Federal prosecutors are urging a Manhattan judge to sentence Michael Smith to at least 46 months in prison for a six-year AI music streaming fraud that generated more than $8 million in royalties, rejecting his request for probation ahead of his October 6 sentencing.Smith, 54, pleaded guilty on March 16,... Read More »
New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued the organizers of Evolutions Festival, alleging they failed to refund more than $243,000 in advance ticket sales after canceling the 2025 event just 10 days before it was scheduled to begin. The complaint, filed September 29, names Evolutions Festival LLC, 845 Vibrations... Read More »
An Arizona appeals court has thrown out a 10.5-year manslaughter sentence after finding that a judge improperly relied on an AI-generated victim impact video that recreated shooting victim Christopher Pelkey speaking at the defendant’s sentencing.In a unanimous published opinion issued September 30 in State v. Horcasitas, the Arizona Court of... Read More »
A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to fast-track requests for Jeffrey Epstein investigative records that mention President Donald Trump or Mar-a-Lago, along with communications showing how senior DOJ and FBI officials handled the files.U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued the ruling on September 30, 2026, finding that the... Read More »
Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University physician convicted of sexually abusing girls and young women, is among more than 20,000 people removed from Michigan’s sex offender registry after the state Supreme Court ruled that newer registration requirements cannot be imposed retroactively for crimes committed before July... Read More »
A Los Angeles County judge granted a temporary restraining order against Halle Berry on Thursday after her ex-husband, Olivier Martinez, accused the actress of choking their 12-year-old son and asked the court to give him sole custody.Martinez filed the request in Los Angeles Superior Court on Oct. 1, 2026, over... Read More »
New York City’s new “Click-to-Cancel” rule took effect October 1, 2026, requiring businesses to make subscriptions as easy to end as they are to start and giving city regulators new authority to act when companies block or delay cancellation.The rule covers automatic renewals and continuous service subscriptions and requires businesses... Read More »
The Trump administration is pulling the United States out of an international anti-corruption watchdog that has monitored safeguards governing senior U.S. officials and federal law enforcement for more than two decades. Washington formally notified the Council of Europe on September 28, 2026, that it would withdraw from the Group of... Read More »
An Austrian judge has dismissed a privacy lawsuit brought by a man convicted of plotting a terrorist attack on Taylor Swift’s 2024 Eras Tour concerts in Vienna, ruling that Disney did not violate his privacy by briefly showing his parents’ home in a documentary series.The plaintiff, identified as Beran A.... Read More »
Victoria’s Secret is facing a right-of-publicity lawsuit from a model who claims the company showed roughly 95% of her face in an Instagram perfume advertisement after agreeing to show less than 30% and keep her unrecognizable.The model filed the lawsuit Tuesday, September 29, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for... Read More »