Month: December 2024

After a federal court blocked the multibillion proposed merger between grocery retailers Kroger and Albertsons on Tuesday, Albertsons has backed out of the deal, and filed a lawsuit against Kroger.

Kroger, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, operates 2,750 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia, including the chains Harris Teeter, Mariano’s, Ralphs and Smith’s. Albertsons, based in Boise, Idaho, operates roughly 2,300 stores in 34 states, including brands like Jewel Osco, Safeway and Shaw’s. Together the companies employ around 700,000 people.  Under the merger agreement, Kroger and Albertsons (who compete in 22 states) had agreed to sell 579 stores in places where their locations overlap to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets that also owns the Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly store brands.

Two federal judges in Oregon and Washington blocked the merger – which would have marked the biggest supermarket merger in U.S. history – instead siding with the Federal Trade Commission, which has opposed the plan. The FTC has argued the merger would eliminate competition, and raise prices for American shoppers.

Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran said in a statement: “Given the recent federal and state court decisions to block our proposed merger with Kroger, we have made the difficult decision to terminate the merger agreement. We are deeply disappointed in the courts’ decisions.”

In a separate statement issued Wednesday, Albertsons said it is suing Kroger for willful breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing: “Kroger willfully breached the Merger Agreement in several key ways, including by repeatedly refusing to divest assets necessary for antitrust approval, ignoring regulators’ feedback, rejecting stronger divestiture buyers and failing to cooperate with Albertsons.”   Albertsons also claims that Kroger failed to exercise “best efforts” and failed to take “‘any and all actions’ to secure regulatory approval of the companies’ agreed merger transaction as was required of Kroger under the terms of the merger agreement between the parties.”

In response to the lawsuit, Kroger released its own statement, calling the suit “baseless” and adding that “Kroger refutes these allegations in the strongest possible terms, especially in light of Albertsons’ repeated intentional material breaches and interference throughout the merger process, which we will prove in court,” the company claimed. “This is clearly an attempt to deflect responsibility following Kroger’s written notification of Albertsons’ multiple breaches of the agreement, and to seek payment of the merger’s break fee, to which they are not entitled. We look forward to responding to these baseless claims in court.”

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The New York Attorney General’s Office has rejected a demand from President-elect Donald Trump to drop the , $480 million civil business fraud case against him.

NY Attorney General Letitia James had been urged by Trump defense attorney John Sauer in a Nov. 26 letter to dismiss the case “for the health of our Republic.”  Sauer wrote: “President Trump has called for our Nation’s partisan strife to end, and for the contending factions to join forces for the greater good of the country. This call for unity extends to the legal onslaught against him and his family that permeated the most recent election cycle.”

Sauer had argued that the continuation of the case will impede Trump from carrying out his presidential duties.  However in a two-page letter, Deputy Solicitor General Judith Vale responded that “this Office will not stipulate to vacate the final judgment already entered by Supreme Court, New York County, in this action or otherwise seek to dismiss the action.”  Vale added that there is “no merit” to Sauer’s claims, and that Trump’s upcoming inauguration “has no bearing” on the outcome of the trial or his ongoing efforts to challenge the judgment, saying: “Presidents do not have immunity from civil lawsuits arising from unofficial conduct, and such lawsuits may proceed while the President is in office. This civil enforcement action is not a criminal action, and [Manhattan] Supreme Court did not impose any criminal sanction on Mr. Trump or any other defendant.”

The civil case was brought by AG James in 2022, and accuses Trump, his two adult sons, his business and key executives within it of falsely inflating Trump’s assets to boost his stated net worth and obtain financial perks. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable for fraud and held a bench trial to determine penalties in February, ordering Trump to pay more than $450 million in fines and interest. That penalty included millions of dollars in prejudgment interest that will accrue by $111,983 every day until it is paid, with Trump’s total judgment and interest totaling more than $486 million.

A New York appeals court in March reduced the bond amount to $175 million; the appeals court has yet to issue a decision.

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The suspect in the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City faced an extradition hearing on murder charges on Tuesday afternoon.

Luigi Mangione contested extradition to New York but was denied bail and remanded to State Correctional Institution Huntingdon in Huntingdon County. The state of Pennsylvania has 30 days to get a warrant from NY Gov. Kathy Hochul for extradition to NY. Mangione has been charged in NY with one count of second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of second-degree possession of a forged document, and one count of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, online court documents show. He also faces gun charges in Pennsylvania related to the firearm police found on him when he was arrested on Monday.

Mangione was seen on video pulling away from members of the Blair County Sheriff’s Department before entering the courthouse, screaming: “This is completely unjust and an insult to the American people!” He was pinned against a wall before being forced inside.

Per NBC News, Mangione was arrested yesterday morning at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on a tip from an employee. Authorities said he had a gun similar to the one used in the shooting, a silencer and a fake ID. In handwritten notes, he said “these parasites had it coming” and that he “wasn’t working with anyone.”

According to a confidential assessment of the crime by the NYPD intelligence bureau (based in part on the suspect’s writings) and reported by ABC News, Mangione “appeared to view the targeted killing … as a symbolic takedown and a direct challenge to its alleged corruption and ‘power games.’”  The suspect allegedly described himself as the “first to face” United Healthcare “with such brutal honesty.”

Additionally, according to the New York arrest warrant when arrested on Monday, Mangione had “written admissions about the crime” with him along with several handwritten pages expressing “disdain for corporate America.” NYPD Chief of Detective Joe Kenny said on Tuesday that Mangione indicated “he’s frustrated with the health care system in the United States. Specifically, he states how we are the No. 1 most expensive health care system in the world, yet the life expectancy of an American is ranked 42 in the world.”

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Police have arrested 26-year-old Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who is considered a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Thompson was fatally shot outside the New York Midtown Hilton hotel Wednesday in what police described as a “brazen, targeted attack.”

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday that Mangione was found with a gun consistent with the one used to kill Thompson, along with a silencer as well as a false New Jersey ID police allege he used to check into an Upper West Side hostel where the shooter is believed to have stayed. Tisch said the ghost gun capable of firing a 9 mm round and a suppressor.

Mangione was taken into custody after tipsters at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa. found him suspicious and contacted local authorities. Mangione was born and raised in Maryland and has ties to San Francisco, though his last known address is in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Mangione had a “manifesto” on his person criticizing healthcare companies when he was detained, according to law enforcement sources, who added that the name the suspect used on his fake ID was Marc Rosario. They believe the shooter arrived in New York City in late November, taking a bus that originally left from Atlanta.  Tisch said that Mangione’s handwritten document “that speaks to his motivation and mindset .. It does seem that he had some ill will toward corporate America,” and added that it appears Mangione acted alone.

A UnitedHealth Group spokesperson said in a statement Monday, “Our hope is that today’s apprehension brings some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy. We thank law enforcement and will continue to work with them on this investigation.”

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On Monday, Dec. 9, a Manhattan jury found Daniel Penny — the man charged in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway train — not guilty of criminally negligent homicide.

Penny, 24, had also previously been charged with manslaughter; however, after the jury was unable to reach a verdict last week, Judge Maxwell Wiley had agreed to drop the manslaughter charges at the request of the Manhattan District Attorney. The lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide carried a potential sentence of four years in prison.

Penny, a White Marine veteran, had been charged in connection with the May 2023 incident that made national headlines. Neely, a 30-year-old Black homeless man, had boarded a northbound F train at Second Avenue on May 1, 2023. Video footage showed Penny restraining Neely by the neck on the floor of the subway train in Manhattan, as two other passengers appear to come to Penny’s aid. Prosecutors say that Penny put Neely in a chokehold for several minutes after approaching him from behind, and that eventually Neely’s body stopped moving and he was pronounced dead at a hospital. Prosecutors argued that Penny was indifferent to Neely’s life and noted that he continued the hold on him even after the train had stopped and the doors had opened (per The Associated Press.)

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said that Neely was verbally threatening passengers on board, with CNN reported at the time that Neely — a Michael Jackson impersonator — saying he didn’t care if he went back to jail and complained of being hungry. The defense also argued that the pressure on Neely’s neck wasn’t applied consistently enough to kill him.

In a statement, Bragg said he respected the verdict, but condemned the “hate and threats” directed at prosecutors trying the case for the DA’s office: “Over the duration of this trial, talented career prosecutors and their family members were besieged with hate and threats – on social media, by phone and over email. Simply put, this is unacceptable, and everyone, no matter your opinion on this case, should condemn it.”

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