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Gov't Wants Protest Over $186M In DOD Fuel Deals Thrown Out
by Gunnar Larson 23 Jul '24

23 Jul '24

Gov't Wants Protest Over $186M In DOD Fuel Deals Thrown Out <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1860705?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> By Daniel Wilson The Defense Logistics Agency has urged the Court of Federal Claims to dismiss a protest alleging it wrongly ignored misconduct by companies awarded $186 million in fuel delivery deals, saying it adequately investigated the claims and found nothing untoward. 3 documents attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1860705?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1860705?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…>

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Merchants Seek Pause Of Visa, MasterCard Swipe-Fee Deal
by Gunnar Larson 23 Jul '24

23 Jul '24

Merchants Seek Pause Of Visa, MasterCard Swipe-Fee Deal <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1860344?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> By Sydney Price A group of merchants who use payment company Square's services to accept cards has asked a New York federal judge to pause the settlement of a massive swipe-fee antitrust litigation against Visa and Mastercard while they pursue a Second Circuit appeal of her ruling that they're bound by the deal. Brief attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1860344?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1860344?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…>

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Hoka Accused Of Fixing Retail Prices As Trial Kicks Off
by Gunnar Larson 23 Jul '24

23 Jul '24

Hoka Accused Of Fixing Retail Prices As Trial Kicks Off <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1860449?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> By William Janes A British running shoe store chain on Monday accused the sneaker maker behind Hoka of fixing retail prices by blocking the seller from using an online discount store, kicking off its trial at the U.K.'s specialist antitrust tribunal. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1860449?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1860449?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…>

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Midyear Report: Surveying Vast NCAA Litigation Landscape
by Gunnar Larson 23 Jul '24

23 Jul '24

Midyear Report: Surveying Vast NCAA Litigation Landscape <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1859734?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> By Alex Lawson While the NCAA has never been a stranger to high-stakes litigation, the past six months have seen a deluge of courtroom intrigue as college athletes flex their legal muscle amid a quickly shifting consensus on the organization's overall business model. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1859734?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1859734?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…>

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IACR Events
by Undescribed Horrific Abuse, One Victim & Survivor of Many 22 Jul '24

22 Jul '24

https://iacr.org/events/ July 2024 NIST Workshop on Formal Methods within Certification Programs 2024 (FMCP 2024) <https://www.nist.gov/news-events/events/2024/07/nist-workshop-formal-method…> Rockville, USA Event: Jul 23 - Jul 25, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 27 May 2024 Notification date: 10 June 2024 2024 IEEE East Asian School of Information Theory (EASIT) <https://easit2024.github.io/> Shonan, Japan Event: Jul 30 - Aug 2, 2024 ARES 2024 -19th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES) <http://www.ares-conference.eu/> Vienna, Austria Event: Jul 30 - Aug 2, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 13 March 2024 Notification date: 3 May 2024 August 2024 Mathematics for Post-Quantum Cryptanalysis <https://www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/events/math-pqc/> Budapest, Magyarország Event: Aug 5 - Aug 9, 2024 The 19th Asia Joint Conference on Information Security (AsiaJCIS 2024) <https://asiajcis2024.web2.ncku.edu.tw/> Virtual event, Anywhere on Earth Event: Aug 13 - Aug 14, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 April 2024 Notification date: 14 June 2024 Fifth Information-Theoretic Cryptography (ITC) conference (ITC 2024) <https://itcrypto.github.io/2024/index.html> Stanford, USA Event: Aug 14 - Aug 16, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 10 March 2024 Notification date: 31 May 2024 The 6th International Conference on Science of Cyber Security (SciSec 2024) <https://scisec.org/> Copenhagen, Denmark Event: Aug 14 - Aug 16, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 7 April 2024 Notification date: 20 May 2024 Crypto 2024 (Crypto 2024) <https://crypto.iacr.org/2024> CRYPTO Santa Barbara, USA Event: Aug 18 - Aug 22, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 13 February 2024 Notification date: 3 May 2024 2024 IEEE Cybermatics Congress <https://ieee-cybermatics.org/2024/> Copenhagen, Denmark Event: Aug 19 - Aug 22, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 March 2024 Notification date: 20 May 2024 The 7th IEEE International Conference on Blockchain (IEEE Blockchain 2024) <https://ieee-cybermatics.org/2024/blockchain/> Copenhagen, Denmark Event: Aug 19 - Aug 22, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 March 2024 Notification date: 20 May 2024 The 25th World Conference on Information Security Applications (WISA 2024) <https://www.wisa.or.kr/> Jeju, Korea Event: Aug 21 - Aug 23, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 June 2024 Notification date: 20 July 2024 Summer School crypt@b-it 2024 (crypt@b-it 2024) <https://cryptabit.bit.uni-bonn.de/2024> Bochum, Deutschland Event: Aug 26 - Aug 30, 2024 31st International Conference on Selected Areas in Cryptography 2024 (SAC 2024) <https://sacworkshop.org/SAC24/> Montreal, Canada Event: Aug 28 - Aug 30, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 7 May 2024 Notification date: 20 June 2024 31st International Conference on Selected Areas in Cryptography 2024, Round 1 (SAC 2024) <https://sacworkshop.org/SAC24/> Montreal, Canada Event: Aug 28 - Aug 30, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 7 February 2024 Notification date: 20 March 2024 September 2024 2024 IEEE International Conference on Cyber Security and Resilience (IEEE CSR 2024) <https://www.ieee-csr.org/> London, United Kingdom Event: Sep 2 - Sep 4, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 3 May 2024 Notification date: 5 June 2024 Foundations and Applications of Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ICMS ZKP Workshop) <https://www.icms.org.uk/ZeroKnowledgeProofs> City of Edinburgh, United Kingdom Event: Sep 2 - Sep 6, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 14 June 2024 Open Tools, Interfaces, and Metrics for Implementation Security Testing (OPTIMIST) <https://optimist-workshop.github.io/> Halifax, Canada Event: Sep 4 - Sep 4, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 June 2024 Notification date: 15 July 2024 workshop on Fault Diagnosis and Tolerance in Cryptography 2024 (FDTC 2024) <http://fdtc.deib.polimi.it/FDTC24/index.html> Halifax, Canada Event: Sep 4 - Sep 4, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 17 June 2024 Notification date: 12 July 2024 Workshop on Zero Trust Hardware Architectures (ZTHA) <https://zerotrustworkshop.github.io/> Halifax, Canada Event: Sep 4 - Sep 4, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 10 July 2024 Notification date: 19 July 2024 Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems (CHES 2024) <https://ches.iacr.org/2024/> CHES Halifax, Canada Event: Sep 4 - Sep 7, 2024 Summer School on Post-quantum Cryptography <https://iesc-inscriptions.fr/admin?crudAction=listEcole&crudControllerFqcn=…> Corsica, France Event: Sep 9 - Sep 13, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 March 2024 The 9th International Workshop on Boolean Functions and their Applications (BFA 2024) <https://boolean.w.uib.no/bfa-2024/> Dubrovnik, Croatia Event: Sep 9 - Sep 13, 2024 Post-quantum Algebraic Cryptography <https://indico.math.cnrs.fr/event/5771/> Paris, France Event: Sep 9 - Dec 20, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 March 2024 Fourteenth International Conference on Security and Cryptography for Networks (SCN '24) <https://scn.unisa.it/> Amalfi, Italy Event: Sep 11 - Sep 13, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 6 May 2024 Notification date: 24 June 2024 Leuven Isogeny Days 5 <https://www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/projects/isocrypt/lid5/> Leuven, Belgium Event: Sep 11 - Sep 13, 2024 The 19th International Workshop on Security (IWSEC2024) <https://www.iwsec.org/2024/index.html> Kyoto, Japan Event: Sep 17 - Sep 19, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 16 April 2024 Notification date: 20 June 2024 The 19th International Workshop on Security (IWSEC2024) <https://www.iwsec.org/2024/index.html> Kyoto, Japan Event: Sep 17 - Sep 19, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 28 April 2024 Notification date: 20 June 2024 Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT '24) <https://aftconf.github.io/aft24/index.html> Wien, Österreich Event: Sep 23 - Sep 25, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 May 2024 Notification date: 3 July 2024 Graz Security Week 2024 - Summer School on Security, Privacy and Correctness <https://securityweek.at/> Graz, Österreich Event: Sep 23 - Sep 27, 2024 9th International Cryptology and Information Security Conference 2024 (CRYPTOLOGY2024) <https://einspem.upm.edu.my/cryptology2024/> Cyberjaya, Malaysia Event: Sep 24 - Sep 26, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 May 2024 Notification date: 30 June 2024 NIST Workshop on Privacy Enhancing Cryptography (WPEC 2024) <https://csrc.nist.gov/events/2024/wpec2024> Virtual event, Anywhere on Earth Event: Sep 24 - Sep 26, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 22 July 2024 Notification date: 27 August 2024 International Conference on Cryptology and Network Security (CANS) <https://2024.cansconference.org/> Cambridge, United Kingdom Event: Sep 24 - Sep 27, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 14 April 2024 Notification date: 17 June 2024 CIFRIS24 <https://www.decifris.it/cifris24/> Rome, Italy Event: Sep 25 - Sep 27, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 22 April 2024 Notification date: 9 July 2024 October 2024 Ninth International Joint Conference on Electronic Voting (E-Vote-ID '24) <https://e-vote-id.org/> Tarragona, Spanien Event: Oct 2 - Oct 4, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 May 2024 Notification date: 23 June 2024 21st International ISC Conference on Information Security and Cryptology (ISCISC 2024) <https://iscisc2024.modares.ac.ir/> Tehran, Iran Event: Oct 16 - Oct 17, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 June 2024 Notification date: 14 August 2024 ACM Cloud Computing Security Workshop (CCSW 2024) <https://ccsw.io/> Salt Lake City, USA Event: Oct 18 - Oct 18, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 22 July 2024 Notification date: 26 August 2024 The 5th International Conference on Emerging Information Security and Applications (EISA 2024) <https://eisa.compute.dtu.dk/2024/> Changzhou, China Event: Oct 18 - Oct 19, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 July 2024 Notification date: 15 August 2024 The ACS/IEEE 21st International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications (AICCSA 2024) <https://aiccsa.net/AICCSA2024/> Marhaba Palace, Tunisie Event: Oct 22 - Oct 26, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 5 May 2024 Notification date: 12 July 2024 27th Information Security Conference (ISC 2024) <https://isc24.cs.gmu.edu/> Arlington, USA Event: Oct 23 - Oct 25, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 13 June 2024 Notification date: 30 July 2024 Financial Cryptography Global <https://fincryptographyglobal.pbcdci.cn/> Suzhou, China Event: Oct 26 - Oct 26, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 31 March 2024 November 2024 29th IEEE Pacific Rim International Conference on Dependable Computing (PRDC 2024) <https://prdc.dependability.org/PRDC2024/index.html> Osaka, Japan Event: Nov 13 - Nov 15, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 31 July 2024 Notification date: 31 August 2024 3rd International Conference on Security & Privacy (ICSP 2024) <https://icsp.co.in/2024/> Jamshedpur, India Event: Nov 20 - Nov 21, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 20 June 2024 Notification date: 10 September 2024 The 27th Annual International Conference on Information Security and Cryptology <http://icisc.org/> Seoul, Korea Event: Nov 20 - Nov 22, 2024 The 27th Annual International Conference on Information Security and Cryptology (ICISC 2024) <http://icisc.org/> Seoul, South Korea Event: Nov 20 - Nov 22, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 6 September 2024 Notification date: 30 October 2024 17th International Conference on Security for Information Technology and Communications (SecITC 2024) <https://secitc.eu/> Bucharest, Romania Event: Nov 21 - Nov 22, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 18 September 2024 Notification date: 30 October 2024 December 2024 Theory of Cryptography Conference (TCC 2024) <https://tcc.iacr.org/2024/> TCC Milan, Italy Event: Dec 2 - Dec 6, 2024 The 21st IEEE International Conference on Ubiquitous Intelligence and Computing (UIC 2024) (UIC 2024) <https://www.ieee-smart-world.org/2024/uic/> Denarau Island, Viti Event: Dec 2 - Dec 7, 2024 THE 1st IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CRYPTOGRAPHY AND INFORMATION SECURITY (VCRIS) <https://vcris.actvn.edu.vn/> Hanoi, Vietnam Event: Dec 3 - Dec 4, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 30 July 2024 Notification date: 5 September 2024 Asiacrypt 2024 (Asiacrypt 2024) <https://asiacrypt.iacr.org/2024/> ASIACRYPT Kolkata, India Event: Dec 9 - Dec 13, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 26 May 2024 Notification date: 25 August 2024 20th International Conference on Information Security and Cryptology (Inscrypt 2024) <https://inscrypt2024.github.io/#> Kunming, China Event: Dec 14 - Dec 16, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 August 2024 Notification date: 10 November 2024 The 11th Asian-workshop on Symmetric Key Cryptography (ASK 2024) <https://askworkshop.github.io/ask2024/> Bidhannagar, India Event: Dec 14 - Dec 17, 2024 Workshop on Mathematical Cryptography <https://sites.google.com/vt.edu/mathematical-cryptography-work/> Auckland, New Zealand Event: Dec 16 - Dec 18, 2024 20th International Conference on Information Systems Security (ICISS) <https://iciss.isrdc.in/> Jaipur, India Event: Dec 16 - Dec 20, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 10 July 2024 Notification date: 10 September 2024 20th International Conference on Information Systems Security (ICISS 2024) <https://iciss.isrdc.in/> JAIPUR, India Event: Dec 16 - Dec 20, 2024 25th International Conference on Cryptology in India (Indocrypt 2024) <https://setsindia.in/indocrypt2024/indocrypt> Chennai, India Event: Dec 18 - Dec 21, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 8 September 2024 Notification date: 18 October 2024 Cyber Security, Cryptology, and Machine Learning (CSCML 24) <https://www.cscml.org/> Virtual event, Anywhere on Earth Event: Dec 19 - Dec 20, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 9 July 2024 Notification date: 13 August 2024 The 4th International Conference on Ubiquitous Security (UbiSec 2024) <http://ubisecurity.org/2024/> changsha, China Event: Dec 29 - Dec 31, 2024 *Submission deadline:* 15 July 2024 Notification date: 15 August 2024 March 2025 Real World Crypto Symposium (RWC 2025) <https://rwc.iacr.org/2025> RWC Sofia, Bulgaria Event: Mar 26 - Mar 28, 2025 May 2025 Eurocrypt 2025 (Eurocrypt 2025) <https://eurocrypt.iacr.org/2025> EUROCRYPT Madrid, Spain Event: May 4 - May 8, 2025 The International Conference on Practice and Theory in Public Key Cryptography (PKC 2025) <https://pkc.iacr.org/2025> PKC Røros, Norway Event: May 12 - May 15, 2025 *Submission deadline:* 16 October 2024 Notification date: 5 February 2025 July 2025 ArcticCrypt 2025 <https://simula-uib.com/arcticcrypt2025/> Longyearbyen, Norge Event: Jul 6 - Jul 11, 2025 *Submission deadline:* 13 September 2024 Notification date: 23 October 2024 March 2026 Real World Crypto Symposium (RWC 2026) <https://rwc.iacr.org/2026> RWC Taipei, Taiwan Event: Mar 7 - Mar 9, 2026

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Citigroup Hires Vis Raghavan From JPMorgan as Head of Banking
by Gunnar Larson 22 Jul '24

22 Jul '24

Citigroup Hires Vis Raghavan From JPMorgan as Head of Banking https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-26/citigroup-hires-vis-ragh… Citigroup Inc. hired Viswas Raghavan from JPMorgan Chase & Co. as head of banking and executive vice chair of the company.

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Menendez Met Alleged Briber Pre-Gold Price Search, Jury Told
by Gunnar Larson 22 Jul '24

22 Jul '24

Menendez Met Alleged Briber Pre-Gold Price Search, Jury Told <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1852121?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Cara Salvatore An FBI cell tower expert told Sen. Robert Menendez's bribery jury Thursday that the phones of the senator, his wife and co-defendant developer Fred Daibes all pinged in the same location minutes before the senator did a web search for "how much is one kilo of gold worth." Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1852121?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1852121?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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Mich. EMTs Did Not Prove Immunity Over False Death Declaration
by Gunnar Larson 22 Jul '24

22 Jul '24

Mich. EMTs Did Not Prove Immunity Over False Death Declaration <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1852764?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> By Jade Martinez-Pogue A Michigan Court of Appeals panel says first responders who declared a 20-year-old woman with cerebral palsy dead only for a funeral home embalmer to discover she was still breathing after having been placed in a body bag have not yet proven they are immune from liability, restoring a dismissed lawsuit. Opinion attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1852764?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1852764?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…>

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German Co. Says Burford Fight Can Be Litigated
by Gunnar Larson 22 Jul '24

22 Jul '24

German Co. Says Burford Fight Can Be Litigated <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1852804?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…> By Caroline Simson A company suing the German arm of law firm Hausfeld LLP for allegedly trying to circumvent a German ban on contingency fees in certain antitrust litigation is arguing that its discovery request to litigation funder Burford Capital for use in the Hausfeld litigation doesn't belong in arbitration in London. Brief attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1852804?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1852804?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…>

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Protecting Trump and His Jet-Setting Adult Children During His Presidency Cost Taxpayers Over $1 Billion
by Gunnar Larson 22 Jul '24

22 Jul '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/07/protecting-trump-and-his-jet-setting… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 22, 2024 ~ Donald Trump -- Pied Piper to Wall Street (Thumbnail)Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is scheduled to conduct a hearing on the conduct of the Secret Service in preparing for the Donald Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 13. At the rally, a 20-year old sniper was able to fire on the President and the crowd from a nearby rooftop, resulting in one death and two serious injuries requiring hospitalization. The President sustained a reported grazing of the ear, but was able to walk away. The sniper was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper team on a nearby rooftop. Right wing Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have a widely-reported agenda. They want the Director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, to resign in disgrace. If past is prologue, Director Cheatle will be subjected to a barrage of insults and indignities by MAGA Republicans at today’s hearing. Apart from a 4-year stint as Senior Director of Global Security at PepsiCo, Cheatle has been with the Secret Service since 1995. Clearly her work was exemplary to earn her the appointment to Director in September 2022. No hearing on the Trump rally matter would be complete without a thorough understanding of how Donald Trump used the Secret Service and affiliated agencies to pad the profits of his businesses while President of the United States. He now appears to want to shift much of the cost of his giant public campaign rallies to the U.S. taxpayer as well. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the investigative and auditing arm of Congress. In January 2019, the GAO published a report on the astronomical costs that were being incurred to attend to the travel needs of a billionaire president and his jet-setting adult children. The GAO found that in just a four-week span of February 3 through March 5, 2017, taxpayers spent $13.6 million protecting the President on four trips to his luxury resort and residence, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida. That works out to $3.4 million per trip. Multiply that by the 145 trips the President took to Mar-a-Lago during his four years as President and you’re looking at a $495 million taxpayer tab. Why is it so costly for the U.S. Secret Service to protect the President? Because it’s not the only federal agency involved in the protection of the President when he travels. According to the GAO report linked above, costs involved in just those four trips to Mar-a-Lago are broken down as follows: $8.5 million for the Department of Defense for operating aircraft — Air Force One and Marine Corps One; $5 million for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), broken down as $1.6 million for the Secret Service and $3.4 million for the U.S. Coast Guard. Why is the U.S. Coast Guard involved in protecting the President at his luxury resort at Mar-a-Lago? Because it’s on the water and accessible to attack from public waterways. Donald Trump has had five children by three different wives. All of his children, including his adult children who continued to cut business deals for him while he was President, were under the enormously expensive protection of the Secret Service while Trump was President. When Ivanka flew to Aspen or Whistler to ski, the taxpayer picked up the tab for protection. When sons Eric and Don, Jr. were cutting business deals for the family business in foreign lands, the U.S. taxpayer picked up the tab for protection. On April 10, 2020, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) disclosed the following: “While previous presidents have separated themselves from their assets and placed them in a blind trust, President Trump appointed his two adult sons to manage the international businesses that continue to make hundreds of millions of dollars a year on his behalf. The Trump family’s extremely high number of protected trips can be partially explained by the fact that Eric and Don Jr. have traveled the world promoting Trump-branded businesses throughout the Trump presidency. This explanation does less to settle concerns than to highlight the extent to which the American people are subsidizing the Trump family business… “CREW has uncovered the Secret Service costs for several Trump family business trips that help to piece together the tab that the Trump family has accumulated with taxpayers. In February 2017, Eric and Don Jr. flew to Dubai to open a Trump-branded golf club, which cost the Secret Service more than $200,000. The same month, Eric flew to the Dominican Republic to potentially relaunch a failed Trump-branded resort project, which cost $20,000. Eric Trump has visited Uruguay twice for Trump Organization business, costing taxpayers $97,830 in 2017,and $80,786 in 2019. And those are just the receipts we have obtained so far. What we do know is that the President’s frequent trips to Trump branded properties put taxpayer money directly into the coffers of the Trump Organization.” But that barely scratches the surface of the grifting. On October 17, 2022, the same House Committee that is holding today’s hearing, released a letter from its then Chair, Carolyn Maloney, to Secret Service Director Cheatle. Maloney revealed that the Committee had unearthed the following documented information: “Despite claims by the Trump Organization that federal employees traveling with the former President would stay at Trump properties ‘for free’ or ‘at cost,’ new information obtained by the Committee shows that the former President’s company charged the Secret Service excessive nightly rates on dozens of trips. These rates were as high as $1,185 per room per night, more than five times the government [approved] rate.” Let that sink in for a moment. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2020, the last year of Trump’s presidency, there were 37.2 million Americans living below the poverty level – while the Trump administration was paying $1,185 per night for a luxury room at a Trump property – in order for a public servant to keep the President safe. But even this barely captures the outrage. When the Trump administration was coming to a close in 2020, Trump directed that the Secret Service extend protection to his adult children and their spouses for another six months. CREW obtained the relevant documents and calculated that taxpayers picked up at least another $1 million for the added protection. Ivanka Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner, appears to have used his time after Trump lost the election in November of 2020, making three trips to the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. Kushner would later come under scrutiny for obtaining a $2 billion investment for his fledging money management firm, the Affinity Fund, from the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia in mid 2021. The New York Times (paywall) reported that the Saudi wealth fund had ignored warnings from its advisors to steer clear of this investment fund, writing: “Those objections included: ‘the inexperience of the Affinity Fund management’; the possibility that the kingdom would be responsible for ‘the bulk of the investment and risk’; due diligence on the fledgling firm’s operations that found them ‘unsatisfactory in all aspects’; a proposed asset management fee that ‘seems excessive’; and ‘public relations risks’ from Mr. Kushner’s prior role as a senior adviser to his father-in-law, former President Donald J. Trump….” But it’s not just the federal taxpayer’s dime that was, and is, being used to protect Donald Trump – who remains under Secret Service protection as a former President. Local police departments and State police spent tens of thousands of dollars on protection while Trump was in office and continue to spend tens of thousands of dollars to provide protection at Trump’s campaign rallies. Under Title 18, Section 3056 of the U.S. Code, the U.S. Secret Service is authorized to provide protection at certain events that are designated as “National Special Security Events.” According to the Secret Service’s 2023 Annual Report, the only events that were designated last year as National Special Security Events were: “the State of the Union Address; the U.S. – Africa Leaders Summit; and the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.” It now appears, however, that the Secret Service is going to be asked to view each of the Trump campaign rally events as “National Special Security Events” and provide its umbrella of protection to the entire event – thus subsidizing Trump’s political campaign. Extrapolating from the GAO report and documents previously released, we estimate that federal protection services for Trump and his family cost the U.S. taxpayer in excess of $1 billion during his time in office.

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