73-year-old man has pleaded guilty to driving a car into a planned abortion clinic in eastern Illinois and trying to set the building on fire earlier this year, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Philip J. Buyno of Prophetstown, Illinois, entered the plea Tuesday to a federal charge of attempting to use fire to damage a building used in interstate commerce.

Buyno admitted that, on May 20, he brought several containers filled with gasoline with him and used his car to breach the front entrance to a commercial building in Danville to burn it down before it could be used as a reproductive health clinic, prosecutors said.

Danville police officers responded to an alarm at the building that day around 4:30 a.m. and found Buyno stuck inside a car that he had backed into the entrance of the building, prosecutors said.

During a search of the car, FBI agents found bottles containing gasoline, a hatchet, road flares, old tires and a pack of matches and that Buyno had fortified the trunk of the car with wooden beams, prosecutors said.

Buyno is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 5. He faces five to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, three years of supervised release, and restitution for the damage caused to the building, prosecutors said.