Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney of US President Donald Trump, is expected to plead guilty to charges stemming from a federal investigation of his buisness dealings and possible campaign finance violations, the Associated Press has reported. 

There was no initial confirmation of the plea deal reported by several other media outlets, including NBC News and the New York Times, or of the specific charges involved, but Cohen is set to appear in a criminal court in New York at 4pm local time (20:00GMT). 

CNN reported that the deal includes prison time for the president’s long-time fixer, who played a behind-the-scenes role in making hush payments to women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump.

Cohen was seen earlier on Tuesday leaving his apartment and travelling to the midtown Manhattan offices of one of his attorneys, former federal prosecutor Guy Patrillo. At the courthouse, security officers had set up barricades outside the main entrance.

Cohen’s lawyers and the US Attorney’s office declined comment on Tuesday.

Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey, reporting from New York, said it is still unknown was Cohen will plead guilty to, or what he is offering to prosecutors in return.

“There’s a lot of speculations about what Michael Cohen knows and what he could say about President Trump, as someone who has been with him for so long,” Saloomey said.

The development came a day after prosecutors signaled that Cohen could be charged before the end of the month in a case that has been a distraction for the White House with the midterm elections approaching.

Without a resolution, it is believed that prosecutors would put off a decision on how to go forward with the case until after the election in compliance with an informal Justice Department policy of avoiding bringing prosecutions that could be seen as political and influence voters.

Investigating for months

Prosecutors had been investigating Cohen for possible fraud related to his businesses for months.

The FBI raided his hotel room, home and office on April 9, seizing more than 4 million items.

The search of Cohen’s files sought bank records, communications with the Trump campaign and information on money payments made in 2016 to two women: former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who received $150,000, and the adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who received $130,000.

The New York Times reported earlier this week, based on anonymous sources, that prosecutors have been focusing on more than $20m in loans obtained by taxi businesses that Cohen and his family own.

Cohen had gained notoriety as Trump’s loyal “fixer” before the FBI raid. And Trump branded it “a witch hunt,” an assault on attorney-client privilege and a politically motivated attack by enemies within the FBI.

But the president’s initial support for Cohen has since degenerated into a public feud.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto

When deepfakes burst onto the scene last year, it didn’t take long for the new image-manipulation technology to go from harmless online fun to troubling tool for online harassment. However, one company is looking to shift the conversation back, strangely enough, with porn.

One of the first uses of deepfakes was the swapping the faces of porn actors and actresses with those of celebrities, a big part of what led to deepfake bans across the web. However, the adult film company Naughty America is looking to flip the telescope on that kind of scenario and make it 100 percent consensual. 

Naughty America’s new service lets customers insert images of themselves into scenes, transport porn stars to a whole new setting by changing the background, and, in one example, blend together the facial features of two different actors. The company uploaded a number of samples here, which are obviously not safe for work.

“We’re customizing content using deep learning,” Naughty America CEO Andreas Hronopoulos told Mashable. Its clear Hronopoulos is no fan of the term deepfakes. “We’re just using deep learning to edit.” 

The “deep” in “deepfakes” stands for deep learning, which is how artificial intelligence learns to mimic based on the data (images, videos, etc.) presented to it. It’s basically what’s driving this new kind of image-manipulation technology. 

To insert yourself in a Naughty America film, a user would need to pay anywhere from a few hundred bucks to thousands of dollars, depending on how technical the customizations for the user’s fantasy are. The customer would also need to provide the company with a hefty amount of visual data, including photos and videos of facial reactions and whatever else they want inserted into the video.

Hronopoulos is aware of the issues that arisen around deepfakes. To deal with previous issues concerning nonconsensual use of the technology, the company has a legal team involved making sure consent is obtained from the performers involved.

But what about consent of the user, or rather, the person in the images? Naughty America hasn’t made clear how it intends to verify whether users have the right to use the images they submit. Misused, the company’s new service could be a tool to create high-quality revenge porn. However, Hronopoulos said Naughty America is aware of the concerns and is taking precautions.

Naughty America says an customers who want to use the customization service would have to submit the same documents they would if they were a performer. The identification would have to match the images of the person who wants to be inserted into a film. The end product would be provided to that specific customer directly, delivered in a format preferable to them.

Pornography has often been the driving force in the adoption of new tech. And, looking past the worst uses of deepfakes so far, the technology is certainly impressive. It’s possible Naughty America’s move is the first step toward a rehabilitation of deepfakes as a concept.

“The future of entertainment is in personalization,” Hronopoulos said. Note he said “entertainment,” not “adult entertainment.”

Where in the world is Joe Murphy?

Northwestern Ontario, apparently. And he’s homeless. 

Murphy, the former Michigan State star who was drafted No. 1 overall by the Detroit Red Wings in 1986, is the subject of a TSN documentary that will air Wednesday. The Canadian sports network published a trailer of its feature on Twitter on Monday. 

According to the video, Murphy has been living in Kenora, Ontario, located north of the Minnesota border. A man identified as Murphy is shown walking the streets of the small city in the video. 

The scene is a stark contrast to the life Murphy once lived as a hockey forward, including helping Michigan State win the 1986 national title and helping the Edmonton Oilers win the 1990 Stanley Cup.

Murphy moved around quite a bit during his NHL career, playing for the Red Wings (1986-89), Oilers (1989-1993), Chicago Blackhawks (1993-96), St. Louis Blues (1996-1998), San Jose Sharks (1998-99), Boston Bruins (1999-2000) and Washington Capitals (2000-01). 

He scored 233 goals in his career (528 points) and twice led his teams in scoring. 

He was among the former players who were part of a failed class-action concussion lawsuit against the NHL this year. However, Murphy can still pursue his own claim against the NHL, his lawyer, Michael Cashman, told TSN in July. 

In Murphy’s part of the lawsuit, filed in  October 2014, the NHL was accused of, “Until very recently … actively (seeking) to suppress and obscure the truth about the long-term effect of concussions suffered while practicing and playing hockey in the NHL.”

“Mr. Murphy suffered multiple head traumas during his NHL career that were improperly diagnosed and treated by the NHL,” the lawsuit argued. “Mr. Murphy never was warned by the NHL of the negative health effects of head trauma.”

It’s unclear exactly how many concussions Murphy suffered during his career. Or whether the injuries led to him being homeless.

The discussion on concussions and brain injuries in sports has reached a fever pitch in recent years after hundreds of lawsuits were filed by former NFL players and their families, who alleged the league didn’t properly disclose the link between football and brain trauma, including the degenerative brain disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which can only be diagnosed postmortem. 

In 2009, Reg Fleming became the first retired NHL player diagnosed with CTE, per Murphy’s lawsuit.

In 2011, ex-Red Wings star Bob Probert was diagnosed with the disease, and  Johan Franzen’s wife said in May her husband continues to struggle with post-concussion symptoms from his playing days in Detroit. 

Franzen, on long-term injured reserve, is still being paid by the Wings. He last played for the franchise during the 2015-16 season. 

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s ex-personal lawyer, reached a plea deal Tuesday on campaign finance violations, bank fraud and tax evasion, according to news reports.

According to ABC and the New York Times, Cohen came to an agreement with federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.

The reported deal comes after reports that federal investigators were looking into whether Cohen committed bank and tax fraud worth more than $20 million, according to a media report. The New York Times, citing anonymous sources, said authorities were focusing on loans obtained for taxi businesses owned by Cohen and his family. 

Investigators were also considering whether Cohen had violated campaign finance and other laws when he made financial arrangements to pay women to stay silent about alleged affairs with then-candidate Trump in 2016.

Prosecutors had reportedly considered filing charges by the end of August.

Cohen, who long served as Trump’s fixer, has been under investigation for months. In April, federal investigators for the Southern District of New York seized roughly 4 million files from Cohen’s home, business office and hotel room. 

The investigation has strained the once close relationship between Trump and Cohen.

More: Report: Ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen investigated for bank and tax fraud of more than $20 million

More: Feds win access to records seized from ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen

More: Michael Cohen tapes: Here’s what we know about the secret recordings

 

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EFL live: Four Championship games and 22 matches in Leagues One and Two – Live – BBC Sport

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Saudi-owned satellite television is part of a sophisticated piracy operation involving the illegal broadcast of football matches across the Middle East and North Africa, the English Premier League said.

There was “compelling” evidence showing that Riyadh-based Arabsat satellite operator allowed pirate channel beoutQ to use its services while broadcasting all Premier League matches played since the season began on August 10, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The Premier League strongly condemns the illegal broadcast piracy of its matches currently taking place in Saudi Arabia and available in multiple territories throughout the Middle East by an illegal pirate channel called ‘beoutQ’,” the league said.

Qatar-based beIN Sports is the holds the legal rights for the broadcast of all Premier League fixtures across the Middle East and North Africa, having recently extended its exclusive agreement until 2021-2022.

The league has taken a number of measures to address the “very serious issue”, including the appointment of legal counsel in Saudi Arabia and issuing a complaint to the European Commission.

“Like all content creators and rights owners, our business model is predicated on the ability to market and sell protected rights, and we will take all available action to support the investment made in the league by our legitimate broadcast partners.”

‘Plague of piracy’

BeIN said Saudi-based pirate channel beautQ had “orchestrated a plague of piracy on world sport over the past year”, and accused it of illegally broadcasting every game during the recent FIFA World Cup in Russia.

“Since August 2017, beoutQ has been stealing the broadcast feed of some of the most internationally renowned sports brands and rights holders in the world, pirating everything from the Olympic Games, Formula 1 and Wimbledon tennis, to the UEFA Champions League, the English Premier League and LaLiga,” beIN said in a statement on Thursday.

In May, beIN called on FIFA to launch legal action against Arabsat and Saudi-based pirate broadcasters.

Saudi Arabia is one of a group of countries – including the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt – that severed ties with Qatar on June 5, 2017, accusing Doha of supporting “terrorism” and being too close to regional rival Iran.

Qatar denies the allegations.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs improperly denied hundreds of military sexual trauma claims in recent years, leaving potentially thousands of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder without benefits, a VA inspector general investigation found.

Last year alone, the investigation found the agency mishandled as many as 1,300 sexual trauma claims. Some 12,000 veterans file for sexual trauma-related PTSD benefits each year.  

The inspector general found the VA failed to order required medical exams in more than half the cases, didn’t obtain necessary records to back up the claims in hundreds of cases or denied claims despite contradictory evidence.

The agency neglected to provide adequate training to employees vetting the claims. It stopped conducting quality audits of the sexual trauma claims process in 2015. And the following year, it shunted the claims into a national queue where staff without any specialized knowledge processed them.

The VA has specialized processing for other types of claims, including those related to traumatic brain injuries or from prisoners of war.

The inspector general recommended the agency review denied claims, reintroduce specialized vetting and audits, and provide better training for claims processors.

In response to the findings, Paul Lawrence, the VA’s top benefits official, said the agency will comply with the recommendations.

The VA put special rules in place in 2011 for vetting claims from victims of sexual assault during military service. They eased guidelines for the types of evidence needed to support the claims, and required processors to take extra steps, including getting veterans’ complete personnel files and looking for tell signs of an assault such as deteriorating performance.

Processors are supposed to advise veterans to seek statements from family members, clergy or colleagues they may have confided in at the time of the assault. And if there is contradictory evidence, the claim “should be resolved in favor of the veteran,” the IG report says.

Yet in one case examined by investigators last year, a veteran had reported being assaulted to a VA medical center and received related treatment from a private medical provider, but VA staff processing the claim denied it without even ordering a medical exam.

“Had (they) obtained a medical examination, a clinician might have provided a positive opinion regarding the veteran’s claim, which in turn could have resulted in the approval of the claim.

In another case, a male veteran indicated he received psychiatric treatment from several private providers, but VA claims staff never got the records and denied the claim saying “there was no credible supporting evidence of the event.”

VA staff told investigators that they stopped doing audits of sexual trauma claims processing in 2015 and “reallocated resources towards other areas” because the error rates declined.

The agency also hasn’t updated training materials for processors since 2014, and investigators found they are outdated, incomplete and inaccurate.

“Furthermore, the training was one-time only and there was no requirement for annual refresher training,” they concluded.

The drop-off in focus on such claims at the VA coincided with a national uproar over a massive backlog in benefits claims at the agency. The backlog, which reached as many as 600,000 claims in 2013, had been reduced to 80,000 by the end of last year.

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