Investigation

House report alleged governor and state attorney general knew of ‘widespread taxpayer fraud’ in social programsUS politics live – latest updatesThe US vice-president, JD Vance, asked the Department of Justice to investigate Tim Walz, his rival in the 2024 election, after a congressional report renewed allegations of inaction and retaliation over fraud schemes in Minnesota.In the Trump administration’s latest broadside against the midwestern state and its political leaders, Vance referred Walz, its Democratic governor, and Keith Ellison, its Democratic attorney general, for investigation. Continue reading...

Without it the ‘true scale’ of former Harrods owner’s alleged network will stay hidden, says survivors’ groupSurvivors of abuse perpetrated by the former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed are calling for a full trafficking investigation to be launched, arguing that without it the “true scale” of the billionaire’s alleged network would remain hidden.Survivors at No One Above (NOA), a collective founded by victims of abuse at the hands of Fayed, are calling for the Metropolitan police to broaden their investigation into the billionaire and make trafficking the main focus. Continue reading...

• BBC presenter and Newsnight host Victoria Derbyshire has been cleared of bullying allegations following an internal investigation. • Derbyshire denied the claims, which surfaced during a period of heightened scrutiny regarding the broadcaster's internal conduct. • The investigation follows a broader BBC review of workplace culture initiated last year after Huw Edwards was convicted of possessing indecent photographs of children.

Hair stylist Frédéric Fekkai and ex-Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine accused in new testimony, lawmakers revealRepublican lawmakers have asked the Department of Justice to investigate sexual assault allegations involving two men made by Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime assistant.In a transcribed closed-door interview in late May, as part of a congressional investigation into Epstein, Sarah Kellen, one of the late sex offender’s former aides, told the House oversight and reform committee she was “sexually and psychologically abused” by him during her employment – but also alleged she was sexually assaulted by the French celebrity hairstylist Frédéric Fekkai, and by Philip Levine, the former mayor of Miami Beach, in separate incidents in the early 2000s. Continue reading...

AP review finds unprecedented number of suicide deaths as critics attack failures of Trump’s immigration crackdownBrayan Rayo Garzon was distraught. Detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), he was on his fourth day of isolation in a Missouri jail as he battled the fevers and chills of Covid.His request for mental health treatment had been put off, records show, and staff had forbidden Rayo from making his nightly call to his mother, as a precaution intended to prevent the spread of illness.In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected] or [email protected]. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

A report found that Brian O’Hara probably interfered with investigation in what mayor called a ‘breach of trust’The Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, resigned on Tuesday after a report found that he probably interfered with an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct.O’Hara stepped down after a meeting with the Minnesota city’s mayor, Jacob Frey, who earlier this month nominated him to serve a second term after his appointment in 2022 to steady a police department still in turmoil after the murder of George Floyd two years earlier. Continue reading...

Prediction sites, which allow bets on all topics from weather to politics, may be in breach of country’s rulesSpain’s ministry of consumer rights has blocked access to Polymarket and Kalshi while it investigates whether the leading prediction market sites are violating Spanish law by operating without a gambling licence.On Tuesday the ministry said it had launched disciplinary proceedings against the two platforms, which allow users to bet on everything from the weather to political events, amid allegations that they lacked the “necessary administrative authorisation” to operate in Spain. Continue reading...