‘They become monsters': Woman recounts moment she was attacked by raccoon
A Boston woman says it felt like she was in 'a nightmare' when she was attacked by an aggressive racoon while trying to let her dog out at night.
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CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Ontario woman loses $2,740 after clicking fake e-transfer link
An Ontario woman was trying to sell some used clothing on a website when someone offered to buy a set of pajamas for $40. The buyer sent the woman what looked like a link to an e-transfer, however, it was a scam, and the woman lost $2,740 in the process. CTV's Pat Foran reports.
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Attorney for Sean ‘Diddy' Combs confirms they've approached Trump administration about pardon
Sean "Diddy" Combs arrives at the L.A. Premiere of "The Four: Battle For Stardom" at the CBS Radford Studio Center on May 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP via CNN Newsource) Nicole Westmoreland, a member of Sean 'Diddy' Combs' all-star defence team, told CNN in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that the music mogul's team has reached out to the Trump administration about a potential pardon following his conviction on two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution last month. 'It's my understanding that we've reached out and had conversations in reference to a pardon,' Westmoreland said. Trump indicated that he was unlikely to pardon Combs during an interview with Newsmax last week, saying, 'I was very friendly with him, I got along with him great and he seemed like a nice guy. I didn't know him well. But when I ran for office, he was very hostile.' Trump added that this makes pardoning Combs 'more difficult to do.' Asked of Combs' feelings about his chances of a pardon, even after Trump's remarks, Westmoreland said this week that Combs 'is a very hopeful person, and I believe that he remains hopeful.' When contacted by CNN, a White House official said they 'will not comment on the existence or nonexistence of any clemency request.' Last month, a jury convicted Combs on two lesser charges of transportation to engage in prostitution and acquitted the hip-hop mogul of the most serious charges – racketeering conspiracy (referred to as RICO) and sex trafficking. Combs was facing up to life in prison. Instead, he now faces a maximum sentence of 20 years – though, he is likely to serve a shorter sentence, according to legal analysts. Prosecutors have not formally said what sentence they're going to pursue – presentencing filings aren't due until September – but had previously indicated he could face a minimum range of 51 to 63 months (or, roughly 4 to 5 years) in prison. In a filing last week, they indicated their assessed range could end up be 'substantially higher.' Prosecutors accused Combs of leading a criminal enterprise made up of some of his closest employees, alleging they used threats, violence, forced labor, bribery and other crimes to force Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura and another woman, 'Jane,' to engage in drug-fueled sex acts with male escorts called 'Freak Offs' or 'hotel nights.' During the two-month trial, Combs' defence attorneys focused much of their efforts on questioning – and attempting to discredit – witnesses brought forth by the prosecution. The prosecution presented its case over six weeks and called 34 witnesses during the federal criminal trial. Combs' defence presented a roughly 30-minute case and called zero witnesses. Combs did not testify. Of their approach, Westmoreland said their strategy was to 'tell the truth.' 'We didn't need a creative story. We didn't need to overreach. We knew that telling the truth would mean not guilty. We knew that he had not sex trafficked anyone and we knew that RICO was absurd. So we figured, hey we'll tell the truth and that will pay off. And I believe for the most part that strategy worked.' Westmoreland added that the case shouldn't have been brought by the government in the first place, and that their second mistake was 'allowing it to keep going.' 'The government knew that there was no way Combs committed sex trafficking or RICO and they just continued prosecuting anyway,' she said. 'I think the jury saw through it.' 'Mr. Combs was painted like a monster (by the prosecution),' Westmoreland also told CNN this week, when asked about what, if anything, Combs would like to tell the public. 'There were a lot of allegations made before trial and so I would imagine that any and everyone would want to clear their name.' Westmoreland's role as part of Combs' defence At trial, Westmoreland cross-examined several witnesses, including former 'Danity Kane' singer Dawn Richard and Ventura's longtime friend Bryana Bongolan, who accused Combs of dangling her over a 17-story balcony in 2016. During a tense cross-examination of Bongolan, Westmoreland presented the jury with hotel records that showed Combs was in New York at the Trump Hotel on the date that Bongolan testified she was dangled over the balcony in Los Angeles – arguing that it was not possible for Combs to have engaged in the alleged incident. 'You agree that one person can't be in two places at the same time?' Westmoreland asked Bongolan on the stand. Outside the presence of the jury, Judge Arun Subramanian later likened Westmoreland's cross-examination of Bongolan to a ''Perry Mason' moment,' referencing the classic network legal drama. 'It was an honor for the judge to say that,' Westmoreland said this week. 'I knew that Mr. Combs was being wrongfully accused, so to be able to bring that out, it's one of the things that I live for.' Bongolan said during her testimony that while the details and date of the alleged incident are murky, she has 'no doubt' that the incident occurred, even if she remembered the date incorrectly. Combs has been held in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center since his arrest in Manhattan in September 2024. The judge has denied him bail multiple times. Combs' defence had asked the court to release him on bail on a US$50 million bond. They have argued he is not a danger to the community and is not a flight risk. Still pending is a motion asking the judge to fully acquit Combs or give him a new trial. Other witnesses in the case, including Ventura, previously wrote letters to the judge, pleading for him to remain incarcerated, telling the court they would fear for their safety if he were released from jail ahead of his sentencing — though one former girlfriend, Gina Huynh who was initially supposed to testify against Combs, wrote a letter in his support urging the judge to release him on bail. Combs was physically violent on numerous occasions with Ventura, and photographic and video evidence of her being assaulted was shown to the jury throughout the trial, including 2016 hotel surveillance footage of Combs beating Ventura, which was first published by CNN in May 2024. In his decision to deny Combs bail immediately after the verdict, the judge cited Combs' admitted pattern of violence in his relationships. Combs' sentencing is currently set for Oct. 3
CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
Epstein's ex, Ghislaine Maxwell, doesn't want grand jury transcripts released
Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, points to a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell during a news conference in New York on July 2, 2020. (John Minchillo / AP Photo) NEW YORK — Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, wants to keep grand jury records secret in the sex trafficking case that sent her to prison, her lawyers said Tuesday as prosecutors continued urging a court to release some of those records in the criminal case-turned-political fireball. Maxwell hasn't seen the material herself, her attorneys said — the grand jury process is conducted behind closed doors. But she opposes unsealing what her lawyers described as potentially 'hearsay-laden' transcripts of grand jury testimony, which was given in secret and without her lawyers there to challenge it. 'Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable and her due process rights remain,' attorneys David O. Markus and Melissa Madrigal wrote. Prosecutors declined to comment. Government attorneys have been trying to quell a clamour for transparency by seeking the transcripts' release — though the government also says the public already knows much of what's in the documents. Most of the information 'was made publicly available at trial or has otherwise been publicly reported through the public statements of victims and witnesses,' prosecutors wrote in court papers Monday. They noted that the disclosures excluded some victims' and witnesses' names. Prosecutors had also said last week that some of what the grand jurors heard eventually came out at Maxwell's 2021 trial and in various victims' lawsuits. There were only two grand jury witnesses, both of them law enforcement officials, prosecutors said. Prosecutors made clear Monday that they're seeking to unseal only the transcripts of grand jury witnesses' testimony, not the exhibits that accompanied it. But they are also working to parse how much of the exhibits also became public record over the years. While prosecutors have sought to temper expectations about any new revelations from the grand jury proceedings, they aren't proposing to release a cache of other information the government collected while looking into Epstein. The transcript faceoff comes six years after authorities said Epstein killed himself while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges and four years after Maxwell was convicted of grooming underage girls to participate in sex acts with him. The British socialite denied the allegations and has appealed her conviction, so far unsuccessfully. Some of President Donald Trump 's allies spent years suggesting there was more to the Epstein saga than met the eye and calling for more disclosures. A few got powerful positions in Trump's Justice Department — and then faced backlash after it abruptly announced that nothing more would be released and that a long-rumored Epstein 'client list' doesn't exist. After trying unsuccessfully to change the subject and denigrating his own supporters for not moving on, the Republican president told Attorney General Pam Bondi to ask courts to unseal the grand jury transcripts in the case. A top Justice Department official, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, interviewed Maxwell late last month, at the government's request. Last week, she was moved from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas to continue serving her 20-year sentence. Officials didn't explain why. Trump said Tuesday that he didn't know ahead of time about Maxwell's prison transfer and hadn't spoken to Blanche about his conversation with her. 'I think he probably wants to make sure that people should not be involved, or aren't involved, are not hurt by something that would be very, very unfortunate, very unfair to a lot of people,' Trump said in a news conference Tuesday. The Epstein uproar also has reached Congress, where the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Justice Department on Tuesday for files in the case. The committee also issued subpoenas to conduct sworn questioning of former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and eight former top law enforcement officials. Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was among a number of Epstein's famous former friends; so was Trump, a Republican. Both men have said they knew nothing of Epstein's crimes until he was charged, and Epstein's accusers have not alleged any wrongdoing by Trump or Clinton. ____________ Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed reporting. Jennifer Peltz, The Associated Press
