Nicholas Mui, 22, from Grand Haven, Michigan, has pleaded guilty in the 17th Circuit Court in Kent County to conducting a criminal enterprise, involving the theft and sale of Mperks account access information. Mui is required to forfeit his computer tower and approximately $630,000 in frozen cryptocurrency and cash. He compromised Mperks, a loyalty program […]
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The Lawrence Township Police Department recovered 223 of 675 SpaceX Starlink Terminals allegedly purchased using stolen credit card numbers, the department said Tuesday.
Source: Lawrence Township Police Department
A New Jersey man was arrested on charges for allegedly trafficking 675 SpaceX Starlink terminals purchased with stolen credit card accounts or hacked Starlink billing accounts, police said Wednesday.
The man, 35-year-old Kelvin Rodriguez-Moya, was stopped by police Dec. 4 while driving 223 Starlink terminals in a pickup truck and trailer after leaving a residence in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, a criminal complaint said. The terminals had shipping labels addressed to multiple different names at the same address.
Lawrence Township police had been tipped off about a suspiciously large number of Starlink terminals being shipped to that home, the complaint said. Detectives then witnessed Rodriguez-Moya loading a FedEx shipment of terminals onto the truck and trailer.
Rodriguez-Moya told police that he was paid $300 to drive the terminals to Newark, where he lives, for resale, according to the complaint.
The total value of the 675 fraudulently purchased Starlink terminals that police subsequently learned had been shipped to the Lawrence Township address is about $400,000, police said.
Police arrested Kelvin Rodriguez-Moya, 35, of Newark, on Monday after a three-month investigation.
Source: Lawrence Township Police Department
Bennett Woo, SpaceX’s director of payment risk and fraud, called the seizure of the terminals SpaceX’s “largest fraud recovery to date by an order of magnitude,” police said in a news release.
Lawrence Township Police Lieutenant Kevin Reading told CNBC, “The trafficking of the terminals is still under investigation.”
Reading said police are working with SpaceX to determine how the terminals were purchased.
Starlink terminals provide customers high-speed internet access through SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation. The terminals have been sought after by military, government and nongovernment organizations around the world.
A Starlink dish and router are displayed in San Anselmo, California, on Feb. 12, 2024.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Last month, Ukraine’s primary intelligence accused Russian military forces of using Starlink terminals in Ukrainian territory occupied by those forces.
Elon Musk, the billionaire who is the CEO of SpaceX, said the company had not sold Starlink terminals to Russia, nor was the company aware of indirect sales of the terminal to that nation.
Rodriguez-Moya was arrested Tuesday on charges of second-degree receiving stolen property, and second-degree trafficking stolen property.
He is being held in the Mercer County Correction Center pending a detention hearing scheduled for Friday in county court.
In a recorded interview with police at headquarters, Rodriguez-Moya said he had been involved in receiving and transporting the Starlink terminals since November, according to the criminal complaint.
“He vaguely described that he came into contact with ‘Alberto’ through mutual friends and that he suggested the address” on Roxboro Road for the shipment, the complaint said.
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Cari Gundee rides her Peloton exercise bike at her home in San Anselmo, California, April 6, 2020.
Ezra Shaw | Getty Images
The family of a New York man claims he was killed by his Peloton bike just six months after buying it, but the company insists that his own negligence caused his death, according to a lawsuit filed in state court.
Ryan Furtado, 32, was doing a “core” workout on the pricey exercise bike on Jan. 13, 2022, when he disembarked to complete a few exercises on the floor, the lawsuit states.
When Furtado was getting up, he grabbed onto the bike to assist him, but it soon “spun around” and hit his neck and face, severing his carotid artery and “killing him instantly,” the lawsuit charges.
When members of the New York Police Department responded to his home, the bike was still on top of his neck and face, the suit states. It had been purchased just six months earlier in July 2021.
The lawsuit, filed in March 2023 in Brooklyn civil Supreme Court by Furtado’s mother Johanna Furtado, is several months old. But it was brought to light by the Daily Beast in an article published Wednesday.
While at least one child was killed by Peloton’s treadmill in March 2021, Furtado’s death is the first known fatality linked to the company’s ultrapopular exercise bike.
Shares of Peloton were down about 3% in intraday trading Thursday.
In a statement Thursday, Peloton spokesperson Ben Boyd said, “We offer our deepest sympathy and condolences to the Furtado family for this unfortunate accident. As a Member-first company, the health and safety of our Member community is a top priority.”
Furtado’s mother charges that her son’s bike was “defective and unreasonably dangerous in design, instruction, and warning.” She’s seeking unspecified damages.
Peloton claims it is not liable and “negligence” is to blame.
“Upon information and belief, the incident giving rise to this action was caused by the negligence or other culpable conduct of one or more parties for which Peloton is not responsible, and, therefore, Peloton is not legally responsible,” Peloton’s response to the lawsuit, filed April 17, states.
“No action or inaction by Peloton was the proximate cause of plaintiff’s or plaintiff’s decedent’s alleged injuries or damages.”
Peloton’s exercise equipment has gone through numerous recalls over the past few years.
In May, its Bike was recalled because of a faulty seat post that could unexpectedly detach and break during use. The move followed 12 reported injuries.
Previously, it recalled its Tread+ after a child died and 90 injuries were reported in connection with the machine, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has said.
During Peloton’s most recent earnings report for the three months ending June 30, the company said the recall of its Bike seat post was costing far more than it expected and potentially leading members to cancel their subscriptions.
NASA’s Regulations on Merchandising Requests and Media Usage Guidelines strictly prohibit the use of its intellectual property in NFT.
Former United States First Lady Melania Trump’s latest NFT drop “Man on the Moon” has been met with pushback as it appears to be in violation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) merchandising regulations. The limited edition collectible was released on Wednesday, one day before the 54th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, and features a July 21, 1969 image of astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon. The image was captured by fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong who is seen as a reflection in Aldrin’s visor.
The $75 collectible places the iconic image in a silver frame with a textured surface that appears to be inspired by the moon’s surface. The bottom of the frame sports a three-dimensional model of the moon while the back features the disembodied text “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. It also includes an embedded audio file that will be “unlocked” upon purchase.
The United States put a man on the moon on this day in 1969. I salute America’s ingenuity and ongoing commitment towards excellence. #USAmemorabilia pic.twitter.com/Kr7hJUC63w
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) July 20, 2023
NASA’s Regulations on Merchandising Requests and Media Usage Guidelines strictly prohibit the use of its intellectual property in NFT. While images that are produced by the agency and in the public domain – like the Buzz Aldrin image – can be used freely, NASA reserves the right to approve or deny requests for their use on merchandise. The regulations state that the agency “does not wish for its images to be used in connection with NFTs” and is “not approving any merchandising applications” related to NFTs.
The drop was done in partnership with USA Memorabilia, the “premiere NFT platform featuring United States memorabilia”. It appears that the former first lady and the NFT platform did not consult with the federal agency, hence the conflict.
The drop has sparked conversation online as members of the NFT and crypto community wait to see how the agency will respond. It is unclear if NASA will take legal action against Trump. A NASA attorney is reported to have previously told The Los Angeles Times that while the agency can send cease-and-desist letters to merchants who overstep its guidelines, it prefers less confrontational means including informal conversations.
Melania Trump, like her husband former US President Donald Trump, has been an active participant in the NFT space in recent weeks. Last month the former first lady debuted a line of collectibles commemorating pivotal moments in American history with a collection titled the “1776 Collection”.
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Mercy Mutanya is a Tech enthusiast, Digital Marketer, Writer and IT Business Management Student.
She enjoys reading, writing, doing crosswords and binge-watching her favourite TV series.
Warren Buffet is a staunch supporter of many things: the McMuffin, Diet Coke, and philanthropy. The Berkshire Hathaway CEO donated $4.6 billion of his Berkshire Hathaway stock (consisting of about 13.7 million B shares) to five charities in his annual donation on Wednesday. While the number of shares Buffett gives away decreases by 5% each year, it’s his largest in value yet thanks to the company’s climbing stock prices.
“Nothing extraordinary has occurred at Berkshire; a very long runway, simple, and generally sound decisions, the American tailwind and compounding effects produced my current wealth,” Buffett explained in a press release.
At this point, the investor continued, he’s given away $50 billion in shares based on the value of when they were received—worth $132 billion at today’s stock price. The majority of Buffett’s $118 billion fortune is tied up in stock; his remaining shares are worth about $112 billion. As Business Insider points out, if Buffett had held on to all the shares he’s given away, his net worth would top $250 billion. That would make him the world’s richest man, above Elon Musk, instead of his current status as the world’s sixth-richest man.
Having given away 54% of his Berkshire Hathaway stock, the “Oracle of Omaha” is well on his way to getting rid of the majority of his wealth. “My will provides that more than 99% of my estate is destined for philanthropic usage,” he wrote in the press release. In 2006, Buffett pledged to give away 85% of his stock in the company to charity, designating the majority of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Four years later, he vowed to redistribute 99% of his wealth to philanthropy during or after his lifetime when signing the Giving Pledge with friend and fellow billionaire Bill Gates, calling upon their billionaire peers to give up a large portion of their wealth to charity.
The Gates Foundation continues to be the prime beneficiary of Buffett’s donations, alongside the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and NoVo Foundation, whose collective goals range from social justice initiatives in Nebraska to empowering women and girls.
Buffett has long been vocal about his desire to give away his billions, telling Fortune’s Carol Loomis back in 2006 that he never planned to leave his entire fortune to his children. “A very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing,” he said.
He’s often bemoaned generational wealth as one of the main drivers of growing income inequality in the U.S. “Dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise,” he said in 2007. “Equality of opportunity has been on the decline. A progressive and meaningful estate tax is needed to curb the movement of a democracy toward plutocracy.”
Buffett, 92, reportedly wants his billions spent within 10 years of his death, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation from last year. While most will go to the five charities, namely the Gates Foundation, there are still unpledged shares left up in the air. He hasn’t yet disclosed the nitty-gritty of how that wealth will be split after his death; estate planning experts told the Journal his pledge letter was a bit ambiguous.
Gates Foundation staffers have been banking on receiving both the pledged and remaining unpledged shares, an employee told the Journal. One purported suggestion was to create a world children’s savings bank, they said, in which children would receive thousands of dollars that “sit on a shelf, like a battle plan” for baby beneficiaries.
For now, though, Buffett is still getting his McMuffin a day and chipping away at donating his amassed fortune to charity.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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