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More Fraud in COVID Relief Cash Giveaway; IRS Workers Steal $1 Mil to Buy Cars, Jewelry

Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Judicial Watch

Amid the rampant fraud and corruption in the government’s massive COVID-19 relief cash giveaway, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees have been charged with stealing over a million dollars from pandemic relief programs to buy luxury goods, fancy cars, and travel. Five current or former employees from the feared tax agency easily withdrew the money by filing several false loan applications with two of the federal stimulus programs— Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL)—launched under the monstrous Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, passed by Congress to provide over $2 trillion in “fast and direct economic aid” to Americans negatively impacted by the pandemic.

Not surprisingly, CARES is rife with fraud and corruption and the IRS employee scandal is simply the latest of countless examples. How bad is the problem? Last year the Department of Justice (DOJ) created a COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to “enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.” The special unit has been quite busy prosecuting scams, false statements, and money laundering related to the multi trillion-dollar CARES Act. So far, criminal charges have been filed against more than 1,000 defendants and the loss of public funds exceeds $1.1 billion, according to the DOJ. Of those cases, the task force has prosecuted more than 150 offenders and seized over $75 million derived from fraudulently obtained PPP funds as well as numerous real estate properties and luxury items purchased with the illegally obtained money.

The sting is even greater when presumably trusted employees who work for American taxpayers commit the fraud as is the case with the IRS defendants. The scheme involves five current and former employees of the tax agency in Tennessee and Mississippi. Federal authorities say they used the illegally obtained pandemic relief funds to buy expensive designer clothes (Gucci), a fancy imported car (Mercedes-Benz), jewelry, trips to Las Vegas, manicures, and massages. The leftover cash was deposited into personal investment accounts. Each of the defendants submitted multiple fraudulent applications seeking at least tens of thousands of dollars in relief funds. An IRS Program Evaluation and Risk analyst submitted four fraudulent applications seeking more than half a million dollars. Another who worked as a program assistant in the agency’s information technology department, also submitted multiple applications seeking $338,900 on behalf of a fake fashion business. “These individuals – acting out of pure greed – abused their positions by taking government funds meant for citizens and businesses who desperately needed it,” said U.S. Attorney Kevin G. Ritz for the Western District of Tennessee.

This case is only a snippet of the widespread problem with the government’s insane pandemic cash handout. Just a few days ago, a federal audit revealed that billions of dollars in expanded COVID-19 unemployment insurance benefits funded under CARES have been stolen by fraudsters. The programs are known as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) and they have doled out an eye popping $663.8 billion in pandemic-related unemployment benefits as of April 23, 2022. An investigation by the Department of Labor (DOL) Inspector General found that around $45.6 billion was paid to applicants who did not qualify, a huge increase over last year’s $16 billion in fraudulent payments. Criminals used the Social Security numbers of the deceased or other illegal ploys to obtain the money, according to the audit which focused on four states. One of the states scrutinized by investigators improperly paid out $30.4 billion of its total $71.7 billion in unemployment benefits. “We estimated $9.9 billion of that was paid to likely fraudsters (13.8 percent),” the report states, adding that in the four states analyzed, one in five dollars initially paid in PUA benefits likely went to fraudsters. Yet the cash keeps flowing.

The post More Fraud in COVID Relief Cash Giveaway; IRS Workers Steal $1 Mil to Buy Cars, Jewelry appeared first on Judicial Watch.

WPP’s GroupM Merges Media Agencies in Bid to Streamline

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, Variety

GroupM, the massive media-investment arm of WPP, will winnow down the number of separate agencies under its aegis in a bid to streamline its operations and make ad-tech a more central part of the process for clients who spend millions of dollars on commercial inventory across video, mobile, social and other media venues. A spokesperson […]

Oil Depot 70 Kilometers Inside Russia Hit by Two Large Explosions in Suspected Ukrainian Strike – Video

Filed Under: Gateway Pundit, THE NEWS

There was a massive explosion this morning at an oil depot inside Russia in Bryansk. The oil refinery-storage facility is reportedly 70 kilometers inside of the Russian border.


Via Artoir.

The Sun reported:

RUSSIA has been rocked by huge explosions and a massive fire following a suspected missile strike by Ukraine.

The blaze erupted at the Druzhba oil depot in Bryansk with flames seen across the entire city.

RUSSIA has been rocked by huge explosions and a massive fire following a suspected missile strike by Ukraine.

The blaze erupted at the Druzhba oil depot in Bryansk with flames seen across the entire city.

Massive explosions also rang out and locals were evacuated from their homes close to the inferno.

The oil depot is likely to be vital for supplying Russia’s troops as they attempt to take control of the Donbas.

Russian media accused Ukrainian drones of staging the attacks – with two strikes on the tanks at the Druzhba plant at 1am.

The post Oil Depot 70 Kilometers Inside Russia Hit by Two Large Explosions in Suspected Ukrainian Strike – Video appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

DeSantis To Tucker: “I Stand Against A Lot Of Media — And A Lot Of Big Corporations” (VIDEO)

Filed Under: Gateway Pundit, THE NEWS

 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dealt a massive blow to Disney by signing a bill that gets rid of the massive special privileges Disney enjoys in Florida.

Epoch Times reported: 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a legislature-passed bill to dissolve Walt Disney World’s self-governing status in central Florida.

The law would eliminate the 55-year-old Reedy Creek Improvement District and several similar districts by June 2023. The measure allows those districts to be reestablished under circumstances.

It could have significant tax implications for Disney, which operates a series of theme parks in its 25,000-acre district.

DeSantis joined Tucker Carlson Tonight to discuss the ongoing battle with Disney.

DeSantis said that Disney expected Florida to bow to them and not sign the Parental Rights in Education Bill – Florida Republicans stood firm.

“So their hope was getting Disney involved in that would somehow get me to back down from signing the bill. Well, that was bad judgment on their part because of course we weren’t going to back down an inch.”

WATCH:

DeSantis also pointed out how the media and big corporations have lined up against him:

“You have the media class, you have the Twitter class, you have some of these people — and that’s a distorted view of reality. 

You actually need to talk to people who aren’t always on those outlets and listen to what they have to say and I can tell you they do not want this woke garbage in our society. They don’t want women to be denied the opportunity to participate in sports. They don’t want to see their kids go to kindergarten and have this stuff jammed down their throats.

I just stand with the people…I stand against a lot of media and a lot of big corporations — but at the end of the day we have the facts and the strength in numbers on our side.”

DeSantis is standing up for everyday Americans!

For the antidote to media bias, check out ProTrumpNews.com!

The post DeSantis To Tucker: “I Stand Against A Lot Of Media — And A Lot Of Big Corporations” (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Face-Off: The Most Iconic Nicolas Cage Performance

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

In celebration of the theatrical release of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and our look at the 40 most iconic Nicolas Cage performances of all time, we thought it would be the perfect time to ask you to help us to settle the debate once and for all and pick your favorite performances from the legendary actor.

Do you think his portrayal of H.I. McDunnough in Raising Arizona has stood the test of time? Or is your top pic Ben Gates from National Treasure because who else can say they stole the Declaration of Independence? We’ve selected 40 of Nicolas Cage’s most iconic roles to “Face-Off” against each other two at a time. Will you choose Vampire’s Kiss’ Peter Loew over Face/Off’s Castor Troy? Pig’s Robin Feld or Con Air’s Cameron Poe? The choice is yours…

(And don’t forget, you can pass on a Face-Off round if you don’t know a character by just hitting “skip” at the bottom of the page.)

Click here to start voting in the Nicolas Cage Face-Off!

What Is a Face-Off?

Like the name suggests, a Face-Off pits two things against one another and you decide which one is the superior of the two. In this case, you are voting to determine which Nicolas Cage performance is the best. It’s possible to see some of his characters multiple times, so you can keep voting for your favorites to ensure they get ranked higher than the rest. IGN’s resident team of Nicolas Cage experts and Nextlander’s Alex Navarro pre-selected 40 roles for you to choose from. These get randomly paired up and each time you pick a winner, it’s tracked.

How Is the Winner Determined?

When voting ends on April 28, we tally up the total number of “wins” and “losses” each Nicolas Cage character has, and create a ranked list based on your choices that will go live on April 29. The performance that won the most matchups will be crowned the “winner,” and in the event of a tied number of “wins,” the character with the least “losses” will take the top spot. If you continue to keep voting for your favorite character, they’ll have a better chance of ranking high on the list. You can vote as many times as you want until the Face-Off closes.

How Do I Know When I’ve Clicked Through Everything?

It’s difficult to know when you’ve seen every Nicolas Cage performance included because they are matched randomly and there are so many possible match-ups. Playing until you vote for all your favorites or ensuring that certain characters don’t get in the winner’s circle are different options you can take with a Face-Off. By deciding the winner throughout all these match-ups, you’re ensuring that your picks for the best Nicolas Cage performance will have a fighting chance to reach the top of the list.

Which of Nicolas Cage’s Movies Have You Included?

The list of Nicolas Cage movies has been decided by IGN staff and Nextlander’s Alex Navarro who wrote our look at The 40 Most ‘Nicolas Cage’ Performances.’ We’ve decided to keep it to these 40 films to keep out some of his lesser-known roles. If you feel we’ve omitted one of your favorites, please let us know in the comments below!

Click here to start voting in the Nicolas Cage Face-Off!

For more Nicolas Cage, check out why he turned down Lord of the Rings and Matrix Roles, why he stands by every VOD movies he’s ever done, how he wants to play an “absolutely terrifying” Egghead against Robert Pattinson’s Batman, and why he will “never” retire from acting.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Hedge Fund Manager Bill Ackman Sells Entire Netflix Stake, Taking $400 Million Loss

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, Variety

Amid the massive sell-off in Netflix stock triggered by the streamer’s Q1 stumble, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman liquidated his entire holdings in the company citing new uncertainty about Netflix’s long-term business. Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management had acquired about 3.1 million Netflix shares in January. On Thursday, the firm sold that stake — […]

Netflix Prepares for Password Sharing Crackdown After Losing 200,000 Subscribers

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

After a massive surge of growth during pandemic-related lockdowns, Netflix is now being forced to acknowledge that it’s running out of room to grow – and will need to resort to password-sharing crackdowns to keep the numbers going up.

Netflix reports that subscriptions were down 200,000 in total from last quarter, though that total comes with context. It technically lost a whopping 700,000 subscribers due to suspending its service in Russia over the country’s attack on neighboring Ukraine. But Netflix gained 500,000 subscribers elsewhere during the period, bringing it to a 200,000 loss.

Still, even excluding Russia from the occasion and calling it a net 500,000 subscriber gain, that’s still a massive drop compared to what Netflix had forecast for the quarter originally: a gain of 2.5 million that it didn’t come anywhere near.

And it sounds like things aren’t going to improve anytime soon, even without Netflix pulling out of politically-fraught markets. Netflix is currently forecasting another massive subscriber loss of 2 million for the upcoming quarter, compared to a 1.5 million gain at the same time last year. Q2 may be a slower quarter for streaming services, but it’s not normally that slow.

In a letter to shareholders attached to its first-quarter earnings report, Netflix admitted that its revenue growth had “slowed considerably” despite the ongoing popularity of Netflix as a service. While it doesn’t help, Netflix says that competition for streaming services continues to be steep between Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and everything else, the big issue the company sees at play is the prevalence of account sharing between multiple households.

“However, our relatively high household penetration – when including the large number of households sharing accounts – combined with competition, is creating revenue growth headwinds,” the letter reads. “The big COVID boost to streaming obscured the picture until recently. While we work to reaccelerate our revenue growth – through improvements to our service and more effective monetization of multi-household sharing – we’ll be holding our operating margin at around 20%.”

In short, too many people already have Netflix for the service to continue to grow at the exponential rates it used to, and in order to go back to that level of growth, something has to be done about password sharing so it can make money off all the folks using the accounts of their friends and family members for free. Netflix estimates that alongside 222 million subscribed households, it also has an additional 100 million users who are sharing passwords with paying households.

“Early last year we started testing different approaches to monetize sharing and, in March, introduced two new paid sharing features, where current members have the choice to pay for additional households, in three markets in Latin America,” the letter continues. “There’s a broad range of engagement when it comes to sharing households from high to occasional viewing. So while we won’t be able to monetize all of it right now, we believe it’s a large short- to mid-term opportunity.”

Overall, Netflix revenues were up 10% year-over-year. It’s still expecting another 10% year-over-year revenue increase next quarter, and for now appears committed to holding the business steady while it reimagines its business model around multi-household sharing to get growth back on track.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.