Sunday, April 26, 2026

Another case of be careful of who you trust with your money

SoCal crypto bro learns fate in $263M theft ring as fraudsters’ ‘fantastically extravagant’ lives exposed

A young alleged crypto fraudster lived a “fantastically extravagant” lifestyle with the funds he is accused of stealing, enjoying sports cars, a luxury rental house, and private jet rentals.

Newport Beach resident Evan Tangeman, 22, has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for helping launder more than $263 million in cryptocurrency for a “multi-state criminal enterprise.”

He previously pleaded guilty to laundering at least $3.5 million for members of the enterprise, which originated from online gaming platforms with individuals spread across the country.

Tangemen and his associates allegedly stole the money with the help of “database hackers, organizers, target identifiers, callers, and residential burglars targeting hardware virtual currency wallets,” according to the Justice Department.

With the stolen funds, they purchased “nightclub services,” exotic vehicles like a black 2022 Rolls Royce Ghost seized at Tangeman’s home, private jet rentals, private security, and a variety of rental homes in Los Angeles, Miami and The Hamptons.

Tangeman also received exotic cars for his services like the Rolls Royce and a widebody Lamborghini Urus.

Justice Department officials say the greed bordered on being “cartoonish.”

“This criminal enterprise was built on greed so brazen it borders on the cartoonish. They stole millions, spent it on half-million-dollar nightclub tabs, Lamborghinis, and Rolexes,” Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said.

“But Evan Tangeman didn’t just launder the money that fueled that lifestyle. When his co-conspirators were arrested, he moved to destroy the evidence. That is consciousness of guilt, and this office and the court have treated that accordingly,” she added.

Most of the members of the criminal enterprise were unemployed men under 20 years old.

A variety of law enforcement agencies investigated the case, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Washington D.C. Field Office.

U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly also ordered Tangeman to serve three years of supervised release after his 70-month sentence.

https://nypost.com/2026/04/25/us-news/socal-crypto-bro-learns-fate-in-263m-theft-ring-as-fraudsters-fantastically-extravagant-lives-exposed/

Ross O'Keefe

Published April 25, 2026, 11:16 a.m. PT

The LA government puts drug addicts above all

Shocking scenes from LA’s homeless apocalypse — as filthy camps overrun kids’ playgrounds

Homeless encampments are blighting schools and playgrounds across Los Angeles — but lefty Los Angeles City are still trying to stop a crackdown.

The California Post found numerous parks across the city being hijacked by vagrants, with shocking pictures showing public spaces being turned into decrepit shelters, with the homeless choosing to sleep wherever they wanted, including beneath a child’s slide.

On Tuesday April 14th, the LA City Council approved a new anti-camping designation for a stretch of Venice at Rose Avenue and Hampton Drive — but four socialist councilmembers, Eunisses Hernandez, Nithya Raman, Hugo Soto-Martínez and Ysabel Jurado, all voting against the measure.

homeless-encampments-overtake-kids-parks-across-la-in-disturbing-scenes

Jamie Paige

Karen Bass Democrat failure

Karen Bass Faces Serious Questions After Leaked Phone Call On Palisades Fire

https://pjmedia.com/tim-o-brien/2026/04/25/karen-bass-faces-serious-questions-after-leaked-phone-call-on-palisades-fire-n4952194#google_vignette

TIM O'BRIEN | 8:35 PM ON APRIL 25, 2026

Both President Donald Trump and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass came out of meetings in April expressing optimism that the federal government will come to the aid of the feckless and duplicitous mayor and attempt to help further jumpstart the recovery of the Palisades after the devastating 2025 fire wiped out just about everything.

According to NBC Los Angeles, Bass said “that she feels optimistic that the Trump administration will send more resources the city needs to recover from the 2025 Palisades Fire after meeting with him and his key advisors in the Oval Office.”

NBC Los Angeles reported that Bass “reiterated to the president that Los Angeles needs financial support from the federal government to rebuild the Palisades neighborhood not only to fix what's on the streets but also what's underneath, such as the effort to underground the electrical.”

It’s not like Trump has been sitting on his hands when it comes to Los Angeles. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) directed more than $2 billion in direct assistance through grants and Small Business Administration disaster loans to survivors of the fires. All told, the federal government provided $5.7 billion in support, which included debris removal, emergency relief, and recovery programs. And the state of California and Gov. Gavin Newsom have hit Congress up for another $40 billion. We’re talking Ukraine-sized handouts now.

The Palisades fire destroyed 23,448 acres of land and 6,837 structures. A total of 5,942 of those structures were single-family homes.

Palisades News reported that at last check in February, “More than 480 rebuilding projects were under construction out of roughly 5,600 affected properties, with permits issued for more than 800 addresses, according to city data.”

Real progress has been slow. Thanks to an impossible permitting process and a gauntlet of California red tape, in large swaths of the Palisades, nothing has been done. Still, that hasn’t stopped Bass, Newsom, and other Democrats from asking for billions in federal moneyThink about it. What do you expect will happen when you put a pot of billions of dollars in front of California Democrats like Bass and Newsom? Do you think that money will go towards rebuilding homes that were destroyed by their own policies and incompetence? We’ll just leave that here because audio from a leaked telephone call that features Bass ain’t gonna make you happy if you’re a victim of the Palisades fire.

In January 2026, one year after the fire, our own Victoria Taft did a comprehensive look back on what Bass was up to when the fires were actively spreading in her town.

She reminded us that Bass decided to take a trip to Ghana and not interrupt it as the fire was building. A SkyNews reporter named David Blevins confronted Bass at the airport after she returned from Africa. He tried to get her to say something… anything to her constituents and the victims of the fire. Bass pretended he wasn’t even there.

Now, we may have a slightly better sense of why she was so mum at that airport and for days. This is Bass herself saying to “read between the lines” on why she was so intentionally non-responsive.

In the leaked audio, Bass was reportedly talking to John Alle, a local resident and property manager in the Santa Monica and Westlake areas. Alle himself confirmed this here.

Reports are that Elle called Bass on Jan. 4, 2025, warning her about the risks tied to the weather, the wind, and dry conditions. In the call, Alle said he tried to convince Bass not to leave for Africa, but in the secretly recorded audio, she told Elle she had no intention of canceling her trip in spite of all his warnings.

To be sure, we have not been able to verify with 100% certainty the validity of this leaked audio, but it is worth noting that neither Bass nor her office has disputed the call’s authenticity and the content of the audio.

Now, let’s go back to that leaked call. What did Bass say that might be even more troubling?

Bass says, “The situation is very dangerous, and I would never do… I will take the criticism before I do a publicity stunt, and frankly a press conference at this point in time would just be publicity.”
Elle interrupts with, “I think my neighbors, property owners, and the residents – 41,000 people live within a square mile here. Two families share a one-bedroom apartment…”
Bass then says, “But they wanna hear that something is gonna be done.”
Elle replies, “They want to know it’s recognized.”
Bass then gets creepily cryptic, “Exactly, but if I have a choice between that and compromising something, I just have to go along with it. It’s not my area of expertise. I wanna make sure that you are safe. And hopefully you can read in between the lines. But I would just appreciate… and it’s hard for me to tell you this, but um, hold tight. You will understand soon.”
The two then indicate they now understand each other, and Bass then adds, “And when I am able to talk, I will be happy to go into great detail.”
Elle reminds Bass, “You’ve got me on the street, and you’re welcome to call me at any time, I’ll call you right back.”
On the matter of her plans to travel to Ghana in the midst of this crisis, Bass tells Elle, “Just in terms of my trip, just so you know I’m missing two work days. That’s it. And if President Biden extends an invitation, I took it.”

Bass went to Ghana as part of a Biden administration delegation to attend the inauguration of Ghana’s newly elected president, John Dramani Mahama.

Bass’s comments on that call raise more questions than they answer, but these are questions that have to be answered, not only by Bass but by federal investigators. If California is requesting billions to clean up a mess California’s elected leaders helped to create, the least they could do is answer some of the tough questions.

Someone needs to ask Bass:

It’s standard practice at times of crisis for a leader to acknowledge the hardships or crises their people face. This is most often done through press statements and press conferences, which are not publicity stunts during emergencies. They are the most efficient means to convey information and to let your constituents know your administration is working on their behalf. You made the conscious decision not to do that, by your own admission. You know it wouldn’t have been a stunt. So, why did you neglect your constituents by purposefully not communicating with them yourself?
In your phone call with Mr. Elle, you said, “If I have a choice between that and compromising something, I just have to go along with it.” What is that “something” you didn’t want to compromise? What was going on outside of the boundaries of emergency response that you did not want to compromise? (Now, on this question, I would expect Bass to default to an answer that points to her emergency response people, but if that were true, she wouldn’t need to be so cryptic and use vague terms like “compromising something.” She could just say, "I don't want to interfere with my emergency response people." But she did not say that. On this question, federal investigators need to dig. She seems to be hinting at something they need to find out.)
Next question. Mayor Bass, you told Mr. Elle, “Hopefully you can read in between the lines.” What couldn’t you come right out and say? Why? You said he would understand soon, which suggests something outside of the weather was happening at that time, and it was having a direct impact on your management of the city’s emergency response. Please clarify. (Once again, Bass can deflect with the best of them, and so her answer to this question would likely obfuscate and deflect. Still, this is yet another question federal investigators need to get to the bottom of.Nothing Bass did before, during, or after the Palisades fire suggests that she lifted a finger for the victims of the fire. This leaked phone call suggests that she had other priorities that she is still not talking about. Before rivers of federal cash start flowing right into California Democrats’ hands, never to be seen again, the federal government needs to do some due diligence. Congress can't just organize a show hearing where RINOs hog airtime and don’t even allow for a real cross-examination of Bass and others. This does not smell good at all. It's time to get substantive answers.
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Here's a look into the insane world the left has created to make themselves feel superior...shutter Blue Sky.

Suspected WHCD Shooter Boosted Bluesky Posts Saying Trump Should Be 'Tried For High Crimes'

https://freebeacon.com/issues/suspected-whcd-shooter-boosted-bluesky-posts-saying-trump-should-be-tried-for-high-crimes/

The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen of Southern California, contributed to Kamala Harris's presidential campaign. On social media, he also slammed the First Amendment pocket square journalists were donning at last night’s dinner. Collin Anderson

April 26, 2026

The suspected White House Correspondents' Association Dinner shooter, Cole Tomas Allen, signal boosted posts on the left-wing social media platform Bluesky arguing that President Donald Trump should be "immediately removed from office and tried for high crimes" and criticizing a "Freedom of the Press" pocket square that many journalists donned at last night’s dinner as "a white flag that no one can read unless you pull it out and wave it in defeat," a Washington Free Beacon review found, suggesting he thought a stronger message of opposition to the president was called for.

"the president of the united states is personally looting the treasury to the tune of literally billions of dollars and that he is not being immediately removed from office and tried for high crimes against this country is a devastating indictment of every part of our political system," read one of the posts, which Allen shared about a week before the dinner.

Allen shared another post from Gizmodo reporter Matt Novak criticizing a First Amendment pocket square that CNN anchor Jake Tapper promoted ahead of the dinner. Tapper said he would wear the accessory to remind Trump of the "importance of the 1st Amendment." Novak responded, "Fittingly, a white flag that no one can read unless you pull it out and wave it in defeat."

Allen's Bluesky account was suspended and the posts removed early Sunday morning as the Free Beacon was reviewing the posts. He used the handle "coldforce," a name that the 31-year-old teacher and video game developerfrom Southern California also used on other social media platforms, including YouTube and the streaming site Twitch, where Allen posted videos of the game Super Smash Bros. and stated his location as "SoCal." Allen used the name "coldForce" and the handle "@CForce3000" on X, where he also posted extensively about Super Smash Bros., according to an ongoing Free Beaconreview. Allen's X account was also removed.

Allen's Bluesky account was active from at least November 2024—when Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris, who received a $25 campaign contribution from Allen—to the day before the dinner. In the 10 days leading up to the event, Allen reposted messages that called to "Abolish ICE," referred to an immigration processing facility in South Texas as a "concentration camp," and referred to Trump ally Elon Musk as "a Nazi." Allen also shared an image of a protest against the war in Iran that took place in the U.S. Capitol Complex.

"I understand that it is deeply inconvenient for everyone with money and power that the richest man in the world is a Nazi, but the richest man in the world is a Nazi," one of the Musk posts read. "It just defies comprehension that the world's richest man is literally a hitlerian figure," read another.

Allen was "armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives" when he charged a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton hotel, which hosted the dinner and where Allen was staying, according to police. Law enforcement "exchanged gunfire" before apprehending Allen.

Trump and other federal officials were whisked away from the dinner, which Trump said would be rescheduled. Trump later held a news conference at the White House, describing Allen as a "lone wolf" who was "taken down by some very brave members of Secret Service."

Acting attorney general Todd Blanche said he believes Allen was targeting "administration officials," citing "writings" from Allen. He said the federal government is "still looking into" whether Trump was a specific target.

Trump survived two assassination attempts prior to the dinner, one at a rally in Butler, Pa., where gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks fired a shot that struck Trump's ear, and one at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, where Ryan Routh, then 58, hid in the shrubbery while armed with a rifle as Trump golfed.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.