[FoxNews] Dennis Hastert died peacefully of natural causes at his home, according to Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell. The longtime politician represented Illinois' 14th Congressional district for 20 years and served as Speaker of the House for eight years before retiring in 2007.
His career was later tarnished by a bank fraud conviction linked to his efforts to quash the story of a former student who accused him of sexual abuse during his time as a high school wrestling coach. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2016.
Hastert also underwent sex offender treatment, two years of supervised release after his time behind bars and paid a $250,000 fine to a crime victims fund.
Hastert pleaded guilty in the case to attempting to pay $3.5 million to an unnamed individual to keep the alleged sexual abuse a secret.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Kamran Gasanov
[Regnum] Mid-September 2026 should have been harvest time for thousands of investors in Turkey's major investment funds. Instead, a nightmare awaited them. Several institutions suddenly faced a problem: clients were demanding refunds en masse, but there was nothing to sell—their portfolios were comprised of shares with zero liquidity.
Managers began frantically dumping their shares, but the more aggressively they sold, the faster prices fell.
Not but. Because.
On September 16, trading on the Istanbul Stock Exchange had to be halted—the market simply collapsed. Over the course of a week, the BIST-100 index lost more than 8%, and market capitalization fell by tens of billions of dollars.
But was this an accident? The investigation points to something else. The prices of individual shares were artificially inflated for months, so that the money could be withdrawn at the right moment to cover investors' obligations. In other words, there are clear signs of a Ponzi scheme.
On September 17, the Turkish Capital Markets Board (SPK) made an unprecedented decision to liquidate 131 funds belonging to seven management companies: Tera, Pusula, Hedef, Atlas, A1 Capital, Pardus, and Bulls Portfolio. This put $18 billion in assets and the lives of 455,000 investors at risk.
Now their shares will be sold, and the proceeds will be distributed among investors. The process could take up to six months, and no one knows how much money will actually be recovered.
THE THREADS LEAD TO ERDOGAN'S ENTOURAGE
The Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office has opened cases on charges of market manipulation, fraud, and money laundering. The suspect list includes not only ordinary managers but also figures who were recently considered "untouchable" in stock market circles.
Those detained include Tera Yatırım Holding Chairman Emre Tezmen, his brother Kerem Alkin (head of Tera Portföy), the company's CEO Alper Öztürk, and Pusula Holding CEO Serdar Turhan. In total, approximately 50 people were taken into custody.
The investigation is also looking into the transfer of money and crypto assets abroad. Of particular interest is the case of Serdar Turhan, who managed to transfer $15 million to the Swiss bank Edmond de Rothschild in late August. The investigation will determine how this money ended up in his account.
Authorities froze the assets of dozens of companies, foundations, and individuals, and imposed travel bans on several suspects. The restrictions were later lifted for 45 companies and 19 foundations, but the freeze remained in place for individuals.
While the arrests of the businessmen could be dismissed as "isolated violations," the involvement of a man named Fatma Betül Sayyan Kaya adds a political dimension to the case. She is the former Minister of Family Affairs and, until recently, the deputy chairperson of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), responsible for social policy.
Kaya and her husband are suspected of making a huge profit from insider trading. According to opposition figure Zeynal Emre, in April, the couple purchased shares in the shipbuilding company Özata Denizcilik for approximately 163 million lira and then sold them for almost 2.2 billion lira—a profit of approximately $45 million in five months.
At the beginning of April, the company's shares were trading at 220 lira, but by September 15 they had soared 20-fold.
Realizing the fire was burning, on September 26, Kaya asked Erdoğan to relieve her of her party position, declaring that she was taking on political responsibility. The president granted her request, but her resignation did not save her from the consequences.
A few days later, just before parliament resumed its work, the Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office officially ordered the freezing of all assets of the former minister and her husband until the investigation was completed.
The authorities were in a hurry to ease the pressure on the AKP, as the opposition, led by the New Party, would have begun attacking Erdoğan and his allies for the former minister's sins from the very first day of the Grand National Assembly.
THE AUTHORITIES' REACTION AND THE MOOD BAROMETER
The scale of the scandal is truly serious, and Erdoğan was afraid to ignore it. In the last days of September, he told AKP members that Turkey would emerge from the stock market crisis "cleansed." "No one should use market manipulation to appropriate citizens' property," he emphasized, promising that all those involved would be held accountable.
Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, who is being blamed by critics, has engaged in collective psychotherapy. The crisis does not threaten the financial system as a whole, and the authorities will ensure liquidity and protect investment, production, exports, and employment, he promised.
The opposition, however, doesn't believe in a "purge from above." Representatives of the New Party, which has become the second largest force in parliament, are demanding an investigation into the connections between AKP funds, businesses, and officials. Their argument is simple: if the investigation is limited to arresting the managers but fails to address those who covered up the scheme, such justice is worthless.
The Turkish press is a barometer of public sentiment, and not a single major publication has ignored the issue. Even pro-government media outlets are not shying away from criticism. They believe the scandal is unprecedented, and the consequences could be catastrophic for the economy.
The authoritative secular opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet calls the crisis "the culmination of long-ignored problems" and quotes New Party leader Özgür Özel : "Either you knew—in which case you're at the center of the scheme. Or you didn't know—in which case you didn't notice how it was constructed. In both cases, you must resign." The newspaper predicts resignations in the government's economic bloc.
Karar columnist Mehmet Oçaktan asks a question many are afraid to say out loud: "Is all this really happening—isn't there a state in this country?" The author recalls that Minister Şimşek warned of problems ten months ago, but nothing was done: "It seems those who were supposed to oversee these processes were watching them from the podium."
Particularly revealing is the statement by the former deputy chairman of MASAK (financial intelligence) Ramzan Bashak: “When I raised this issue twice, I was arrested both times.”
Mahmut Övür of the pro-government Sabah recalls calling Tera and its president Emre Tezmen "untouchable" just a year ago, when they found themselves at the center of speculation. "The market value of four Tera companies rose from 9 billion lira to 620 billion lira in a year. This cannot be explained by logic, trade, or investment—it's called fraud," the author writes.
He calls the defendants in the case "the new kings of the stock exchange," and suspicions against them are only heightened by the fact that they own luxury cars, planes, and yachts, live ostentatiously, and have "special" connections.
The secular opposition newspaper Sözcü, in an article with the blatant headline "Caught Red-Handed: Invested 2.2 Billion," details how the scheme's participants withdrew funds before the collapse. The newspaper quotes the Speaker of Parliament: "This isn't just corruption and speculation; it's a matter of economic security."
Independent journalist Murat Yetkin sees two options: "Turn the crisis into an opportunity, either to clean up the system or to continue the denial... and wait for the next crisis, when the people's money will once again end up in the pockets of a few speculators."
A TRUMP CARD FOR THE OPPOSITION
The main result of the stock exchange scandal isn't even the unprecedented scale of deception itself, but the erosion of public confidence. Investors are now asking: who controls the market, how fair are asset valuations, and are "insiders" getting an advantage over ordinary investors?
The authorities are trying to separate the financial crisis from the political scandal. They claim that most of the market is operating as expected, and restrictions are being lifted for companies whose connection to violations has not been confirmed.
But this isn't enough to restore trust. They'll have to show transparent results of the investigation, explain the origins of the suspects' large incomes, and return the money to investors.
For the opposition, the scandal has become a lifeline at a time when it is being systematically put under pressure.
Over the past couple of years, the Republican People's Party (CHP) has suffered blow after blow. First, the arrest of its most popular politician and mayor of Ankara, Ekrem İmamoğlu, then the CHP's Istanbul branch was placed under external administration, and finally, the annulment of Özel's election as the new party leader and the reinstatement of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (considered an Erdoğan puppet) to the post.
Split between the CHP and the 90 MPs who joined Özel's New Party, the opposition now has an opportunity for revenge. The AKP's "robbery of the population" is one of the most powerful narratives for the new election campaign.
It is clear that the New Party, which has strengthened its position amid the crisis, will pressure the government, demanding a full investigation into the ties between foundations, businesses, and the authorities, and, in the future, possibly the resignation of high-ranking officials, including Minister Şimşek.
Erdogan promises that Turkey will emerge from the crisis "cleansed," but the story has such widespread resonance that the AKP's ratings have already been hit. The only thing that reassures the Turkish president is that elections are still a long way off, not until 2028. By then, the authorities will have done everything they can to ensure that people forget about the stock market manipulation. Erdogan has been through worse in his career.
#2
This is about an event a few weeks ago. Below is a piece from Business Standard that explains it more succinctly.
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Turkish authorities have taken a series of steps to contain the fallout from a speculative bubble that has rocked the Istanbul stock market and raised concerns over the savings of thousands of investors.
Trading in funds managed by seven asset managers has been frozen, while 130 funds have been ordered to liquidate, the Financial Times reported. The funds have a combined portfolio size of 891 billion lira ($21.4 billion) and about 353,000 investors, according to a source cited by Reuters.
The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkiye has also increased repo funding to 300 billion lira and raised banks’ borrowing limits in the interbank money market 10-fold. The steps are intended to improve access to lira liquidity and reduce the risk of forced asset sales spreading the turmoil to other parts of the financial system.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
10/05/2026 12:56 Comments ||
Top||
[JTN] Doesn't democracy die in darkness anymore? Nothing about the substance of the meeting was recorded in the notes even though the U.S. Attorney's Manual requires agents in important cases to confer about notetaking ahead of time, memorialize that discussion and then take substantive notes of contacts with witnesses. Smith's team did neither.
Then-Special Counsel Jack Smith's team secretly met at the CIA in late 2023 with former Director John Brennan to discuss "expert testimony" in the classified documents prosecution of President Donald Trump, and the FBI agents who attended the interview left blank their notes of what transpired, according to bombshell memos released Monday.
The autumn 2023 interaction with Smith's team occurred just months after Brennan testified before the House Judiciary Committee about the now-discredited Russia collusion case. Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, alleged in an October 2025 criminal referral to the Justice Department that Brennan's testimony was false.
"On 3 November 2023, FBI Washington Field Office (WFO) and Special Counsel personnel met with former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John BRENNAN at CIA Headquarters in McLean, Virginia," a typed FBI summary of the meeting states.
"The purpose of the meeting was to discuss expert testimony to National Defense Information in the forthcoming captioned investigation," the summary written five days after the Brennan interaction added. "No documents were shown in this meeting. The original Agent notes will be maintained in the attached IA."
Two agents' notes are attached to the memo, but they are entirely blank except for the date of the meeting, the location, Brennan's name and the government attendees.
Nothing about the substance of the meeting was recorded in the agents' notes even though the U.S. attorney's manual (formally named the "Justice Manual") requires agents in most cases to take substantive notes of contacts with witnesses. In standard FBI practice, agents typically take rough notes by hand during an interview and later convert them into an official FD-302 Interview Report Form.
"Although not required by law, generally speaking, witness interviews should be memorialized by the agent," the manual states, "Agent and prosecutor notes and original recordings should be preserved, and prosecutors should confirm with agents that substantive interviews should be memorialized."
The interaction with Brennan was part of the FBI code-named investigation "Plasmic Echo," which later became the genesis of Smith's charges accusing Trump of mishandling classified information taken to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after his first term ended.
Those charges were dismissed after a federal judge ruled that Smith was not legally appointed as a special counsel because he was not confirmed by the Senate as required by the Constitution's Appointments clause.
The timing and nature of Smith's contact with Brennan is likely to generate intrigue in Washington, first because he was a vociferous critic of Trump on television, a status which would make him an unusual neutral expert for a Florida jury to hear from in a case against the president.
And secondly, Brennan's interaction with prosecutors and agents occurred just a few short months after the ex-CIA boss gave testimony in Congress that has generated widespread controversy and a criminal referral. Brennan recently got a grand jury subpoena over that matter.
In a contentious Senate hearing last week, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tore into Smith's perceived partisanship in launching two anti-Trump investigations and indictments. At that hearing, Hawley ridiculed Smith's claims to non-partisanship, asserting — supported by unearthed memorandums and emails — that Smith's actions "were in fact all about politics from day one [...] it was an nothing other that an attempt to interfere, politically in a presidential election."
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/05/2026 10:53 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[32 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[JTN] Doesn't democracy die in darkness anymore? Nothing about the substance of the meeting was recorded in the notes even though the U.S. Attorney's Manual requires agents in important cases to confer about notetaking ahead of time, memorialize that discussion and then take substantive notes of contacts with witnesses. Smith's team did neither. 
BREAKING: Israel says pilot tried to hijack flydubai flight to Tel Aviv that diverted, landed in Saudi Arabia
