Chronicle briefs for Jan. 20, 2023

Trump fined nearly $1M for ‘revenge’ lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, others

Former president Donald Trump and his lawyer, Alina Habba, have been fined almost $1 million by a federal judge in Florida for what was ruled a frivolous lawsuit brought against his 2016 presidential rival Hillary Clinton and others.

Trump is a “prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries,” wrote U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks in his searing 46-page judgment published late Thursday.

“He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process, and he cannot be seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer. He knew full well the impact of his actions,” said Middlebrooks. “As such, I find that sanctions should be imposed upon Mr. Trump and his lead counsel, Ms. Habba.”

Trump – who has announced his bid for the presidency in 2024 – Habba and the Habba Madaio & Associates law firm are jointly liable for $937,989.39, the court found.

Google to cut 12,000 jobs in 6% reduction of global workforce

Google parent Alphabet Inc. said it will cut about 12,000 jobs, more than 6% of its global workforce, becoming the latest tech giant to retrench after years of abundant growth and hiring.

The cuts will affect jobs globally and across the entire company, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai told employees in an email on Friday, writing that he takes “full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.”

Shares of Alphabet gained as much as 1.8% during premarket trading in New York on Friday after the announcement was made public. The stock has fallen about 30% over the past year.

With the layoffs, Google joins a host of other tech giants that have drastically scaled back operations amid a faltering global economy and soaring inflation. Meta Platforms Inc., Twitter Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have all slashed their ranks. Thanks to a resilient search business, Google has been one of the longest tech holdouts. But the company is dealing with a slowdown in digital advertising and its cloud-computing division continues to trail Amazon and Microsoft Corp.

Federal judge finds DeSantis violated Florida Constitution but dismisses lawsuit

A federal judge ruled Friday that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis violated the state’s constitution when he suspended an elected, progressive-minded state prosecutor but concluded that the law ultimately allows the decision to oust him to stand.

U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle also found that DeSantis (R) infringed on the First Amendment by considering Andrew Warren’s public remarks on controversial topics such as abortion and transgender care as “motivating factors” in the decision to suspend him.

But neither offered grounds to reinstate Warren, offering DeSantis a legal victory.

DeSantis’s decision to suspend the twice-elected prosecutor in August alarmed many who saw it as an overreach by the governor. One of Warren’s attorneys called it “a political hit job.”

The popular Florida governor – who sailed to re-election in November and is widely considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate – justified the suspension by saying Warren didn’t have the right to “refuse to enforce Florida law.”

Former New York college cult leader sentenced to 60 years in prison

NEW YORK – Lawrence Ray, who was convicted last year of extorting and torturing members of a cult – students he recruited at his daughter’s college dorm – was sentenced Friday to 60 years in prison after several of his victims described a decade of abuse and conditioning that shattered their lives.

U.S. District Court Judge Lewis J. Liman described Ray’s program of manipulation that devastated the lives of his victims and their families as a matter of “evil genius,” that warranted what amounted to a life sentence in prison.

“It was sadism, pure and simple,” Liman said in federal court in Manhattan.

Ray was convicted in April on 15 counts, including racketeering, sex trafficking and forced labor. His crimes spanned a decade, beginning when he moved into his daughter’s on-campus apartment at Sarah Lawrence College in 2010 and quickly gained the trust of her friends, showering them with attention and manipulating them.

Air defenses deployed in Moscow, signaling fear of strikes on capital

RIGA, Latvia – The Kremlin on Friday declined to comment on the recent installation of air defense systems in multiple locations in and around Moscow, as Russia seeks to close gaps in its defenses, apparently fearful that Ukraine could launch an audacious and humiliating attack on the Russian capital.

Russia has deployed Pantsir-S1 air defense systems atop two government buildings in Moscow, including the Ministry of Defense on Frunzenskaya Embankment, and a district education ministry building on Teterinsky Lane, according to independent Russian-language media.

Photographs of the distinctive air defense system were published on social media.

More air defense systems were installed at several other sites in or near Moscow, including Odintsovo district, about six miles from President Vladimir Putin’s residence at Novo-Ogaryovo outside the capital, according to the Russian media outlet Sirena, which posted video and still images.