Also on today’s menu:
AG’s Office Withholds FRM Clients’ Names
New Methods Of Human Trafficking
Moment Of Truth For Russia
Matthew Lautenschlager, 29, of North Conway is facing felony charges of aggravated felonious sexual assault, manufacturing child sexual abuse images, and seven counts of prohibited use of computer services following his arrest on September 12.
The arrest follows a two-month investigation that began in July when the Carroll County Attorney’s Office referred the case from the Conway Police Department to State Police Troop E. The detectives received assistance from the New Hampshire State Police Special Investigations Unit, which looked into several social media accounts in which Lautenschlager allegedly solicited minors to obtain child sexual abuse images.
Lautenschlager is scheduled to appear today in Carroll County Superior Court.
AG’s Office Withholds FRM Clients’ Names
Of the 161 people who have applied to the state for reimbursement of a portion of their losses in the Financial Resources Mortgage Inc. Ponzi scheme, the fund administrator has evaluated 59 claims, rejecting a handful of the applications.
The New Hampshire Legislature approved setting aside $10 million in taxpayer money to reimburse those who made the risky investments in hopes of reaping high-interest returns. The rationale for using public money to bail out bad investments was that the state should have been more diligent in its oversight of FRM.
Michael Garrity of the Attorney-General’s Office has withheld the names of those applying for reimbursement, saying that disclosure of the names would constitute an “invasion of privacy.” Attorney Andru Volinsky, who has expertise in the so-called Right-To-Know law, maintains that the names should be public.
“I understand the attorney general is relying on invasion of privacy to withhold the names of the applicants and their position, and I think it is in error,” Volinsky said. “None of these applicants was required to register. … They are voluntarily providing information to get a benefit. The public good will be served by knowing who is asking for the money and who will receive the money.”
New Methods Of Human Trafficking
The Telegram messaging service’s White Shark Channel, which recently shut down, has been selling human beings in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, and other cities in southeast Asia, according to ProPublica. The investigation has revealed that “tens of thousands of people from across Asia have been coerced into defrauding people in America and around the world out of millions of dollars. Those who resist face beatings, food deprivation or worse.”
The article recounts the story of Fan, a 22-year-old from China who was taken captive in 2021 after he and his brother applied for $1,000-per-month marketing positions with what purported to be a well-known food delivery company in Cambodia. By the time they realized the offer was a scam, their new bosses had imprisoned them in a compound and put them to work in financial scams that have swindled people across the globe.
Fan said was sold twice within the past year and, each time, his new captors raised the amount he would have to pay to buy his freedom. “In that way, his debt more than doubled from $7,000 to $15,500 in a country where the annual per capita income is about $1,600,” the article states.
“This idea of combining two crimes, scamming and human trafficking, is a very new phenomenon,” said Matt Friedman, chief executive of the Mekong Club, a Hong Kong-based nonprofit that combats what it calls modern slavery.
Moment Of Truth For Russia
Ukraine now says it is aiming to liberate all of its territory after driving back Russian forces in in a rapid offensive. Since Moscow abandoned its main bastion in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday, marking its worst defeat since the early days of the war, Ukrainian troops have recaptured dozens of towns.
Boris Nadezhdin, a former Russian lawmaker, said on NTV, “We have come to a point where we have to understand one simple thing: It’s impossible to defeat Ukraine using the resources that Russia is now trying to fight with, using this ‘colonial war’ method, with contract soldiers, mercenaries, and no general mobilization. We either call for mobilization and go for a full-scale war, or we get out.” He said the only other option for Moscow, and the one he preferred, was to try to negotiate a peace deal.
“Non-comrade Nadezhdin, I urge you to watch your language,” warned Alexander Kazakov, co-chair of A Just Russia party, which is led by fervent proponents of the war.
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