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Dem leaders vow to stand in front of deportations [Video]
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Dem leaders vow to stand in front of deportations [Video]

Democratic Minority Leader Rep. Greta Neubauer says she’s having conversations with Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul about ways to stand in front of mass deportations promised by President-elect Donald Trump. “We are having conversations with Assembly Democrats, in our local communities, and of course with the governor and the attorney general and trying to figure out what is available to us, what levers we have to pull to try to protect our friends and neighbors,” Neubauer said on WISN’s ‘UPFRONT’ which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com. “We’re all very concerned, both from a moral perspective, I think it’s wrong to remove people who have lived and contributed to our communities for so long.”Neubauer said that includes people who are in Wisconsin illegally.”Yes, I think there’s a nuanced conversation,” she said. “But I have many people in my community who have been here for many years, whose kids go to school with our kids, who are contributing members of our communities. We are looking into what options are available to keep those folks in our communities.” Neubauer said she has met with Republican leaders since November’s election when Democrats picked up 10 seats in the Assembly, reducing the GOP majority to 54-45.”So we’re just getting started,” she said. “We’re looking to next year and talking about sharing our priorities, seeing if there’s common ground and figuring out how we can best work together. For the past decade, Assembly Democrats really have been on defense. We’ve been trying to fight off a Republican supermajority. We have been upholding the governor’s veto. Our posture has changed, right? We have a much narrower majority, and we’re really hoping to use that to governor this year.” Neubauer didn’t rule out working with Republicans on a tax cut bill but said her caucus’ priorities will be K-12 education and “lowering costs for working families.” “Many of our communities across the state have gone to referendum, had to raise their own property taxes to cover needed investments in our schools,” Neubauer said. “Our kids deserve better, and the GOP-led Legislature just has not been keeping up our end of the bargain.” Former GOP Gov. Scott McCallum, a senior advisor to a group tasked with pushing for ‘fair, safe and secure elections,’ is blasting Attorney General Josh Kaul and the DOJ’s charges targeting former Trump allies, including Jim Troupis. “I care about democracy,” McCallum said. “And democracy, whether it’s Republican or Democrat, means standing up for institutions, and what we’re seeing is a clear abuse of power. If we can do this to people in important positions, a former judge in this case, this can occur to anybody in society.” Troupis, President-elect Trump’s former attorney and a former Dane County Judge, made his initial court appearance last week on 11 felony charges, accused in a plot to overturn the results of the 2020 election. “It was until the court proceedings were finished,” McCallum said, referring to the meeting of Republican electors. “Keep in mind this came within one vote. There was an appeal process, and I know Judge Troupis is representing his client, and I believe it came out in the Wall Street Journal that he advised the president to drop it, but his client said to proceed with the appeal. So they needed this slate to be able to proceed with the appeal.” A Madison-area small business owner says he’s stockpiled a one-year supply of products from China in anticipation of new tariffs imposed by Trump. “As soon as it became clear to me Trump was going to win, I knew that tariffs were on the table, a tariff up to 60% would have a huge impact on business, so I started messaging my suppliers on election night, putting in a pretty big order,” Jason Junod said, the founder and owner of Bare Botanics in Middleton. Junod said he’s been unable to find a supplier for brushes for his skincare company, a key product that accompanies every other produce made in his warehouse in Wisconsin. “I think tariffs have a place in the economy,” he said. “I think there have been success stories of tariffs protecting certain businesses and industries, but you have to have that industry set up in America first to protect it.”Junod anticipates he will save tens of thousands of dollars if the new tariffs are imposed. “If I can buy one year’s worth of inventory, it gives us a little bit of a reprieve, it gives customers a little bit of a reprieve,” he said. “I’m OK sharing this story to the extent it’s focused on policy and not necessarily party. I think this could have been a policy under either party, and it happens to be under the Republican party, and that happens to be the incoming administration, and as a small business owner, I have to stick to the facts and look ahead to what’s coming.”Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley delivered the commencement address at UW-Milwaukee Sunday but also walked across the stage as a graduate himself after completing his degree. “I ended up failing two classes, and quite frankly, the UW System sent me a letter saying you cannot come back,” Crowley said, detailing his journey. “You cannot come back until you pay for these classes, and if you do come back, you’re going to have to pay upfront for classes to make sure that you’re dedicated. And so I ended up paying those dollars back as a staffer working in the state Senate.””When I became county executive, one of the first articles that I read was about me being the third county executive without having a college degree,” Crowley added. “And not necessarily looking at it as they were coming down after me, but you know for me, that felt like I was seeing a glass ceiling being built over my head, and one that I was placing over my head as well. And so as time went on as county executive during the pandemic, I decided that it was just time.” Crowley said most students initially didn’t know who he was in classes and walking the halls of UW-Milwaukee.”Many of them started to open up,” he said. “But I also think that because of that connection, because I was approaching this as a student, I didn’t get any handouts, I didn’t get any help because I’m county executive, no my staff didn’t do my homework, I think many of these students were able to see me as a normal person, and I think that helped build an even greater connection to the community but also to government here locally.” Crowley said his address would focus on what students in this class had to overcome, beginning college during the pandemic. “We need to make sure that we respect everybody,” Crowley said. “Not everybody is ripe and ready to go to college, but they may be ripe and ready to be a police officer, to be a firefighter, to be a tradesman or woman. And so it’s important that we really talk about our duty and what responsibilities we have as individuals who are not only finishing our college experience, but those who have the opportunity to encourage others to do the same as well.”

New Orleans businessman charged in staged wrecks scheme pleas [Video]
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New Orleans businessman charged in staged wrecks scheme pleas [Video]

A New Orleans businessman who was charged this week in a wide-ranging probe into staged accidents has entered a plea in the case. Sean Alfortish is facing one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, three counts of obstruction of justice, and four counts of witness tampering.He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to court documents. Alfortish will remain in custody until his detention hearing scheduled for Jan. 8. Earlier this week, federal Magistrate Judge Michael North reviewed Alfortish’s financial documents and granted a federal public offender to represent him. The FBI went to Alfortish’s home in Lake Vista early Monday to execute that arrest warrant, but Alfortish was not home.He turned himself over to authorities, and a judge ordered him to be held without bond in connection with the incident. Alfortish is engaged to Vanessa Motta, who is also indicted in the scheme along with her law firm. Jason Giles, one of the owners of the King Firm, was indicted as well. Motta and Giles are not expected to make their court appearances until January. A co-defendant in the case, Leon Parker, will have his detention hearing on Monday. More from the indictment: According to the indictment, Ryan J. Harris, also known as “Red,” conspired with Motto, Alfortish, Giles, and three others named Leon M. Parker, also known as “Chunky,” Diaminike F. Stalbert, Carl G. Morgan, and Timara N. Lawrence to defraud insurance companies and commercial vehicle companies through false wreck claims. The indictment claims Motta, Giles, and their firms knowingly pursued lawsuits for staged accidents.Giles and Alfortish, who is a disbarred attorney, worked with Motta by paying what the indictment calls “slammers,” or people who staged the accidents. Stalbert, Parker, and Morgan are described as “slammers.” Lawrence was in a relationship with Harris, and Morgan was a family member of Harris, according to the indictment. Parker was involved in at least three staged accidents, and Stalbert was involved in at least two. Morgan was involved in one staged wreck. The indictment claims Lawrence would provide stolen personal information to Harris as part of the scheme. Beginning in 2011, Damian Labeaud and Roderick Hickman began staging accidents for Giles, according to the indictment. Labeaud and Hickman are accused of working as slammers and spotters, helping find tractor-trailers to target for wrecks. They would also refer people involved in the wrecks to Giles law firm, the King Firm. The indictment accuses Giles of paying both $1,000 per passenger in the collisions. To conceal their payments, the checks were often made out as loans or advances on future settlements.In 2017, another slammer introduced Cornelius Garrison to the scheme by training him to stage accidents, according to the indictment. Garrison was then introduced to Alfortish, who is described as playing “an active role” in staging accidents for Motta’s law firm. The indictment claims Garrison would direct passengers to Alfortish and Motta’s law firm. Harris eventually began working with Garrison to stage accidents. At some point, the two stopped working together, and Harris began staging accidents for other people. Garrison began covertly working with the federal government in 2019 regarding the wrecks. Motta and Alfortish are accused of offering Garrison money to move out of the United States if he would stop cooperating with the federal government. Garrison received a subpoena for a deposition in the case. The indictment claims Harris, Alfortish, Motta, and her firm conspired to stop Harris from participating in the deposition. Harris is accused of killing Garrison before he was able to testify in the probe. Alfortish is facing one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, three counts of obstruction of justice, and four counts of witness tampering. Motta is facing one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, three counts of obstruction of justice, and four counts of witness tampering. Her firm is also facing the same charges. Giles faces one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, five counts of obstruction of justice, and six counts of witness tampering. His firm also faces the same counts. WDSU has reached out to the attorneys representing Giles, Motta, and Alfortish. All are aware of the indictment against their clients. Motta’s attorney, Sean Toomey, a partner at New Orleans-based law firm Liskow & Lewis, issued the following statement regarding the allegations: “Vanessa Motta is completely innocent of any wrongdoing. The governments theory that a lawyer barely a year out of law school decided to participate in a sprawling conspiracy is terribly mistaken. If these accidents were in fact staged, my client was also a victim and taken advantage by others. Over the last five years Vanessa has been unjustly vilified in the press and so while we strongly believe this indictment is misguided, we are looking forward to the trial of this case where Vanessa will finally be vindicated.” At the time of this publication, responses had not yet been received from Giles and Alfortish’s attorneys. About the scheme: Motta represented two clients who have pleaded guilty to federal crimes, admitting to staging wrecks with tractor-trailers in New Orleans and then filing fraudulent insurance claims saying they were injured when they werent and that the wreck was not their fault when it was.Alfortish is a disbarred lawyer who served jail time over a decade ago after pleading to unrelated fraud charges.Sources say the two are implicated in the death of a federal witness who was executed in 2020. To date, neither have been charged with any crimes. Cornelius Garrison was gunned down in Gentilly in 2020, just days after he was charged with federal crimes for being a go-between for lawyers and those driving the vehicles used in the staged wrecks.Garrison was cooperating with the FBI and Department of Justice on this matter.In May, WDSU Investigates broke the story of the arrest of two people in the murder case.Ryan Harris, who is accused of killing Garrison, was arrested with his girlfriend, Jovana Gardner. Gardner cut a deal days after the arrest.The case had been cold for almost four years.In open court in May, at a hearing for Harris, the FBI said that he had documents at his home linking him to Motta’s law firm.The feds say Garrison was shot 10 times. All 10 shell casings were found at the scene.Pictures of his body were also shown in open court.Garrison, along with Gardner and Harris, were involved in “Operation Sideswipe.”That’s the name of the wide-ranging federal investigation into staged wrecks in New Orleans.The FBI said in open court that the probe started in early 2019, just months after WDSU Investigates first reported on how wrecks were being staged in New Orleans and how local lawyers cried foul on how suspect insurance claims were being filed.According to the lead FBI agent, who testified at the May detention hearing, Gardner and Harris were in a relationship and share a child together.The FBI says the two would work with Garrison, helping to stage wrecks and then work to file false insurance claims.The FBI agent who testified in May told the court that in the fall of 2019, Garrison started working with the feds as a cooperating witness.He admitted that he was providing information on cases, including one involving Harris.Garrison was charged in 2020 and, days later, was killed.The FBI said Harris is on video buying a cell phone at a Family Dollar.They say that the cell phone was purchased one day before Garrison was killed, and it was used to send messages and make calls to him hours before he was killed.One call was made just two minutes before Garrison’s mother called 911, reporting his shooting death.Federal prosecutors showed a picture of Harris in court buying the cell phone.They say the phone used then went dead after Garrison was murdered.Gardner was in court, wearing a navy blue prison jumpsuit.Several family members attended the court hearing, and all declined to comment afterward.This case is set to go to trial in January but is expected to be delayed. Almost 50 people have pleaded guilty in connection with the staged wrecks. The federal probe was launched months after WDSU’s initial report on this matter in 2018 and led to state lawmakers enhancing laws to protect tractor-trailer drivers in the state.

Former California congressman TJ Cox expected to plead guilty in fraud case [Video]
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Former California congressman TJ Cox expected to plead guilty in fraud case [Video]

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) A lawyer for former U.S. Rep. TJ Cox of California said the Democrat will plead guilty to two counts of fraud and pay $3.5 million in restitution after federal prosecutors alleged he perpetrated multiple schemes involving businesses he was involved in. Attorney Mark Coleman told the Fresno Bee on Wednesday that

New CFPB rule saves consumers billions in fees [Video]
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New CFPB rule saves consumers billions in fees [Video]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finalized a rule that curbs excessive overdraft fees charged to customers of large banks and credit unions, potentially saving consumers as much as $5 billion a year.The rule, unveiled Thursday, would cap overdraft fees at $5 a substantial savings from the $35 that customers are typically charged. In total, households could save about $225 per year. Additional options for banks would allow them to either cap fees at amounts that just cover their costs or to treat an overdraft like any other loan by disclosing terms like interest rates.”For far too long, the largest banks have exploited a legal loophole that has drained billions of dollars from Americans’ deposit accounts,” Rohit Chopra, the bureau’s director, said in a press release. “The CFPB is cracking down on these excessive junk fees and requiring big banks to come clean about the interest rate they’re charging on overdraft loans.””Excessive overdraft fees have saddled hardworking Americans with charges that really add up, preventing them from getting ahead,” said Lael Brainard, head of the National Economic Council, in a statement. “That is real relief for families.”Banking trade groups are against the new rule, saying that the agency’s proposed rule could backfire. They have also cited development of next-day grace periods and the elimination of non-sufficient funds fees as just two ways banks have innovated and competed to serve consumers best in recent years.Consumer Bankers Association said in an open letter before Thursday’s announcement that the CFPB’s overdraft rulemaking is “an unlawful attempt at government price setting and will cause consumers to lose the freedom to choose a popular and helpful form of emergency liquidity.”The proposal was first announced in January as part of President Joe Biden’s crackdown on junk fees and attempt to bring about more transparency on charges including on airline tickets, live events, car rentals, hotels, banking services, retirement advice and credit cards.An overdraft fee is charged when the bank or credit union covers a deposit account holder’s transaction a payment, withdrawal, debit or transfer when there is not enough money in that account.Congress created the bureau in 2010 to protect consumers from financial scams. its future was hazy until the Supreme Court recently ruled that it could continue to operate, but while the new rule is set to take effect on October 1, 2025, there’s no guarantee it will the incoming Trump administration could overturn or alter it.