Law and Crime

April 15 (UPI) — A jury found Wednesday that Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster maintained an illegal monopoly in ticketing.

The case was heard in a Manhattan federal court over five weeks and saw testimony from dozens of witnesses. The jury began deliberations Friday.

The complaint was brought by the Department of Justice and several state attorneys general in 2024. It said that the company engaged in “anticompetitive conduct” and controlled all ticketing, concert booking, venues and promotions.

Because of this, fans paid higher fees, and artists had fewer options for touring and venues.

Live Nation denies acting as a monopoly.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the verdict “a historic and resounding victory for artists, fans and the venues that support them.”

“In the face of dwindling antitrust enforcement by the Trump Administration, this verdict shows just how far states can go to protect our residents from big corporations that are using their power to illegally raise prices and rip-off Americans,” Bonta said in a statement.

The Justice Department struck a settlement deal in March, but states decided to continue with the lawsuit instead.

The Justice Department settlement with Live Nation required Ticketmaster to divest up to 13 amphitheaters, reserve 50% of tickets for nonexclusive venues and cap ticketing service fees at 15%. A senior Justice Department official said it would lower prices by expanding choices.

“This settlement will resolve all remaining matters with the DOJ, without any admission of wrongdoing,” Live Nation said in a statement.

The verdict does not mean prices will drop soon, CNN reported.

Judge Arun Subramanian now must have a second trial to decide on remedies. The states requested a breakup of the company, or he could order a sale of the business.

“It will be an earthquake in the industry in terms of people’s perception in feeling validated,” Scott Grzenczyk, a lawyer with law firm Girard Sharp, told CNN.

“There’s a big difference between people complaining about Goliath and getting a jury verdict that Goliath was a monopolist and doing something wrong,” he said.

Jeffrey Kessler, an attorney for the states, pleaded with jurors during closing arguments to “apply your common sense,” NBC News reported.

“You’re New Yorkers,” he said. “I trust that you know when someone is blowing smoke or being straight with you.”

“It’s time to hold them accountable,” Kessler said.

April 15 (UPI) — President Donald Trump again threatened to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell if he doesn’t step down from his position in May.

“Then I’ll have to fire him,” the president said on Fox Business. “If he’s not leaving on time — I’ve held back firing him. I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial. I want to be uncontroversial.”

Powell’s term as chair ends on May 15 and Trump does not have the authority to fire him without cause. But his nominated replacement, Kevin Warsh, hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate. If he doesn’t get confirmed, Powell could stay on as chair pro tempore.

“That’s what the law calls for. That’s what we’ve done on several occasions,” Powell said.

He said he plans to stay on the board.

“I have no intention of leaving the board until the investigation is well and truly over with transparency and finality,” Powell said.

The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to have hearings on Warsh’s nomination on April 21.

Powell’s term as a Fed governor goes until 2028, but he said he hasn’t decided if he’ll serve out that term.

Complicating matters, the Trump administration has been trying to prosecute Powell for his role in the $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed headquarters. The building went far over budget, and Trump has implied that something illegal is happening.

U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro tried to subpoena Powell over the renovation, but a judge denied it. Pirro admitted she had no evidence.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-S.C., who is on the Senate Banking Committee, said he will continue to block Warsh’s confirmation until the investigation into Powell ends.

But Trump said he isn’t worried about Tillis.

Tillis “is an American; he knows what to do,” he said.

Trump said the investigation must happen.

“What they’ve done to that, so it is probably corrupt, but what it really is is incompetent, and we have to show the incompetence of that,” he said.

Trump has wanted Powell out of the Fed since he was elected to office for the second term. He has said he wants interest rates dropped, but Powell has taken a more conservative approach. Powell has lowered the rates, but not fast enough for the president.

“Does that mean we stop a probe of a building that I would have done for $25 million that’s going to cost maybe $4 billion? Don’t you think we have to find out what happened there?” Trump said in the interview at the White House. “I have to find out.”

He called Powell “a disaster.”

“Here’s a man who took this little, tiny building and a couple of other little, tiny complex, and he’s spending more than $3 billion. I want to know who the contractor is, because that contractor is making billions of dollars, perhaps.”

The Fed said the building’s cost overruns are due to “unforeseen conditions” requiring more spending, including “more asbestos than anticipated, toxic contamination in soil, and a higher-than-expected water table.”

Trump has also tried to oust Fed governor Lisa Cook on the allegation that she committed mortgage fraud.

American YouTuber Johnny Somali, who sparked outrage in South Korea two years ago after kissing a statue symbolizing Korean victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery, was sentenced by a court Wednesday to six months in prison and remanded in custody.

Somali was indicted by South Korean authorities on multiple charges, including obstruction of business and violations of minor public order laws.

He is accused of uploading a video of himself kissing a “Statue of Peace” that commemorates the former sex slaves in Seoul and performing a lewd dance in front of it in October 2024. He also provoked public outrage by causing disturbances on buses, subways and an amusement park, vandalizing a convenience store in Seoul’s Mapo district and playing obscene videos in public.

The Seoul Western District Court sentenced Somali to six months in prison and 20 days of detention and barred him from employment at institutions related to children and adolescents for five years.

The court then ordered him to be taken into custody immediately.

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April 14 (UPI) — The Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal court to dismiss the convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers members who were found guilty of leading and organizing the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The request includes 12 former members of the groups, all of whom prosecutors said were ringleaders of the attack. After his return to office in 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned most of those who were convicted for their parts in the riot, a move affecting more than 1,000 people. However, the sentences of some, including these 12, were commuted to time served instead, freeing them from prison though the convictions remained.

The group involved in the Justice Department request on Tuesday includes Stewart Rhodes, a leader of the Oath Keepers who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges. Prosecutors said Rhodes and other Oath Keepers “began plotting to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power” after the 2020 election, CBS News reported.

Others whose sentences were commuted are Proud Boys leaders Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl, Dominic Pezzola and Joseph Biggs, who were also convicted of seditious conspiracy for their role.

Appeals involving this group have continued, and the Justice Department requested Tuesday that federal appeals panels vacate the earlier convictions and drop the cases in whole.

“The United States has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Lenerz in the filing, Politico reported.

Greg Rosen, former chief of the Justice Department’s Capitol Siege Section, criticized the move, CBS News reported.

“It’s a reminder of what drove the pardons in the first place-the political violence is acceptable as long as your politics align,” he told CBS News. “And it’s a continuing and sad commentary on the current state of the department.”