Hunter Biden's lawsuit in jeopardy after rental home damaged in Palisades fire, financial woes mount

Citing financial problems, Hunter Biden this week asked a federal judge to drop the laptop hacking lawsuit he filed against a former Trump administration aide in 2023.

The lawsuit accused Garrett Ziegler, a former aide to White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, of improperly "accessing, tampering with, manipulating, altering, copying and damaging computer data that they do not own" in violation of the state's computer fraud laws.

"While I believe in the merits of this case, and indeed, note that Defendant Garrett Ziegler admitted to hacking my iCloud in multiple public statements, I am requesting to dismiss this action because I do not have the financial resources to continue litigating this case," Biden wrote in a declaration filed in federal court in California on Wednesday.

His income has declined significantly since the lawsuit was filed, he wrote. His rental home was also damaged in the Palisades fire in January, which further exacerbated his money challenges, he wrote.

An attorney representing Ziegler did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment Thursday. Biden's attorney also did not immediately return a phone call from the Los Angeles Times.

Biden's income had primarily come from sales of his artwork and his memoir "Beautiful Things," according to his declaration. In the few years before December 2023, Biden said he sold 27 pieces of art "at an average price of $54,481.48," but since then he's sold only one piece for $36,000. His book sales have also declined, the document states.

The legal saga had centered on Biden's infamous laptop, which the former president's son had allegedly left at a repair shop in Delaware. The laptop was discovered by Republican operatives weeks before the 2020 election and prompted a litany of allegations against the Biden family.

—Los Angeles Times

The voice recorder on the jet that crashed in Philly likely hadn’t worked for several years, federal investigators say

PHILADELPHIA— A key piece of hardware that aviation experts and pilots said could solve the mystery in the fatal crash of the medical transport Learjet on Jan. 31 turned out to be useless.

The cockpit voice recorder recovered 8-feet deep at the bottom of the jet’s impact crater was repaired after extensive damage, but according to a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report released Thursday, when investigators played back the 30-minute-long recording they found the device “had likely not been recording audio for several years.”

There was brief communication with the Philadelphia Northeast Airport control tower, but no signs of trouble over radio, the NTSB said. No distress calls were made by the pilot or copilot.

The jet also included an Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System, which could reveal more detailed flight tracking information than is now available, but that device was sent to its manufacturer for recovery and the results are not back.

The preliminary report leaves open several unanswered questions about the condition of the jet on its sharp descent along Cottman Avenue near Roosevelt Mall, including the status of the engines or other critical flight components, such as the stabilizers that help an aircraft fly straight.

The jet — a medical transport Learjet 55 owned by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, headquartered in Mexico City— crashed just after 6 p.m. All six occupants aboard the 43-year-old aircraft died, including a mother and her daughter who were on the journey home after the child had received four months of treatment at Shriner’s Children’s Hospital.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB investigator, said that the lack of a functional voice recorder would make investigating the nature and cause of the crash much more difficult — and was a violation of FAA rules for foreign air carriers.

—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Canadian former Olympic snowboarder accused of ordering killings added to FBI’s Most Wanted list

A Canadian former Olympic snowboarder who allegedly became the head of a transnational drug organization and ordered numerous killings was added to the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list Thursday.

Federal investigators announced at a news conference in Los Angeles that Ryan Wedding, who participated in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in parallel giant slalom, was still at large, possibly in Mexico and that they are offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.

The 43-year-old Wedding — who also goes by “El Jefe” and “Public Enemy” — was accused in a September indictment in the Central District of California of running a network that transported hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and into California.

He allegedly orchestrated three murders and an attempted murder as part of the enterprise, which he ran from 2011 to 2024, according to the indictment. His second in command, Andrew Clark, was arrested in Mexico in October.

Clark was held in Mexico, then transferred to the United States, where he was arraigned on the indictment in Phoenix on Monday, prosecutors said.

The duo allegedly would hire contract killers and take out hits on people who they believed got in the way of their business.

Federal authorities said they believe Wedding is currently in Mexico and may be getting protection from the Sinaloa Cartel.

—Los Angeles Times

9 vacationing students missing in Mexico found dismembered on highway

Nine bodies, believed to be the remains of missing students, were discovered dismembered on the side of a Mexican highway earlier this week.

The remains of four women and five men, originally from Tlaxcala, were found in San José Miahuatlán, in the state of Puebla, in an abandoned Volkswagen Vento, according to Central Puebla Irreverente.

The outlet reported that four of the bodies were found in the trunk, while five bodies and a bloody tarp were found inside the vehicle. A bag with eight pairs of hands and two more hands in the trunk were also reportedly recovered.

Idamis Pastor Betancourt, head of the State Attorney General’s Office, said she could not confirm nor deny the identities of the victims due to the ongoing investigation and “confidentiality” concerns.

“All relevant investigations are being carried out. When we have a response and the investigation is complete, we will be in a position to provide more information,” Betancourt said Monday during a news conference.

The nine people reported missing are said to range in age from 19 to 30. They had all traveled to beaches in Oaxaca, though its unclear how many of them knew each other.

—New York Daily News