Lawsuits, lies, and Colombian prisons: The downfall of two wildly successful tech entrepreneurs

• Prominent tech entrepreneurs Omar Amanat and Kaleil Isaza Tuzman were found guilty on numerous accounts of fraudulent charges in their dealings with former video management company KIT digital. 
• Both Amanat and Tuzman have led successful but controversial entrepreneurial careers — and their guilty verdict marks a striking fall from prominence. 

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For the past six weeks, a tangled case of complex fraud leveled against two prominent tech entrepreneurs unfolded in federal court. On December 26, the trial’s defendants, Omar Amanat and Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, were found guilty on numerous accounts of fraudulent charges, as originally reported by Bloomberg. 

For both Amanat and Tuzman, the conviction is a striking fall from power: The two defendants have made millions of dollars and led successful entrepreneurial careers that have all but unraveled over the course of the past year. 

The court case revealed a series of convoluted legal infractions performed by Amanat and Tuzman in their work with the presently insolvent video-technology company, KIT Digital, a former multi-million dollar leader in the cloud-based video management industry. 

According to Bloomberg, Tuzman, who served as the company’s CEO, and Amanat, who dealt in a series of company investments, covered up losses, inflated the value of shares, and defrauded investors. 

The pair are expected to serve a minimum of a decade in jail and their sentencing will be delivered in April 2018. 

Here’s a breakdown of Amanat and Tuzman’s descent:

Lavish wealth and lurid lawsuits

By the time he was 30 years old, Omar Amanat had sold off his brokerage firm, Tradespace, for $100 million. Amanat was already flush in wealth and had turned his interests towards philanthropy and film production, flaunting connections with A-list celebrities like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. He was known for his lavish lifestyle, an tendency for quoting the Persian poet Rumi, and appearing in designer garb alongside his wife, supermodel Helena Houdova, at high-profile events. 

But despite Amanat’s effortless exterior, a series of sensational controversies had begun to dog his career. 

In 2014, a multi-million-dollar real estate deal in Thailand collapsed amid a lurid lawsuit with Amanat and his business partner, the Russian oligarch Vladislav Doronin.

Two years later, Amanat’s name was once more featured prominently in the papers. He had leased his lavish Hampton home to a hedge-fund trader, Brett Barna, who allegedly trashed the $20 million estate in a widely publicized madcap party. 

The New York Times reported that  Amanat had threatened to sue Barna for $1 million and was hounding him for thousands of dollars in damages.  

But Amanat’s threats were short-lived. Days after he had threatened to sue, Amanat received a visit in his New Jersey home from the FBI, which charged Amanat with multiple counts of fraud.

Right now, Amanat awaits his sentencing in jail. 

On his personal website, he describes the trial’s outcome as an “injustice in America.”

“The facts of this case will all be made plain to see shortly,” Amanat wrote. “You’ve only seen snippets. You’ve only seen what they want you to see.”

A successful dot-com millionaire serves time in a Colombian prison

Kaleil Isaza Tuzman is considered one of the preeminent figures of the dot-com boom. 

 A Harvard graduate, Tuzman worked as an analyst for five years on Wall Street, before launching his own company, govWorks.com, which is featured in the documentary ‘Startup.com.’

Tuzman, who is considered an expert in the field of digital media, went on to join KIT Digital as the company’s chief executive.

Tuzman was charged with fraud for his involvement with KIT Digital in 2015. He was reportedly apprehended on a business trip in Bogotá, Colombia by Colombian officials, which had been sent to arrest Tuzman at the behest of the US government. Tuzman spent 10 months in “La Picota,” a notorious local prison.

Tuzman described his prison time to the New York Times as a harrowing ordeal: The former CEO claims he was abused, raped, and threatened at knifepoint by Colombian authorities. Multiple attempts on Tuzman’s behalf by his attorneys to the US Embassy were met to no avail. 

He was later extradited to the US where he faced trial alongside Amanat.

SEE ALSO: The father of virtual reality sounds off on the changing culture of Silicon Valley, the impending #MeToo backlash, and why he left Google for Microsoft

DON’T MISS: The 50 best-paying big companies, according to employees

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Las Vegas is bolstering security for New Year’s Eve with snipers, the National Guard, and a hostage rescue team

• Las Vegas is bolstering its security measures for its New Year’s Eve celebrations on the Strip, which more than 300,000 people are expected to attend.
• The heightened security comes in the wake of a deadly mass shooting three months ago, in which a gunman opened fire on concertgoers from a nearby hotel.
• Las Vegas has received assistance from the Department of Homeland Security, including extra officers, snipers, a hostage rescue team, and helicopters.

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Three months after a gunman rained bullets on a country music festival in Las Vegas, the city is preparing for more than 300,000 people to descend on the Strip to celebrate New Year’s Eve — and scores of local and federal officers will be there in the hopes of preventing another massacre.

For the first time in the city’s history, the Department of Homeland Security has given Las Vegas’s New Year’s Eve festivities its top special assessment rating, a designation that comes with extra resources like federal officers, intelligence, snipers, an FBI hostage rescue team, and helicopters with tactical security forces, The New York Times reported.

The October 1 massacre, which killed 58 and left hundreds injured, was the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, and has served as a warning to large cities hosting major public events that could be seen as targets.

In an effort to combat that threat, cities like Las Vegas and New York have bolstered their security plans for New Year’s Eve, when celebrations are expected to draw hundreds of thousands of revelers.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, for instance, said it will deploy every single officer to work a shift between New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

“We need to be able to focus on multiple shooters, on one or more above the ground — we’ve got to multiply our forces,” Chief Chris Jones told The Times.

He added that more than 5,000 officers will be placed along the Strip, and nearly all of the four miles it comprises will be closed to traffic.

‘Out of an abundance of caution’

The New York Police Department, too, is sending in rooftop observation teams and counter-snipers into buildings to spot or disarm any high-rise shooters taking aim at the crowds watching the ball drop in Times Square, The Times reported.

The NYPD, keenly aware of recent terrorist attacks in New York City, are sending out Labrador retrievers that can smell explosive particles on would-be suicide bombers, like the man who partially detonated a makeshift bomb in one of the city’s underground passageways earlier this month.

The NYPD is also placing sand trucks around Times Square to prevent vehicle attacks, like the one that killed eight people on Halloween after a driver plowed his rented pickup truck down a lower Manhattan bike path.

NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said at a press conference Thursday there were no direct, credible threats to the city’s New Year’s Eve events, but the security measures were being tightened regardless.

“Out of an abundance of caution, however, you’ll see a stronger police presence out there than we’ve seen even in recent years,” O’Neill said.

SEE ALSO: The Bronx fire that killed 12 was apparently caused by a 3-year-old child playing with the burners on a stove

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NOW WATCH: How the net neutrality repeal will hurt small businesses — including anyone who sells things on sites like Etsy

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2017: The Year in Immigration Law

President Donald Trump entered office having made some big campaign promises regarding immigration reform. And the administration’s repeated efforts to make those promises a reality have met with mixed results from legislators and courts. Given all the back-and-forth, it’s been a busy year on the immigration front.

Here are the major immigration stories from 2017:

1. Can President Trump Change the Constitution?

Given those campaign promises and the often bombastic manner in which they were made, many were left to wonder whether now-President Trump could make those changes all by himself. But while the executive is given a lot of legal leeway when it comes to immigration, those orders are still subject to judicial review for constitutionality.

2. Next Steps for Trump’s Travel Ban

Trump’s first major immigration effort was a ban on immigration from first seven, then six Muslim-majority countries. Several courts have found the initial travel ban unconstitutional in February of this year, and and then said the same about a revamped version in March. The ban went to the Supreme Court, where some elements were permitted, while others were not.

3. Mixed Immigration Messages? Trump Administration’s Latest on DAPA, Dreamers

Speaking of mixed messages, Trump decided to undo some Obama-era immigration directives, but held off on others. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security rolled back Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA over the summer, but the president and Congress have yet to act on DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

4. Latest News on Sanctuary City and State Laws, Legal Battles

Another immigration battleground over the past 12 months has been sanctuary cities and states. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department threatened to withhold federal funding from jurisdictions that decline to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, and several of those jurisdictions have sued in response.

5. DHS Looks to Collect Social Media Info for All Immigrants

While Immigrants and Customs Enforcement officials have continued and expanded Obama-era crackdowns on undocumented immigrants already in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security has tried to expand the data it can review on potential immigrants. A new rule allows DHS to gather social media information for immigrants, including “social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results.”

Related Resources:

• Find Immigration Lawyers Near You (FindLaw’s Lawyer Directory)
• Top 7 Immigration Laws for Families (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life)
• Here’s the Latest on Trump Immigration Reform Efforts (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life)
• 3 Important Facts About Sanctuary Cities for Immigrants and Opponents (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life)

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New, grisly displays in a Mexican tourist hub underscore spiraling narco violence

• Bodies were found hanging from bridges in Baja California Sur several days before Christmas, along with banners known as “narcomantas.”
• Such displays were common during previous times of inter-cartel fighting, but it’s the first time one has appeared in Baja California Sur.
• Violence has risen precipitously through Mexico over the past three years.

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During the early morning hours of December 20, the bodies of six men were found hanging from bridges in the northwestern Mexican state of Baja California Sur, a popular tourist hub where deadly violence has risen precipitously in recent years.

Around 4:30 a.m., two bodies were found hanging from a bridge near the international airport in the municipality of Los Cabos, at the southern end of the state. Around 5 a.m., two more bodies were found in Cabo San Lucas, hanging from a bridge over a highway connecting that city to San Jose del Cabo.

Around 6 a.m., another two bodies were found hanging from a highway bridge near the international airport in the capital, La Paz, which is north of Los Cabos.

There has been a sharp increase in violence — much of it attributed to fighting between organized-crime groups — in Baja California Sur over the past three years.

The 650 homicide victims in the state between January and November this year was a 223% increase and a 284% increase over the same periods in 2016 and 2015, respectively.

But the December 20 incidents were reportedly the first time bodies had been found hung from bridges in the state.

‘A cleansing’

Narcomantas — public announcements by criminals that often accompany corpses — were left with the bodies.

They were attributed to the “Guzmanes y Tegoripeños” gang, and one reportedly said, in part, “This is what will happen to anyone who does not fall into line with us. It has been made more than clear that we hold all the power and that Baja north and south are ours.”

Several such signs have been attributed to the gang over the past two months, threatening government officials and boasting of “a cleansing” in the area.

A sign attributed to the group also appeared in the days after Baja California Sur’s human-rights ombudsman and his son were gunned down in late November.

The gang’s name appears to refer to Tegoripa, a small town in Sinaloa state’s Badiraguato municipality, which is where Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was born. Guzman’s surname appears to be the basis for the other half of the gang’s name.

Bodies hung from bridges or other structures with narcomantas appeared frequently elsewhere in Mexico during the major cartel clashes of the 2000s and early 2010s.

Several such displays were found around Tijuana in late 2016, and a body was hung from a bridge in nearby Nayarit state a few days before the incident in Baja California Sur, part of a wave of killings in the state suspected of being organized-crime related. Narcomantas were found at the scene of several of those crimes, including at the bridge.

Tourist hubs like Los Cabos have long avoided the kind of bloodshed seen elsewhere in the country during the last decade of its drug war.

But those areas have seen increasing violence in recent months.

Amid the dizzying increase in homicides through Baja California, the Los Cabos municipality, home to Cabo San Lucas, has also seen a spike: from 49 homicide cases (which can contain more than one victim) through all of 2016 to 286 through the first 11 months of this year — a 483% increase.

As of the end of the summer, increasing violence in those places, which has largely taken place outside tourist areas, hadn’t appreciably affected tourist activity (though feelings of insecurity among residents have risen).

From June to August, Los Cabos saw a 6% increase in hotel occupancy compared to the previous year, as well as a 17% increase in passenger arrivals during the first nine months of the year.

Nevertheless, violence in those tourist areas did prompt the US State Department to issue a travel warning for Baja California Sur at the end of August. Quintana Roo, home to Cancun and Play del Carmen, was also included.

Many areas of Mexican have been listed for some time, but the August notice was the first time those two states had been included.

At the time, Mexican officials admitted there were areas of concern in the country, but they also said the timing of the notice could have been a sign of political maneuvers by Washington in relation to ongoing NAFTA talks.

SEE ALSO: Deadly violence in Mexico is at record levels, and new crime data adds to the ugly picture

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NOW WATCH: The wives of El Chapo’s henchmen reveal how they hid and spent $2 billion

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3 Common Mistakes When Responding to Sexual Harassment at Work

If 2017 has taught us anything, it’s that sexual harassment and even sexual assault in the workplace is rampant, across almost every industry and at almost every level of employment. Sadly, many instances of workplace harassment go unreported, meaning the problem is even more pervasive than we might have even thought.

There are many reasons for not reporting sexual harassment, from embarrassment to fear of retaliation, and some victims may not even realize that the behavior they experienced constitutes harassment. So here are three of the most common mistakes when it comes to responding to workplace sexual harassment, and how to avoid them:

1. Not Identifying Sexual Harassment

In order to respond to sexual harassment, you have to know what it is. Harassment is prohibited by federal law, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provide guidance on identifying sexual harassment in the workplace. It’s important to know that the gender of the harasser and the victim are irrelevant, and the victim doesn’t need to be the target of the harassment in order to file a complaint.

2. Not Reporting Sexual Harassment

Like we said, many if not most of all instances of harassment go unreported at the time. This means more people can be victimized by harassers and claims may be harder to prove later down the line. Also, there may be time limits on reporting sexual harassment. If you experience sexual harassment at work you should absolutely report it, rather than ignoring it or responding to the harasser directly.

3. Not Following Company Policies or Statutory Procedures When Reporting Sexual Harassment

Once you’ve made the decision to report sexual harassment, you need to report it properly. All employers should have detailed internal reporting policies and procedures identifying the actions you can take in response to sexual harassment. These should include to whom the report should be made and how, along with specific steps the employer should take in response to a sexual harassment complaint. There are also specific procedures to follow when reporting harassment to the EEOC, should your employer fail to properly respond to your complaint.

If you’ve been the victim of sexual harassment at work, or a witness to it, you should contact a local employment attorney for help.

Related Resources:

• Find Sexual Harassment Lawyers Near You (FindLaw’s Lawyer Directory)
• 5 Inappropriate Sexual Behaviors Not to Tolerate From Supervisors (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life)
• Is Sexual Harassment a Crime? (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life)
• Understanding Different Types of Harassment (FindLaw’s Learn About the Law)

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Comedian Iliza Shlesinger sued for banning men from a comedy show

• Comedian Iliza Shlesinger is facing a lawsuit for hosting a women-only comedy show last month.
• The attorney who filed the suit has a history of suing companies for gender discrimination on behalf of men. 
• According to Variety, Shlesinger’s show may have violated a California law protecting “equal accommodations” in the state. 

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Comedian Iliza Shlesinger is facing a lawsuit for hosting a women-only comedy event in California last month.

As Variety notes, the suit’s plaintiff, George St. George, bought a ticket to Shlesinger’s show at Largo at The Coronet on November 13, which was advertised as “Girls Night In with Iliza — No Boys Allowed.”

The suit contends that St. George and a male friend were initially told they could sit in the back row of the show, and were subsequently denied entry and offered refunds.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the attorney who filed the suit, Alfred Rava, has a history of suing companies for gender discrimination on behalf of men. In 2004, Rava orchestrated a class action lawsuit against the Oakland A’s baseball organization for giving away hats to women at a Mother’s Day game. 

“Simply put, it is against many California laws for a business to discriminate against patrons based on their sex or other personal characteristics, such as race or sexual orientation which should surprise no one,” Rava writes in the suit.

Rava goes on to argue that the women-only show “repudiated hundreds of years of women’s struggles to be viewed as being equal to men and is typical of old-fashioned sexism that might also advise a young woman that her best chance for a happy life is to ace her home economics class and learn how to make a queso dip from Velveeta to catch a good man.”

According to Variety, a 1985 California Supreme Court case ruled that “ladies night” discounts violate an “equal accommodations” law in the state, and violations are punishable by a $4,000 fine, plus attorneys’ fees. 

Shlesinger’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read the suit below:

St. George v. Iliza Shlesinger by gmaddaus on Scribd

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SEE ALSO: Men are freaking out at Alamo Drafthouse for hosting ladies-only ‘Wonder Woman’ screenings

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Brazil captured an alleged member of one Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels on his Christmas vacation

• Jose Gonzalez Valencia was arrested at a resort area near Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil.
• Gonzalez Valencia is believed to be a leader of the powerful Jalisco New Generation cartel and is wanted by the US government.
• The CJNG is one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations.

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Brazilian police have arrested an alleged Mexican drug boss, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday, in a blow to one of the most powerful organizations in Mexico’s criminal underworld.

According to the arrest warrant, police detained Jose Gonzalez Valencia, 42, a leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), with the intention of fulfilling a US extradition request.

Once a little-known gang, the CJNG has grown in recent years to challenge the Sinaloa Cartel of captured kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman for primacy of the drug trade in Mexico.

Gonzalez Valencia had been living in neighboring Bolivia for two years after fleeing Mexico and had entered Brazil as a tourist using a Bolivian passport, Brazilian prosecutors said in a statement.

Gonzalez Valencia was arrested at a beach resort near the coastal city of Fortaleza and brought to the headquarters of the federal police for the state of Ceará. He had been in Brazil on vacation with his family since December 22, a Brazilian police official said, and did not resist arrest.

He was reportedly carrying a Bolivian identification card that declared him a Mexican citizen named Jafett Arias Becerra.

#Jafett #was the name in the false bolivian ID of the #CJNG #Jalisco boss José González Valencia, #La Chepa arrested near #Fortaleza #Brasil http://pic.twitter.com/LwzqlcyGS5

— maria zuppello (@mzuppy) December 27, 2017

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An official at the state prosecutor’s office in the western Mexican state of Jalisco — where the CJNG established itself and serves as a base for much of its operations — said Gonzalez Valencia is the brother of Abigael Gonzalez Valencia, a CJNG leader captured in February 2015.

The Jalisco official said Gonzalez Valencia was due to be extradited straight to the US from Brazil.

Abigael Gonzalez Valencia was named by the US as a narcotics trafficker and leader of the Los Cuinis drug-trafficking organization, alongside alleged CJNG chief Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, in April 2015.

“These two organizations have rapidly expanded their criminal empire in recent years through the use of violence and corruption,” acting Office of Foreign Asset Control director John E. Smith said at the time. “They now rank among the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in Mexico.”

Los Cuinis and the CJNG are tightly allied; some believe Los Cuinis is the financial arm of the CJNG, while others see them as partners. Some reports prior to Abigael Gonzalez Valencia’s arrest identified him as the overall leader of the two groups.

The CJNG itself originally formed as a faction of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, but it broke away around 2010, assuming control of drug trafficking in Jalisco state. In the years since, CJNG’s expansion, first eastward and then northward, has helped push deadly violence to new highs in Mexico.

Along the way, the CJNG has corrupted and bloodied police and military personnel, expanded into the US market, and, according to some, become the US’s main supplier of crystal meth.

The CJNG is now considered one of the most powerful criminal groups in Mexico — many see it and the Sinaloa cartel as the only true cartels left, after years of law-enforcement pressure and inter- and intra-cartel fighting caused rival groups to splinter in smaller factions.

Competition between the CJNG and the Sinaloa cartel seemed to accelerate in the months after “El Chapo” Guzman’s arrest in January 2016, driving violence in and around Sinaloa state — including the August 2016 kidnapping of at least of one of Guzman’s sons, who was returned unharmed.

Fighting between the CJNG and Sinaloa cartels appears to have eased in recent months, but factions of each organization are believed to be competing for control of Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, both of which are valuable territories for smugglers seeking entry to the voracious US drug market.

(Reporting for Reuters by Lisandra Paraguassu and Lizbeth Diaz; writing by Gram Slattery; editing by Leslie Adler)

SEE ALSO: Deadly violence in Mexico is at record levels, and new crime data adds to the ugly picture

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NOW WATCH: Forget ‘El Chapo’ — this is Mexico’s most powerful drug lord

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Black civil rights leaders say Trump judicial nominee is ‘a product of the modern white supremacist machine’

• Civil rights leaders are calling on the Senate to reject Thomas Farr, President Donald Trump’s nominee for a federal court in North Carolina.
• William Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP, called Farr “a product of the modern white supremacist machine.”
• Farr is the latest in a string of federal judicial nominees who progressives, and some Republicans, have argued are unfit to serve.

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Civil rights leaders are calling on the Senate to reject President Donald Trump’s nominee to a federal court in North Carolina, arguing that Thomas Farr has long worked to promote racist policies and is “a product of the modern white supremacist machine.”

Farr, Trump’s pick for the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, began his career as counsel to former US Sen. Jesse Helms, a supporter of racial segregation who represented North Carolina for 30 years.

Over the last decade, Farr and his law firm colleagues have defended voting restrictions and identification laws that courts have struck down as deliberately discriminatory. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals found in 2016 that North Carolina’s voter restriction laws targeted black communities “with almost surgical precision.”

Black civil rights leaders and progressive groups, including the Congressional Black Caucus, are calling on the Senate to reject Farr. In October, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved him in a party-line vote, and Farr is now up for confirmation by the full Senate.

Rev. William Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP, wrote in a Tuesday New York Times op-ed that Farr, who he called the most “alarming” of all of Trump’s judicial nominees, would pose a direct threat to North Carolina’s black communities.

“African-Americans seeking to have their rights protected under federal law have much to fear if Mr. Farr takes the bench,” he wrote.

He went on, “Senators from both sides of the aisle must condemn the experience Mr. Farr brings with him. Having practiced white supremacy for decades, Mr. Farr is not likely to withdraw. Every senator who condemned the racism on display in Charlottesville must vote to prevent it from having power in the federal judiciary.”

Barber noted that about half of North Carolina’s black residents live in the area presided over by the Eastern District. And despite President Barack Obama’s efforts to seat two black female nominees on that court, the Eastern District has never had a black judge.

Both of North Carolina’s GOP senators, meanwhile, strongly support Farr’s nomination.

‘A grave disservice’

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus tore into Farr’s record in a September letter to the Judicial Committee, pointing to his work on Helms’ 1990 Senate campaign, during which postcards were mailed to 100,000 black voters wrongly suggesting they were ineligible to vote and warning they could be arrested and prosecuted for fraud if they tried.

“It is no exaggeration to say that had the White House deliberately sought to identify an attorney in North Carolina with a more hostile record on African-American voting rights and workers’ rights than Thomas Farr, it could hardly have done so,” the Caucus members wrote.

Farr told the Senate during his September hearing that he only learned of the postcards after they were sent and that he was “appalled” by the strategy. But a former Department of Justice official who investigated the incident has directly contradicted Farr’s claim, arguing that he was “certainly involved in the scheme as it was being developed.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights has accused Farr of lying to the Senate and called on him to withdraw his nomination. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund is calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee to bring Farr back in for more questioning.

“Farr appears to have explicitly misled the Senate about his role in a scheme to intimidate Black North Carolinians and stop them from voting in the 1990 midterm elections,” the NAACP wrote last month, arguing that Farr is neither sufficiently qualified nor competent to serve on the federal judiciary.

This comes after the American Bar Associated determined that four of Trump’s judicial nominees are “not qualified” to serve on the federal bench. Those listed unqualified by the ABA did not include one nominee, Matthew Petersen, who withdrew his nomination earlier this month after he failed to show basic knowledge of legal procedure.

Petersen’s withdrawal was the third by a Trump judicial nominee in 10 days.

Trump, who is filling federal judicial vacancies at a rapid rate, and other GOP leaders have accused the ABA of having a liberal bias.

SEE ALSO: Controversial Trump judicial nominee used to be a ghost hunter and has a cult following for his horror novels

DON’T MISS: Black Alabamians carried Doug Jones to victory — and it should be a warning to Democrats for 2018

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Bitcoin and Estate Planning: Top FAQs

Putting physical assets like a car or a house into your will or estate plan is relatively simple. Adding financial assets like stocks and savings accounts can be a little more complicated. But what about cryptocurrencies like bitcoin?

Now that bitcoin is legal tender and its value is skyrocketing, more and more people will be owners of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, meaning those assets will need to find their way into a will or estate plan. Here are five of the most commonly asked questions when it comes to bitcoin and estate planning, along with some answers.

1. How Will My Heirs Know I Have Bitcoins?

Cryptocurrencies, by their very nature, are anonymous. And that’s one of the best reasons for making an estate plan — you want your heirs and your executor or trustee to be aware that your bitcoin exists. So you can either tell them now, or have your executor contact them after you pass, but either way, creating an estate plan that accounts for your bitcoin is essential.

2. How Can Heirs Access the Assets?

Again, one of the features of cryptocurrencies is their security. But what’s the point of bequeathing some bitcoin if your heir or executor can’t access it? And given the array of digital wallets, encryption, and backups that can be used to store and access bitcoin, writing a single password on a post-it likely won’t suffice. So make sure you have a plan for giving your heirs keys to your cryptocurrency kingdom.

3. What Should My Heirs Do With the Assets?

While cryptocurrencies are legal tender, they currently function a little differently than cash. For instance, if you bought $100 of bitcoin in 2011, you’d be sitting on about $4 million right now. So while you might want to hand down some of your virtual currency, you might not want your heirs cashing out immediately. An estate plan can separate your cryptocurrency assets into tiers depending on whether you want those assets easily spendable or view them more as long-term investments.

4. How Are Cryptocurrencies Taxed?

Just like any other financial asset, according to the IRS. Therefore capital gain and loss on property transactions, including virtual currencies, must be reported. And there may be estate taxes assessed on bitcoin gifts.

5. What Happens to Bitcoin If I Die Without a Will?

It goes, like your other property, to probate. Meaning courts will attempt to ascertain your heirs and bequeath your property for you. Probate can be a long, expensive process and, as we noted above, a court might not be aware of your virtual currency assets, meaning they never get passed on after you die.

So make sure your cryptocurrencies are part of your estate plan, and contact an experienced estate planning attorney for help.

Related Resources:

• Find Estate Planning Lawyers Near You (FindLaw’s Lawyer Directory)
• 5 Important Estate Planning Questions No One Likes to Answer (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life)
• Time to Take Bitcoin Seriously? Bitcoin Tech Spreads to Wall St. (FindLaw’s In House)
• ‘Tis The Season for Estate Planning (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life)

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A Question That Left Me Heartbroken

Every reader’s email is important to me, and I do read and try to reply and to every single one. Why? Because truly, my mission is to help people. Each email has its own unique affect on me. Some make me feel inspired and happy, while others bring me to tears. But of all the emails I have ever received, the one that contained this question truly left me heartbroken:

 What do people do when there is no one left that loves them or even cares?

 

Let me offer a little bit of this reader’s background. She is in her early forties and newly separated after a 5 year marriage. The couple has no children and her father died a few years ago. They were very close. Her mom isn’t doing well and I am going to assume she doesn’t have siblings (although I could be wrong.) She said she has tried dating but that she always says the wrong things and has a lack of trust in men, which was caused by her marriage. She also lives in a small town where there are so few single people.

 

I think that loneliness and feeling alone might be the most painful emotion a human being can feel. I think that people innately crave love, intimacy and relationships. Are there times when people want to be alone (meaning not in a relationship)? Sure. But for the most part, we all want someone to love and be loved.

 

So, where can I begin to offer advice to this sweet, sweet woman who I just want to hug? Here are 10 answers to her question that left me heartbroken:

 

 

1. If you have faith and you talk to God, you are not alone. I actually do it all the time. You don’t have to go to church or synagogue to talk to God.

2. If you love yourself—appreciate your body and your health and the work you do and the hobbies and passion you have for things in life, you will feel less lonely.

3. Love comes to those who are willing to make an effort to put themselves out there, unafraid to show their true, authentic self and not care what others think.

4. You also have to make a practical effort to meet people. One date every other year doesn’t cut it if you want to find love. Dating is a numbers game and you can’t get discouraged. Every bad date will lead you to finding your person.

5. Reach out to old friends and reconnect. It doesn’t matter how much time has gone by. People are always thrilled to hear from a childhood friend, and as we get older, even more so.

6. Realize that there are people out there who love you and care for you—some who you might not even realize.

7. Travel if you can. Seeing the world and different places and pieces of history is not only enriching, but people are always meeting friends and romantic interests on trips.

8. Let the memories of your parents (whether they are alive or not) be a comfort in your loneliness. They still love you, even if they can’t call you and tell you that.

9. Have gratitude every day for basic things: health, food, shelter, even the beauty of the sky.

10. Never lose hope that things will change and you won’t always feel this way. You could be walking down the street tomorrow and meet the man of your dreams, and maybe he has three kids and six grandchildren. Maybe he has this wonderful family that will welcome you with open arms. The only way you have a chance at this scenario is to keep living every day, following #’s 1-9.

Lastly, when you are feeling like no one cares, remember that I care! You can always write me and I will respond.

The holidays are the worst time of year for people who feel lonely and alone, which is why sometimes I wish them away. Not for myself, but for those like my dear, sweet reader. But the hope lies in 2018, where anything is possible!

Like this blog post? Check out my article, “Loneliness: It Might Be The Worst Pain Someone Can Feel”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Question That Left Me Heartbroken syndicated from http://ift.tt/2y0MNOg