Texas governor asks cancer agency to halt grants

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A $ 3 billion cancer-fighting effort that’s already under criminal investigation received yet more humiliation Wednesday when Texas Gov. Rick Perry called for a moratorium on new grants until confidence is restored in a once-celebrated agency that has plunged into turmoil in just three years.

Leaders of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas quickly embraced the request from Perry, who unveiled the unprecedented state-run cancer fight in 2009 with promises of medical breakthroughs. But the effort has unraveled into one of Texas‘ biggest tempests involving a state agency in Perry’s 12 years as governor.

A key Republican lawmaker who filed the original bill creating CPRIT piled on Wednesday by introducing new legislation, this time calling for new polices to bolster agency oversight and accountability. The agency also faces another round of scrutiny Thursday in front of a key state budget-writing committee.

“The mission of defeating cancer is too important to be derailed by inadequate processes and a lack of oversight,” Perry said in a letter to CPRIT’s oversight committee. That panel includes members appointed by Perry and some of his top political donors.

The governor added, “It is important that we restore the confidence of the Texas taxpayers who approved this important initiative before new funds are dispersed.”

The letter was co-signed by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state House Speaker Joe Straus, who also appoints members of the agency’s governing board.

CPRIT controls the nation’s second-largest pot of cancer research dollars, behind the National Institutes of Health. That federal department’s cancer-research arm, the National Cancer Institute, also has said it is reviewing the troubles surrounding the Texas agency.

NCI confers on CPRIT prestigious status as an approved funding entity and losing that designation would be another blow for the beleaguered agency. It’s already under a criminal investigation, is the target of widespread rebuke from scientists and has seen its leadership purged by resignations, including its executive director last week.

In a statement, oversight committee Chairman Jimmy Mansour and Vice Chairman Joseph Bailes said they agreed with Perry’s call to cooperate with current reviews, implement recommended changes, enact reforms and fill key positions.

“These issues need to be resolved to restore public confidence in CPRIT,” they said in a joint statement.

The reviews began after CPRIT disclosed that an $ 11 million grant to a private company had bypassed review.

The award to Dallas-based Peloton Therapeutics, a biomedical startup, marked the second time this year that a lucrative taxpayer-funded grant authorized by CPRIT instigated backlash and raised questions about oversight.

The first involved a $ 20 million grant to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston that CPRIT’s former chief science officer, Nobel laureate Dr. Alfred Gilman, described as a thin proposal that should have first been scrutinized by an outside panel of scientific peer-reviewers, even though none was required under the agency’s rules.

Dozens of the nation’s top scientists agreed. They resigned en masse from the agency’s peer-review panels along with Gilman. Some accused the agency of “hucksterism” and charting a politically-driven path that was putting commercial product-development above science.

Diseases/Conditions News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Texas governor asks cancer agency to halt grants
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Wall Street ticks lower on “fiscal cliff” stalemate

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks edged slightly lower on Thursday as investors fretted that a deal on the U.S. budget wouldn’t come as soon as they had hoped after President Barack Obama threatened to veto a controversial Republican plan.

The market barely reacted to a round of strong data, including on gross domestic product growth and housing, suggesting talks to avert the “fiscal cliff,” steep tax hikes and spending cuts due to take effect in 2013, remain the primary focus for markets.

Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner said Wednesday his chamber would pass a proposal that spares many wealthy Americans from tax hikes needed to balance the budget. Obama has threatened to veto the plan if it passes, while some Republicans oppose any deal featuring tax increases.

“The closer we get to the end of the year without a deal, the more optimism is going to evaporate,” said Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at LandColt Capital in New York. “Volatility is going to be extreme until there’s a deal, and the probability of being caught on the downside is much greater than being on the upside.”

While investors have hoped for an agreement soon between policy makers over the fiscal cliff, this seems unlikely as wrangling continues over the details.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 18.74 points, or 0.14 percent, at 13,233.23. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index <.spx> was down 0.84 points, or 0.06 percent, at 1,434.97. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 4.18 points, or 0.14 percent, at 3,040.18.</.ixic></.spx></.dji>

NYSE Euronext was the S&P 500′s top percentage gainer, surging 35 percent to $ 32.56 after IntercontinentalExchange Inc said it would buy the operator of the New York Stock Exchange for $ 8.2 billion. ICE shares rose 1.3 percent to $ 130.06.

Stocks rallied earlier in the week on signs of progress in the negotiations, led by banking and energy shares, which tend to outperform in times of economic expansion. On signs of complications, however, many have turned to hedging their bets through options and exchange-traded funds.

The U.S. economy grew 3.1 percent in the third quarter, faster than previously estimated, while the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected in the latest week.

“It is great to see this kind of growth, but investors know it could all disappear if there’s no deal on the cliff,” Schoenberger said. “Macro data may be on the back burner for a while.”

Existing home sales jumped 5.9 percent in November, more than expected, and by the fastest monthly place in three years. And the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s December index of business conditions in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region rose to 8.1 from -10.7 in November. Analysts were looking for a read of -3.

Google Inc agreed to sell set-top TV box maker Motorola Home to Arris Group Inc for $ 2.35 billion in cash and stock. Arris rose 6.6 percent to $ 15.51 while Google was little changed.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Wall Street ticks lower on “fiscal cliff” stalemate
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Canada serial killer inquiry finds “systemic bias” by police

(Reuters) – Police made critical errors in pursuing Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton partly because of “systemic bias” against his victims, sex trade workers from a rough Vancouver neighborhood, according to the final report from a public inquiry released on Monday.

Commissioner Wally Oppal was asked by the British Columbia government to investigate, in effect, why Pickton was not caught sooner. Women disappeared from the Downtown Eastside neighborhood for more than a decade before the pig farmer’s 2002 arrest.

“The investigations of missing and murdered women were characterized by blatant police failures, and by public indifference,” Oppal said at a press conference in Vancouver that was frequently interrupted by protesters.

Pickton was convicted of six murders, but prosecutors believe he killed many more – 20 other charges were stayed after he received the maximum possible sentence.

Oppal outlined a string of police errors, from failing to take proper reports when women went missing and communicate adequately with families, to ineffective coordination across jurisdictions. He called his more than 1,200-page report, which is based on eight months of hearings, “Forsaken”.

“After reviewing the evidence of the investigations, I have come to the conclusion that there was systemic bias by the police,” he said.

Oppal recommended that the provincial government establish a compensation fund for the children of the victims and consider creating a regional police force for Vancouver, instead of the patchwork of jurisdictions currently in place.

After Oppal’s announcement, B.C. Minister of Justice Shirley Bond wiped away tears as she spoke to victims’ families.

“I want you to know that, however inadequate these words sound, we are sorry for your loss,” she said. “We will work hard to prevent these circumstances from being repeated in our province.”

She announced the appointment of a former lieutenant governor, Steven Point, to serve as the report’s “champion”, guiding implementation. Bond said the government would immediately give new funding to WISH, a drop-in center for women who work in the Downtown Eastside’s sex trade.

POLICE RESPOND

The Vancouver Police Department said in a short statement that it is committed to learning from its mistakes and will study the report.

“We know that nothing can ever truly heal the wounds of grief and loss but if we can, we want to assure the families that the Vancouver Police Department deeply regrets anything we did that may have delayed the eventual solving of these murders,” it said.

Deputy Commissioner Craig Callens, who commands the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia, said in a statement that his force will review the report.

Oppal said many individual police officers were diligent, and he commended several by name. But he said that as a system, the authorities failed because of bias against Pickton’s victims, many of whom were poor and addicted to drugs.

“Would the reaction of the police and the public have been any different if the missing women had come from Vancouver’s (more affluent) west side? The answer is obvious,” he said.

Aboriginal women were overrepresented among the victims, and Oppal repeatedly referred to the broader “marginalization” of aboriginal people in Canada.

“There has to be community responsibility for what has taken place,” he said, highlighting poverty and the conditions on the Downtown Eastside. “The social reality is that racism and gender bias are prevalent within Canadian society, and we must do something to eradicate those.”

Victims’ families and activists were on hand for Oppal’s press conference, and he stopped speaking several times as audience members shouted criticism, chanted and played drums.

The provincial government did not offer funding to a number of community organizations that said they needed support to participate in the lengthy and complex inquiry. In protest, other groups boycotted the process.

In November, several organizations, including the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, released their own report, criticizing the inquiry for, among other things, excluding too many aboriginal women, sex trade workers and drug users.

Bond, the justice minister, said she did not regret the decision not to fund those groups, but said she saw them participating in the future. “I think going forward this is room for us to include other voices.” (Reporting by Allison Martell; Editing by Eric Beech)

Canada News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Canada serial killer inquiry finds “systemic bias” by police
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Facebook CEO Zuckerberg donating $500M in stock

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he is donating nearly $ 500 million in stock to a Silicon Valley charity with the aim of funding health and education issues.

Zuckerberg donated 18 million Facebook shares, valued at $ 498.8 million based on their Tuesday closing price. The beneficiary is the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a nonprofit that works with donors to allocate their gifts.

This is Zuckerberg’s largest donation to date. He pledged $ 100 million in Facebook stock to Newark, N.J., public schools in 2010, before his company went public earlier this year. Later in 2010, he joined Giving Pledge, an effort led by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. CEO Warren Buffett to get the country’s richest people to donate most of their wealth. His wife, Priscilla Chan, joined with him.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Zuckerberg, 28, said he’s “proud of the work” done by the foundation that his Newark donation launched, called Startup: Education, which has helped open charter schools, high schools and others.

With the latest contribution, he added, “we will look for areas in education and health to focus on next.” He did not give further details on what plans there may be for funds.

“Mark’s generous gift will change lives and inspire others in Silicon Valley and around the globe to give back and make the world a better place,” said Emmett D. Carson, CEO of the foundation.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Facebook CEO Zuckerberg donating $500M in stock
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

“Best Funeral Ever” premiere delayed after Newtown school shootings

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Fans of death-centric reality TV will have to wait a little longer to dig into TLC‘s “Best Funeral Ever.”

TLC has pushed back the premiere of the special to January 6 at 10/9c in light of the school shootings in Newtown, Conn. last week.

“Best Funeral Ever” was initially scheduled to premiere on December 26 at 8/7c.

“Best Funeral Ever” centers around the Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas, which specializes in elaborate specialty funerals catering to the deceased’s interest. In the special, a doo-wop singer famous for his rib-sauce jingle receives a barbecue-themed sendoff, while a disabled man who was unable to ride roller coasters in mortal life receives a State Fair-themed funeral.

Since last Friday’s horrific shootings, a number of programs and other entertainment-related events have been moved out of sensitivity. Syfy, for one, decided not to air its scheduled episode of “Haven” on Friday night, because it contained elements of fictionalized school violence.

TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: “Best Funeral Ever” premiere delayed after Newtown school shootings
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Russia fund in consortium to back U.S. pharma firms

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian state technology firm Rusnano, alongside a group of investors, is investing $ 93 million in three U.S.-based pharmaceutical firms to develop drugs to treat illnesses such as epilepsy, the investors said on Wednesday.

Rusnano is making the investment with U.S. venture capital fund Domain Associates and other investors. Rusnano partnered with Domain in March with plans to invest around $ 760 million in U.S. healthcare and pharmaceutical firms to bring new drugs to the Russian market.

The three companies receiving investments – Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Lithera and Regado Biosciences – are portfolio companies of Domain and the investments will be used to register medications and undertake further clinical trials in the U.S. and Russia, the companies said.

Marinus is developing a drug for the treatment of epilepsy, Lithera works on products for aesthetic medicine and ophthalmology and Regado is developing antithrombotic products.

(Reporting by Megan Davies; Editing by Douglas Busvine)

Diseases/Conditions News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Russia fund in consortium to back U.S. pharma firms
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

UBS in $1.5bn Libor rigging fine

19 December 2012 Last updated at 06:43 ET

Swiss banking giant UBS has agreed to pay $ 1.5bn (£940m) to US, UK and Swiss regulators for attempting to manipulate the Libor inter-bank lending rate.

It becomes the second major bank to be fined over Libor after Barclays was ordered to pay $ 450m to UK and US authorities in the summer.

Regulators worldwide are investigating a number of banks for rigging Libor.

Libor tracks the average rate at which the major international banks based in London lend money to each other.

The bank also admitted to manipulating Euribor and Tibor – the equivalent interest rates set by lenders in the eurozone and in Tokyo.

UBS said it had agreed to pay fines to regulators in three different countries:

It is the second-largest set of fines imposed on a bank to date, after the $ 1.9bn that HSBC agreed to pay US authorities earlier this month to settle allegations of money-laundering.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

The potential costs to [the banks] could be eye-watering if clients can prove they are out of pocket as a result of market rigging”

End Quote

The fine “demonstrates the co-ordinated approach regulators are now taking to serious conduct issues that affect jurisdictions internationally,” said Nick Matthews, a forensic accountant at consultancy Kinetic Partners.

The bank has also agreed to admit to committing wire fraud through its Tokyo office in the case of manipulating Libor rates for loans denominated in Japanese yen, among others.

It said it would seek a non-prosecution agreement with the DoJ covering the rest of the bank’s misbehaviour.

The fine is the latest blow for UBS, following the conviction of rogue trader Kweku Adoboli earlier this year for losing £1.4bn for the bank, a £500m settlement with US authorities for helping US citizens evade taxes.

UBS also suffered the worst losses of any bank from US sub-prime mortgages during the financial crisis, totalling 38bn, and necessitating a bailout from the Swiss authorities.

The bank still faces lawsuits in the US for mis-selling mortgage debt to other investors, including a $ 6.4bn claim by the US government-sponsored mortgage finance agencies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Trader collusion

UBS said the fines – along with other payouts for mis-selling mortgage debts in the US – were likely to result in the bank recording a loss of 2bn-2.5bn Swiss francs in its financial accounts for the last three months of the year, although it still expects to make a profit for the year as a whole.

Continue reading the main story

What is Libor?

• Libor is the “London Inter-Bank Offered Rate”


• It tracks the average interest rate at which the big international banks based in London are willing to lend to each other


• The Libor rate is used to calculate payments under hundreds of trillions of dollars-worth of financial contracts, including mortgages and loans


• Libor is set every day by the British Bankers’ Association, based on estimates submitted by a panel of a dozen or so banks of their borrowing costs


• Banks are accused of lying about their real borrowing costs, in order to manipulate Libor for profit, and to make themselves look stronger during the financial crisis

The Swiss lender acknowledged its staff had manipulated the borrowing rates it submitted, which were then used to calculate the Libor rate – a benchmark interest rate that is used to calculate the payments on hundreds of trillions of dollars-worth of financial contracts – in order to make money on their trades.

According to the FSA, UBS had even gone so far as to give its traders formal responsibility for handling the bank’s submissions to the Libor-setting committee at the British Bankers’ Association – creating a direct conflict of interest, as the traders could profit depending on what they submitted.

Significantly, UBS also said its traders had colluded with their counterparts at other banks and brokerages.

The FSA said that UBS’s Tokyo office had made corrupt payments to brokerages – which helped to bring borrowers and lenders together anonymously in the inter-bank lending market – in order to enlist their support in manipulating Libor.

Besides UBS and Barclays, about a dozen other major banks are involved in setting Libor rates each day across a range of currencies, and most of them are understood to be still under investigation.

UBS chairman Axel Weber said: “The authorities have recognized UBS for the thoroughness of our investigation and our exceptional co-operation.”

According to the FSA, it would have fined UBS £200m, but gave the bank a 20% discount because it co-operated. Nonetheless, the £160m fine was still the largest ever imposed by the UK authority.

Barclays – which was the first bank to come clean over the scandal – has previously indicated that its fine of $ 450m would be overshadowed by the fines to be imposed on other culpable banks.

‘Not pretty reading’

Like Barclays, UBS also accepted that management had also told staff to submit inappropriately low estimated borrowing costs for the bank during the financial crisis, in order to give a false impression of the bank’s ability to borrow cheaply and maintain market confidence in the bank.

“We deeply regret this inappropriate and unethical behaviour,” said UBS chief executive Sergio Ermotti.

“No amount of profit is more important than the reputation of this firm, and we are committed to doing business with integrity.”

Former Schroders group managing director Philip Augar told BBC News that disadvantaged customers could take action against banks

The FSA said that the misconduct at UBS was extensive and widespread and involved at least 45 individuals.

“At least 2,000 requests for inappropriate submissions were documented – an unquantifiable number of oral requests, which by their nature would not be documented, were also made,” the FSA said.

“Manipulation was also discussed in internal open chat forums and group emails, and was widely known.”

It was so common that the FSA said every single Libor submission by UBS during the period it examined, from 2005 to 2010, may have been tainted.

“The findings we have set out in our notice today do not make for pretty reading,” said the FSA’s head of enforcement, Tracy McDermott.

Despite this, five separate internal audits by the bank’s compliance department failed to pick up on the misbehaviour.

BBC News – Business

Title Post: UBS in $1.5bn Libor rigging fine
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Syrian rebels take control of Damascus Palestinian camp

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian rebels took full control of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp on Monday after fighting raged for days in the district on the southern edge of President Bashar al-Assad‘s Damascus powerbase, rebel and Palestinian sources said.

The battle had pitted rebels, backed by some Palestinians, against Palestinian fighters of the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC). Many PFLP-GC fighters defected to the rebel side and their leader Ahmed Jibril left the camp two days ago, rebel sources said.

“All of the camp is under the control of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army,” said a Palestinian activist in Yarmouk. He said clashes had stopped and the remaining PFLP fighters retreated to join Assad‘s forces massed on the northern edge of the camp.

The battle in Yarmouk is one of a series of conflicts on the southern fringes of Assad’s capital, as rebels try to choke the power of the 47-year-old leader after a 21-month-old uprising in which 40,000 people have been killed.

Government forces have used jets and artillery to try to dislodge the fighters but the violence has crept into the heart of the city and activists say rebels overran three army stations in a new offensive in the central province of Hama on Monday.

On the border with Lebanon, hundreds of Palestinian families fled across the frontier following the weekend violence in Yarmouk, a Reuters witness said.

Syria hosts half a million Palestinian refugees, most living in Yarmouk, descendants of those admitted after the creation of Israel in 1948, and has always cast itself as a champion of the Palestinian struggle, sponsoring several guerrilla factions.

Both Assad’s government and the mainly Sunni Muslim Syrian rebels have enlisted and armed divided Palestinian factions as the uprising has developed into a civil war.

“NEITHER SIDE CAN WIN”

Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa said in a newspaper interview published on Monday that neither Assad’s forces nor rebels seeking to overthrow him can win the war.

Sharaa, a Sunni Muslim in a power structure dominated by Assad’s Alawite minority, has rarely been seen since the revolt erupted in March 2011 and is not part of the president’s inner circle directing the fight against Sunni rebels. But he is the most prominent figure to say in public that Assad will not win.

Sharaa said the situation in Syria was deteriorating and a “historic settlement” was needed to end the conflict, involving regional powers and the U.N. Security Council and the formation of a national unity government “with broad powers”.

“With every passing day the political and military solutions are becoming more distant. We should be in a position defending the existence of Syria. We are not in a battle for an individual or a regime,” Sharaa was quoted as telling Al-Akhbar newspaper.

“The opposition cannot decisively settle the battle and what the security forces and army units are doing will not achieve a decisive settlement,” he said, adding that insurgents fighting to topple Syria’s leadership could plunge it into “anarchy and an unending spiral of violence”.

Sources close to the Syrian government say Sharaa had pushed for dialogue with the opposition and objected to the military response to an uprising that began peacefully.

In a veiled criticism of the crackdown, he said there was a difference between the state’s duty to provide security to its citizens, and “pursuing a security solution to the crisis”.

He said even Assad could not be certain where events in Syria were leading, but that anyone who met him would hear that “this is a long struggle…and he does not hide his desire to settle matters militarily to reach a final solution.”

In Hama province, rebels and the army clashed in a new campaign launched on Sunday by rebels to block off the country’s north, activists said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked violence monitor, said fighting raged through the provincial towns of Karnaz, Kafar Weeta, Halfayeh and Mahardeh.

It said there were no clashes reported in Hama city, which lies on the main north-south highway connecting the capital with Aleppo, Syria’s second city.

Qassem Saadeddine, a member of the newly established rebel military command, said on Sunday fighters had been ordered to surround and attack army positions across the province. He said Assad’s forces were given 48 hours to surrender or be killed.

In 1982 Hafez al-Assad, father of the current ruler, crushed an uprising in Hama city, killing up to 30,000 civilians.

Qatiba al-Naasan, a rebel from Hama, said the offensive would bring retaliatory air strikes from the government but that the situation is “already getting miserable”.

(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes, Erika Solomon and Dominic Evans in Beirut, Afif Diab at Masnaa, Lebanon; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

World News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Syrian rebels take control of Damascus Palestinian camp
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Xbox SmartGlass updated with second-screen ESPN and NBA Game Time app experiences

Title Post: Xbox SmartGlass updated with second-screen ESPN and NBA Game Time app experiences
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Florida man sentenced to 10 years in “hackerazzi” case

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Florida man who pleaded guilty to hacking into the email accounts of celebrities to gain access to nude photos and private information was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a federal judge in Los Angeles on Monday.

Former office clerk Christopher Chaney, 36, said before the trial that he hacked into the accounts of film star Scarlett Johansson and other celebrities because he was addicted to spying on their personal lives.

Prosecutors said Chaney illegally gained access to email accounts of more than 50 people in the entertainment industry, including Johansson, actress Mila Kunis, and singers Christina Aguilera and Renee Olstead from November 2010 to October 2011.

Chaney, who was initially charged with 28 counts related to hacking, struck a plea deal with prosecutors in March to nine felony counts, including wiretapping and unauthorized access to protected computers.

“I don’t know what else to say except I’m sorry,” Chaney said during his sentencing. “This will never happen again.”

Chaney was ordered to pay $ 66,179 in restitution to victims.

Prosecutors recommended a 71-month prison for Chaney, who faced a maximum sentence of 60 years.

TEARFUL JOHANSSON

Prosecutors said Chaney leaked some of the private photos to two celebrity gossip websites and a hacker.

Johansson said the photos, which show her topless, were taken for her then-husband, actor Ryan Reynolds.

In a video statement shown in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, a tearful Johansson said she was “truly humiliated and embarrassed” when the photos appeared online, asking Judge S. James Otero to come down hard on Chaney.

Prosecutors said Chaney also stalked two unnamed Florida women online, one since 1999 when she was 13 years old.

Chaney, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, was arrested in October 2011 after an 11-month FBI investigation dubbed “Operation Hackerazzi” and he continued hacking after investigators initially seized his personal computers.

Shortly after his arrest, Chaney told a Florida television station that his hacking of celebrity email accounts started as curiosity and later he became “addicted.”

“I was almost relieved months ago when they came in and took my computer … because I didn’t know how to stop,” he said.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Andrew Hay)

Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Florida man sentenced to 10 years in “hackerazzi” case
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..