Finance

Trump plans to file a $100 million lawsuit against the Justice Department over Mar-a-Lago search and ‘witch hunts’

Published

3 months ago

August 13, 2024

Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump walks toward the stage to speak at a rally at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse at Montana State University on August 9, 2024 in Bozeman, Montana.

Michael Ciaglo | Getty Images News | Getty Images

An attorney for former President Donald Trump has filed a legal notice announcing that his client plans to sue the Justice Department and the FBI for $115 million for alleged “malicious political prosecution” and “abuse of process.”

The notice, a copy of which NBC News obtained Monday, baselessly accuses DOJ leadership and Special Counsel Jack Smith of having perpetrated a “malicious political prosecution aimed at affecting an electoral outcome to prevent President Trump from being re-elected” — a frequent accusation that Trump makes online and during campaign events.

“This malicious prosecution led President Trump to spend tens of millions of dollars defending the case and his reputation,” Trump attorney Daniel Z. Epstein wrote in a notice of claim against the department. Epstein is a former Trump White House lawyer who is now vice-president of America First Legal, the legal group founded by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller.

The filing complains that the FBI’s court-approved search for classified documents at Trump’s Florida estate in August of 2022 was improper, as was Trump’s subsequent indictment for the scores of sensitive classified documents that agents turned up during the search. Trump had pleaded not guilty.

The filing, which was first reported by Fox News, said the search violated “well-established protocol” involving former presidents and cites a Trump social media post after the search saying the government could have had the records “anytime they wanted.”

“All they had to do was ask,” the Truth Social post said. The filing does not mention the multiple requests from the National Archives and the Justice Department for Trump to return the records. The DOJ had also issued a subpoena for the return of such documents in May of 2022, and an attorney for Trump signed a declaration stating they had all been returned that June. The search warrant was executed after investigators got information that they had been misled.

The notice of claim maintains DOJ’s “process” was “unconstitutional.”

It says Smith “brought a lawless criminal indictment” that stemmed from the search in July of last year, and noted that the case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon last month. Cannon, who Trump nominated to the bench, dismissed the case on the grounds that Smith’s appointment as special counsel and the funding for his probe were illegal.

Other federal judges have rejected similar arguments involving previous special counsels. Smith is appealing Cannon’s decision.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, said the action is part of Trump’s fight against the “weaponized Department of Justice” and that the criminal case against Trump “should be immediately dismissed in order to bring unity back to our Nation.”

The notice filed by Trump is a necessary step in filing most civil damages claims against the government. There is no concrete time limit for a response, but if a claimant has not received a “final disposition” within six months of sending the claim, then the claimant can treat that silence as a denial and file suit. The filing suggests that the suit would be filed in the same Florida district where Cannon sits.

The filing was signed on Aug. 7, one day before the two-year anniversary of the search. The claim form says “Failure to completely execute this form or to supply the requested material within two years from the date the claim accrued may render your claim invalid.”

The filing says Trump is seeking “$15 million in actual harm due to his legal costs in defending the Special Counsel proceedings before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.” It’s unclear how much of that money came from Trump personally. NBC News has reported previously that Trump appeared to be using money from a political action committee for his legal fees.

He’s also seeking $100 million in punitive damages.

In a pending appeal of writer E. Jean Carroll’s $83 million defamation verdict against Trump, his attorneys have argued the verdict should be reduced in part because the punitive damages are about four times the amount of the compensatory damages. The amount he’s seeking in this case is over six times the amount of compensatory damages.

It’s unclear what would happen to the action if Trump is elected president again in November, and whether he would be able to direct the Justice Department to pay what he’s seeking.

Finance

China’s Tencent sees opportunity in female Honor of Kings mobile gamers

Published

3 hours ago

November 18, 2024

Business Finance News

Tencent’s Honor of Kings mobile game drew a record 33,000 fans to watch a final competition in Beijing on Nov. 16, 2024.

CNBC | Evelyn Cheng

BEIJING — Chinese gaming giant Tencent is betting on a rise in female players worldwide for its mobile game Honor of Kings, which rolled out to the U.S. and other countries in June.

Already a hit in China, the game drew a record 33,000 fans to a Beijing stadium on Saturday to watch two teams compete for a $3 million grand prize.

Surprisingly, many in the crowd were young women, reflecting how interest in mobile games has broadened out from the stereotypical male player in the days of console and PC gaming.

Launched in China in November 2015, the game’s appeal lies in its easy learning curve and relatively short sessions of around 15 minutes. Anyone with a smartphone can play for free in real time, on the go.

“Honor of Kings became an important way for me to socialize,” said Tianyun Gao, according to CNBC’s translation of her spoken Mandarin. She started playing the game in 2017 as a sophomore in college and became a professional commentator for the game’s competitions a year later.

Gao, an English major from Shanghai, has moderated Honor of Kings’ competitions in two languages, including an international event held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, in August. She said her hope is to see esports become as mainstream as traditional sports, noting that one of her inspirations is a Chinese soccer commentator.

Saudi Arabia aims to become a global hub for gaming and esports: Saudi Esports Federation

Tencent ramped up its global expansion plans for Honor of Kings this year, with its subsidiary, Level Infinite, in February announcing a $15 million investment in developing the game’s tournament worldwide.

An international version of the game has been available since 2016 under different names such as Arena of Valor, but the latest global push for Honor of Kings began in 2022. The game didn’t reach the Middle East until earlier this year and only launched in the key markets of North America, Europe and Japan in June.

Less than a month later, the game topped 50 million downloads outside China, according to the company.

Overwhelmingly mobile-focused

Growth in gaming among women stems largely from their preference in playing on their smartphones, without having to invest in consoles and other technology.

“Nearly half of female players play only on mobile platforms so we have a huge addressable audience,” said Jackie Huang, head of the Honor of Kings global esports division within Tencent Games’ TiMi L1 Studio. “Women make up a significant part of our player base but we want to see this continue growing.”

He said that 45% of gamers globally are women, and that the gender composition of Honor of Kings’ users is “relatively balanced. “We strive to provide users, no matter how they identify, with [a] high quality gaming experience,” Huang said.

Gaming is Tencent’s biggest revenue driver, with international games accounting for around 28% of the its overall gaming business in the third quarter.

The company also owns Riot Games, a developer whose PC-based League of Legends has become one of the most popular names in global esports with its own annual competition. Honor of Kings, which claims 100 million players a day, uses a similar format with two teams of five players each.

Such multiplayer games are the second-most popular category for female gamers, behind puzzles, said Xiaofeng Zeng, China-based vice president at gaming research firm Niko Partners. His analysis found that 95% of women prefer mobile games.

If Honor of Kings can hold first place in China, and achieve that position overseas, then Tencent can generate half its revenue from international markets, Zeng said. He said the game’s top overseas markets by revenue are the U.S., India, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

And in the key market of Southeast Asia, Zeng said that due to a low base, female players are growing two to three times more quickly than male gamers. A newly branded Honor of Kings global championship was held last month in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, with Malaysian team Black Shrew Esports winning the $300,000 first prize.

Early stages

For now, no matter how popular Honor of Kings may be among women, the competitions remain dominated by men. The two teams competing in Beijing on Saturday consisted only of male players.

Huang pointed out that the global championship this year featured a female player from France’s Team Vitality, which is also managed and coached by women.

He attributed the Honor of King’s popularity among women to the game’s playable characters that are also female. Many of the figures, each with different powers, are based on Chinese historical or mythological figures.

In 2021, organizers of the Honor of Kings competition in China also launched a tournament for female players. This year’s womens finals are set to take place in December, with a prize of around $41,000 for the winning team.

“The pandemic was a large accelerator of females into the games space and we have continued to see increased engagement from female gamers,” said Chirag Ambwani, SVP, gaming and entertainment, at SensorTower, which focuses on mobile games.

Reasons include specialized and easy to access content, he said, adding that gaming participation grew overall.

As for Honor of Kings’ global expansion, Ambwani said SensorTower research showed “healthy growth,” with average revenue of more than $5 per user in the U.S. and Canada.

Finance

Druckenmiller bought regional banks but health-care pick is his biggest bet

Published

8 hours ago

November 18, 2024

Business Finance News

Key Points

Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller built a sizable position in regional banks and made one health-care name his biggest position last quarter.
Druckenmiller bought $115 million worth of shares in the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF in the third quarter, making it the firm’s seventh-biggest holding.