Archives for March 2021

Rep. Greene agrees not to block critics from Twitter account

LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and a Los Angeles-based political action committee have reached a settlement that bars the Georgia Republican from blocking anyone from her public Twitter account or other social media while she’s in office.

Greene also agreed to pay $10,000 to cover legal fees for MeidasTouch LLC, which plans to donate the money to two nonprofit groups, according to Ben Meiselas, the PAC’s co-founder and a lawyer whose clients have included former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

The deal was approved last Friday, he said.

“This was a swift and impactful resolution we are proud of,” Meiselas said in an email.

A telephone message seeking comment from Greene’s Washington, D.C., office wasn’t immediately returned Thursday.

However, Greene was acidly critical of the settlement in a tweet.

“Because of this PAC’s frivolous lawsuit against me, I’m not allowed to block people that threaten my life and my children’s lives every single day on social media,” she tweeted. “And they are bragging about donating the money to organizations that want to take away my guns, so I couldn’t defend myself and my children, when people show up to murder us.”

Greene hadn’t acknowledged any wrongdoing in the agreement, which says all parties reached the deal to avoid “the risk, inconvenience and expense of litigation.”

MeidasTouch sued Greene in February, contending that she violated its First Amendment rights by blocking it from one of her Twitter accounts after the PAC posted critical comments.

MeidasTouch bills itself as being “dedicated to exposing and opposing anti-democratic politicians.” It has posted numerous videos, many of them excoriating former President Donald Trump, and has more than a half-million Twitter followers.

Greene is a Trump supporter who in the past promoted violence against Democrats and conspiracy theories about QAnon and the 9/11 attacks, prompting the House to remove her from two committee assignments last month.

Although it wasn’t her formal congressional Twitter account, MeidasTouch said Greene uses it as a “de facto” official account, sharing her positions and doing fundraising drives. The postings generate thousands of replies, according to the lawsuit, which calls it “a kind of virtual town hall in which Greene and her aides use the tweet function to communicate news and information … and members of the public use the reply function to respond.”

The lawsuit said a federal appeals court several years ago ruled in a case involving Trump that a political figure can’t use Twitter’s blocking function to bar critics from using a social media account that is “otherwise open to the public at large.”

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, was sued in a similar case that she later settled.

Under Greene’s settlement, the lawmaker restored MeidasTouch’s access to her account and agreed that while she’s in office, she won’t block the PAC or any member of the public from social media accounts that she or her aides use for communicating or fundraising in her role as a congresswoman.

Fed says restrictions on bank dividends and buybacks to end

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve said Thursday that as of June 30 it will end for most banks the temporary limits it had imposed on their ability to make dividend payments and buy back their own stock.

The Fed imposed the restrictions last summer, citing the need for banks to conserve capital during last year’s coronavirus-triggered recession. It had barred banks from buying back their shares and had capped dividend payments to shareholders.

In Thursday’s announcement, the Fed said the restrictions would end for most firms after June 30 once the upcoming round of bank stress tests has been completed.

Banks with capital levels above those required by the stress tests will no longer be subject to the additional restrictions as of that date. The Fed said that banks with capital levels below those required by the stress tests will remain subject to the restrictions.

“The banking system continues to be a source of strength and returning to our normal framework after this year’s stress test will preserve that strength,” Randal Quarles, the Fed’s vice chair for supervision, said in a statement.

Last week, the Fed announced that it was restoring capital requirements for large banks that had been relaxed as part of the Fed’s efforts to shore up the financial system during the early stages of the pandemic in 2020.

The easing of the capital requirement had been implemented to give banks flexibility in what assets they could hold to meet regulatory requirements. It came as banks were suddenly having to write down billions of dollars of loans during the financial turbulence last spring caused by the pandemic.

In last week’s announcement, the Fed said it would not extend relief from the supplementary leverage ratio past March 31. The supplementary leverage ratio requires large banks to hold capital equal to 3% of their assets with an even higher ratio of 5% for banks deemed to be the most important to the overall financial system.

The banking industry had lobbied for an extension of the relief.

Q&A: Artist Beeple on selling NFT collage for a record $70M

LONDON (AP) — When digital artist Beeple put an NFT digital artwork up for auction this month, he became instantly famous when it sold for almost $70 million. The record sale also sparked huge interest in digital certificates of authenticity based on cryptocurrency technology that are called “non-fungible tokens.”

These NFTs are undergoing a boom. The Associated Press caught up with Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, to talk about the auction result, NFTs and how the crypto art boom is affecting him and other artists who haven’t previously had a way to guarantee exclusive ownership of digital works, which by their nature can normally be freely copied.

Beeple spoke with the AP via a Zoom call. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Q: Why do you think your artwork “Everdays: The First 5,000 Days” fetched such a high price?

A: There are a couple of reasons. One, it represents 13 years of work. You can very easily see that this is something that took a very, very, very long time to make. Another part of it is a lot of excitement around NFTs. The people in this space, the people who bid on them, I think they personally understand what NFTs are going to be much more than the rest than the general public.

The technology is simple enough that it can be used for many different things. And a lot of people are comparing it to the beginning of the Internet.

Q: How do you respond to concerns that the buyer Metakovan, who bought 20 of your other NFT artworks in an earlier sale and founded an NFT investment fund, was trying to pump up prices of his holdings?

A: Say somebody goes out and buys a painting for $5 million. So that person has $5 million invested in the career of that artist. If the next painting goes for way less, what does that say about the $5 million you’ve spent? It’s kind of how the art market works.

So I think a lot of people are trying to look for some crazy scheme or scam here. I personally don’t see it.

Q: What exactly did Metakovan buy?

A: The biggest thing he actually bought is a relationship with me to promote his purchase. He and I are very aligned. I want to see this artwork go up in value. He wants to see the artwork go up in value, which benefits me. So the idea that he bought nothing is kind of misleading.

(Beeple noted that he retains the copyright to “Everydays.”)

I’m very interested in having (the artwork) take a bunch of different forms to promote it, to display it, to educate people about how it was made. So I think people are looking at this (and thinking), “There’s nothing there.” It’s more like, think about it like a piece of art that can like live on and take different forms over time versus, like, you’re buying nothing.

Q: For the first time, Christie’s accepted cryptocurrency as payment for a sale. But some people wonder if this transaction actually happened. Have you been paid?

A: 100%, dude. That’s the craziest part about this. So literally the thing closed Thursday morning. By Friday night at about midnight the transaction was literally 100% complete. (Metakovan) had the NFT, I had $55 million in Ethereum, which was immediately going up and down (in value).

(Beeple said he has converted all the cryptocurrency to cash and flashed his cryptocurrency app showing a balance of about $56 million — his take after Christie’s took its cut.) According to Christie’s this is something that usually takes like two months.

Q: There are so many NFT projects now. Are we in the midst of an NFT bubble?

A: There is definitely some froth. There is absolutely, absolutely a lot of excitement. And some people are putting money into things that I can almost guarantee you are going to be worthless.

So it’s one of those things where people are going to rush in like there’s going to be a ton of money. But again, just like the Internet (dot-com boom), there was a bubble and the bubble burst, but it didn’t make people stop using the Internet.

So people need to be careful. It’s very speculative. It’s very early days.

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For all of AP’s tech coverage, visit https://apnews.com/apf-technology

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O’Brien contributed from Providence, Rhode Island.

USC agrees to $852 million payout in sex abuse lawsuit

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The University of Southern California has agreed to an $852 million settlement with more than 700 women who have accused the college’s longtime campus gynecologist of sexual abuse, the victims’ lawyers and USC announced Thursday.

It’s believed to be a record amount for such a lawsuit. When combined with an earlier settlement of a separate class-action suit and other, smaller state court settlements, USC has agreed to pay out more than $1 billion for claims against Dr. George Tyndall, who worked at the school for nearly three decades.

Tyndall, 74, faces 35 criminal counts of alleged sexual misconduct between 2009 and 2016 at the university’s student health center. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on bond.

(Editor’s note: This story includes discussion of sexual assault. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.)

Hundreds of women came forward to report their allegations to police but some of the cases fell outside the 10-year criminal statute of limitations, while others did not rise to the level of charges or lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute. Still, he faces up to 64 years in prison if convicted.

“I am deeply sorry for the pain experienced by these valued members of the USC community,” USC President Carol L. Folt said in a statement. “We appreciate the courage of all who came forward and hope this much needed resolution provides some relief to the women abused by George Tyndall.”

Several victims on Thursday called for criminal charges to be filed against USC administrators who knew of the allegations against Tyndall for decades and did not fire him. Folt took office later, in 2019, as part of an overhaul of USC leadership amid the unfolding gynecologist and college entrance bribery scandals. USC and its insurers will cover the cost of the settlements.

The $852 million civil settlement is believed to be the largest sexual abuse settlement against any university, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, as well as the largest personal injury settlement against any college or university.

Its size is, in part, because a 2019 state law temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for certain sexual assault lawsuits, which meant patients could sue over their appointments with Tyndall dating back to the 1990s. The plaintiffs’ attorneys said the $852 million settlement includes claims between 1989 and 2016 — a generation of women at USC — and patients as young as 17 years old.

“I saw him in 1990 and none of these women here should have ever seen him after I saw Dr. Tyndall,” said Audry Nafziger, a USC law school graduate who is now a sex crimes prosecutor in Ventura County, during a news conference with other victims Thursday. “Like many, I was inexperienced in what a gynecological exam would entail. So when he closed the door and locked it, I thought it was odd but what did I know?”

Tyndall was deposed for the settlement and largely invoked his rights against self-incrimination in answers, the plaintiff’s lawyers said. While he signed the settlement, he did not contribute any money toward it and did not admit to any wrongdoing.

“Dr. Tyndall continues to deny that he has engaged in any misconduct,” said Leonard Levine, Tyndall’s attorney. “He has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and remains confident that when the allegations are tested in court in a jury trial, he will be totally exonerated.”

In 2018, Michigan State University agreed to pay $500 million to settle claims from more than 300 women and girls who said they were assaulted by sports doctor Larry Nassar. That settlement was considered the largest at the time, far surpassing the $100 million-plus paid by Penn State University to settle claims by at least 35 people who accused assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky of sexual abuse.

Separately, USC earlier agreed to pay $215 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that applies to about 18,000 women who were patients of Tyndall’s. The individual payouts to those victims range from $2,500 to $250,000, and were given regardless of whether the women formally accused Tyndall of harassment or assault. The final payouts are expected to be issued this month.

Allegations against Tyndall first surfaced in 2018 in an investigation by the Los Angeles Times, which revealed that the doctor had been the subject of complaints of sexual misconduct at USC dating back to the 1990s.

He wasn’t suspended until 2016, when a nurse reported him to a rape crisis center. He was able to quietly resign with a large payout the next year.

Tyndall surrendered his medical license in September 2019, records show.

EXPLAINER: North Korean missiles getting more agile, evasive

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In resuming its ballistic testing activity after a yearlong pause, North Korea has demonstrated a potentially nuclear-capable weapon that shows how it continues to expand its military capabilities amid a stalemate in diplomacy with the United States.

The two short-range missiles the North fired into the sea this week were its first meaningful provocation since the inauguration of President Joe Biden, who on Thursday delivered a restrained response to the launches, saying “there will be responses if they choose to escalate.”

Since a provocative run in North Korean nuclear and missile tests in 2016 and 2017, much of the U.S. focus has been on North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles that pose a direct threat to the American homeland.

But experts say North Korea’s growing arsenal of shorter-range solid-fuel weapons are more destabilizing for U.S. allies South Korea and Japan. And the latest launches underscored the North’s efforts to improve its capacities for delivering nuclear strikes and overwhelming missile defense systems.

THE MISSILE

North Korea’s state media said Friday the weapons it fired a day earlier from its eastern coast were a new type of “tactical guided projectile” that borrowed the core technology of an earlier system.

According to the Korean Central News Agency, the new solid-fuel missiles, which are designed to be fired from land vehicles, could be armed with warheads weighing as much as 2.5 tons. During Thursday’s tests, the missiles demonstrated low-altitude, maneuverable flight and accurately hit a sea target 600 kilometers (372 miles) away.

Analysts say the North likely tested an upgraded version of a system modeled after Russia’s Iskander mobile ballistic missiles. Their flatter trajectories compared to conventional ballistic weapons make them fly at an altitude where air is dense enough to allow for maneuverability. The unpredictability makes them harder to be intercepted by missile defense systems, experts say.

South Korea’s military took an unusually long time to release its assessment on the launches Thursday before it said hours later that the missiles traveled as far as 450 kilometers (279 miles).

Kim Dong-yub, a professor from Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies, said the discrepancy between the South Korean and North Korean assessments possibly shows how difficult it is for radar systems to accurately track these missiles during flight.

“Even if our military got things wrong, it doesn’t matter for now as they could easily adjust their assessment after analyzing satellite data,” said Kim, a former South Korean military official. “But how are you going to do that in times of war?”

THE WARHEAD

Whether missiles traveled 450 kilometers or 600 kilometers, that’s more than enough range to hit any corner of mainland South Korea. And experts say the North’s efforts to arm them with huge warheads indicate they are being designed for nuclear strikes.

The tests came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a January ruling party congress vowed to bolster his nuclear deterrent in face of U.S.-led sanctions and pressure and issued a broad wish list of military hardware that included new tactical nuclear weapons.

If North Korea successfully develops an operational system, these missiles will provide an ability to launch tactical nuclear attacks on military bases and other strategic targets in South Korea, said Yang Wook, a military expert who teaches at South Korea’s Hannam University.

“We have long said it would be difficult for North Korea to put nuclear warheads on (short-range) missiles if it fails to make them small and light enough,” said Yang. But North Korea would no longer have to do so if its missiles could reliably deliver a warhead of 2.5 tons, which Yang said would be more than three times heavier than most warheads on existing North Korean missiles.

Lee Choon Geun, a missile expert at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, said the missiles would pose a huge threat for South Korea even if they are conventionally armed.

“A conventional warhead of 2.5 tons would be enough to bust deeply built bunkers,” he said. “That capacity would also allow for something more powerful than tactical nuclear weapons, possibly thermonuclear devices.”

MORE TESTING

North Korea has a history of testing new U.S. administrations with weapons demonstrations aimed at forcing the Americans back to the negotiating table.

Kim Jong Un so far has nothing to show for his ambitious summits with former President Donald Trump, which collapsed in 2019 over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea and the North’s disarmament steps.

While Thursday’s launches were less provocative compared to the nuclear and ICBM tests in 2017 that inspired war fears before the North shifted toward diplomacy with the Trump administration in 2018, most experts say the North is likely to dial up its testing activities.

The North conducted more than a dozen short-range launches amid stalled diplomacy in 2019 and 2020 as Trump dismissed the tests despite the threat they posed to South Korea and Japan. The United States stations a total of 80,000 troops in the two Asian countries, the core of America’s military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

“These missiles are no joke because it seems pretty clear they’re aiming to mount nuclear warheads,” and evade missile defense systems, said Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Washington-based Center for a New American Security.

She said the nature of these missiles would require U.S. and South Korea to develop an effective response by returning to their normal scale and scope of joint military exercises, which have been downsized under the Trump administration to make room for diplomacy.

AP writer Aamer Madhani contributed to the story from Washington.

Archives for March 2021

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