U.S.District Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

The Walt Disney Company has been blocked again in the Florida courts in its battle with Gov. Ron DeSantis – – at least for the time being.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Score one for Pornhub: A federal judge ruled Thursday that a Texas law requiring pornography sites to institute age-verification measures and add prominent warning labels about the alleged dangers of porn violated the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment prohibition against free-speech restrictions. A lawsuit seeking to overturn the Texas legislation was filed Aug.

Rudy Giuliani has been found liable for defaming two Georgia election workers he claimed were part of a conspiracy to rig the 2020 presidential election.

There’s a new update about the Yesterday lawsuit involving Ana de Armas.

Thania Garcia R. Kelly and Universal Music Group will have to pay over $500,000 in music royalties to Brooklyn federal prosecutors to help pay for his victim’s restitution and criminal fines. The company is the imprisoned multiplatinum singer’s longtime music publisher.

order issued Sunday, U.S. District Judge Sarah Geraghty, of the Northern District of Georgia, said the law’s provision prohibiting medical professionals from prescribing hormone therapy for such patients was “substantially likely to violate the Equal Protection Clause,” reports CNN.Under the law, which went into effect on July 1, medical providers are prohibited from recommending gender-affirming care to any minor, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or gender confirmation surgery — the latter of which is rarely performed on minors.

star Michael K. Williams, which resulted in the actor's 2021 death, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Irvin Cartagena, 40, who also goes by the name «Green Eyes,» previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and fentanyl analogue, according to an April news release from the U.S.

Prosecutors have proposed January 2 for the start of Donald Trump’s criminal trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results.

A federal judge tossed out Donald Trump’s counterclaim against E. Jean Carroll, the writer who won a $5 million jury verdict earlier this year after it found the former president liable for sexual abuse and defamation.

The Justice Department cited one of Donald Trump’s social media posts in arguing that a protective order should be issued in the former president’s January6th case, in which he has been charged with conspiracy in an effort to remain in power after the 2020 election.

Amidst the circus and chaos that has become his brand, Donald Trump has arrived in court today in Washington D.C. to face criminal charges over attempts to overturn the 2020 election. The 45th President of the United States is now in custody to be arraigned.

A federal judge dismissed Donald Trump’s $475 million defamation lawsuit against CNN, litigation centered on references made by on-air figures to “the Big Lie,” or the former president’s unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

Hunter Biden is pleading not guilty.

A plea agreement between the Justice Department and Hunter Biden fell apart on Wednesday after the federal judge overseeing the case raised concerns over the terms, the AP and other news outlets reported on Wednesday.

A 71-year-old man linked to a crew of drug dealers blamed in the fentanyl-laced heroin death of “The Wire” actor Michael K. Williams was sentenced Tuesday to more than two years in prison at a proceeding in which the actor’s nephew recommended compassion for the defendant.

Stage actor James Beeks has been acquitted of all charges stemming from his participation in the Jan. 6th Capitol riots, with U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta concluding today at a Washington, D.C. courthouse that there was no evidence suggesting Beeks knew of plans to obstruct Congress.

A federal judge has rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s effort to stop Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, ruling that the government had not shown that the transaction would substantially lessen competition.

Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys want to delay the start of a federal criminal trial until after the 2024 election and are asking a judge to postpone setting any date for the start of the proceedings.

Allison Mack, the former actress and convicted sex cult member, has been released from prison, ET has learned. According to online records maintained by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the 40-year-old was released from FCI Dublin, a low-security federal prison in the East Bay area outside San Francisco, on Monday, July 3, after serving nearly two of her three-year sentence for charges related to her involvement in NXIVM. Mack first entered prison in September 2021, and served out her jail time at the same facility where both Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were sent in 2019 and 2020, respectively, following convictions their for participation in the college admission bribery scandal.

Jordan Moreau Allison Mack, a former actor on “Smallville” who was a key member in leader Keith Raniere’s NXIVM cult, was released from prison on Monday after serving two years of her three-year sentence. She pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges in 2021. Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison in October 2020 on charges of sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy and racketeering. Mack recruited and groomed women to the NXIVM cult, and Raniere took them as sexual partners. Some of the women were branded with Raniere’s initials and were sexually abused by him while they were members of the group. In Mack’s sentencing in June 2021, a federal judge called her an “essential accomplice” to Raniere.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor A federal judge in Florida has granted a preliminary injunction that bars the state from implementing a new law that seeks to severely restrict drag performances, a move that has alarmed the entertainment industry. U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Presnell issued the order on Friday that bars state officials from implementing the law passed last month that restricts the ability of businesses to offer drag performances if the venues are open to minors. The case was brought by the Orlando, Fla. outpost of the restaurant chain Hamburger Mary’s, which launched in San Francisco in 1972. “This statute is specifically designed to suppress the speech of drag queen performers,” Presnell wrote in his 24-page order. Given that factor, the legislation is “not sufficiently narrowly tailored to survive strict scrutiny.” Presnell notes in his opinion that Florida already has laws on the books that help restrict children from being exposed to lewd or obscene material, even with parental consent.

Donald Trump’s trial on federal charges of withholding classified documents is scheduled to start on August 14, a date that is likely to change.

The battle between A&E and rival network Reelz and production company Big Fish Entertainment over On Patrol: Live looks to be heading towards court after a judge dismissed the latter’s previous motion.

An employer that allowed rap music with sexually explicit and violent lyrics to be played loudly on its premises will face a sex discrimination suit brought by eight ex-employees, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled on Wednesday 3-0 in its decision overturning a motion to dismiss by Chief U.S.

April 1, 2022, hearing, Walker had asked, “is there anything in the record that says we are now going to take away Disney’s special status because they’re woke?” In a separate case in June, Walker wrote that state’s battle over the company’s tax status was due to Disney “[running] afoul of state policy of the controlling party.”U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, an appointee of former president Donald Trump, will take over the case.

2ND UPDATE, 5:20 PM: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis today won a victory in his legal skirmishes with the Walt Disney Company — but not for the reasons he wanted to.

Elizabeth Holmes began her 11-year prison sentence on Tuesday. The 39-year-old who was convicted of defrauding investors turned herself into an all-female federal prison facility in Bryan, Texas. According to the Associated Press, Holmes was taken into «custody at a Texas prison» around 12:30 p.m.

As friends and family looked on, rapper Fetty Wap on Wednesday apologized for his actions and said he was “exactly where I’m supposed to be,” before a judge sentenced him to six years in federal prison for his role in a New York-based drug-trafficking scheme.

British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran on Tuesday defeated a second copyright lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan over similarities between his hit “Thinking Out Loud” and Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic What might have felt like double jeopardy has turned into a double win for Ed Sheeran, as the pop superstar prevailed in yet a second copyright infringement lawsuit filed over the song “Thinking Out Loud,.” The same judge who oversaw the previous case dismissed this additional suit on Tuesday before it ever got to trial. This like-minded lawsuit had been filed by Structured Asset Sales LLC, another party with an interest in the 1973 Marvin Gaye hit “Let’s Get It On,” similarly contending that Sheeran’s 2014 smash infringed on the previous song’s copyright. The company owns part of songwriter Ed Townsend’s share of the Gaye tune; it was heirs of Townsend who filed the previous unsuccessful lawsuit. The result was much the same, with or without a trial, with the elements shared by the two tunes being judged “common.”