LA, LB ports delay fines for idling containers until Dec. 27
SpcaLA cautions on holiday dangers for pets, offers safety tips
Go to DuarteDispatch.com for Duarte Specific News THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23 - DECEMBER 29, 2021
Local. Relevant. Trusted.
VOL. 10, NO. 49
Islamic group speaks out after flyers filled with antisemitic theories were found in Pasadena
Former Chinese official pleads guilty to SGV money laundering conspiracy By City News Service
A
Photo courtesy of Paul Becker/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
By City News Service
A
s Pasadena police investigated the source of flyers filled with antisemitic theories regarding COVID-19 that were distributed in a part of the city, an Islamic civil liberties group spoke out Monday against the hate speech. The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said it supports the Jewish community and looks forward to arrests in the case. "Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen an increase in hate and blame directed at marginalized communities.
We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community, the Asian-American community and all minorities who have been unjustly targeted by irrational fear and bigotry," said CAIR-LA Deputy Executive Director Masih Fouladi. The flyers contained propaganda-style hate speech linking the COVID-19 pandemic to the Jewish people and were stuffed in plastic bags and left on driveways in a four-block area of the city, according to Pasadena police Lt. Anthony Burgess. They were found on Washington Boulevard, Mentor Avenue, Catalina Avenue and Wilson Avenue, according to Pasadena city spokeswoman Lisa Derde-
rian. Burgess told the Los Angeles Times that the flyers named several agencies, federal health and corporate officials and claimed "every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish." The Pasadena City Council released a statement saying it was standing firm against hate speech of any kind. "The distribution of antisemitic flyers in Pasadena and other Southern California communities over the weekend is abhorrent and totally antithetical to the values of our city and its residents," the city said in its statement. "Our thoughts are with our residents and those hurt
by these disgusting acts. We know Pasadena residents of all faiths will stand together and speak out against hatred in all its forms." A similar hate incident was being investigated in Beverly Hills, where more than 200 antisemitic COVID-19-related flyers were distributed throughout the southwest side of the city. A recent report discovered that LA County has received an incredible increase of hate crimes in 2020, with 635 reported last year, reaching their highest point in a dozen years and continuing a trend of increases. While the study showed that religious crimes —
which declined to 18% and comprised 13% of the total number of reported hate crimes — were far less likely to occur than race-driven hate crimes, an overwhelming number of religious crimes were anti-Semitic. CAIR-LA recently launched the Center for the Prevention of Hate and Bullying to proactively address a growing number of hate incidents targeting people of faith as well as Black, Asian American Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern and immigrant residents. Anyone with information on who was behind the flyers was asked to call Pasadena police at 626-7444241.
former Chinese official who was a fugitive for more than five years pleaded guilty Monday to a federal conspiracy charge alleging he laundered millions of dollars and used some of the stolen funds to purchase properties in Monterey Park. Jianjun Qiao's sentence includes the 24 months he spent in custody in Sweden while awaiting extradition and the 17 months he subsequently spent in the United States, according to documents filed in Los Angeles federal court. Qiao, 58, was extradited from Sweden to Los Angeles last year to face charges originally filed seven years ago. A federal grand jury in July 2014 indicted Qiao and his ex-wife, alleging two separate schemes. An expanded indictment against Qiao returned in December 2018 charges him with conspiracy to commit immigration fraud and international transport of stolen money, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and three counts of engaging in financial transactions in criminally derived property. Prosecutors allege that as the director of a grain storehouse in Zhoukou City, Henan Province, from 1998 to 2011, Qiao laundered millions of dollars in proceeds related to frauduSee SGV money laundering Pg 11