Ace Breaking News – COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal appeals court upheld the racketeering convictions of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and an ex-lobbyist on Tuesday in a $60 million bribery scandal described as the largest corruption scheme in state history.
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Court upholds racketeering convictions of ex-Ohio House speaker and lobbyist in $60M bribery scheme
Bruce Shipkowski contributed to this report from Toms River, N.J.
The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati represented a win for the Department of Justice, which had secured the convictions in March 2023 after a yearslong investigation. Householder, a Republican, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and lobbyist and former Ohio Republican Party chair Matt Borges was sentenced to five years in prison.
Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly A. Norris said the appeals panel’s unanimous decision “affirmed the strength of the government’s evidence, the correctness of the jury instructions, and the fairness of the proceeding.”
Householder was convicted of masterminding a $60 million bribery scheme funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to elect allies, secure power, pass a $1 billion bailout of two of its affiliated nuclear plants and then defend the bill, known as House Bill 6, from a repeal effort.
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Prosecutors had described Borges’ primary role in the scheme as working to thwart a ballot campaign aimed at repealing the tainted legislation. Specifically, he was accused of paying $15,000 to someone who was helping spearhead the effort in order to get inside information. The referendum ultimately failed to make the ballot.
Scott Pullins, a long-time legal and personal adviser to Householder, called it a “sad and disappointing day” for both men and their families and supporters, and “even a sadder day for constitutional free speech and the rule of law.”
He said in a Substack post that Householder “raised undisclosed, unlimited donations for a 501c4 organization that supported him and his political allies” — just as speakers before and after him have done. “But the federal government singled only Mr. Householder out for prosecution.”
Householder has a couple long shot legal options remaining: He could ask for a review by the full Sixth Circuit, or seek what’s known as certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping for consideration by the nation’s highest bench. Both types of requests are rarely granted.
A message seeking comment was left for Householder’s criminal defence attorney.
Householder’s appeal failed on all six claims he brought in hopes of a reprieve. He alleged erroneous jury instructions, insufficient and inadmissible evidence, violations of his right to counsel, judicial bias and that his sentence was unreasonable for the circumstances.
The 65-year-old Householder argued that the government was wrong in describing what he had engaged in as a bribery scheme. Instead, he cast the money that flowed from FirstEnergy into a network of secret dark money accounts that he controlled as legal campaign contributions. Federal prosecutors charged that the money was given to Householder in exchange for the passage of House Bill 6, providing the necessary quid pro quo to make his conduct illegal.
Householder had also faulted U.S. District Judge Timothy Black in his appeal, asserting that he failed to properly instruct the jury that an agreement is necessary to prove bribery and that Householder needed to have agreed he would take action “on a specific and focused question or matter” at the time that agreement was struck.
The judicial panel said all of his claims failed.
Borges’ appeal hinged on three technical points of law. All failed, as well, though he could also ask for review by the full appellate court or the U.S. Supreme Court.
However, Circuit Judge Amul Thapar wrote in a concurring opinion that each of Borges’ contentions “raises tricky and unresolved issues in honest services fraud jurisprudence.”
“And here, Borges has a good argument his conduct fell within a murky middle: perhaps objectionable, but not clearly illegal,” he wrote. “Until the Supreme Court revises its caselaw, however, we must follow its precedent.”
Dennis Belli, Borges’ attorney, noted a part of Thapar’s concurrence that said “(t)he Tinkerbell strategy — clap if you believe he’s guilty — doesn’t cut it when we think about criminal convictions.”
“‘Tinkerbell strategy’ aptly describes the prosecution’s use of an alleged violation of a misdemeanor statute in the Ohio Elections Code to obtain a felony racketeering conviction of Borges in federal court,” Belli said, noting that his client denies that the statute even applies to his conduct. “I will be studying the 64-page ruling closely and thoughtfully, and will advise my client regarding his options going forward.”
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Ace Business Desk – Hungry Jack’s pays penalties for supplying toys with its children’s meals that allegedly breached the mandatory information standard for button batteries
Australia ACCC Business News Report: Published 06 May 2025
Australian fast-food franchise Hungry Jack’s Pty Ltd has paid penalties totalling $150,240 after the ACCC issued it with eight infringement notices for alleged breaches of the Australian Consumer Law by failing to comply with the mandatory button battery information standard.
The infringement notices relate to a Garfield toy powered by button batteries that was supplied nationwide without the important warnings and information required by the mandatory information standard.
Between 20 May 2024 and 30 May 2024, Hungry Jack’s supplied 27,850 of the Garfield toys with its children’s meals.
While the Garfield toy complied with the button battery safety standard, it did not advise consumers that it contained button batteries, nor provide relevant warnings about the potentially fatal hazards these pose or advice about what to do if a child ingested one.
“Button batteries are extremely dangerous for young children and tragically, children have been seriously injured or died from swallowing or ingesting them,” ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said.
“The ACCC continues to see non-compliant products on the market which pose unacceptable safety risks to vulnerable young children. We take non-compliance with these important standards seriously and will not hesitate to take enforcement action where appropriate.”
The ACCC has also accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Hungry Jack’s in which it admitted the Garfield toy is likely to have failed to comply with the button battery information standard.
Hungry Jack’s has undertaken to establish and implement a compliance program designed to minimise Hungry Jacks’ risk of future breaches of the Australian Consumer Law.
Millions of consumer goods worldwide contain button batteries. If swallowed, a button battery can become stuck in a child’s throat and result in catastrophic injuries, and even death, in as little as two hours. In Australia, three children have died and more than one child a month is injured from incidents involving button batteries.
Businesses involved in the supply of button batteries and products containing them must ensure compliance with both the mandatory safety and information standards. The safety standards require products containing button batteries to be sold in child resistant packaging and to have secure battery compartments to prevent children from gaining access to the batteries. The information standards require warnings and emergency advice on packaging and instructions.
Images of the Garfield toy including packaging
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Recalled product
Hungry Jack’s has recalled the Garfield toy. Consumers can return the toy to their nearest Hungry Jack’s restaurant for a free replacement for a non-battery toy.
ACCC guidance for businesses and consumers
Button batteries are small, round and shiny and can be appealing for young children to swallow or insert, which poses a significant risk of serious injury or death. Compliance with the mandatory standards helps to prevent this.
If you suspect your child has swallowed or inserted a button battery:
call Triple Zero (000) immediately if your child is bleeding or having any difficulty breathing
call 13 11 26 immediately for 24/7 fast and expert advice from the Poisons Information Centre.
Prompt action is critical, do not wait for symptoms to develop. Serious injury can occur in as little as two hours and can be fatal.
The ACCC strongly encourages consumers to check for button battery products in their homes and take steps to secure them to keep them safe for young children. Consumers can check the list of recalled products on the ACCC Product Safety website.
Anyone who has experienced product safety incidents (including near misses) is strongly encouraged to report these to the supplier and to report safety concerns about particular products to the ACCC via the Product Safety website.
Suppliers of button battery products must submit a report to the ACCC within 2 days if they become aware that a consumer good they have supplied caused or may have caused a death, serious injury or serious illness. Further information about this reporting can be found in the ACCC’s Mandatory Reporting Guideline.
The ACCC has published a fact sheet and guide for businesses on the button battery mandatory standards to assist businesses with meeting their obligations.
The ACCC can issue an infringement notice when it has reasonable grounds to believe a person or business has contravened certain consumer protection provisions in the Australian Consumer Law.
The payment of a penalty specified in an infringement notice is not an admission of a contravention of the Australian Consumer Law. The Australian Consumer Law sets the penalty amount.
Background
Hungry Jack’s Pty Ltd is an Australian fast-food franchise of the Burger King corporation.
Four mandatory button battery standards operate in Australia which aim to make button battery products safer and provide consumers with important safety information.
The ACCC consulted and engaged extensively with industry during the 18-month transition period before the standards became mandatory, including working with businesses to explain the changes that would be required to comply with the new standards.
Product safety, and consumers experiencing a vulnerability or disadvantage, are enduring ACCC priorities, and consumer product safety issues for young children (with a focus on compliance with the button battery standards) is a 2025-26 ACCC compliance and enforcement priority.
Other button battery enforcement outcomes include:
In April 2025 the ACCC commenced proceedings against Fewstone Pty Ltd (trading as City Beach) regarding allegations that City Beach offered for sale 70 product lines containing button batteries which did not comply with Australia’s mandatory button battery standards.
In May 2023, the Reject Shop and Dusk paid a total of nearly $240,000 in penalties after the ACCC issued infringement notices for alleged failure to comply with mandatory product safety and information standards in Halloween novelty products containing button batteries.
In June 2023, the ACCC, in collaboration with state and territory consumer protection regulators, announced the outcome of market surveillance of over 400 businesses and 8 online platforms which identified a concerning level of non-compliance with the information standards, and to a lesser extent with the safety standards.
In October 2023, Tesla Motors Australia Pty Ltd paid penalties totalling $155,460 after the ACCC issued 10 infringement notices for alleged contraventions of the Australian Consumer Law in relation to the supply of 3 types of car key fobs and 2 types of illuminating door sills that allegedly did not comply with the safety and information standards.
In June 2024, MDI International Pty Ltd and TEEG Australia Pty Ltd each paid penalties of $49,500 after the ACCC issued them with infringement notices for alleged breaches of the Australian Consumer Law, by failing to comply with the testing requirements of the button battery safety standard.
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Ace News Desk – It was as though it came straight from a spy novel. There was a beautician, a love triangle, and a mixed-martial-arts fighter. The operations were run out of a dilapidated guesthouse in a British seaside town.
ABC Court News Report
Children’s toys, car keys, water bottles and even a pair of glasses were used to hide covert surveillance devices.
Vanya Gaberova wears glasses capable of recording video, which were seized during investigations into the spy ring. (Reuters: Metropolitan Police Service)normal
There were fake identities purporting to be those of accredited journalists, UN ambassadors, law enforcement officers and health workers.
Members of the spy ring had fake IDs and uniforms to help them on their operations. (Supplied: UK Crown Prosecution Service)normal
Some of the uniforms sourced to help the spies get into buildings undetected included those for paramedics and couriers from DHL, Uber, Deliveroo and Pizza Express.
But this isn’t a gripping espionage thriller.
This is a story of a sophisticated spy ring, which was working on behalf of the Russian government.
The Bulgarian spies operated for years, tracking people and sourcing information sought by the Kremlin. (Supplied: UK Crown Prosecution Service)normal
The ringleader and his minions
For two-and-a-half years until they were caught in February 2023, a group of six Bulgarians spied on prominent individuals and gathered evidence of key locations that were of interest to the Kremlin.
Their base was a 33-room former hotel in the resort town of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk.
Orlin Roussev was the ringleader.
Orlin Roussev, the ringleader of the spies he called “the Minions”. (Reuters: Metropolitan Police Service)normal
He acted as an intermediary for Russian intelligence.
Marsalek gave instructions to Roussev, whose job was to wrangle his five operatives: Bizer Dzhambazov, Ivan Stoyanov, Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova and Tihomir Ivanchev.
Using the messaging app Telegram, the group discussed plans, with codenames taken straight from Hollywood.
On Roussev’s phone police found messages in which he went by the codename “Jackie Chan”, while Dzhambazov used “Mad Max” and “Jean-Claude Van Damme” as pseudonyms.
They referred to their subordinate spies as “the Minions”, named for the sidekicks to the lead character villain Gru in the film Despicable Me.
GRU is also the name of the Russian defence ministry’s military intelligence service — one of the country’s main spy agencies.
The “Minions” — Vanya Gaberova, Katrin Ivanova, and Tihomir Ivanchev — are due to be sentenced in May. (Reuters: Metropolitan Police Service)normal
The spy ring was hired to conduct espionage on targets across the UK and Europe.
Roussev pleaded guilty to spying on behalf of Russia before the trial of three of his co-accused, which was held earlier this year.
Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova and Tihomir Ivanchev, the “Minions”, were all found guilty in March.
They are due to be sentenced in coming weeks.
Dzhambazov was Roussev’s right-hand man.
Bizer Dzhambazov, Roussev’s right hand man who went by the codenames “Mad Max” and “Jean-Claude Van Damme” on a messaging app. (Reuters: Metropolitan Police Service)normal
He was in a relationship with fellow spy and “Minion”, Ivanova.
They lived together in a house in north-west London.
Another “Minion”, Gaberova, who worked as a beautician, was also in a relationship with Dzhambazov.
Ivanchev, the third “Minion”, was also previously in a relationship with Gaberova.
All have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to spy — Ivanova was also found guilty of possessing fake ID’s.
The fifth comrade, Stoyanov, a mixed martial arts fighter, has pleaded guilty to spying.
Ivan Stoyanov faces sentencing after pleading guilty to spying for Russia. (Suppliled: UK Crown Prosecution Service)normal
A new kind of Russian spy
When Roussev’s base was raided, police found what they have described as an “Aladdin’s cave” of espionage paraphernalia.
Among the treasure trove of devices seized were 221 mobile phones, more than 250 hard drives, close to 500 SIM cards and hundreds of other items used for recording, surveillance and hacking.
More than 90 bank cards were also found, along with 75 passports in 55 different names.
A fake ID used by the Bulgarian spy ring. (Supplied: UK Crown Prosecution Service)normal
They were used to help the spies with their work of following people, reconnaissance around important buildings and feeding detailed information back to Marsalek, who passed it onto Moscow.
Paid handsomely for their work, the group carried out six key operations the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) used to build its case.
Its investigation was based on extensive communications between ring members on Telegram, with a UK court hearing detectives trawled through more than 200,000 messages.
There was also evidence of financial transactions and travel, and hundreds of spy devices, many of which were found in the hotel Roussev used as the ring’s headquarters.
“Sifting through thousands of messages, and then matching this up with physical travel, financial statements and surveillance reports and footage, meant detectives were able to build up a compelling picture of the group’s activity, as well as identify those involved and their roles within the group,” the Metropolitan Police Service said.
During the court proceedings, the prosecution proved that by conspiring to obtain information that was of use to a foreign adversary, the agents were working against the safety and interests of the UK.
“It was clear that the activity was for the benefit of Russia, not just from the choice of targets but also from the nature of the Telegram messages that were exchanged between members of the group,” the UK Crown Prosecution Service said.
Investigative journalist and Russian security expert Andrei Soldatov said this operation was an example of how Moscow changed its military intelligence operations in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea.
“What we’ve seen ever since is a reliance on proxies, on criminals, on people who do not have diplomatic cover, and they can still be quite effective,” he said.
“Russian military intelligence has become much more aggressive, much more adventurous, and the people they are recruiting now for operations are not spies in a traditional sense of the word.
“It’s not about people who are trying to collect information secretly infiltrating Western society.
“It’s about assassinations, it’s about sabotage operations.”
Honey-trap and kidnapping plots
The head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism division, Frank Ferguson, described the espionage operation as “high-level” with “significant” financial reward for those involved.
He said the spy ring’s targeting of those who had fled persecution in Russia undermined the message that the UK was a safe place.
Two of their main targets were investigative journalists Christo Grozev and Roman Dobrokhotov — both of whom have reported stories critical of Moscow.
Bulgarian national Grozev uncovered Russian links to the 2018 Salisbury poisoning attacks and as a result was placed on a wanted list by the Russian Interior Ministry.
The spy ring followed Grozev around Europe, and spied on him in multiple countries including Austria, Montenegro and Spain.
They provided Russia with information about his accommodation, his car and his contacts, according to the CPS.
The group also considered a potential “honey trap” plot using Gaberova to target him.
Dobrokhotov, a Russian journalist who lives in the UK working as editor in-chief of investigative outlet The Insider, was also tracked around Europe.
On one flight from Budapest to Berlin, Ivanova sat next to him.
Messages revealed the group had discussed kidnapping Dobrokhotov, but decided it was too risky.
From late 2022 until February 2023, they spied on a US military base in the German city of Stuttgart.
Some of the sophisticated technology that was used to spy on the US base, according to UK prosecutors. (Supplied: UK Crown Prosecution Service)normal
It is understood to be a location where Ukrainian soldiers were being trained to use surface-to-air weapons.
The plan was to secure key intelligence on those at the base so the information could then be used to locate members of the Ukrainian military when they returned to the battlefield.
The operation was conducted from a car, which had been fitted out with surveillance equipment, that was later found near the military base.
“Surveillance images and videos of the base were recovered from devices along with general descriptions of security at the base,” the CPS said.
Agents of chaos
Some of the other operations simply sought to cause chaos.
For example, they sprayed the Kazakhstan Embassy in London with fake pig blood, so they could then create a phoney opposition group and demonstrate outside.
Roussev, Dzhambazov and Stoyanov were behind the fake pig blood operation, according to UK prosecutors. (Supplied: UK Crown Prosecution Service)normal
They would then feed bogus intelligence about the group back to Kazakh security services, via their Russian connections.
“The aim of the operation was to increase the standing of their Russian clients in the eyes of the Kazakhs, for the benefit of Russia,” the CPS said.
Mr Soldatov said these kinds of plots didn’t require “extremely competent or professional operatives.”
“What is enough is just to show that you are capable of something,” he said.
He said the group didn’t need to “kill a lot of people” to achieve their objective, they just had to show intent and that it would have an impact.
“In this case, on the UK and European countries, because now they understand that we need to pay more for protection and for security,” he said.
“So, in a way, even an unsuccessful operation raises a cost of protection and security, which is exactly the objective of such operations.
“The other objective has been always, at least since 2016, to show that Russian capabilities are still there, that they are still capable of doing things in Europe and in the United States and again, for that, you don’t need to be extremely successful.”
Although Russian intelligence took a new direction in 2014, it was the expulsion of more than 700 Russian diplomats and spies after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine eight years later, that would lead to the real shift.
Most of the agents are recruited online through messaging apps like Telegram.
“It’s not only about Russian military intelligence, it’s also other agencies like the SVR, which is a Russian Foreign Intelligence Agency, or the FSB, which is supposed to only be acting inside the country but it’s getting more and more aggressive abroad”, Mr Soldatov said.
Even though the Bulgarian spy ring was scuppered, Russia is still likely to consider its work a success.
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Moscow didn’t have to sacrifice any nationals to gather the intelligence it did, and their operations sent a chilling message to Russian citizens critical of the Kremlin hiding out in the UK.
A TikTok sign is displayed on top of their building in Culver City, Calif., on Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
Ace Breaking News – LONDON (AP) — European Union privacy watchdogs fined TikTok 530 million euros ($600 million) on Friday after a four-year investigation found that the video sharing app’s data transfers to China breached the EU’s strict data privacy rules.
A TikTok sign is displayed on top of their building in Culver City, Calif., on Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission also sanctioned TikTok for not being transparent with users about where their personal data was being sent and ordered the company to comply with the rules within six months.
The Irish national watchdog serves as TikTok’s lead data privacy regulator in the 27-nation EU because the company’s European headquarters is based in Dublin.
“TikTok failed to verify, guarantee and demonstrate that the personal data of (European) users, remotely accessed by staff in China, was afforded a level of protection essentially equivalent to that guaranteed within the EU,” Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said in a statement.
TikTok said it disagreed with the decision and plans to appeal.
A TikTok sign is displayed on top of their building in Culver City, Calif., on Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
The company said in a blog post that the decision focuses on a “select period” ending in May 2023, before it embarked on a data localization project called Project Clover that involved building three data centers in Europe.
“The facts are that Project Clover has some of the most stringent data protections anywhere in the industry, including unprecedented independent oversight by NCC Group, a leading European cybersecurity firm,” said Christine Grahn, TikTok’s European head of public policy and government relations. “The decision fails to fully consider these considerable data security measures.”
TikTok, whose parent company ByteDance is based in China, has been under scrutiny in Europe over how it handles personal information of its users amid concerns from Western officials that it poses a security risk over user data sent to China. In 2023, the watchdog fined the company hundreds of millions of euros in a separate child privacy investigation.
The Irish watchdog said its investigation found that TikTok failed to address “potential access by Chinese authorities” to European users’ personal data under Chinese laws on anti-terrorism, counter-espionage, cybersecurity and national intelligence that were identified as ‘materially diverging’ from EU standards.”
Grahn said TikTok has “has never received a request for European user data from the Chinese authorities, and has never provided European user data to them.”
Under the EU rules, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, European user data can only be transferred outside of the bloc if there are safeguards in place to ensure the same level of protection.
A TikTok sign is displayed on top of their building in Culver City, Calif., on Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
The investigation, which opened in September 2021, also found that TikTok’s privacy policy at the time did not name third countries, including China, where user data was transferred. The watchdog said the policy, which has since been updated, failed to explain that data processing involved “remote access to personal data stored in Singapore and the United States by personnel based in China.”
TikTok faces further scrutiny from the Irish regulator, who said that the company had provided inaccurate information throughout the inquiry by saying it didn’t store European user data on Chinese servers. It wasn’t until April that it informed the regulator that it discovered in February that some data had, in fact, been stored on Chinese servers.
A TikTok sign is displayed on top of their building in Culver City, Calif., on Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
Doyle said that the watchdog is taking the recent developments “very seriously” and “considering what further regulatory action may be warranted.”
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Ace Breaking News – A Californian man appeared before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court Monday (28 April, 2025) charged with allegedly importing 15kg of cocaine in his black suitcase.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Border Operations, 30 April 2025. This is a joint release from the Australian Federal Police and Border Force.
The man, 28, came to police attention on Sunday (27 April, 2025) after he arrived at Melbourne Airport on a flight from San Francisco, United States.
When Australian Border Force (ABF) officers searched his suitcase, they allegedly found 12 vacuum-sealed packages, with a total weight of about 15.3kg. The contents tested positive for cocaine.
The AFP charged the man with:
One count of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, contrary to section 307.1 of the Criminal Code (Cth); and
One count of possessing a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border controlled drug, contrary to section 307.5 of the Criminal Code (Cth).
Each offence carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
AFP Commander Raegan Stewart said the seized cocaine had an estimated street value of $4.8 million and equated to about 750,000 street level deals.
“Criminals are motivated by greed and will use any means to import harmful drugs into Australia to make a profit, at the expense of Australians and their health,” Commander Stewart said.
“In 2022-23 there were 985 cocaine-related hospitalisations nationally*, more than two each day on average, which puts pressure on the health system.
“The AFP works closely with law enforcement partners to stop criminals who use airports and planes to bring illicit drugs into Australia.”
ABF Acting Superintendent Katrina Vernuccio said that ABF officers remained highly vigilant of criminals’ attempts to circumvent border controls within the aviation traveller domain.
“Organised crime will look to any method available to them in order to smuggle illicit drugs and contraband into Australia,” a/Supt Vernuccio said.
“These criminal pursuits carry severe penalties and our ABF officers are ready to swiftly intercept and apprehend anyone looking to harm our community through the illegal importation of harmful and highly addictive substances.”
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Agreement will cut delays and costs for UK businesses
UK judgments against foreign suppliers will be recognised by participating countries overseas
This will boost the UK legal sector and drive economic growth, part of the government’s Plan for Change
Businesses will save time and money on repetitive legal action thanks to new international rules coming into force across the UK on 1 July.
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The UK Government signed up to the Hague 2019 Convention, which means other countries will more easily recognise and enforce UK court judgments in cross-border disputes – sparing firms from costly and repetitive court battles.
Currently, if a UK business wins a case in a UK court against a company based in another country, business leaders face the threat of time-consuming enforcement processes or even identical legal action overseas for the same dispute – causing delays, increasing costs and creating confusion to the consumer.
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The new rules will provide a simpler enforcement route to existing complex systems, giving one clear consistent set of shared rules – that the UK helped shape – making the process easier for everyone.
Streamlining the process will save businesses time and money, encourage foreign companies to use the UK’s world-class lawyers and courts to settle their disputes and grow the economy overall.
Justice Minister, Lord Ponsonby, said:
This convention delivers real benefits for British businesses dealing with international disputes.
As part of our Plan for Change we’re boosting UK firms’ confidence to trade by minimising legal costs and ensuring justice across borders, all while cementing Britain’s role as a global legal powerhouse committed to the rule of law.
The Convention will enhance international legal collaboration. It will apply to judgments in civil and commercial matters, strengthening the UK’s position as a global hub for dispute resolution.
The 2019 Hague Convention is already being applied by 29 parties, from Ukraine to EU countries, with Uruguay joining last year. This means UK civil and commercial judgments will be recognised and enforced in these nations and that the UK will recognise judgments made in their courts.
With 91 members of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), a major multilateral forum for private international law rules which has produced numerous conventions including the 2019 Hague Convention, Hague 2019 has a potentially global reach.
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The Convention will apply to judgments given in proceedings that commence on or after 1 July 2025 across the entire United Kingdom or in other participating countries.
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Ace News Desk – Besieged by thousands of lawsuits alleging that its paraquat weedkiller causes Parkinson’s disease, Syngenta has entered into an agreement aimed at settling large swaths of those claims.
The News Lede By Carey Gillam Published: April 15 2025
Syngenta is moving to settle thousands of lawsuits claiming paraquat causes Parkinson’s disease
The company and lead counsel for thousands of plaintiffs have “entered into a signed Letter Agreement intended to resolve” the litigation, an April 14 court filing states.
The lawyers for the plaintiffs confirmed the settlement but declined to answer questions about the details.
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“Public details of the settlement will be available for counsel and their clients once the process is finalized,” a team of plaintiffs’ lawyers said in a statement.
In a court hearing Tuesday, one of the lead plaintiff lawyers, Khaldoun Baghdadi, said the terms of the settlement should be completed within 30 days. He said further trial planning proceedings should be delayed.
Syngenta confirmed that it has “settled certain claims” related to paraquat, but said in a statement that it continues to believe that there is “no merit” to the claims.
Litigation “can be distracting and costly,” the company said. “Entering into the agreement in no way implies that paraquat causes Parkinson’s Disease or that Syngenta has done anything wrong. We stand by the safety of Paraquat. Despite decades of investigation and more than 1,200 epidemiological and laboratory studies of paraquat, no scientist or doctor has ever concluded in a peer-reviewed scientific analysis that paraquat causes Parkinson’s disease This view is endorsed in science-based reviews by regulatory authorities, such as in the US, Australia, and Japan.”
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The move to settle comes amid mounting calls to ban paraquat from both state and federal lawmakers, and as growing numbers of Parkinson’s patients blame the company for not warning them of paraquat risks. Numerous scientific studies have linked Parkinson’s to exposure to paraquat, a weedkiller commonly used in agriculture.
The agreement would not resolve all of the cases filed in the United States against Syngenta, but could resolve the majority of them if enough plaintiffs agree to the terms.
As of mid-April, there were more than 5,800 active lawsuits pending in what is known as multidistrict litigation (MDL) being overseen by a federal court in Illinois. There were more than 450 other cases filed in California, and many more scattered in state courts around the country.
The agreement notice applies to people whose lawsuits are part of the MDL, and could provide settlements for plaintiffs in the cases outside the MDL as well, said Baghdadi.
Lawyers for plaintiffs in cases outside the MDL expressed frustration with the situation, however, saying they were not included in the settlement discussions, and were doubtful the terms would provide value to the majority of plaintiffs. They fear that plaintiffs who do not agree to settle may see their cases delayed or otherwise negatively impacted by the deal.
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“These plaintiffs are dying every day,” Majed Nachawati, a lawyer whose clients are outside the MDL, told a judge in a California court hearing Tuesday on the matter. He said the news of the settlement was a “shock” because he was not apprised of the settlement negotiations by the other plaintiffs’ lawyers, as he should have been.
Several trials have been set to start in the last two years, but in each case, Syngenta has successfully delayed those trials. A case in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is now set to start at the end of May, after being previously delayed. Syngenta also successfully was able to get a delay in a trial that had been set to start in early May in Washington state.
“We just don’t want the can to be kicked down the road any further,” lawyer Curtis Hoke, whose firm represents 200 plaintiffs suing Syngenta, told the California judge in Tuesday’s court hearing.
Paraquat was introduced in the 1960s by a predecessor to the giant global agrochemical company Syngenta, which is now a Chinese-owned entity. The herbicide has become one of the most widely used weedkilling chemicals in the world, used by farmers to control weeds before planting their crops and to dry out crops for harvest. In the United States, the chemical is used in orchards, wheat fields, pastures where livestock graze, cotton fields and elsewhere.
Internal Syngenta documents revealed by The New Lede show the company was aware many years ago of scientific evidence that paraquat could impact the brain in ways that cause Parkinson’s, and that it secretly sought to influence scientific research to counter the evidence of harm.
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Syngenta was allegedly aided in suppressing the risks of paraquat by a“reputation management” firm called v-Fluence.. Internal documents also show that the company withheld damaging internal research from the EPA and worked to try to discredit a prominent scientist whose work connected paraquat to Parkinson’s.
Syngenta’s effort to settle the litigation before any high-profile trials comes after Monsanto’s owner Bayer was rocked by similar litigation alleging its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer. After the company lost the first Roundup trial, its stock price plummeted, investors became enraged and Bayer has spent years and billions of dollars fighting to end the ongoing litigation.
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