All posts tagged: stealing

Former CIA officer accused of stealing 300 gold bars, sources say

Former CIA officer accused of stealing 300 gold bars, sources say

WASHINGTON — A former CIA senior officer with top secret-level clearance has been accused of secretly stashing millions of dollars in gold bars in his home that he said he needed for “work-related expenses,” according to court documents and two people familiar with his employment history. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. David Rush, who held a management position, was charged with criminal theft of public money in a complaint filed last week in the Eastern District of Virginia. His lawyer didn’t respond to a request for comment. He was also accused of lying to his employers about his background for nearly two decades. Asked about Rush’s case, a CIA spokesperson said in a statement joint statement with the FBI that the FBI had arrested a person after a referral from the agency. “After a CIA internal investigation identified potential violations of the law, CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred the information to the FBI for a law enforcement investigation,” the written statement said. “The FBI is …

DOJ charges prosecutor with stealing Trump documents case report

DOJ charges prosecutor with stealing Trump documents case report

This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and partially redacted by the source, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8, 2022, FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Department of Justice | AP A former federal prosecutor has been charged with stealing the sealed volume of the report prepared by then-special counsel Jack Smith about the defunct criminal case against President Donald Trump over his retention of classified government documents after leaving office in January 2021. Carmen Mercedes Lineberger is accused in a four-count indictment unsealed Wednesday of saving the sealed portion of Smith’s report on her government-issued computer under the file name “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf,” and then emailing the report from her DOJ email account to her personal Gmail account on Dec. 1, 2025. At the time of the alleged conduct, the 62-year-old Lineberger was managing Assistant U.S. Attorney in Fort Pierce, Fla., according to the indictment in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Read more CNBC politics coverage …

Trump’s .8 Billion Slush Fund Is Worse Than Stealing

Trump’s $1.8 Billion Slush Fund Is Worse Than Stealing

Among the very first things Donald Trump did upon assuming the powers of the presidency for the second time was commute the sentences of, and grant pardons to, everybody involved in his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Republican allies expressed moderate disappointment but vowed to move past this ugly blemish. Senator Susan Collins called it a “terrible day for our Justice Department.” Senator Tommy Tuberville admitted, “It’s a hard one, because we work with them up here,” referring to Capitol Police who were viciously beaten by Trump’s allies. Tuberville concluded, “At the end of the day, we’ve got to get Jan. 6 behind us.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that Republicans were “not looking backwards; we’re looking forward.” It was not, however, just one terrible day. Trump’s loyalty to his most violent and criminal supporters was a signal of his highest priority and has been a reliable guide to his decisions ever since. The impulse to rewrite the history of January 6, 2021, appears to be the inspiration even for the establishment of …

Ex-head banned for stealing £15k from two schools

Ex-head banned for stealing £15k from two schools

A former headteacher who defrauded two schools of more than £15,000 has been banned from the profession. Neil Metcalf, 52, was jailed for 15 months in 2024 after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud. He abused his position as head to steal £10,800 from St Anthony of Padua Catholic Primary School, Liverpool, between 2017 and 2022 and £4,690 from Our Lady’s Bishop Eton Catholic Primary School, Merseyside, between 2022 and 2023. The fraud involved invoices relating to a company that did not exist, with the money instead flowing to Metcalf. Now the education secretary has banned him from teaching following the recommendations of a Teaching Regulation Agency panel, with a stipulation he cannot ask for a review of the decision for six years. The panel noted the former head’s conviction, and that he had opted not to go to a full hearing. It also noted his behaviour “ultimately led to a sentence of imprisonment, which was indicative of the seriousness of the offences committed”. ‘Direct impact on school resources’ The panel found Melcalf’s actions …

Pennsylvania bank manager imprisoned after stealing funds to support gambling habit

Pennsylvania bank manager imprisoned after stealing funds to support gambling habit

Federal prosecutors say a former Pennsylvania bank manager stole more than $214,000 from a Citizens Bank branch and spent most of the money feeding a gambling habit, a scheme that has now landed him in federal prison. Jonathan Lim, 42, of Wallingford, was sentenced this week to 18 months behind bars followed by five years of supervised release after pleading guilty to bank fraud and bank embezzlement charges. Prosecutors said Lim took approximately $214,155 while serving as branch manager of the Citizens Bank location on West Lancaster Avenue in Downingtown. Delco Man Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Stealing More Than $214,000 From the Bank Where He Worked @FBIPhiladelphia https://t.co/YkLUxdmf0f — U.S. Attorney EDPA (@USAO_EDPA) May 6, 2026 Court records filed May 6 and seen by ReadWrite show U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson imposed concurrent 18-month prison terms on both counts. Lim was also ordered to repay Citizens Bank the full amount investigators said was stolen. Authorities said Lim worked at the Citizens Bank “Thorndale branch” from June through November 2019. Along with …

James Cameron Accused of Stealing 14-Year-Old Girl’s Face for Main Character of Billion-Dollar “Avatar” Films

James Cameron Accused of Stealing 14-Year-Old Girl’s Face for Main Character of Billion-Dollar “Avatar” Films

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech An Indigenous actress is suing director James Cameron and The Walt Disney Co, accusing Cameron of stealing her likeness when she was a teen to create the main character of Disney’s hit “Avatar” franchise — an extraordinarily lucrative film series about imperialistic theft of indigenous land, resources, and people. Filed Tuesday by native Peruvian actress and activist Q’orianka Kilcher, the suit alleges that Cameron “extracted” Kilcher’s “facial features” from a photo of her playing Pocahontas in the 2006 movie “The New World” and “directed his design team to use it as the foundation for the character of Neytiri,” one of the “Avatar” franchise’s main characters. When “The New World” was filmed, Kilcher, now 36, was just 14. “This case exposes how one of Hollywood’s most powerful filmmakers exploited a young Indigenous girl’s biometric identity and cultural heritage to create a record-breaking film franchise — without credit or compensation to her — through a series of deliberate, non-expressive commercial acts,” …

KJ Apa Calls Out Mr. Fantasy For Stealing His Image: ‘Completely Wrong’

KJ Apa Calls Out Mr. Fantasy For Stealing His Image: ‘Completely Wrong’

It appears KJ Apa has some beef with himself? His alter ego? It’s not exactly clear, but the Riverdale actor has officially taken to social media to call out Mr. Fantasy. In September 2025, Mr. Fantasy initially went viral for not only his eccentric personality, quirky style and signature black bob, but also because fans were convinced he was Apa’s alter ego. To back up their theories, fans point out that the pair have the exact same tattoos. Up until now, the actor hasn’t addressed the comparisons that have been swirling on social media for months, especially as Mr. Fantasy has continued to see his star power rise from garnering more than 1.2 million followers on TikTok to performing his song “Mr. Fantasy” at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. On Wednesday, Apa posted a lengthy video on his Instagram (below), calling out the singer for stealing his image. “So there has been something going on for a long time that I haven’t addressed because I didn’t think it was even worth addressing,” the actor said …

Man Charged in US With Stealing 0 Million From Mexican Billionaire in Loan Scheme

Man Charged in US With Stealing $450 Million From Mexican Billionaire in Loan Scheme

A man with multiple aliases used the name of the famed Astor family to dupe a Mexican billionaire out of around $450 million in a bogus stock-backed loan scheme, according to a newly unsealed U.S. indictment and other court records. Vladimir Sklarov, 63, also known as Gregory Mitchell and Mark Simon Bentley, set up a sham company, Astor Asset Group, that purported to be a legitimate and experienced loan provider that was connected to the Astors, federal prosecutors said. The storied New York family included John Jacob Astor, one of the wealthiest men in America in the mid-19th century. Although the indictment unsealed on Monday does not name the victim, court records in litigation in England show it was Ricardo Salinas Pliego, the Mexican TV, retail and banking magnate. Salinas also confirmed he was ripped off by Astor Asset Group in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last year. “I feel like an absolute idiot. How could I fall for this?” Salinas Pliego told the newspaper. Sklarov was arrested in Chicago on Saturday on …

The Fake Radicals Stealing Lemons

The Fake Radicals Stealing Lemons

The late political scientist James C. Scott endorsed what he called “anarchist calisthenics”—the regular practice of small acts of lawbreaking and disobedience. Jaywalk at an empty intersection. Have a beer in the park. Smuggle a pudding cup past the TSA agents. The point, Scott said, was to keep the civic muscles strong. Without constant reinforcement, these muscles will atrophy, and when real tyranny arrives, the flabby citizen will be powerless to resist. Scott particularly enjoyed telling Germans to get their reps in, because their grandparents had not. Tuesday a New York Times podcast hosted the Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and the New Yorker staff writer Jia Tolentino for a discussion of lawbreaking, which they both endorsed not as a habit of mind but as resistance to actual tyranny, today. They agreed that shoplifting from grocery stores such as Whole Foods is laudable, because (as Tolentino says, without evidence) “every major grocery chain” steals from workers and customers. Streaming services—they specifically name Spotify, which carries the Times podcast—are bad for creators and, they say, worthy of …

‘They are stealing the election’: How Armenia became the next Russia-EU battlefield

‘They are stealing the election’: How Armenia became the next Russia-EU battlefield

The European Union breathed a sigh of relief last week when Hungary voted out Prime Minister Viktor Orban in favour of Peter Magyar.  Like Moldova’s election last year, the vote was seen as an ideological battleground between the Kremlin and Brussels.  Orban, a long-standing ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be replaced by Magyar, who said he wants to repair ties with the EU. “Hungary has chosen Europe,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after the results were announced. Read moreOrban ousted: What Magyar’s victory means for Hungary and the EU Now the bloc’s attention is shifting further east towards another former Soviet Union country seen to be making a similar choice: Armenia.   But this could have long-lasting consequences for the Armenian people, according to some observers.  A step towards Europe  The June 7 parliamentary elections in Armenia matter for Europe, as public opinion in the country – long aligned with Russia – is now turning toward Brussels. While campaigning officially begins 30 days before the election, candidates have already hit the trail.  …