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Tag Archive for: Vin Weber
Mueller Juggles Plea Agreement Housekeeping
October 11, 2018 /15 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, Mueller Probe /by emptywheel
In the last two days, both Rick Gates' and Paul Manafort's plea deals have made news.
In Gates' case, his lawyers have filed an unopposed motion to liberate him from his GPS device and curfew, arguing that the leverage of the plea deal itself is enough to keep him on the straight and narrow.
The plea agreement contains very serious consequences for Mr. Gates should he violate any of its terms or conditions. The advantages that attach to strict compliance with that agreement, and the extraordinary disincentives to violating that agreement, alone guarantee Mr. Gates's appearance at any scheduled Court proceeding. Over a substantial period of time, now approaching one year, Mr. Gates has demonstrated his resolve to comply with all conditions of his release. Removing the GPS monitor and allowing Mr. Gates to travel within the Eastern District of Virginia and District of Columbia without restriction will surely not increase the risk of flight or make it less likely that Mr. Gates will appear in Court when required to do so.
The more interesting bit comes when, in a bid to talk up Gates' cooperation, his attorneys reveal he's been meeting with other prosecutors.
Both before the entry of the plea, and for many weeks thereafter, Mr. Gates, whenever requested, traveled to Washington, D.C., to appear at the Office of Special Counsel to be interviewed as part of his cooperation agreement. Those sessions have been numerous and they continue to this day.
These meetings with the Office of Special Counsel continued during the weeks preceding the trial of co-defendant Paul Manafort in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Following that trial, Mr. Gates has continued to cooperate with the Special Counsel and with other federal investigators by attending current meetings at which he provides additional information. [my emphasis]
Rick Gates met in March and he met in July and he met in September, Thomas Green says. It's the "other federal investigators" that's of interest, as it suggests his cooperation extends beyond Mueller's case in chief.
But that may not mean all that much. After all, Gates' cooperation would be useful for the three cases Mueller referred to SDNY (involving Tony Podesta, Vin Weber, and Greg Craig), as well as for Stephen Calk, the Chicago banker who gave Manafort a loan in hopes of getting an appointment with the Trump Administration. Gates would surely also have information that might corroborate Sam Patten's cooperation.
Still, it's possible those "other federal investigators" include some of the "garden variety" Trump corruption I keep suggesting might also get spun off, such as the non-Russian Inauguration pay-to-play.
Meanwhile, in EDVA, TS Ellis is being TS Ellis. Yesterday, he filed an order saying that the parties in Manafort's EDVA prosecution can't just defer resolution of the ten hung counts against him until after Mueller is done with his cooperation. He scheduled a hearing for a week from Friday, on October 19, so the process of sentencing can begin. At that hearing, Ellis expects the parties to "address dismissal of the outstanding counts on which the jury deadlocked."
Dismissing the charges may be no big deal. Manafort is on the hook for 210 – 262 months if he breaches his plea agreement in DC, before any state charges, and some of the charges that Ellis would dismiss could be charged in VA, aided by Manafort's admission of guilt in them in the plea. As Popehat notes, cleaning up these charges is consistent with good docket management.
The push for the government to move forward on cooperation is more interesting as it may require the government to weigh in on the value of Manafort's cooperation while he's still discussing things with Mueller's team. Of particular interest, any discussion on cooperation may reveal how much Manafort has cooperated against the President.
I'm also interested in timing. Manafort's lawyers submitted their notice that they won't challenge anything that happened in that trial right on schedule, on September 20. The government filed their response just under the week later that they had under Ellis' schedule, on September 26. But Ellis took two weeks before he issued this hurry up and wait order, setting a hearing for October 19, at which any sentencing schedule is likely to be after Manafort's next status hearing in DC.
In any case, it's not clear that Ellis' haste will help Manafort much. Even if Ellis is perturbed that Mueller used his courtroom to flip a witness against Trump, the PSR will show that Manafort is an admitted criminal in the DC charges, meaning his sentence should be harsher than it would with any kind of cooperation assistance. And prosecutors can just defer any 5K statement, and instead account for cooperation with a Rule 35 motion submitted after the fact. In any case, the plea envisions concurrent sentencing, and if Manafort does't cooperate willingly, he'll face 10 years in the DC plea, which is longer than Ellis is likely to have sentenced him on anyway.
So it seems like Mueller can still retain the breathtaking upper hand they have with Manafort, and defer any public statement on cooperation until later.
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Paulie.jpg 600 476 emptywheel https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png emptywheel2018-10-11 16:51:452018-10-11 16:51:45Mueller Juggles Plea Agreement Housekeeping
Spy Versus Spy: The Two Alleged Agents of Foreign Powers Sitting in the Alexandria Jail, Part One (Paulie)
August 30, 2018 /37 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, emptywheel, Mueller Probe /by emptywheel
The Alexandria jail houses two alleged criminal agents of foreign influence: Paul Manafort and Mariia Butina. In the coming days, both may present interesting questions about the boundaries the US uses to define — and criminalize — foreign influence peddling. Legal questions in their prosecutions will address two questions:
What does it take to criminalize a failure to register as an Agent of a Foreign Principal?
What are the boundaries between Agent of Foreign Principals and Foreign Governments?
At issue are two laws: the Foreign Agents Registration Act, 22 USC 611 et seq., which requires certain people engaging in politics and propaganda for non-commercial foreign entities to register as their agents and to disclose the propaganda they disseminate. Mostly, FARA is a documentary requirement, but lying in the registration process can carry a five year sentence. That's what Paul Manafort has been charged with. Butina has been charged with violating 18 USC 951, which basically criminalizes people who don't register with DOJ (as, for example, diplomats would) when they spy for a foreign power; it carries a ten year sentence.
The problems with FARA … and distinguishing it from spying
As a DOJ Inspector General Audit completed in September 2016 laid out, people stopped complying with FARA in the 1990s, as any commercial lobbyists could register under the Lobbyist Disclosure Act more easily and FARA wasn't rigorously enforced. The IG Report cited a bunch of reasons why FARA is not better enforced, such as that they aren't staffed to be effective, nor do they have the investigative authorities DOJ thinks they need to figure out who's not complying.
During our audit the FARA Unit was comprised of one Unit Chief, who is also an attorney; two staff attorneys; one Supervisory Program Manager; one Intelligence Research Specialist; one Program Specialist; and two Case Management Specialists.5 NSD staff emphasized that this is a limited staff, which is responsible for a considerable range of activities. The unit is responsible for processing and monitoring new and existing FARA registrations on an ongoing basis. This includes receiving, reviewing and processing documentation and payments, and addressing late or inaccurate submissions. The unit also performs periodic formal inspections to assess the adequacy of registrant reporting and disclosure, and conducts open source searches to identify individuals that may be obligated to register.
One of these two staff attorneys joined the FARA Unit during our audit. At the conclusion of our audit we were informed that the FARA Unit was back to one staff attorney, however the unit planned to hire a replacement.
NSD officials stated that a major difficulty is a lack of authority to compel the production of information from persons who may be agents. As a result, NSD is currently pursuing civil investigative demand (CID) authority from Congress in order to enhance its ability to assess the need for potential agents to register.
Ultimately, however, DOJ almost never uses the teeth in the provision — prosecution — to ensure compliance.
Between 1966 and 2015 the Department only brought seven criminal FARA cases – one resulted in a conviction at trial for conspiracy to violate FARA and other statutes, two pleaded guilty to violating FARA, two others pleaded guilty to non-FARA charges, and the remaining two cases were dismissed. We were also told by NSD that the Department has not sought civil injunctive relief under FARA since 1991.
The IG Report cites two reasons why there aren't more prosecutions. First, as the National Security Division explained, because it is so hard to get evidence of 1) willfulness, 2) that the agent is working under the "direction and control" of a foreign principal and 3) that the influence-peddling isn't for some other (exempted) reason.
FARA contains a criminal penalty provision, and NSD approves criminal prosecution as an enforcement mechanism if there is sufficient admissible evidence of a willful violation of FARA, and the standards applicable to all federal criminal prosecutions set forth in the U.S. Attorney's Manual are otherwise satisfied. The high burden of proving willfulness, difficulties in proving "direction and control" by a foreign principal, and exemptions available under the statute make criminal prosecution for FARA violations challenging. These challenges are compounded by the government's current inability to compel the production of records from potential and current registrants, a situation NSD is working to remedy by proposing legislation for consideration by the Department of Justice (Department). Despite these challenges, the Department has brought four F ARA criminal cases since 2007, all of which resulted in convictions (one conviction at trial for conspiracy to violate F ARA and other statutes; two guilty pleas for violating FARA; and one guilty plea to related non-FARA charges).
The other reason why there aren't more FARA prosecutions, per the IG Report, is because FBI agents confuse FARA (what Manafort is charged with) with 18 USC 951 (what Butin is charged with). Indeed, Agents mix the codes for the two crimes up in their filing system.
[W]hen we discussed FARA with FBI personnel, we found that they considered a "FARA case" to be a case investigated pursuant to either the FARA, 22 U.S.C. § 611, et seq., or 18 U.S.C. § 951 (Section 951), which is the federal statute that provides criminal penalties for certain agents of foreign governments who act in the United States without first notifying the Attorney General.12 Unlike Section 951, FARA requires agents of foreign principals engaged in legal political or quasi-political activities such as lobbying, government and public relations, tourism promotion, and foreign economic development activities in the United States to register and make detailed disclosures of their activities in the United States conducted on behalf of their foreign principals.13
By contrast, Section 951 was described to us by the NSD as "espionage lite" because a Section 951 case generally involves espionage-like or clandestine behavior or an otherwise provable connection to an intelligence service, or information gathering or procurement-type activity on behalf of a foreign government. Although FARA registration can serve as the required notification to the Attorney General under Section 951, NSD officials told us FARA and Section 951 involve different sets of elements and different types of issues. According to NSD officials, only 22 U.S.C. 611 et seq. constitutes a FARA case. Nevertheless, NSD officials acknowledged the differing views on what constitutes a FARA charge and are currently engaged in an ongoing effort to better educate field investigators and prosecutors on the difference.
12 According to NSD, notification under Section 951 may be made by registration under FARA in circumstances where the activity requiring notice is disclosed on the FARA registration form.
13 Political activities are defined by the statute as "any activity that the person engaging in believes will, or that the person intends to, in any way influence any agency or official of the Government of the United States or any section of the public within the United States with reference to formulating, adopting, or changing the domestic or foreign policies of the United States or with reference to the political or public interests, policies, or relations of a government of a foreign country or a foreign political party."
Here's how NSD described the difference.
Although OIG's report reflects some criticism of aspects of NSD's review of F ARA cases, NSD notes at the outset, as OlG acknowledged in the Report, that personnel interviewed in preparation of the Report frequently confused FARA (22 U.S.c. § 611 el seq) with 18 U.S.C. § 951 ("Section 951 "), a criminal statute entitled "Agents of foreign governments." Although the two statutes have similar terms, they address different types of conduct. The typical conduct to which Section 951 applies consists of espionage-like behavior, information gathering, and procurement of technology, on behalf of foreign governments or officials. FARA, on the other hand, is designed to provide transparency regarding efforts by foreign principals (a term defined more broadly than foreign governments or officials) to influence the U.S. government or public through public speech, political activities, and lobbying. Accordingly, Section 95 1 is codified in Title 18 of the U.S. Code (designated for "Crimes and Criminal Procedure"), while FARA is codified in Title 22 (designated for "Foreign Relations"). Section 951 is aimed exclusively at criminally punishing individuals who violate its terms, and lacks a formal administrative registration regime. FARA in contrast, is predominantly a disclosure statute, under which there is an administrative registration regime, and while the Act authorizes criminal penalties for willful violations, the primary means of achieving FARA's main purpose of transparency is through voluntary disclosure in compliance with the Act. The mistaken conflation of the two statutes can lead to undue weight being given to criminal prosecution as the measure of F ARA enforcement and insufficient recognition of the significance of administrative enforcement efforts relating to the FARA registration regime. It is therefore essential to understand the distinctions between FARA and Section 951 for purposes of this audit, the scope of which is expressly limited to the enforcement and administration of FARA.
Mueller's two FARA pleas
Mueller actually already shifted the balance on FARA enforcement since that 2016 IG Report. Among the false statements Flynn pled guilty to is filing a false FARA filing.
On March 7, 2017, FLYNN filed multiple documents with the Department of Justice pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act ("FARA") pertaining to a project performed by him and his company, the Flynn Intel Group, Inc. ("FIG"), for the principal benefit of the Republic of Turkey ("Turkey project"). In the FARA filings, FLYNN made materially false statements and omissions, including by falsely stating that (a) FIG did not know whether or the extent to which the Republic of Turkey was involved in the Turkey project, (b) the Turkey project was focused on improving U.S. business organizations' confidence regarding doing business in Turkey, and (c) an op-ed by FLYNN published in The Hill on November 8, 2016, was written at his own initiative; and by omitting that officials from the Republic of Turkey provided supervision and direction over the Turkey project.
And one of two conspiracy schemes (what I call ConFraudUS) to which Gates pled guilty is violating FARA.
GATES understood that it was illegal to engage in certain activities in the United States as an agent of a foreign pricipal without registering with the United States Government. Specifically, a person who engages in lobbying or public relations work in the United States (hereafter collectively referred to as lobbying) for a foreign principal such as the Government of Ukraine or the Party of Regions is required to register. Manafort, together with GATES' assistance, engaged in a scheme to avoid this registration requirement for DMI, Manafort, and others.
These efforts — and Manafort's prosecution — have already led to a significant increase in how many people are registering as foreign influence peddlers.
You can lose your profits if you don't register
Particularly because Manafort's case is so high profile, Mueller's bid to prosecute him for FARA violations comes with high stakes and potentially high payoff — though DC District interpretations of the law. That said, the government has actually backstopped itself by charging Manafort's sleazy influence peddling under multiple different crimes; the indictment actually uses seven different counts to hold Manafort accountable for hiding that he was an agent of a Russian-backed Ukrainian party, the Party of Regions (and its successor).
ConFraudUs: Claiming Manafort prevented DOJ and Treasury from tracking his foreign influence peddling
Conspiracy to Launder Money: Claiming Manafort and Gates laundered the proceeds of their Ukrainian influence-peddling
FARA Violation: Claiming Manafort hid both his own lobbying for the Party of Regions and that he paid other influence peddlers to engage in
Submitting a False FARA Statement: Claiming Manafort submitted a claim falsely claiming he didn't need to register as a foreign agent
False statements: Claiming he lied in his FARA filings
Obstruction of justice: Claiming he tampered with witnesses associated with the Hapsburg group in an attempt to get them to lie about his failure to register as a foreign agent
Conspiracy to obstruct justice: Claiming he conspired with former GRU officer Konstantin Kilimnik to tamper with witnesses
Manafort already tried and failed to narrow the application of FARA in two ways: first, by objecting to tying money laundering to FARA (and thereby tying a forfeiture to it). Second, Manafort tried to get either the false FARA statement (count 4) or the false statements (count 5) thrown as as multiplicitous. Amy Berman Jackson ruled against him on both attempts (forfeiture, multiplicitous), though the latter order basically just punted the issue until after trial.
The former is more interesting, in any case, because in her ruling ABJ took Manafort's bid to distinguish FARA from 18 USC 951 and instead described how similar they are.
Section 951 of Title 18 states that "[w]hoever, other than a diplomatic or consular officer or attaché, acts in the United States as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General" shall be fined or imprisoned for up to ten years, or both. 18 U.S.C. § 951(a). According to defendant, this statute criminalizes acting as a foreign agent, whereas FARA is merely a "regulatory scheme for foreign agent registration" that criminalizes only the willful failure to register. Def.'s Mot. at 5, quoting United States v. McGoff, 831 F.2d 1071, 1075 (D.C. Cir. 1987).
But the reference to section 951 does not support defendant's position, since defendant acknowledges that section 951 plainly governs acting as an agent of a foreign government, and the language of the two provisions is quite similar. See Def.'s Mot. at 4–5; compare 18 U.S.C. § 951(a) ("Whoever . . . acts in the United States as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General . . . shall be fined under this title or imprisoned . . . .") with 22 U.S.C. § 612(a) ("No person shall act as an agent of a foreign principal unless he has filed with the Attorney General a true and complete registration statement . . . .") and id. § 618(a) (imposing criminal penalties on any person who "willfully violates any provision of this subchapter or any regulation thereunder" or "willfully makes a false statement of a material fact or willfully omits any material fact" in a FARA statement). These laws are not just about paperwork; their object is to ensure that no person acts to advance the interests of a foreign government or principal within the United States unless the public has been properly notified of his or her allegiance. So both statutes expressly prohibit "acting" as a representative of a foreign entity without submitting the required notification to the Attorney General. For these reasons, the alleged international banking transactions could "promote," and Manafort could realize "proceeds" from, a FARA violation.3
3 Defendant argues that section 951 does not bear on the issue presented here since it requires an "additional element" that FARA does not, and applies to "activities . . . under the control of a foreign government." Def.'s Mot. at 4–5. But FARA also applies to agents of foreign governments. 22 U.S.C. § 611(b) (defining "foreign principal" to include "the government of a foreign country"). So the difference between the two provisions is that section 951 covers a narrower subset of foreign agents.
In addition to treating sleazy influence peddlers as akin to spies (albeit less serious ones) if they hide that influence peddling, ABJ's order means that in DC, where all the sleazy influence peddlers work, a sleazy influence peddler can forfeit the money he makes off sleazy influence peddling if he doesn't properly register to peddle influence.
The crime-fraud exception in FARA registration
Which brings us to one of the reasons why FARA is so hard to prosecute: the difficulty of proving willfulness. One way Mueller is getting around that is to rely on the testimony of the lawyer Manafort used to file his delayed FARA registration.
After Manafort's influence-peddling for Ukraine became the focus of attention in 2016, the chief of the FARA unit wrote to Manafort and asked him if maybe he should have registered. Manafort hired Melissa Laurenza. She submitted three filings on Manafort's behalf, on November 23, 2016, February 10, 2017, and June 27, 2017, all based on the representations made by Gates and Manafort (including that they had no record of communications with Tony Podesta and Vin Webber's firms, but that they only retained email for 30 days). In the earlier filings, Laurenza claimed Manafort's Ukrainian consulting didn't include any outreach to US government officials or media outlets.
Last August, Mueller asked for and obtained Chief Judge Beryl Howell's permission to compel Laurenza to testify under the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege. Based off five lies for which Mueller provided evidence, Howell authorized Mueller's team to ask seven questions of Laurenza about preparation of the FARA filings.
Then, earlier this month, a Taint Team lawyer asked for permission to have the taint Team turn over the emails that Laurenza used to write up her FARA filings. Manafort responded by claiming, in part, that he had never even seen the entirety of the litigation before Judge Howell. The Taint Team lawyer then produced the evidence that she had provided that information to Manafort in April.
If this thing goes to trial, we're going to see a whole slew of evidence that Manafort was working directly for Viktor Yanukovych's party, even while he hid that fact as he had Tony Podesta and Vin Weber lobby on Yanukovych's behalf. That will get Mueller to the "direction and control" prong of the statute. By showing the efforts to which Gates and Manafort made to lie to their lawyer when they were finally forced to submit a FARA filing, Mueller will show that Gates and Manafort twice made sure that the FARA filing lied about what they had really been doing for Yanukovych.
One question I'm left with, particularly when we compare Manafort's actions with Butina's (which I'll do in my next post), is why Mueller didn't just charge Manafort with spying for Yanukovych, rather than just lobbying for him?
Update: Sam Patten, who also worked with Konstantin Kilimnik pitching Yanukovych's party, is pleading guilty to FARA violations this morning.
As I disclosed July, I provided information to the FBI on issues related to the Mueller investigation, so I'm going to include disclosure statements on Mueller investigation posts from here on out. I will include the disclosure whether or not the stuff I shared with the FBI pertains to the subject of the post.
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Paulie.jpg 600 476 emptywheel https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png emptywheel2018-08-30 17:14:492018-08-31 10:36:30Spy Versus Spy: The Two Alleged Agents of Foreign Powers Sitting in the Alexandria Jail, Part One (Paulie)
A Warning about Hype Surrounding the Manafort Tax Evasion Trial
July 29, 2018 /115 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, Mueller Probe /by emptywheel
As I laid out a few weeks ago, I provided information to the FBI on issues related to the Mueller investigation, so I'm going to include disclosure statements on Mueller investigation posts from here on out. I will include the disclosure whether or not the stuff I shared with the FBI pertains to the subject of the post.
Because Mueller has already obtained the testimony of chatty Trump allies who promptly leaked the content of their interviews to the press, the constant stream of easy updates on the Mueller inquiry has dried up. No outlet has thus far invested in the critical thinking to figure out the publicly available side of what I reported to the FBI that subsequently got moved under Mueller. No one has thought about why Michael Cohen's very competent attorney is letting him leak to the press rather than (or, at best, in parallel with) offering a proffer to the Feds. Instead, outlets are dedicating front page space to recycled stories they first reported three months earlier. We actually spent half the day Friday getting our fix from the news that Don Jr and Robert Mueller not only had reason to fly out of National Airport's shitty 35X gate, but were doing so at the same time (for the record, I would have been in the 35X terminal with Trey Gowdy Thursday, but he apparently got rebooked from a badly delayed Greenville flight onto an on-time Charlotte one across from 35X; he wore shades right up to boarding the plane to avoid detection but that didn't thwart my powers of observation).
We've hit the summer doldrums of the non-stop Mueller inquiry news addiction and things are getting bleak.
Perhaps because of that, news outlets are hugely hyping the Paul Manafort trial, due to start on Tuesday. Here's Politico reporting "Risks pile up for Trump as Manafort heads to trial." And here's WSJ claiming "Manafort Trial Holds Big Implications for Russia Probe." [Update: Here's the WaPo contribution to the hype; I make some specific compliments and criticisms of it in this thread.]
Yes, it is true that (as both Politico and WSJ point out) there will be a small campaign angle to the trial: Mueller's team wants to explain how Manafort got a $16 million loan from Chicago's Federal Savings Bank by promising its Chairman, Stephen Calk, a position in the Trump Administration. But that's garden variety sleaze, not conspiring with Russia.
It's also true we'll get salacious new details on the luxury goods Manafort used to launder money. But most of that, including details of a bizarre arrangement with the local antique rug shop, have already been stipulated in pre-trial filings. Manafort is even trying to get details of his ties to Viktor Yanukovych excluded from the trial, but in doing so, he released a ton of documents that the press has already mined for worthwhile reporting.
It's also possible that Manafort will decide, between today and Tuesday, to cooperate with Mueller rather than face a fairly straightforward trial, or that a guilty verdict in four weeks time will induce him to cooperate. Thus far, there's little sign of that, and a guilty verdict will have no immediate change on his jailhouse conditions that might persuade him to cooperate. Any federal sentence will ultimately be served in conditions better than the ones he currently is in at Alexandria jail.
Barring some unexpected jury intransigence or judicial rulings, it still looks like Manafort's best shot to avoid spending the rest of his life in prison is a pardon, and he looks to be operating accordingly, imposing as much reputational damage to Mueller as possible, without budging on his willingness to stay the course in apparent expectation he'll be rewarded at some point in the future.
Aside from Rick Gates — who is sure to be beat up by Manafort's attorneys — the most interesting witness who might testify at trial is Bernie Sanders' former campaign manager Tad Devine, who would testify about PR work done before 2014. We'll have to wait to see Tony Podesta and Vin Webber and similarly illustrious people testify for the DC trial, if it happens. This trial is just the appetizer course for the feast on sleazy DC influence peddling we'll get in September, if the DC trial actually happens.
The newsworthiness of the trial will be limited further still by the outdated policies of the courthouse, EDVA. No devices are permitted in the courthouse, which means there will be no real time coverage. To break news, you have to leave the courthouse, and go to your (meter parked) car or the cafe where you've left your device across the square to report out. As a result, any "breaking" scoops will likely come from less responsible journalists with less grasp of both how trials and Judge TS Ellis works (as we saw earlier this year, when Daily Caller led everyone to believe one of Ellis' typical rants indicated trouble for Mueller). Responsible journalists (Josh Gerstein and Zoe Tillman are particularly good bets for this trial) will sit through the entire proceeding before reporting out something more measured.
This is a tax trial, not a spy trial. Financial experts call it a "paper trial," meaning the jurors will weigh dry documentary evidence rather than the reliability of unreliable witnesses (like Gates), which makes the outcome more predictable, though in no way guaranteed.
One of a slew of reasons why I declined an offer to cover this trial is I expect any interesting Mueller news to happen elsewhere — perhaps in his apparent relentless pursuit of testimony from Roger Stone's allies, perhaps in the negotiations over Julian Assange's continued residence in Ecuador's embassy, perhaps even in fallout from Mariia Butina's arrest (though Butina is not a Mueller case, in spite of what some outlets will tell you). I didn't want to miss such news because I was stuck in a court room watching witnesses talking about financial documents.
Undoubtedly, the trial will be well-watched and in some outlets well-reported. It will teach a lot of people about how white collar trials of privileged defendants work. It may well be the rare moment when a white collar criminal faces consequences for his acts.
But don't rest your hopes for continued Mueller disclosures on the Manafort trial.
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Paulie.jpg 600 476 emptywheel https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png emptywheel2018-07-29 11:47:132018-07-30 11:27:45A Warning about Hype Surrounding the Manafort Tax Evasion Trial
The Silent Cast of Characters in the Very Noisy Recent Mueller Moves
February 24, 2018 /32 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, Mueller Probe /by emptywheel
A fuck-ton has happened in the Mueller investigation already this month. Amid the noisy pleas and indictments, we've seen indications of hidden cooperation from a range of people, cooperation that may point to where Mueller's next steps are.
Here, arranged by the date of the development, are hints at who either was or soon is likely to be talking to Mueller's team.
February 1: In a proffer to Mueller's team, Rick Gates lied about a March 19, 2013 meeting with Paul Manafort, Vin Weber, and Dana Rohrabacher.
Rohrabacher's statement in response to the guilty plea is inconsistent with the version laid out in the plea, suggesting he's not the means by which Mueller's team learned it was a lie.
After the guilty plea on Friday, a spokesman for Rohrabacher, who has sought better relations with Russia, said: "As the congressman has acknowledged before, the meeting was a dinner with two longtime acquaintances –- Manafort and Weber –- from back in his White House and early congressional days."
"The three reminisced and talked mostly about politics," the spokesman said. "The subject of Ukraine came up in passing. It is no secret that Manafort represented Viktor Yanukovych's interests, but as chairman of the relevant European subcommittee, the congressman has listened to all points of view on Ukraine."
This suggests someone else provided the version of the meeting the government included in the plea. While it's possible the other version came from Gates' former lawyers, it's more likely the version came from someone else. Vin Weber is the most likely source of that information.
Back in August 2016, as news of the secret ledger was breaking,Weber suggested he may have been misled by Manafort, both as to the purpose of his lobbying and regarding the need to register as a foreign agent for Ukraine. If he felt that way in August 2016, I imagine he came to feel that even more strongly as Manafort's legal woes intensified.
February 9: Returning a call from John Kelly but speaking to Don McGahn, Rod Rosenstein spoke of "important new information" about Jared Kushner that will delay his clearance.
Given all the evidence that suggests Jared faces very significant exposure in this investigation, this new information could be any number of things. But two possibilities are likely. First, it might reflect Jared's January 3 disclosure of additional business interests in yet another update to his SF-86, or his family's increasing debt over the last year.
More likely, it reflects things the government has learned from Mike Flynn (who has an incentive to burn Jared, given that the President's son-in-law was asked for and didn't provide exonerating information tied to Flynn's own lies to the FBI). Indeed, that seems to be one theory of those who reported on this phone call.
Kushner's actions during the transition have been referenced in the guilty plea of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, who admitted he lied to the FBI about contacts with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Prosecutors said Flynn was acting in consultation with a senior Trump transition official, whom people familiar with the matter have identified as Kushner.
All that said, there are two more possibilities. Given that she appears to have lied to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in her confirmation process, KT McFarland would be an obvious follow-up interview after the Mike Flynn plea; she asked Trump to withdraw her nomination to be Ambassador to Singapore on February 3. And February 9 might be (though probably isn't, quite) late enough to catch the first sessions of Steve Bannon's 20 hours of interviews with Mueller, and Bannon has long had it in for Jared.
February 14: Alex Van der Zwaan got caught and pled guilty to lying about communications he had with Rick Gates, Konstantin Kilimnik, and Greg Craig in September 2016. On top of whatever he had to say to prosecutors between his second interview on December 1 and his plea on February 14, both Craig and Skadden Arps have surely provided a great deal of cooperation before and since September 2016. (As I was finishing this, NYT posted this story that details some, but not all, of that cooperation.)
February 16: As I noted in my post on the Internet Research Agency indictment, Rod Rosenstein was quite clear: "There is no allegation in the indictment that any American was a knowing participant in the alleged unlawful activity." That said, there are three (presumed) Americans who, both the indictment and subsequent reporting make clear, are treated differently in the indictment than all the other Americans cited as innocent people duped by Russians: Campaign Official 1, Campaign Official 2, and Campaign Official 3. We know, from CNN's coverage of Harry Miller's role in building a cage to be used in a fake "jailed Hillary" stunt, that at least some other people described in the indictment were interviewed — in his case, for six hours! — by the FBI. But no one else is named using the convention to indicate those not indicted but perhaps more involved in the operation. Furthermore, the indictment doesn't actually describe what action (if any) these three Trump campaign officials took after being contacted by trolls emailing under false names.
On approximately the same day, Defendants and their co-conspirators used the email address of a false U.S. persona, [email protected], to send an email to Campaign Official 1 at that donaldtrump.com email account, which read in part:
Hello [Campaign Official 1], [w]e are organizing a state-wide event in Florida on August, 20 to support Mr. Trump. Let us introduce ourselves first. "Being Patriotic" is a grassroots conservative online movement trying to unite people offline. . . . [W]e gained a huge lot of followers and decided to somehow help Mr. Trump get elected. You know, simple yelling on the Internet is not enough. There should be real action. We organized rallies in New York before. Now we're focusing on purple states such as Florida.
The email also identified thirteen "confirmed locations" in Florida for the rallies and requested the campaign provide "assistance in each location."
Defendants and their co-conspirators used the false U.S. persona [email protected] account to send an email to Campaign Official 2 at that donaldtrump.com email account.
On or about August 20, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used the "Matt Skiber" Facebook account to contact Campaign Official 3.
Again, the DOJ convention of naming makes it clear these people have not been charged with anything. But we know from other Mueller indictments that those specifically named (which include the slew of Trump campaign officials named in the George Papadopoulos plea, KT McFarland and Jared Kushner in the Flynn plea, Kilimnik in the Van der Zwaan plea, and the various companies and foreign leaders that did Manafort's bidding, including the Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs in his indictment) may be the next step in the investigation. As a reminder: Florida Republicans are those who most tangibly can be shown to have benefitted from Russia's hack-and-leak, given that Guccifer 2.0 leaked a slew of Democratic targeting data for the state. (In perhaps related news, this week Tom Rooney became the third Florida Republican member of Congress to announce his retirement this cycle, which is all the more interesting given that he's been involved in the HPSCI investigation into Russian tampering.)
February 23: Manafort's superseding indictment (a version of which was originally filed February 16) added the description of the Hapsburg Group for former European officials who lobbied at the direction (to some degree via cut-outs) of Manafort.
MANAFORT explained in an "EYES ONLY" memorandum created in or about June 2012 that the purpose of the "SUPER VIP" effort would be to "assemble a small group of high-level European highly influencial [sic] champions and politically credible friends who can act informally and without any visible relationship with the Government of Ukraine." The group was managed by a former European Chancellor, Foreign Politician A, in coordination with MANAFORT.
It may be that the government only recently obtained this document (meaning it was not among the 590,000 pages of documents obtained and turned over to Manafort in discovery thus far). But it's likely this also reflects further testimony. Former Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer denied he is Foreign Politician A to BBC, though that may be a non-denial denial tied to his claim he wasn't directed by Manafort and only met him a few times (this Austrian story suggests only he doesn't remember what American or English firm paid him). NYT reported that Gusenbauer's lobbying during the relevant time period was registered under Mercury Public Affairs. This is another piece of evidence suggesting the group — and Vin Weber personally — has been cooperating since the original indictment.
Note, I assume that Mercury/Weber's cooperation has been mirrored by Tony Podesta's.
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/RobertMueller_PeteSouza_2012_Wikimedia.jpg 1054 1500 emptywheel https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png emptywheel2018-02-24 15:08:072018-02-24 15:40:02The Silent Cast of Characters in the Very Noisy Recent Mueller Moves
AndTheSlithyToves on The More Puzzling Inaction in SDNY: National Enquirer
Worried on The Cohen Material Just Released By The Court


The credit card market is a highly competitive place these days and one way credit card companies are attempting to pull in new business it through the use of offers of credit cards with 0 introductory APR. These opportunities are only available to those consumers with strong credit ratings and a history of using credit cards, in the hopes they will take advantage of credit cards with 0 introductory APR offers and move their business to the company making the offer.
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Four More Films by Tom Palazzolo - Chicago '60s wins Telly Award
The 33rd Annual Telly Awards announced today that the Emphasis Entertainment Group Inc DVD release Four More Films by Tom Palazzolo - Chicago '60s has won a 2012 Bronze Award in the non-theatrical category. Four More Films joins the other four previous Telly Award winners offered by Emphasis Entertainment including the first DVD of Palazzolo films; Four Films by Tom Palazzolo.
Now in its 15th year, Emphasis Entertainment Group continues to bring the best in independent film and music production finding an increasing audience hungry for quality alternative entertainment.
Pola Negri, Jean Harlow, Jean Arthur: Kenneth Turan's DVD picks
New boxed sets look at the careers of Pola Negri, Jean Harlow and Jean Arthur -- three actresses who deserve to be better known.
From the silent era, we have Negri, a European-born sensation who predated Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. "Pola Negri: The Iconic Collection 'The Early Films' " presents a quartet of her starring roles, including the celebrated "The Yellow Ticket" and the wonderfully named "Eyes of the Mummy Ma." Watch Kenneth Turan's video review
DVDTalk Highy Recommends "Four More Films by Tom Palazzolo"
Four More Films by Tom Palazzolo
" as a chronicler of a city and its varying lifelines, no one can top Tom Palazzolo."
Emphasis Entertainment Group to distribute Upheaval Productions
Upheaval Productions was founded in 2006 and has produced multiple documentary films with a sharp edge focusing on and exploring socially relevant issues both locally and globally. Believing there needs to be strong, independent voices in media, and are dedicated to producing material that covers underrepresented and/or misrepresented issues.
Emphasis Entertainment Group Inc has scheduled the first three DVD collection of documentaries for an April 2012 release.
Landmarks of Early Soviet Films wins Heritage Honors.
The National Society of Film Critics on Saturday, January 7th, 2012, chose "Melancholia" as Best Picture of the Year 2011. Other categories for outstanding film achievement. included FILM HERITAGE AWARD to Flicker Alley for their box set "Landmarks of Early Soviet Film."
National Society of Film Critics: The Truth, Once Every 12 Months
Emphasis Entertainment Group has Two Titles Named to best of 2011 by 90.1 radio.
90.1 radio Top Blues Releases for 2011 includes two Emphasis Entertainment Group distributed titles: Marion James" Essence" (EllerSoul Records) at the #3 spot, and Richard Ray Farrell "I Sing The Blues Eclectic" (Blue Beet) at # 4. EEG is proud to include these great titles in our catalog and would like to congratulate our artists on their success.
Emphasis Entertainment Group to distribute EllerSoul Records!
Effective January 1, 2012 we are excited to be the new distributor for the Midlothian, VA based blues label EllerSoul Records!
Established in January 2011, EllerSoul Records was founded to present exciting blues and soul music. From Andy Poxon to Marion James their family of artists span four generations. From traditional to modern acoustic and electric blues, 50s swing to classic soul to funk, they have something to satisfy the discerning tastes of music fans everywhere.
Throughout 2011, the Ellersoul Records releases have received raved reviews from music press & radio across the country including recent year-end Best Of 2011 lists:
Blues Underground Network - Future Of The Blues - The Andy Poxon Band
Blues Underground Network - Best Instrumental Album: Ivan Appelrouth / Blue And Instrumental
Doc's Juke Joint – Best of 2011: Marion James / Essence!
Emphasis Entertainment Group Blues Award Winners!
Richard Ray Farrell "I Sing the Blues Eclectic" nominated for favorite blues album 2011 by Blindmans Blues Forum!
Blues Underground Network names 2011 year end reviews. "Future Of The Blues" goes to The Andy Poxon Band and the Best Instrumental Album - Ivan Appelrouth "Blue And Instrumental" - Congrats to our friends at EllerSoul Records! We will have more info about EllerSoul and 2012 coming soon from Emphasis Entertainment Group.
Emphasis Entertainment Group signs distribution agreement with Bright Shining City Productions for Pola Negri Collection.
Emphasis Entertainment Group (EEG) has signed an agreement to distribute the 3 DVD set, Pola Negri: The Iconic Collection - The Earlt Films produced by Bright Shining City Productions. Before Garbo or Dietrich, there was Pola Negri. She was the first exotic European actress imported to Hollywood during the Silent Film Era, with much fanfare and hoopla. For the first time on DVD, four of Pola Negri's first films from the early days of her career in Europe, will now be available in a three disc DVD set on Feburary 7, 2012.
Emphasis Entertainment Group signs distribution agreement with Skydancer Productions LLC.
Emphasis Entertainment Group (EEG) has signed an agreement to distribute two Award Winning DVDs produced by Skydancer Productions LLC. Heart & Soil an inspiring film about food we eat and the people who grow it locally and Wild Horses in Winds of Change a documentary that stimulates our awareness, offers fresh understanding of the wild horse crisis, and is a film for all who care about our planet's fate. Both DVDs will become avaialble on January 10, 2012.
Chaplin at Keystone wins 2010 NSFC Film Heritage Award!
FILM HERITAGE AWARDS:
1. Flicker Alley for Chaplin at Keystone
This four-DVD set is the result of an eight-year effort by the British Film Institute, the Cineteca Bologna and Lobster Films in Paris to gather and restore early generation, full-frame 35-millimeter prints of Charles Chaplin's earliest short comedies, allowing these historically and artistically important films to be seen for the first time in generations in versions approaching their original luster.
Rob Blaine wins 2010 Chicago Blues Challenge!
Congratulations to Rob Blaine's Big Otis Blues who took first place at the Chicago Blues Challenge Finals on Sunday, November 7th. Rob Blaine and his band will go on to Memphis to compete in the 2011 International Blues Challenge during the first week in February.
New Chicago-Based Blues Label Launches September 21, 2010
Chris Harper & Dave Katzman are proud to announce the launch of their new Chicago-based blues label SWISSISSIPPI RECORDS on SEPTEMBER 21, 2010 with three new releases: SWISSISSIPPI CHRIS HARPER "Four Aces and a Harp" (also featuring JIMMY BURNS, JOHN PRIMER, WILLIE "BIG EYES" SMITH AND BOB STROGER), ROB BLAINE's "Big Otis Blues" and PEACHES STATEN "Live At Legends," with distribution by Emphasis Entertainment Group.
Miss Mend on The New York Times 2009 Holiday Gift Guide!
Flicker Alley's latest DVD release Miss Mend has been selected by The New York Times for their 2009 Hoilday Gift Guide. Miss Mend - Two great Russian filmmakers, Fedor Ozep and Boris Barnet, collaborated on this three-part adventure serial (1926) that poses as an American pulp fiction while gently pushing the party line.
Available December 15, 2009 from Emphasis Entertainment Group.
New show on Animal Planet!
As featured on the EEG DVD release VICKTORY To The Underdog, the Villa Lobos Pitbull Rescue is now the subject of a new series on ANIMAL PLANET - "Pit Bulls & Parolees". Fridays at 10PM E/P!
Bologna, Italy -- Douglas Fairbanks 5-DVD Set Named Best of 2009
The Cinema Lumière2 have been presented the 5th edition prize winners of the Il Cinema Ritrovato -DVD Awards awarded by the jury so composed: Peter von Bagh (Artistic Director of Il Cinema Ritrovato festival), Hervé Dumont (Cinématheque Suisse), Mark McElhatten (independent Film and Video Curator and Film Archivist), Paolo Mereghetti (cinema critic) and Alexander Horwath (Video Curator and cinema critic).
The DVDs winner selected about more than seventy titles, of the most prestigious international publishing houses, conciliate at one's best the cinema history and the new technologies and bend the dvd support to the requirement of the documentation and restoration of the films that are been produced before the Seventies.
From The Library Journal
The death and destruction Hurricane Katrina wreaked in 2005 continues to resonate in American life. These recent films take another look at the devastation and the resilience of its human and animal survivors.
No Place Like Home. b/w. 50 min.
"An interesting and affordable film that adds one more dimension to the Katrina story."
- Tom Budlong, Atlanta
Left Behind Without a Choice: Hurricane Katrina Animal Rescue Documentary. color. 80 min.
"these inspiring and poignant documentaries will attract interest from animal lovers of all ages as well as general viewers.—Donald Altschiller, BostonUniv. Libs.
The Emphasis Entertainment DVD "No Place Like Home" wins 2008 AEGIS Video & Movie Production Award.
Emphasis Entertainment has been notified by the AEGIS judges, that it's July DVD release of the Courtney Fathom Sell documentary NO PLACE LIKE HOME has just been awarded a 2008 Award for it's all around production value.
Now in its 19th year, the Aegis Awards has established itself as a leading competition for professional video and filmmakers. The mission of the Aegis Awards competition is to provide a forum to recognize the people and organizations responsible for developing some of the most effective video/film productions being produced today.
Emphasis Entertainment signs Film Foetus production "Chicago Filmmakers on the Chicago River" national distribution.
CHICAGO FILMMAKERS ON THE CHICAGO RIVER, a documentary feature that examines the creative processes of Chicago moviemakers, is now available on DVD and is loaded with bonus footage and a unique 3D stereo imaging effect. Using the city's famous river as a location, filmmaker D.P. CARLSON places filmmakers in a variety of boats and interviews them as they explore the river and share stories of how Chicago has influenced their careers. The Chicago River comes to life as the artists float along the famous waterway, which is often photographed in films, but rarely featured as a continuous backdrop.
ANDREW DAVIS, MICHAEL MANN, HAROLD RAMIS, JOHN LANDIS, JOHN MCNAUGHTON, STEVEN A. JONES, STUART GORDON and HASKELL WEXLER are among the Hollywood directors who are interviewed. Chicago's best independent filmmakers are also featured: TOM PALAZZOLO, LORETTA SMITH, JERRY BLUMENTHAL, GORDON QUINN, LOUIS ANTONELLI, KATY MAGUIRE, ROSS MARKS, JIM SIKORA, MICHAEL DAWSON, AYANNA U'DONGO, ZEINABU DAVIS, CHRIS LIGON and HEATHER MCADAMS. Along the riverbank, local film critics RAY PRIDE, DANN GIRE, GENE SISKEl and ROGER EBERT are interviewed as well as Chicago Film Office Director RICHARD MOSKAL and the Honorable RICHARD M. DALEY, Mayor of Chicago.
The film was produced and directed by D.P. CARLSON who has been in the Chicago film and video scene since 1990. His independent film work includes I WAS THERE WHEN THE BLUES WAS RED HOT, HOMELESS '99, SAILORMAN, and JOHNNY DODGEBALL. HOMELESS '99, which is an award-winning documentary about a panhandler, premiered at Dockers Classically Independent Film Festival in 1999. Later that year, Carlson received the Panavision-sponsored Founder's Award given to the Most Promising Midwest Filmmaker. In 2000 he made the 35mm narrative short SAILORMAN starring Chicago acting veterans Mike Nussbaum and Ron Dean. The film premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival. His newest film in post-production is a comedic, pseudo sports documentary called JOHNNY DODGEBALL.
NEW YORK TIMES MOVIES / DVD AND HOME VIDEO | December 2, 2008
Critic's Choice: New DVDs: Douglas Fairbanks
By DAVE KEHR
With his boundless energy and incandescent smile, Fairbanks counts among the earliest major performers to emerge in feature-length film.
In 1940 the fledgling Film Library of the Museum of Modern Art published the first two volumes in what was meant to be a series of monographs on film history: a study of the director D. W. Griffith, written by the library's founding curator, Iris Barry, and an appreciation of the actor Douglas Fairbanks, written by the British journalist Alistair Cooke.
It's no coincidence that MoMA chose to begin its version of film history with these two figures: if Griffith was the first modern filmmaker, then Fairbanks was a plausible candidate as the first modern movie star. With his boundless energy and incandescent smile, Fairbanks counts among the earliest major performers to emerge, not from the one- and two-reel films that had been the norm in the nickelodeon days, but from the feature-length film as it began to develop around 1912.
From the vantage point of the 21st century, we may find it hard to identify with nickelodeon stars like Dustin Farnum and Francis X. Bushman. Their personalities seem remote and restricted, their gestures too broad and too big, the emotions they express too heavy and pious, still smothered in Victorian values. But in Fairbanks we recognize a contemporary: a bright, open-faced young man who moves quickly and naturally, who lives in a world of speed and mass communication that is recognizably our own, who aspires not to the tragic martyrdom of the Victorians but to immediate pleasures and ordinary happiness.
This is the performer whose development is traced in "Douglas Fairbanks: A Modern Musketeer," an extraordinary, well-produced set of 10 features and one short film that arrives on Tuesday from Flicker Alley. These aren't the more familiar costume epics from Fairbanks's later career — several of which have been issued in fine editions by Kino International — but rather the modern-day comedies that first established his screen personality.
In "His Picture in the Papers," the earliest (1916) film in this collection, Fairbanks plays Pete Prindle, the mildly rebellious son of a Kellogg-like health-food magnate. Pete hopes to get some publicity for his father's appallingly bland product line by performing a stunt — any stunt — that will get the family name mentioned in the New York press.
The film still has the frantic pace and slapstick humor of a two-reel comedy, but Fairbanks is already taking advantage of the extended feature format (in this edition, the movie runs 62 minutes) to develop his personality in asides that have no direct bearing on the plot. When he goes to visit his fiancée, he's so eager to get to her second-story apartment that he climbs right up the front of her building, an early manifestation of a careerlong aversion to taking the stairs.
For Fairbanks, a dedicated amateur gymnast, such moments of physical exuberance came naturally. On "His Picture" he was teamed for the first time with the director John Emerson and the screenwriter Anita Loos (the future author of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"), and their collaboration extended through eight more films, three of which are included here: "The Mystery of the Leaping Fish," a bizarre short with Fairbanks as a drug-addled detective named Coke Ennyday; the western comedy "Wild and Woolly"; and the Ruritanian adventure "Reaching for the Moon."
Working with Emerson and Loos, Fairbanks (who contributed substantially to his own scripts, often under the pseudonym Elton Thomas) elaborated the character audiences came to call "Doug": an energetic striver, of middle- or upper-middle-class origins, whose romantic notions and passionate enthusiasms (for the cowboy life in "Wild and Woolly," or a fantasy of royal origins in "Reaching") are first presented as comic but ultimately allow him to save the day.
This pattern reaches one of its high points in "A Modern Musketeer," a 1917 feature that was one of 11 films Fairbanks made with Allan Dwan, the great master of early film form. Long available only in an incomplete print, the movie was restored in 2006 with footage found by the Danish Film Institute and makes its first appearance on DVD with this set.
In it Fairbanks plays a Kansas go-getter whose obsession with Alexandre Dumas drives him to ever more preposterous acts of romantic gallantry. In the end he is able to unleash his inner swashbuckler when, during a visit to the Grand Canyon, he is called on to rescue a young woman (Marjorie Daw) from the clutches of an outlaw gang.
Dwan's early command of match-cut editing — the apparently seamless presentation of action across a series of shots — is shown off to tremendous advantage here: Fairbanks seems to cut through space like an arrow in flight, a pure line of strength and beauty.
"A Modern Musketeer" begins with a winking prologue in which Fairbanks presents himself in full costume as D'Artagnan, tugging at his false mustache and adjusting his wig to assure his audience that Doug could indeed be found somewhere beneath the shrubbery. Fairbanks was testing the waters for what would be the next development in his career, the transition to period adventure films that began with "The Mark of Zorro" in 1920.
With "Zorro," Fairbanks inverted his successful formula. No longer was he an ordinary individual who dreamed of being a hero, but a hero (Zorro, the masked scourge of corrupt officials in Colonial California) who disguised himself as an average guy (Don Diego, the foppish son of a landowner). The reversal, of course, only made the fantasy seem more potent: "Zorro" began a line of superheroes with secret identities that remains very much (perhaps too much) with us today.
The Flicker Alley set offers "Zorro" in a glisteningly sharp print made from a source close to the camera negative, and the other titles in the box have been mastered with consummate care, even when the source material is not perfect. The movies are presented with period-accurate color tinting and accompanied by appropriate scores performed by some of the leading figures in silent-film music, including Philip Carli, Robert Israel and Rodney Sauer, the leader of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.
A 32-page booklet offers an essay by Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta, the authors of "Douglas Fairbanks," a new pictorial biography that the University of California Press is releasing next week. This one's a keeper. (Flicker Alley, $89.99, not rated.)
The Flicker Alley restoration of F.W. Murnau's Phantom, wins this year's Willy Haas Award at the 2008 CineFest - International Festival of German Film Heritage in Hamburg, Germany.
The Willy Haas Award is an award for an important international print and DVD publication – not older than two years – on German cinema, chosen from five previously nominated titles.
Willy Haas was an author, film critic and screenwriter who was born in Prague and died in Hamburg.
The award is presented by an international and independent jury, which consists of at least five members. Jury membership is limited to three years maximum, and every year at least one seat is newly appointed. The winner of the Willy Haas-prize automatically joins the jury for next year.
Watch the TRAILER for CineFest 2008.
Now Available fom Flicker Alley & Emphasis Entertainment Group -- J'ACCUSE - A FILM BY ABEL GANCE
An anti-war classic from the director of NAPOLEON (1927) and La Roue (1923).
J'Accuse (1919) is a story set against the backdrop of World War I that is considered one of the most technically advanced films of the era and the first major pacifist film. Gance, who had served briefly in the military during World War I, decided to return to active service in 1919 in order to film real battle scenes to include in the project. However, the film had been reedited and shortened for peacetime reissue in 1922, and has not been available since in its original form.
Lobster Films Studios, Paris, working in collaboration with Netherlands Filmmuseum have culled materials from the Lobster Collection, the Czech archive in Prague, the Cinematheque Francaise, and the Netherlands Filmmuseum to make the best possible and most complete edition of the original 1919 edit of the film.
Now Available fom Flicker Alley & Emphasis Entertainment Group-- PERILS OF THE NEW LAND
PERILS OF THE NEW LAND, a new double feature collection of Traffic In Souls (1913) and The Italian (1915), both riveting and important social dramas of the American silent screen. From the earliest years of feature-length film, when movies were dedicated more to advocacy and reform than to escapist entertainment, both films depict new immigrants to America and hazards that await them. Both films are honored with inclusion in The National Film Registry, which selects up to twenty-five "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films" each year. In addition to the features, this two-DVD set, produced by David Shepard from the Blackhawk Films library, presents three short theme-related bonus films from the pioneer Edison company: Police Force, New York City (1910), The Call of the City (1912), and McQuade of the Traffic Squad (1915).
According to legend, Traffic In Souls was filmed surreptitiously at Universal Pictures with the offending producer (Jack Cohn) and director (George Loane Tucker) prepared to buy the picture in case the company wouldn't release it. Exploiting a recent exposé of prostitution rings, this "white slavery" story proved a huge financial success.Traffic In Souls is a very accomplished work for its time, and makes excellent use of New York City locations.
The Italian, produced for Paramount Pictures by Thomas H. Ince and directed by Reginald Barker, stars George Beban, who was renowned for his ethnic characterizations. It is the story of Beppo, a gondolier who comes to America and settles in lower Manhattan. There he operates a shoeshine business, eventually saving enough money to import his fiancée. Crime and poverty soon impact their lives – and there is no artificial, happy ending. .
Bologna, Italy -- Georges Melies 5-DVD Set Named Best of 2008
Chicago -- Emphasis Entertainment Group & Specialty DVD Supplier Flicker Alley Announces First United States Release of Abel Gance's La Roue (The Wheel)
A new restoration of almost 4 ½ hours, the most complete version of this monumental French film since 1923, La Roue makes its home video premiere on May 6th.
EEG & Flicker Alley, LLC, a specialty supplier of fine silent films and classic cinema programming, in association with Film Preservation Associates, today announced that the company will release La Roue (The Wheel) by Abel Gance (Napoleon, J'Accuse). Of the film, Jean Cocteau wrote: "There is cinema before and after La Roue as there is painting before and after Picasso." The home video release follows the film's North American premiere on Turner Classic Movies by ten days. This marks the first occasion that this essential film has received distribution in the United States, and is the first home video edition to be released anywhere in the world.
Three years in production, and for its time unprecedented in length and complexity of emotion, La Roue pushed the frontiers of film art beyond all previous efforts. It became a source book of cinematic invention that reverberated in countless other classic films over the decades. It was hailed by artists and intellectuals, who recognized it as a stunning advance in modern art. German director G. W. Pabst, an ardent admirer of La Roue, was encouraged by Gance's example to undertake his own remarkable explorations of human psychology in such silent films as Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl. Said Akira Kurosawa, "the first film that really impressed me was La Roue."
Chicago -- Emphasis Entertainment Group signs output agreement with Slumlord Productions
Emphasis Entertainment Group (EEG) has entered an output agreement with independent filmmaker Courtney Fathom Sell and his Slumlord Productions company. The first release slated for Summer of 2008, will be Sell's Award Winning and Critically Acclaimed Documentary "No Place Like Home". The DVD will include many special features, including behind the scenes and filmmaker's extras.
"No Place Like Home" is an honest portrayal of "Defend New Orleans" Creator Jac Currie's life after Hurricane Katrina. Shot entirely on a handheld hi-8 video camera, the film depicts Defend New Orleans' transition to a valid social aid project and features some of the earliest footage of post-Katrina Mississippi, as well as interviews with individuals who survived Katrina in New Orleans. The film won "Best Picture" at the 2006 Blue November Film Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was recently promoted by Ellen Degeneres on her National Television Show.
Chicago -- Specialty DVD Supplier Flicker Alley Announces Unprecedented and Definitive, 5-Disc Set "Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema"
Distributed by Emphasis Entertainment Group Inc.
Flicker Alley, LLC, a specialty supplier of fine silent films and classic cinema programming, in association with Film Preservation Associates, today announced that the company will release "Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (1896-1913)" on DVD March 11, 2008. Film historian Georges Sadoul called Melies "the father of narrative cinema, and the first man in the world to decide consciously that he wanted to make films." His seminal fantasy and science fiction films still retain the power to entertain and delight more than 100 years later. This collection marks the first occasion that this key filmmaker has received a major home video retrospective anywhere in the world.
The 5-disc DVD set, which will carry a suggested retail price of $89.95, includes Méliès's first film, Partie de Cartes and his last, Voyage de la Famille Bourrichon, and brackets more than 170 others. Included are the celebrated and famous journey films, among them A Trip to the Moon, The Impossible Voyage, The Kingdom of Fairies, The Merry Frolics of Satan, The Palace of the Arabian Nights, and The Conquest of the Pole. Fifteen films are reproduced from partial or complete hand-colored original prints, thirteen are presented with the original English narrations written by Méliès. The duration of these films ranges from less than half a minute (The Misfortunes of an Explorer, 1900), to more than half an hour (Conquest of the North Pole, 1912). Also included is a filmed tribute, Le Grand Méliès (1953) by Georges Franju in its original English version, and a substantial booklet containing essays by filmmaker Norman McLaren and historian John Frazer. <more>
Chicago -- A Seven Hour Anthology of Nitrate-Era Rarities Culled from the Lobster Films and Blackhawk Films Collections Make Their Home Video Premiere January 22 via Flicker Alley/EEG.
"SAVED FROM THE FLAMES" is a unique and wonderful collection of 54 rare and restored short films from the inflammable years of cinema, when movies were made on nitrate film and thus highly vulnerable to fire and decay. This remarkable anthology is organized in eight thematic groups over three DVD programs and presents fascinating nitrate-era treasures from the vaults of Lobster Films in Paris and from the Blackhawk Films Collection—films which were literally rescued from imminent destruction over the past fifty years.
Flicker Alley's "SAVED FROM THE FLAMES" DVD set is the North American home video premiere of Lobster Films and Blackhawk Films materials previously exhibited as part of the semi-annual live presentation of Serge Bromberg's Retour le Flamme in Paris--as well as many materials which have rarely been shown before. The DVD edition also includes an illustrated booklet with annotations by film preservationists and historians David Shepard and Serge Bromberg.
Additional digital video and audio restoration work on the "SAVED FROM THE FLAMES" DVD was carried out by Elektrofilm Digital Studios, which is at the forefront of Hollywood's digital revolution and specialize in high-end DVD authoring and post production. "SAVED FROM THE FLAMES" carries a suggested retail price of $49.99. <more>
Chicago -- Emphasis Entertainment signs distribution agreement with Proteus Entertainment
Proteus Entertainment, Inc. is a Chicago-based recording company dedicated to the manufacture, distribution and marketing of unique recordings crossing the genres of Classical, Jazz and World Music.
Proteus has developed a reputation for working with their recording artists in creating the ultimate music CD. Over the years they have organized a strong roster of experienced professionals needed to create high quality music and art production. Their current list of artists includes Goran Ivanovic - Fareed Haque - St. Charles Singers - Michelle Areyzaga - Jamie Shaak - Harvey Wainapel & Paulo Bellinati.
Emphasis Entertainment Group proudly welcomes Proteus Entertainment to our group of distributed lines.
Proteus: "A Greek sea god capable of assuming different forms"
For more info visit: http://www.proteusentertainment.com
Chicago -- Four Films by Tom Palazzolo wins two Telly Awards!
The 2007 Telly Awards gave top honors to Emphasis Entertainment's DVD release "Four Films by Tom Palazzolo". Awarded the Silver level in the Entertainment and Editing categories, the debut DVD release from Chicago filmmaker Tom Palazzolo features four short films from his vast library of work, with bonus features that include director's filmography and biography, and a newly created live-action/animated short based on the "curse" of the Chicago "Cups".
About the Telly Awards:
Founded in 1978, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions. The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, and corporate video departments in the world. The Telly Awards is a widely known and highly respected national and international competition and receives over 13,000 entries annually from all 50 states and many foreign countries.
Los Angeles -- The 2007 DIY Music Festival has named San Francisco's Cathy Richardson Band and its "Delusions of Grandeur" as the 2007 DIY Album of the Year.
Richardson, who moved to the Bay area from Chicago late last year, was showcased at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood in a special series tied to the seventh annual DIY Convention, which celebrates independent film, music and books. The showcases were sponsored by Bug Music, CD Baby, JakPrints and the National Assn. of Record Industry Professionals.
The 2007 DIY Music Festival selections:
DIY Album of the Year: Cathy Richardson, "Delusions Of Grandeur"
DIY Songwriters of the Year: The Craze, Coby Brown
DIY Song of the Year: John Batdorf, "Home Again"
DIY Producers of the Year: Cathy Richardson and John Ovnik
DIY Album Artwork of the Year: Rachel Sage, "The Blistering Sun"
Chicago, IL – Emphasis Entertainment Welcomes Our Path Productions
Emphasis Entertainment Group (EEG) recently entered into an agreement with independent film production company Our Path Productions. Through the agreement EEG will perform several marketing and distribution functions for Our Path. Watch for the debut DVD release featuring several short films directed by Edmond Coisson in the coming months. For a sneak preview select here.
Chicago, IL – Phantom Named to New York Times "10 Best"
From Film to Fetish Object: The Year's Noteworthy DVDs By Dave Kehr of the New York Times names "Phantom" as one of the years Ten Best releases for 2006!
Chicago, IL – Emphasis Entertainment Sponsors Children's Benefit
Emphasis Entertainment Group (EEG) and Graphicats Design proudly partisipated in the first Friends of Jamaica USA, "Reggae on the Rock" benefit that helps support education, social and medical services.
For more information go to: friendsofjamaicausa.org
Chicago, IL – Emphasis Kids receives 8th award in 8 years
The Parents' Choice Foundation has announced that the 2005 Emphasis Kids release "Brighter Than Fireflies" by Amy Lowe has received the Silver Honor in children's audio. It is the 8th award granted to Emphasis Kids in its 8-year history.
Founded in 1998 as solely owned organization with a goal to bring quality children's entertainment and educational programming to market, Emphasis Kids is currently distributed by Big Daddy Music Distribution in New York, and is available through numerous retail and institutional wholesalers throughout the country.
The current list of audio award winners includes:
Brighter Than Fireflies - 2005 Parents' Choice Silver Honor
Math Music - 2005 Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement
Fire In Boomtown – 2004 Parents' Choice 25 Best of 25 Years
Friends – 2001 Parents Choice Silver Honor
Adventures of Lana Ladybug in Europe – 2000 Parents' Choice Recommendation
Fire In Boomtown – 1999 Parents' Choice Gold Award
Fire in Boomtown – 1999 Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement
I Like Gum – 1998 Parents' Choice Silver Honor
Additional titles receiving standout praise:
Andean Fantasy – 2001 Parents' Choice Noteworthy Review
Blue Sky City – 1999 Booklist Editors' Choice
All titles can be found or special ordered at music and bookstores, or on the Internet wherever music is sold.
Chicago, IL - Math Music 1 wins AEP 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award.
Emphasis Kids' Math Music 1 was named as a Distinguished Achievement Award winner on Wednesday, June 8 during the The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) annual awards gala at The Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC.
The AEP Awards recognize the creative effort of the writers, designers, photographers, and editors whose behind-the-scenes work has culminated in high-quality educational materials deemed worthy of renown by a panel of teachers, administrators, and industry peers.
About AEP
AEP, a national, nonprofit organization, represents, supports and promotes the publishers of supplemental educational resources, key tools for reading and learning at school and at home. Its membership includes the giants of the supplemental education industry, and spans the gamut from magazines to television channels, books to interactive computer software and CDs. For more information and a complete list of winners go to www.edpress.org
Chicago, IL - Math Music 1 named as finalist for AEP 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award.
The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) has announced today that the new Emphasis Kids Enhanced CD release of Amy Lowe's "Math Music 1" has been selected as a one of the finalist for the 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award in the Instructional Materials category. The annual awards gala will be held on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington D.C. when winners will be announced.
AEP, a national, nonprofit organization, represents, supports and promotes the publishers of supplemental educational resources, key tools for reading and learning at school and at home. Its membership includes the giants of the supplemental education industry, and spans the gamut from magazines to television channels, books to interactive computer software and CDs. For more information and a complete list of finalist go to www.edpress.org
Chicago, IL - Fire In Boomtown named on Best 25 of 25 Years list by Parents' Choice.
Established in 1978, Parents' Choice Foundation is the nation's oldest not-for-profit evaluator of children's books, videos, toys, audio's, computer software, television, and magazines. The Foundation's mission is to provide parents with information to participate wisely in their children's learning. (see Parents' Choice for more info)
Emphasis Kids' Fire In Boomtown a 1999 Parents' Choice Gold Award winner, has now been included on the Parents' Choice "Best 25 of 25 Years" list.
Chicago, IL - Emphasis Entertainment Group inks distribution deal with Flicker Alley.
Flicker Alley, based in Los Angeles, CA, was born out of a strong belief in film preservation and a personal passion for bringing film history to new audiences through quality, boutique-style releases for distribution on DVD and broadcast. The Garden of Eden Deluxe DVD Edition is the first release for the company, with JUDEX (1917) being the second release. In the planning stages is an upcoming edition of F.W. Murnau's Phantom (1922).
Chicago, IL - Emphasis Entertainment Group inks distribution deal with The Sirens Records.
Emphasis Entertainment Group Inc. is pleased and honored to announce a distribution relationship with one of the countries premiere blues label, The Sirens Records. Located in Chicago, deep in it's blues tradition, The Siren Records mission is to keep the Chicago blues, boogie woogie, jazz, and gospel piano traditions alive and well. They have produced a series of compact discs by legendary pianists such as Erwin Helfer, Pinetop Perkins, Detroit Junior, Barrelhouse Chuck, and Reverend Dwayne R. Mason. The Sirens also pays tribute to the master pianists of previous eras including Sunnyland Slim, Blind John Davis, Willie Mabon, Speckled Red, Billie Pierce, and more. Please read what Nat Hentoff wrote about The Sirens in the Wall Street Journal.
Chicago, IL - Emphasis Entertainment to release new album by Swizzle Tree September 16th.
Coming on the heals of appearances on WGN-TV and the 2003 Lollapalooza Tour will be the September EEG release of Swizzle Tree's new album "Play On". Kicking the release off with a CD release party at the House of Blues in Chicago on September 9th with performances by Swizzle Tree and Lucky Boys Confusion, followed by an in-store release date of Tuesday September 16th, the band will then go on an extensive tour in support of the new album.
Oh My God new release "Interrogations and Confessions" set for Oct 7th on Novo/Lightyear, distributed by WEA.
Kill Hannah new release"For Never & Ever" set for Oct 14th on Atlantic Records, distributed by WEA.
Lucky Boys Confusion second release "Commitment" set for Oct 21st on Elektra Records, distributed by WEA.
Rachel Yamagata formerly of Bumpus, self-titled debut release set for Oct 7th from Private Music, distributed by BMG.
Plain White T's "Stop" album has been picked up by IMUS/Fearless Records and set for an Oct 21st release by BMG.
Chicago, IL - Urban Twang = the BEST of 190 North
ABC's 190 NORTH dubbed Urban Twang as one of the best feature musical acts to appear on their show. UT joined the ranks of other "BEST of" artists Jon Langford, Poi Dog Pondering, Nicholas Tremulis, and Big Fish Little Fish artist Alice Peacock.
Chicago, IL - Emphasis Entertainment Group has announced Telly Award winning video, Restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright's Heurtley House adds an Axiem Silver Award to growing list of video's achievements.
America's most-acclaimed architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, launched a revolution in design with the construction of the Huertley House in 1902. Wright, who claimed that, "music and architecture blossom on the same branch", had inaugurated an organic method of design that was to transform architectural tastes worldwide. Yet, after 95 years the Heurtley House was in dire need of major renovation when the new owners took possession in 1997. This video documents expert craftsmen unveiling the original face of the masterpiece that changed the history of architecture. The story told is a combination of hands on restoration, a history lesson, and tutorial on Prairie School Architecture.
"A fine effort, this program will be of special interest to regional and architectural libraries" - Library Journal, June 1, 2003
"A solid video not only for architecture students, but for general audiences with an interest in the arts as well, this is recommended" - Video Librarian, July-August 2003

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Michael Friedman is an Associate Private Banker serving Morgan Stanley Wealth Management offices in the Southern New Jersey complex.
Michael began his career in financial services in 2004, and joined Morgan Stanley in 2016. Prior to joining the firm, he was a Financial Specialist with PNC Investments. In addition, he previously held a number of roles at Merrill Lynch.
Michael received a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Rutgers University, and a Master of Business Administration in Management and Human Resources from Rider University. He and his family live in Voorhees, New Jersey. When not at the office, Michael enjoys reading, playing recreational sports, and spending time with family and friends.


Please note: Orientation (in-person or on-line) MUST be completed before your scheduled Asssessment).
1) What are the assessments like, and how can I prepare for them?
The math and English assessments are multiple-choice tests and include a writing sample. Your score will correspond with a math and/or English class, that will be recommended for you. You will discuss your results with a counselor (see #3 below).
Most students do not study or prepare for these tests; the assessment results should reflect your current skill level and ability. However, some students want to review math material they have studied in the past, but may have forgotten, and some students feel out of practice taking tests and find it helpful to refresh their test-taking skills. Helpful resources might be books designed to help people prepare for the CBEST, SAT, ACT, or other multiple-choice standardized test—such study guides can be found in public libraries or commercial bookstores.
2) Who takes the assessments? Who attends the orientations?
The assessments and orientations are available to all students. Many students are recommended for assessment and orientation because when they submit their admissions application they have noted an educational goal that identifies them as matriculating* students. The matriculating student's educational goals are one of the following: to obtain a bachelor's degree (with or without an associate degree); to earn an associate degree, vocational degree, or vocational certificate; to improve basic skills in English and math; or "undecided" on an educational goal.
Some students are exempt from the assessment tests and orientation because they already earned a degree from an accredited institution, have successfully completed recent English and/or math courses at another college, or have an educational goal that does not require assessment. Please see a full description of this information in the class schedule or college catalog, or ask counseling or assessment staff for details.
3) What comes after the assessment and orientation?
You will review your assessment results with a college academic counselor to confirm that the recommended courses are best for you. The assessment results, along with other information you provide, will be used to evaluate these recommendations. All students should read descriptions of their recommended classes, and be prepared to discuss the courses they would like to take in the upcoming term when meeting with a counselor. During the orientation session, we will review the next steps in the enrollment process, and students will receive program-planning information.
4) Do I have to take the classes that are recommended?
Not always. At times a student and counselor will agree that another course is more useful or appropriate for the student. In some cases students may want to challenge a pre-requisite course (the required successful completion of a course before enrolling in another course); you may ask a counselor about the process to challenge a pre-requisite class.
5) What if I don't want to take the assessment or attend the orientation?
If you do not qualify for exemption from assessment and want to waive or refuse the assessment, please ask a counselor about the process for reviewing high school transcripts. If you do not want to attend the orientation, please complete the online orientation.


Laws and regulations in the medical industry are in a constant state of evolution, and medical practices that fail to stay abreast of these changes are destined to be left behind.
The conference will open with an educational workshop and a Welcome Reception and networking event. On Thursday, after a day of seminars, workshops, and informational sessions, attendees are invited to a Cabaret celebration, including magicians, singers, fortune tellers, massage therapists, and plenty of food and drink.
While networking and fun will span all three days, the real draw will be the many workshops, sessions, and guest speakers who will be on hand. This year's keynote speaker is Dr. Jeffrey Bauer, an internationally recognized health futurist and medical economist who has written extensively on creating a more effective, efficient healthcare delivery system.
Sessions include Preventing Employee Dishonesty and Dealing with the Aftermath; "After the Storm" Disaster Preparedness, Recovery and Continuity; Compensation Strategies for Today's Medical Practice; Social Media for the Medical Practice: Snake Oil or a Cure?; among many others. Most sessions will be held multiple times to ensure all guests have a chance to attend.
"We've listened to feedback from previous conferences and expanded our breakout sessions, giving attendees more opportunities to take advantage of these great programs," Kramer said.
Other well-known speakers at the opening general session include William Jessee, MD FACMPE, immediate past president and CEO of Medical Group Management Associaton (MGMA); Alfred F. Tallia, MD, MPH, Professor and Chair of Family Medicine and Community Health at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; David A. de Simone, ESP, Vice President and General Counsel of AtlantiCare Health System; and Michelle Koury, MD, COO of Crystal Run Healthcare.
For more information or to register, visit www.njmgma.com/PMC-2013/. For questions or interviews, contact Lee Ann Potter, Executive Director of the Medical Group Management Association's New Jersey Chapter, at 609-208-3279, or by email at info@njmgma.com.
ATTENTION EDITORS: All members of the media will receive free admission to the conference and an exclusive extended access to a wide array of medical professionals. Upon request, NJMGMA will provide room for an overnight stay and an opportunity to gather more information.
← Leslie Nolan's Work among Women Featured at U.N.


The Lightweight Tracking Aluminium tracking system has a modular design makes it simple to produce custom handling systems for loads from 500kg to 2000kg. With a complete range of standard sections, trolleys and suspension brackets, the aluminium lightweight tracking system offers the complete solution for all of your handling requirements. The system is easy and quick to assemble and is 50% lighter than the conventional steel equivalents and the sections can be moved and positioned manually without having to use any specific lifting equipment. The components and the system are connected to the supporting structure by bolted and clipped connections and do not require any special tools.
The aluminium beam sections are made by extrusion which means they are geometrically standardised, resulting in an assembly that does not require any mechanical adjustment. The use of this system reduces loads to your building, truss or other supporting structure offering you greater working loads where you need them. In order to ensure silent, effort-free movement, the trolley wheels are made of nylon. The surface in contact with the internal part of the aluminium track section has been reduced to keep sound levels at the bare minimum.
Trolleys within the aluminium beam section also have a reduced rolling coefficient which means that movement of the load is effortless and the system can be supplied with push or electric trolleys, with stepless variable speed drives being controlled with standard cabled handsets or wireless remote handsets. Power to the trolleys, hoists and other equipment can be fed around the system on cable festoons, externally mounted, enclosed power feed systems or internal power feed (inside the aluminium track section itself).
The aluminium system can be supplied complete with bends, curves, track switches and turntables, so that loads can travel through simple or complex circuits making it ideal for video walls, scenery or show gags and effects. The tracks also have a full range of suspension brackets which are designed to articulate so that lateral loading into your supporting structure can be minimised and suspensions can be connected to I beams using clips or bolted to ceilings along with a whole host of other attachments and brackets for your particular application.
The fabrication facility which constructs unique set pieces for forthcoming productions products for their own theatre venues and performance spaces around the city.
This facility required a system that enables easy movement and positioning of large and irregular shaped items quickly within the workshop. There also needed to minimum disruption to the workshops busy schedule during installation and testing.


On August 25, 2017, and September 10, 2017, President Trump declared major disasters in Texas and Florida due to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma (the "Hurricanes"). Following the declarations, the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), the Department of Labor ("DOL") and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ("PBGC") issued relief for affected individuals and entities. The IRS is postponing certain tax filings and payment deadlines for taxpayers who reside or work in the disaster area. The relief also provides qualifying individuals with expanded access to their retirement plan assets to alleviate hardships caused by the Hurricanes. Additional IRS guidance allows donation of employer-paid leave to charitable organizations aiding victims of the Hurricanes.
The DOL is providing additional relief to employers and plan fiduciaries, in the form of deadline leniency and relaxation of fiduciary requirements for benefit plans that have compliance lapses resulting from the Hurricanes. Finally, the PBGC is waiving certain penalties and extending certain filing deadlines. Below is a summary of the relief provided by the IRS, DOL, and PBGC. Additional relief is sure to follow for victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
In response to the impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, certain counties in Texas and Florida have been declared as major disaster areas. [For a complete list of declared counties and information on hurricane related federal tax relief see IRS Provides Tax Filing and Payment Relief to Hurricane Victims.] As a result, numerous states have enacted delayed filing and payment periods for individuals and businesses located in these major disaster areas. In order to help track these developments, the Jones Walker team has compiled and summarized the provided relief of participating states. Our team will continue to monitor for further federal and state tax related disaster relief announcements and update this post accordingly.
Alabama taxpayers residing in Texas or Florida counties designated as disaster areas by the federal government have until Jan. 31, 2018, to file tax returns due on or after Sept. 1 (Sept. 15 for Hurricane Irma victims), 2017, and before Jan. 31, 2018.
Penalty relief will be provided during the extension period.
Taxpayers seeking this tax relief should write "Texas Flood 2017" or "Irma Relief – 2017" in red ink on any state paper return/report which relies on this filing extension relief.
The relief applies to individual income tax, corporate income tax, pass-through entities, sales and use tax, withholding tax, and business excise tax.
IRP/IFTA requirements for vehicles are temporarily suspended for vehicles engaged in disaster relief efforts.
Taxpayers residing in Texas and Florida counties which have been designated as federally declared disaster areas have until January 31, 2018 to file any Arkansas tax return. This includes individual income and corporate income, which are due on or after August 23, 2017.
Business owners and tax and fee payers affected by Hurricane Harvey may request extensions to file their returns, ask for relief from penalties and/or interest for some taxes and fees, and request copies of records lost due to storm damage.
Deadlines are extended for filings that were delayed by disruptions affecting the U.S. Postal Service and private mail and freight companies.
Businesses located in the Gulf Coast area that have been impacted by Hurricane Harvey, and who, as a result, cannot meet their filing and payment deadlines, may be eligible for relief.
In Texas: Aransas, Austin, Bastrop, Bee, Brazoria, Calhoun, Chambers, Colorado, DeWitt, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Goliad, Gonzales, Hardin, Harris, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Karnes, Kleberg, Lavaca, Lee, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Newton, Nueces, Orange, Polk, Refugio, Sabine, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Tyler, Victoria, Walker, Waller and Wharton Counties.
In Florida: Broward, Charlotte, Clay, Collier, Duval, Flagler, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Putnam, Sarasota and St. Johns Counties.
Taxpayers whose principal residence or a business' principal place of business was located in one of the counties declared as a major disaster area are entitled to certain federal tax relief for the 2016 tax year. This federal tax relief includes: (a) the suspension of certain deadlines to file tax returns; (b) the suspension of certain deadlines to pay taxes; and (c) the ability to claim casualty losses incurred as a result of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
As a result of the flooding throughout Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards issued Executive Order JBE 2016-053 to suspend deadlines in legal, administrative and regulatory proceedings. The suspension is retroactive from Friday, August 12, 2016 and continues through Friday, September 9, 2016, unless amended, modified, terminated or rescinded by the Governor.