Ex-CIA official accused of stashing $40m in gold bars is 'master manipulator', prosecutors say 4 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Nardine Saad Getty Images A former CIA official accused of stashing millions in gold bars at his Virginia home is a "master manipulator" who lied to his ne…
A courtroom sketch shows the district attorney pointing at defendant Karmelo Anthony (center) during opening arguments on 4 June, in McKinney, Texas. Photograph: Pat Lopez/AP View image in fullscreen A courtroom sketch shows the district attorney pointing at defendant Karmelo Anthony (center) during…
Ex-CIA official accused of stashing $40m in gold bars is 'master manipulator', prosecutors say 4 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Nardine Saad Getty Images A former CIA official accused of stashing millions in gold bars at his Virginia home is a "master manipulator" who lied to his ne…
Ex-CIA official accused of stashing $40m in gold bars is 'master manipulator', prosecutors say 3 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Nardine Saad Getty Images A former CIA official accused of stashing millions in gold bars at his Virginia home is a "master manipulator" who lied to his ne…
Ex-CIA official accused of stashing $40m in gold bars is 'master manipulator', prosecutors say 3 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Nardine Saad Getty Images A former CIA official accused of stashing millions in gold bars at his Virginia home is a "master manipulator" who lied to his ne…
Brendan Banfield arrives to testify in his double murder trial in Fairfax county, Virginia, in January. Photograph: Tom Brenner/AP View image in fullscreen Brendan Banfield arrives to testify in his double murder trial in Fairfax county, Virginia, in January. Photograph: Tom Brenner/AP US man who pl…
A courtroom sketch shows the district attorney pointing at defendant Karmelo Anthony (center) during opening arguments on 4 June, in McKinney, Texas. Photograph: Pat Lopez/AP View image in fullscreen A courtroom sketch shows the district attorney pointing at defendant Karmelo Anthony (center) during…
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is refilling after President Trump had it painted "American flag blue." Some visitors say the results of the project — which reportedly cost millions — are subtle.
Brendan Banfield arrives to testify in his double murder trial in Fairfax county, Virginia, in January. Photograph: Tom Brenner/AP View image in fullscreen Brendan Banfield arrives to testify in his double murder trial in Fairfax county, Virginia, in January. Photograph: Tom Brenner/AP US man who plotted with au pair to murder wife given life sentence Brendan Banfield convicted of killing Christine Banfield and man lured to couple’s Virginia home as fall guy A Virginia man who was having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair was sentenced on Friday to life in prison without parole for the murder of his wife and a man who was lured to the couple’s home as a fall guy. Brendan Banfield, a former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) law enforcement officer, claimed he shot Joseph Ryan after he came across Ryan attacking his wife on the morning of 24 February 2023. But prosecutors said Brendan Banfield and au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães set Ryan up in a scheme to kill Christine Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse. Judge Penney Azcarate called Banfield’s conduct evil and calculated. “The disregard of the life of your wife, someone you supposedly loved, is almost unfathomable,” she said in handing down the sentence, which is mandatory in Virginia for an aggravated murder conviction. The scheme involved “luring a completely innocent man into your deadly trap; continuing on after the murders without a care; and not once – not once – thinking of the impact” on the Banfields’ four-year-old daughter. Brendan Banfield “took everything from her”, Azcarate said. In addition to murder, jurors in February convicted Banfield of child endangerment because the couple’s daughter was home during the killings. Azcarate sentenced Banfield to an additional five years on that charge and three more years on a firearms charge. Speaking at his sentencing, Banfield proclaimed his innocence. Banfield said he loved his wife and, although he had affairs, he never intended to leave her. Azcarate was unmoved, citing his lack of remorse as a reason she felt no hesitation in ordering him to remain behind bars for life. During Friday’s hearing, Christine Banfield’s older sister, Danielle Hocker, described her sister as kind, caring, reliable and selfless. She said they grew up chasing fireflies and sleeping next to each other on the floor in sleeping bags. “When she was born, ‘I’ became ‘we’,” Hocker said. “I haven’t stopped saying ‘we’ when I speak about my childhood after her death, except now when I do, it takes my breath away – a pause filled with love that has nowhere to go.” Ryan’s mother, Deidre Fisher, told the court that her son was an “extremely caring” person who was a caretaker for his grandmother and other loved ones. “Joe was a guy who believed in fighting for the underdog, and even actual neglected dogs,” Fisher said, with a small laugh. “He would walk into an animal shelter and ask for the oldest, ugliest dogs, bring them home and love them for years.” Explo
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is refilling after President Trump had it painted "American flag blue." Some visitors say the results of the project — which reportedly cost millions — are subtle.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is refilling after President Trump had it painted "American flag blue." Some visitors say the results of the project — which reportedly cost millions — are subtle.
Ex-CIA official accused of stashing $40m in gold bars is 'master manipulator', prosecutors say 3 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Nardine Saad Getty Images A former CIA official accused of stashing millions in gold bars at his Virginia home is a "master manipulator" who lied to his ne…
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is refilling after President Trump had it painted "American flag blue." Some visitors say the results of the project — which reportedly cost millions — are subtle.
Ex-CIA official accused of stashing $40m in gold bars is 'master manipulator', prosecutors say 4 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Nardine Saad Getty Images A former CIA official accused of stashing millions in gold bars at his Virginia home is a "master manipulator" who lied to his ne…
A courtroom sketch shows the district attorney pointing at defendant Karmelo Anthony (center) during opening arguments on 4 June, in McKinney, Texas. Photograph: Pat Lopez/AP View image in fullscreen A courtroom sketch shows the district attorney pointing at defendant Karmelo Anthony (center) during opening arguments on 4 June, in McKinney, Texas. Photograph: Pat Lopez/AP Texas murder trial under way with 19-year-old accused of stabbing fellow high schooler Case draws nationwide attention amid debate over racial tensions, as defendant is Black and slain student was white Testimony has been unfolding in the murder trial of a 19-year-old accused of fatally stabbing a fellow high schooler during a track meet in Texas more than a year ago. The case has drawn nationwide attention amid debate over racial tensions, as defendant Karmelo Anthony is Black and slain 17-year-old Austin Metcalf was white. Prosecutors allege Anthony stabbed Metcalf during a Frisco independent school district track meet at Kuykendall Stadium on 2 April 2025. Metcalf died while being transported to a hospital. Anthony was charged with first-degree murder and has pleaded not guilty. A jury with no Black members heard opening statements from both sides. Collin county first assistant district attorney Bill Wirskye told jurors the case “has nothing to do with race” – arguing that Anthony had taken a knife and “buried it into the heart of another young man, causing his death – and then ran away”. Defense attorney Mike Howard focused on the moments leading up to the stabbing, noting that Anthony is 5ft 8in and about 130lbs, while Austin, like his twin brother Hunter Metcalf, was about 6ft 1in and 215lbs. Howard argued that Metcalf had initiated a physical confrontation with Anthony, who then “made a split-second” decision out of fear. Jurors were also shown both unaltered and enhanced surveillance footage from the stadium. The recordings showed students gathered beneath a school tent with the logo of Metcalf’s high school, Memorial. There appeared to be pushing near the back of the tent shortly before the stabbing, according to CBS. The footage later showed students running out of the tent, Anthony leaving the area – and police pursuing as well as detaining him near the stadium. Several witnesses described the aftermath of the stabbing, with Memorial’s track coach Robert Starr testifying that he found Metcalf lying on the ground shortly afterward. “I come over there … and my memory is kind of shaky, but what I do see is Austin on the ground and his face is purple,” Starr said. “And he has a hole in his chest.” Starr said he was told then that Anthony “did it”. Heritage high school head football coach Vincent Hooper testified that he spoke with Anthony, a student at Centennial high, shortly after the stabbing. “He said: ‘He put his hands on me,’” Hooper told the jury. “‘I stabbed him.’” Hooper added: “I don’t think he thought he stabbed him in the spot he stabbed him in.” Jurors also h
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is refilling after President Trump had it painted "American flag blue." Some visitors say the results of the project — which reportedly cost millions — are subtle.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received private income from subletting three cottages on his Windsor Royal Lodge estate while paying a ‘peppercorn rent’. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA View image in fullscreen Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received private income from subletting three cottages on his Windso…
Ex-CIA official accused of stashing $40m in gold bars is 'master manipulator', prosecutors say 4 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Nardine Saad Getty Images A former CIA official accused of stashing millions in gold bars at his Virginia home is a "master manipulator" who lied to his ne…
Ex-CIA official accused of stashing $40m in gold bars is 'master manipulator', prosecutors say 4 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Nardine Saad Getty Images A former CIA official accused of stashing millions in gold bars at his Virginia home is a "master manipulator" who lied to his ne…
The US state department’s official account stated that ‘two-tiered policing’ in the UK was a ‘glaring symptom of civilizational decline’. Photograph: Christopher Walls/Sopa Images/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen The US state department’s official account stated that ‘two-tiered policing’ in th…
